Star-Crossed Lovers: The Ex-Convict and the White Rabbit - Chapter 11 - Starting Over

Chapter 11 – Starting Over

“What about them?”

Liu Zecheng said, “I promise, they won’t disturb our lives in the future.”

“We coexist?” Lu Yin sneered, “I didn’t realize you were such a greedy person.”

Liu Zecheng couldn’t defend himself. He shifted the topic and said, “Yinyin, I won’t force you to have a child in the future. My family has had one child for nine generations. Now that that child exists, my mother won’t say anything either and the two of us… can just live our happy days.”

Lu Yin said weakly, “I can give birth to one myself.”

He blurted out, “But you can’t get pregnant…”

They were together for six years, lived together for five years and in the last year, they didn’t use any contraceptives and still, she didn’t get pregnant with his child.

The corridor was quiet for a while. Lu Yin felt terrible.

After the heavy rain, her eyes turned to the window. At that moment, she realized that seemingly strong feelings between two people were so vulnerable in the face of reality. Lu Yin finally knew that her six years of sincere feelings finally came to an end…

Loud ringing filled the room. Lu Yin was lying on the bed, withdrawing from her memories with much difficulty. She grabbed her phone and looked at it. It was Liu Zecheng.

Lu Yin stared at the screen. The call was automatically disconnected. She finally reacted when it rang again.

She raised the phone to her ear and she could hear his breathing from the other end.

Lu Yin’s voice was hoarse, “What’s the matter?”

From the other side came, “Yinyin, what are you doing?”

“Get to the point.”

After a pause, Liu Zecheng said: “Since the wedding is cancelled, I want to discuss with you how to distribute the new house.”

***

As the evening drew near, an orange-red afterglow filled the whole room, the mesh curtain fluttered, and a breeze came in.

The bed was messy, old books and clothes fell on the floor, and finished bowls of instant noodles were scattered over the table. Liu Zecheng moved away two days ago, and almost all his things were gone.

A long time after answering the call, Lu Yin finally sat up from the bed. She gathered her hair, wiped her face and finally had some life in her eyes. His heartlessness finally woke her up. Lu Yin suddenly realized how dumb and ridiculous she was being.

She started tidying up the room, after rummaging around, she discovered a lot of his things were still left in the house: some research papers, experiment reports, old books and literary magazines.

Later in the evening, Lu Yin went out, organizing herself as much as possible. She wore a printed white t-shirt and a short skirt as well as a pair of canvas shoes.

Her hair was half-dry, gathered behind her head. Aside from her haggard appearance, she looked like a female student who hadn’t graduated.

She went out to a restaurant and ordered a few dishes. She had holed herself in her room the past few days and barely went out. She hadn’t had a proper meal, but she hadn’t been hungry even though she only ate some biscuits and instant noodles. Afterwards, she went to the supermarket and bought new sheets, pillowcases, teacups, tableware and toothbrushes to replace the old ones.

When she came out of the supermarket, the city was brightly lit.

Lu Yin was carrying three large bags and finally called a taxi after she couldn’t move anymore.

They neared the community gates. The entrance was closed.

The driver honked twice, but there was no response.

Lu Yin leaned out of the car window. Under the streetlamp, her hair fluttered in the breeze. Across the hollow iron door, the security booth was dark, the lights weren’t on, but she could hear the faint sound of the old radio.

She shouted, “Mr. Li, are you there?”

There was no movement inside.

After a while, she said again, “Could you please open the door? I have too many things, I can’t carry them.”

The security post was still silent. After waiting, Lu Yin wanted to get down from the car to check. As she was about to, a dim figure appeared in the doorway.

That person wasn’t Old Li, they looked much taller than him. He stood in the shadows with his pockets, his appearance blurry and only the outline of his figure could be distinguished. He was burly, dressed in pure black. A pair of slender legs, a pair of trousers hanging down from them, with one pant leg slightly folded up. He wasn’t wearing a security uniform, his tight black shirt tucked into the waist of his trousers, and he was wearing a hat.