My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

In truth, the loopholes Lawyer Wang pointed out weren’t really loopholes at all; they were contract traps intentionally laid by the party of the first part (the production team) specifically to exploit the party of the second part (the participants) who lacked leverage.

These traps weren't necessarily meant to target any one person in particular; they were just common, minor tactics used by the party of the first part to ensure they maintained absolute control. If the other party had any real bargaining power, the production team wouldn't have dared to present such a template contract in the first place.

For instance, Li Che’s contract was completely free of such issues.

Changing a few clauses wouldn't cause any major losses, and since Li Che had personally spoken up, they had to give him face one way or another.

Thus, right on the verge of one of Ji Mingshu's "princess syndrome" episodes, the production team hurriedly presented her with a contract that finally satisfied her.

The producer was a person who knew how to adapt to the situation, especially flexible when needed. One second, he was muttering in his heart, "Take it or leave it, get out if you don't like it," but the next second, facing Ji Mingshu, he assumed the demeanor of a kind, approachable producer with no airs, showing an exaggerated amount of patience and politeness to this non-celebrity participant.

Ji Mingshu was preoccupied with the idea of acting in opposition to Cen Sen. He didn't want her to participate, so she was determined to do it.

Besides, since the contract had been revised and the producer had apologized, she couldn't be bothered to quibble over such trivialities. With a flourish, she signed her name at the bottom of the document.

The official filming was set to begin in a week. After signing, the producer explained the grouping arrangements and relevant procedures to her and Li Che, kindly informing them that they could contact him directly for any questions, and personally saw them to the elevator before they left.

As the elevator doors closed, the producer’s abstract, pancake-like face slowly vanished. Li Che turned slightly and initiated the conversation: "Ms. Ji, long time no see."

"Long time no see," Ji Mingshu replied with polite courtesy, adding a word of thanks, "And thank you for the thing with the contract just now."

Li Che smiled. "It's nothing."

Ji Mingshu was accustomed to others clearing the way for her and felt this was indeed a minor matter, so she gave a slight nod and didn't offer any further pleasantries.

The silence in the elevator suddenly became suffocating.

Li Che’s accompanying executive manager, assistant, and legal counsel all instinctively glanced at Ji Mingshu.

It had been a long time since they had seen anyone treat Li Che so coldly. They were genuinely plagued by questions from the depths of their souls: Girl, are you not planning to chat for a bit, add him on WeChat, or ask for an autograph or a photo?

Although Li Che wasn't quite a "top-tier" traffic star, his popularity and visibility were clearly in the upper echelon of young male idols.

Moreover, he had powerful backing, and his fashion and film resources far outstripped other actors at his level.

On top of that, the process of severing his pairing with Meng Xiaowei was already on the agenda, and his future potential for advancement was not to be underestimated.

Now, wherever Li Che went, he was pursued and fawned over. Ji Mingshu’s unconventional indifference made his entourage feel extremely uncomfortable.

Li Che himself didn't seem to mind. Since Ji Mingshu didn't speak, he took the initiative to start the conversation again, saying gently, "It’s actually quite a pity. The producer said they had originally planned to put me in a group with you, but the sponsors had their own considerations, so the group assignments were adjusted."

Ji Mingshu: "Is that so? What a pity then."

What difference does it make who I'm grouped with? I'm here to outshine the competition, after all.

The entourage: "..."

Is she a fan of a rival, or a secret hater? Does she have to be so dismissive?

The topic died out once again, and the elevator fell into silence. Fortunately, it was a fast elevator, and the awkwardness didn't last long.

Upon reaching the basement parking lot, Ji Mingshu displayed even more of a "star" aura than Li Che. With a brief "Goodbye," she put on her sunglasses and walked away without looking back, as if no one else existed.

Li Che’s entourage wore expressions of total bewilderment, while Li Che himself was slightly stunned, though he smiled immediately afterward.

Once they got into the nanny van, his entourage began to chatter:

"This Ms. Ji really has an attitude. Anyone who didn't know better would think she was the celebrity. She’s so stuck-up; it's a sight to behold."

"Did she sign with an agency to debut? Her appearance is actually quite exceptional."

"Who knows? Her family background must be pretty good. Remember the last magazine cover A-Che shot with Xiao Wei? The Zero Degree one... Xiao Wei’s dress seems to have been borrowed from her."

"That’s true, she’s decked out in Dior from head to toe, and that handbag is rare BK-leather; she must be loaded."

"The watch looks like a VCA style, but I’ve never seen that dial. Either it's a fake or a custom piece."

As they talked, they curiously asked Li Che about it, but he indicated that he wasn't quite sure of her background either.

It wasn't just Li Che who didn't know; even Meng Xiaowei only knew that her family was well-off and that she was close with Gu Kaiyang. She didn't even know Ji Mingshu was married; otherwise, she wouldn't have given the producer the bad idea to manufacture a romantic "pairing" for the show.

The group debated for a long time without reaching a conclusion, only strongly suspecting that Ji Mingshu was being so arrogant either to give Li Che the cold shoulder on purpose or to attract his attention.

To be honest, Ji Mingshu really wasn't trying to snub Li Che, nor did she have any intention of taking some alternative route to get his attention.

It was just that she had seen too many stars drinking, sleeping with people, and playing the sycophant, wearing one face in public and another in private, so she had long since lost any sense of novelty regarding celebrities.

Moreover, seeing a celebrity was far too easy for her; she didn't see the industry as having any special halo.

To her, Li Che was like a classmate from a college elective course she hadn't been close with. There was no intersection in their lives, so there was no need to be overly familiar.

After getting into her car, Ji Mingshu reported the day's signing to Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun, and incidentally, copied and pasted the exact same report to send to Cen Sen.

She was simply stating the events of the afternoon very objectively, without turning into a "crying little baby" and without any cutesy emojis, but from her narrative, one could inexplicably feel the infinite grievances of a princess.

Facts proved that sisters were always more sensible than men.

Hearing that the production team had only sent a small assistant to receive her and that there had been traps in the contract, Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun replied almost instantly, egging each other on with a passionate, ten-minute rant.

The gist of it was, "It's getting cold, the Star City station should go bankrupt," "Those blind dogs don't recognize a princess, whoever wants to participate can do it, our baby isn't taking this abuse," and "How could they treat our most delicate little golden canary baby like this? It’s absolutely outrageous, inhuman, and they deserve to be executed on the spot!"

By the time the sisters' group chat finished the verbal abuse, there was still no movement from Cen Sen.

Ji Mingshu didn't want to return to the hotel, so she told her driver to take her to Jin Sheng International, the largest shopping mall in Star City.

The selection of brands and the inventory at Jin Sheng International were decent enough. She strolled for over forty minutes and spent over 500,000.

Just as she finished shopping and was preparing to leave, Cen Sen finally replied.

Cen Sen: [You'll get used to it.]

Ji Mingshu: [……?]

Cen Sen had just finished negotiating a contract himself. It had gone smoothly, and he was in a decent mood.

Now that he had some free time, he tossed a few reminders filled with life philosophy to this spoiled brat.

Cen Sen: [You are not a celebrity, and the other party has limited understanding of you; it is perfectly normal for them to treat you with indifference.]

Cen Sen: [The special treatment you usually enjoy stems from your background and from the fact that your husband is me. And when you enjoy special treatment, more people are being treated with indifference. You should try to experience this feeling more; it will be helpful to you.]

"..."

Why haven't I ever seen him talk so much?

If he wasn't going to offer comfort, why did he have to suddenly start lecturing her on life philosophy?

Was he implying something because she just spent over 500,000?

What a stingy, dog-bitch man!

But, considering she had just spent some of his money, Ji Mingshu couldn't exactly flip out and bash her financial backer, so she replied with extreme perfunctoriness: "You're right."

After sending it, she immediately changed her attitude, taking a screenshot of Cen Sen's toxic chicken soup and posting it to the group chat, hoping to unite the collective strength of her friends to humiliate and criticize the dog of a man.

She even started it off: "Look at this—is this even human language?"

The second before she pressed send, she suddenly paused and realized something was wrong.

Wait.

This wasn't the group chat.

Why did she send it to him again?

Ji Mingshu was stunned for two seconds and quickly deleted the text she hadn't sent yet.

But the screenshot had already gone through, and Cen Sen had even replied with a question mark, apparently confused as to why she had suddenly sent him a screenshot of their chat.

Ji Mingshu: [……]

Ji Mingshu: [Your phone is out of battery; look at the battery icon in the top right.]

Oh wait, that was her phone's battery. She desperately hit "recall" and started typing furiously.

Ji Mingshu: [I think this passage you said is worth deep reflection, and I want to screenshot it to save as a memento.]

Ji Mingshu: [Sincere.jpg]

Cen Sen didn't reply for a long time. He searched online for how to quickly circle images in red, then sent the screenshot back to her.

Ji Mingshu opened it and found that Cen Sen had drawn a red circle around the header of the original screenshot—the one where she had saved his contact name as "Dog Man."

Careless. I was so careless.

Maintaining the mindset that since she had just spent the financial backer's money, she must maintain a harmonious and friendly relationship, Ji Mingshu closed her eyes and began to butter him up with rainbow farts.

Ji Mingshu: [You are truly meticulous with astonishing observational skills; no wonder you were able to get into Harvard.]

Ji Mingshu: [How did you learn to draw red circles? I don't even know how to do that. Your learning ability is truly strong, and even a casual drawing is so round—you must have studied math and art well too.]

Immediately afterward, she quickly changed his contact name and sent him another screenshot.

This time, she changed the note to "Dear Husband." It could be said to be a mix of modern rainbow-fart art and the subtle, sarcastic art of "Are you satisfied now?", perfectly achieving her goal of making him feel uncomfortable while giving him nothing to say.

Ji Mingshu felt quite satisfied with her quick thinking and watched her phone while eating her salad with a smirk.

She had originally thought Cen Sen would reply "Childish" or just not reply at all, but two minutes later, Cen Sen sent back a screenshot of his own, showing that he had changed her contact name to—"Dear Wife."

Ji Mingshu: "..."

OJBK. In the field of 'Give me a fulcrum and I can leverage the entire earth,' the Cen family's Sen-Sen is still the best scholar.

Her skills were inferior; she had lost, and the salad had become a bit too cloying to eat because of the note.