My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Admittedly, Cen Sen's remark, "I am not a person who likes to reminisce about the past," pleased both Ji Mingshu’s mind and body. The momentary unpleasantness she felt regarding the impending arrival of an invasive species was swept away in an instant.

Climbing under the covers to sleep, Ji Mingshu unknowingly draped herself over Cen Sen again, her arms wrapping around his neck and her smooth, bare legs locking around his waist and abdomen.

Half-asleep, Cen Sen adjusted his position, pressing the restless octopus tangled around him into his embrace.

That night, Ji Mingshu had a dream.

Whether it was because the dream was set near dusk or because the dreamscape itself was bathed in a warm, amber glow, everything seemed to be soaking in a jar of honey. Frame by frame, it pulled out crystal-clear, bizarre, and distorted scenes from the past.

Fifty percent of the dream consisted of tedious, nonsensical details from high school life that wouldn't hold up under scrutiny. One moment she was altering the length of her school skirt in the dorm; the next, she was urgently notified she had to take an exam.

Halfway through the exam, the grade-level head teacher rushed in and said: "You're taking the wrong test. You are liberal arts students; you don't need to take physics."

After leaving the exam hall, she felt both happy and strange. Hadn't she just started her freshman year and hadn't chosen a track between arts and sciences yet? Besides, the test she had just taken seemed to be a geography paper.

Then, Cen Sen appeared in the second half of the dream, completely unguarded—

In the hallway outside the exam room, Ji Mingshu saw him from afar, walking from the far end with Li Wenyin.

His frame was tall and slender; even the blue-black school uniform often criticized by the students of the affiliated school looked neat and handsome on him. When the two reached her, they met her face-to-face and walked past her in a cool, indifferent manner.

Ji Mingshu stood there, feeling a bit annoyed, though she wasn't sure what she was annoyed about.

Soon, the scene switched to the classroom after school. The honey-colored sunset outside the window projected onto the desks, the warm afterglow appearing to stir the curtains with a fine, gentle breeze.

There was no one in the classroom but Ji Mingshu. She lay prone on the desk, pondering what to eat for dinner.

Just then, Cen Sen walked into the classroom.

It was bizarre—a senior student suddenly entering a freshman classroom and sitting beside her to explain a test paper.

But in the dream, Ji Mingshu’s brain seemed to have been eaten by zombies; she felt nothing was amiss. She rummaged through her backpack and then, very nervously, told Cen Sen, "My test paper is gone."

Cen Sen: "It doesn't matter."

He patted her head very gently, then leaned in slightly and kissed her.

After that, the style of the dream shifted abruptly and became very X-rated.

She was lifted by Cen Sen onto the desk to sit, while Cen Sen stood by the table, flipping her shortened skirt up and removing the final layer of her cover.

By the end, she was lying on the desk, and Cen Sen, still standing by the table, moved back and forth.

She covered her eyes with her hands, but couldn't help loosening her fingers just a tiny bit to peek at Cen Sen’s clean, restrained, yet wildly indulgent appearance.

As passion surged, Cen Sen gripped her waist, leaned down, and asked her some unspeakable questions.

From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Li Wenyin standing at the classroom door. She felt nervous and apprehensive, yet at the same time, there was a secret, indescribable, and restless impulse. Sweetly and softly, she whispered in Cen Sen’s ear, "I like it."

Then, she woke up from the dream.

In the first few seconds after waking, Ji Mingshu’s mind was blank, her fingertips trembling.

What kind of strange dream was that?

Her heart was beating exceptionally fast, and the strange sensation in her body didn't stop abruptly when the dream ended.

Immediately, her eyes focused, finally seeing the culprit who had been wreaking havoc on her body early in the morning and causing her dream’s style to shift so drastically.

In fact, Cen Sen hadn't expected Ji Mingshu to sleep so deeply; his previous attempts to tease her for a long time had shown no signs of waking her up, and she had only just barely stirred by the time he finally reached his release.

Fortunately, the instinctive reactions of her body in her sleep had been very honest.

The two met eyes.

Ji Mingshu seamlessly connected with the scene in her dream, her ears flushing red in defeat, her gaze flickering slightly.

It was Cen Sen, the one who had actually done the deed, who remained completely calm. Once the last trace of pleasure faded, he pulled away with a look of "I've already had my fill" satisfaction.

Until the sound of rushing water came from the bathroom, Ji Mingshu remained lying stupidly in the covers, unable to come back to her senses for a long while.

Why on earth had she had such a strange dream? And in the dream, it had been right in front of Li Wenyin—how shameful!

Also, this "dog man" Cen Sen had already gone three rounds last night, so why was he acting up again so early in the morning?

She was still sleeping! How was this different from necrophilia!

No, wait, she wasn't a corpse!

While Ji Mingshu was letting her thoughts run wild, Cen Sen had finished showering and emerged from the bathroom. He hadn't been able to restrain himself in the morning, wasting quite a bit of time on the bed, and his phone had been ringing incessantly since eight o'clock.

He organized his collar with one hand while talking on the phone, but he couldn't tie his tie with one hand. He glanced at Ji Mingshu, walked to the bedside, and handed the tie to her.

Ji Mingshu didn't know what kind of spell she was under. She sat up without wearing anything, wrapped only in the quilt, and took the tie to help him knot it.

"...It is only a matter of time before Hehui makes a concession. Their funding gap is too large, and they have no choice but to choose Junyi. You don't need to worry about this."

Perhaps because of the strenuous activity early in the morning, Cen Sen’s voice was a bit low and hoarse, revealing a sense of physical and mental satisfaction.

Ji Mingshu reminded herself that this was just a marital sexual act and she shouldn't act like a lovesick fool, while at the same time failing to stop herself from frantically recalling the shameful images, causing her face to burn and her heart to race.

By the time Cen Sen finished his call, her Windsor knot was still not tied correctly.

Cen Sen gave her a deep look, then suddenly reached out and took the tie from her hands.

"I'll do it myself."

Ji Mingshu didn't dare to raise her eyes to meet his gaze. She wrapped herself tighter in the small quilt and sat on the bed, taking a long time before forcing a righteous tone: "I-it’s obviously something you should tie yourself! Is there something wrong with your brain? Couldn't you just put the phone on speaker? Why did you have to torment me!"

When she said the word "torment," she was more sensitive than anyone. Before blushing, she quickly lay down, pulling the quilt up to cover her head.

A low, soft scoff came from outside the quilt. She remained motionless, determined to play dead until Cen Sen left.

At 8:30 AM, Zhou Jiaheng and the driver finally waited for Cen Sen to emerge.

It was strange; in Zhou Jiaheng’s impression, Cen Sen had always been terrifyingly self-disciplined, and lateness should never happen to this boss.

But he didn't dare ask, simply filling in the blanks himself with the assumption of an unexpected situation like a marital spat.

In the morning, there was a group executive meeting, basically a routine report from the managers liaising with various branches.

The cities with the highest distribution of Junyi-affiliated hotels were Beijing and Xingcheng. Regarding the previous hotel inspections, Xingcheng hadn't been visited yet because Xingcheng had twenty-three hotels across four series under Junyi; a visit would require at least a week-long stay.

Coincidentally, this meeting brought up a mess caused by the higher-ups at the Xingcheng branch.

After the meeting adjourned, Cen Sen immediately instructed Zhou Jiaheng to adjust his recent schedule.

Zhou Jiaheng reminded him that it would be best not to cancel tonight's appointment with Director Chen. Cen Sen’s voice was low: "Then we’ll set off after it ends."

In the office, he finished the documents at hand and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to rest.

For some reason, the image of Ji Mingshu moaning under him popped into his head again—so sweet and so lustful.

His Adam’s apple bobbed once; he sat up and took a sip of black coffee.

In truth, he and Ji Mingshu had known each other for a very long time, but upon careful thought, their understanding of each other wasn't very deep.

For instance, Ji Mingshu’s insistence on a divorce if he cheated was completely beyond his expectations. In fact, he felt his own reaction was also somewhat beyond his own expectations.

Toward the word "divorce," he seemed to feel an inexplicable, out-of-control rejection.

Upon reflection, he found it ridiculous. The current Ji family was of no great use to him, whereas this marriage was entirely beneficial to the Ji family. If Ji Mingshu dared to keep the word "divorce" on her lips day in and day out, the members of the Ji family would be the first to object.

He opened a new file. Before he had read two lines, he suddenly picked up his phone from the side and sent Ji Mingshu a WeChat message.

When Ji Mingshu received Cen Sen’s WeChat, she was checking into a viral dessert shop with Jiang Chun and Gu Kaiyang.

The three had ordered a table full of things and had taken plenty of photos, but were all drinking bland clear tea.

Ji Mingshu and Gu Kaiyang had high standards for their figures. Wiping out a whole plate of braised pork ribs last night had made Ji Mingshu feel extremely guilty. Although the bed-based exercise had lasted from night till morning, she had still gained a full six taels when she stepped on the scale.

—There was no help for it; fat is a lie detector that even money cannot bribe. It is realistic and ruthless.

Jiang Chun had wanted to eat, but before she could extend her "goose claw," Ji Mingshu had begun to nag her frantically in her ear.

"Eat, eat, all you know is eating! Do you think you’ve already slimmed down to Zhao Feiyan? Maintaining your figure is a lifelong career for women! Yan Yu and that little green tea are still watching, and with the way you look, you still want to make Yan Yu regret his actions and see you and the little green tea both eat s*it?"

"Don’t think that just because you have some progress with Tang Zhizhou that you don't need to have standards for yourself. Tang Zhizhou might be looking at you through the eyes of a lover today, praising you for being 'chubby and cute,' but tomorrow he could turn his face and curse you for being an uncultured little fatty!"

Jiang Chun: "..."

Who could still eat after that?

After preventing Jiang Chun from letting go of herself, Ji Mingshu started whispering with Gu Kaiyang about the program.

She had too much of a "socialite" burden to maintain and couldn't quite make up her mind.

Gu Kaiyang, on the other hand, thought it would be an interesting experience. Moreover, she had always been a relatively independent and strong girl, consistently holding the view that girls should have their own careers.

Gu Kaiyang: "Participating in the program is first an experience; secondly, you can use it to develop your own career. The influence of Xingcheng TV is still quite good. If you participate in an Xingcheng TV program as an interior designer, you might get more cases in the future. Your husband is generous and has money that he can never finish spending, but it’s still more satisfying to spend money you’ve earned yourself, right?"

"No, it won't," Ji Mingshu said, propping her chin on her hand as a matter of course, "I think it’s more satisfying to spend money earned by others."

"..."

Upon closer reflection, there was nothing wrong with that statement.

At this moment, Ji Mingshu received a WeChat message from Cen Sen.

Cen Sen: [I am going to Xingcheng tonight; I might stay for a month or two.]

He was going to Xingcheng?

Ji Mingshu remembered that the filming for that program would also take about a month.

Immediately after, a new message arrived.

Cen Sen: [Call me if there is anything.]

Actually, Ji Mingshu had wanted to ask him last night if he had any opinions or suggestions if she went to participate in the program. Later, due to their entanglement in bed, she had forgotten all about it.

At this moment, she earnestly and promptly implemented Cen Sen’s words, "Call me if there is anything." Just as he finished sending the message and before he had put his phone down, she called him.

After chatting about some random things, Cen Sen suddenly asked her to hold on for a moment.

After waiting for half a minute, Cen Sen’s voice appeared on the other end of the line. Ji Mingshu cut to the chase: "Actually, it’s like this: there is a program on Xingcheng TV that wants to invite me to participate. It is a spatial design program, roughly in the form of teaming up with celebrities to complete design tasks. What do you think?"

Cen Sen looked at the program list sent by Zhou Jiaheng half a minute ago, his eyes landing on the line marked by Zhou Jiaheng:

"Group 3: Li Che, Ji Mingshu (Tentative)"

"Note: Li Che has plans to unbind from Meng Xiaowei. Can coordinate with the program team to group with an amateur. The amateur’s appearance is excellent; can be included as a key subject for filming."

He flipped through Li Che’s personal profile and said indifferently: "I don't think it’s very good."

Ji Mingshu: "..."

Cen Sen: "You might be more suitable for a program like Transformation."

Ji Mingshu: "...?”