My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

In truth, Ji Mingshu knew very little about the past affairs of the Cen family. It wasn't until she was in her second year of middle school that she inadvertently learned Cen Sen had a background story that was rather melodramatic and bizarre: he and Cen Yang had been switched at birth.

Ji Mingshu didn't know exactly how the mix-up occurred or how it was discovered when they were seven or eight years old. She only remembered that the first feeling she had when she found out was shock.

Because the day before she learned this, Shu Bao—the middle schooler—had just finished reading a romance novel about a wealthy young lady being intentionally swapped by a wicked nanny, with the heroine naturally being the "real" young lady.

After finishing it, she automatically and spontaneously identified with the identity of the "fake" young lady, fantasizing: What if I was the one switched at birth? What if, when I’m about to get married, a white lotus "ugly duckling" suddenly pops up to fight me for my identity, my property, and my husband? And what if I use every trick in the book but fail to defeat the white lotus heroine, ending up in a tragic state, miserable, penniless, and loveless?

Her second feeling was that Cen Sen was just too, too hateful!

It was said that the Cen family’s initial thought was this: they wanted to bring Cen Sen back to acknowledge his ancestors. As for Cen Yang, having raised him for so many years, their bond was already deep, so they would continue to raise him as their own child. The two brothers could keep each other company; after all, the Cen family was not lacking the small amount of money it took to raise a child.

But they never expected that Cen Sen would refuse.

Even at such a young age, his attitude was exceptionally firm. He stated directly: if they wanted him back in the Cen family, Cen Yang had to go.

The Cen family was an extremely traditional clan. On the surface, they appeared harmonious, but in reality, they favored boys over girls and the direct line over collateral branches—to say nothing of the distinction between blood and non-blood relatives.

Therefore, when faced with the choice, the Cen family surely prioritized fulfilling the demands of Cen Sen, the "true prince," as their first principle. With almost no disagreement, they sentenced Cen Yang to exile.

Cen Yang was packed up and sent back to the An family in Star City. The Cen family gave the An family a large sum of child-support money, requiring them to move abroad as a family and forbidding them from stepping foot in the capital or Star City until Cen Yang came of age. From then on, there was only Cen Sen in the Cen family; no one was allowed to mention Cen Yang ever again.

At the time, Ji Mingshu had thought, Why couldn't you just come back and leave it at that? Why did you have to force brother Cen Yang to leave? So, brother Cen Yang didn't go abroad to study; he was forced out by this male-version ugly duckling.

This ugly duckling is way too cold-blooded and ruthless. If he's this vicious at such a young age, what will he be like when he grows up?

She had genuinely identified with Cen Yang’s character, feeling his pain, and genuinely felt repulsed and disgusted by the "moving iceberg" that was Cen Sen—a man of few words and harsh actions. This truth could be said to be the direct fuse for Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen constantly clashing during her adolescence.

However, as she grew older, Ji Mingshu’s childhood bond with Cen Yang gradually faded and was forgotten, and she became increasingly capable of looking at issues from Cen Sen’s perspective.

In fact, from beginning to end, he was never the one at fault. No one had the qualification to stand by and watch the show, let alone be generous with his property.

The Maybach made a U-turn from the airport and drove all the way toward the Star University faculty apartments.

The closer they got to Star University, the more nervous Ji Mingshu became. Every few moments, she would raise a small mirror to check her makeup, smoothing her hair over and over to ensure it was silky and flawless.

Before getting out of the car, she even changed to a more understated lipstick color and dug a trench coat out from the trunk to wear. She was fully prepared, looking even more nervous than Cen Sen.

There was no help for it; she had no mother-in-law, and Cen Yuanzhao was in poor health and spent most of his time recuperating in a manor on the outskirts of the capital, where he wasn't allowed visitors. Consequently, she hadn't really dealt with the elder generation of her in-laws.

The An parents had raised Cen Sen for several years, accompanying him through the most innocent period of his life. No matter how much they had cut off contact, there had to be some lingering feelings.

Reasonably speaking, these two could be counted as half a father-in-law and half a mother-in-law to her. Plus, they were both professors at Star University, and as a "half-daughter-in-law" meeting them for the first time, she was truly a bit nervous.

Ji Mingshu was too preoccupied with her own nervousness to notice Cen Sen’s excessive silence along the way.

Standing in front of the old faculty apartment building, she adjusted her makeup one last time, fished her wedding ring out of her bag to put on, and then clung affectionately to Cen Sen’s arm, perfectly embodying the image of a virtuous and filial wife.

However, this filial daughter-in-law was stumped by the task of going upstairs.

She didn't know how many years old these Star University apartments were. Not to mention that there was no elevator, the stairs were incredibly narrow, small, high, and steep.

Ji Mingshu, by some stroke of bad luck, was wearing a pair of sharp, dainty, bling-bling CL heels. After climbing two flights, she was already feeling less than stellar—and the An family lived on the impossibly distant sixth floor. :)

"No, I can't. I need to rest. I’m exhausted."

In a mere three flights of stairs, Ji Mingshu had successfully crawled into a state of being a salt-dried fish that could only pant. She dragged on Cen Sen, refusing to move an inch, resembling a professional "touch-porcelain" scam artist who would collapse and faint on the road from ten meters away just to demand a hug.

Cen Sen glanced at her, said nothing, and walked down two steps. Bending his body slightly, he whispered, "Get on."

Ji Mingshu: "...?"

She rubbed her calf, still unable to believe that this dog-like man had suddenly developed humanity.

Climbing all the way to the sixth floor and getting off his back, Ji Mingshu quietly observed: It was strange; she never saw him exercising, yet he had climbed six floors with someone on his back without even panting.

Did he secretly take calcium supplements behind my back?

No, it must be because I am true to my appearance—as light as a canary.

The old apartment building probably didn't have great soundproofing. Just as they reached the landing, the security door on the right—which had seen better days—creaked open from the inside.

A thin, delicate face peeked out. "Excuse me, are you... Cen, Brother Cen Sen?"

The girl looked about nineteen or twenty, her hair tied in a ponytail with a black hairband. She was wearing no makeup and looked like a pure, simple female college student.

Cen Sen was slightly stunned, then returned to normal, nodding with an "Mm."

The girl looked at Cen Sen for a long time without moving her gaze. When she saw Ji Mingshu behind him, she was even more stupefied.

She had never seen such a beautiful woman in real life—she was simply too beautiful. She seemed to glow, and just by standing here, she made the entire building feel more valuable.

The girl was dazed for a long while before she stuttered and led them into the house.

This apartment was nearly 140 square meters, already the largest in the Star University faculty housing. This was because both of the An parents were professors, qualifying them for such a superior size.

But, just as a certain female celebrity said that anything under a carat was collectively referred to as "diamond crumbs," in Ji Mingshu’s concept, anything under 300 square meters could only be collectively referred to as "house crumbs."

As soon as she entered, she felt at a loss, overwhelmed by the lingering aura of the past and the cramped space. She didn't know where to stand.

She looked at Cen Sen expectantly, but he ignored her. His gaze wandered over every item in the room with a gentle affection that was different from his usual demeanor.

After the goose-like girl ushered them in, she didn't introduce herself, nor did she pour tea or water. Instead, she scrambled into the kitchen to inform Chen Biqing.

After a while, the An mother, Chen Biqing—wearing an apron with silver threads already mixed into her hair—ran hurriedly out of the kitchen.

Chen Biqing must have been a beauty when she was young. Perhaps because "poetry and books in the belly make one elegant," even dressed plainly in an apron, she carried an inherent, elegant scholarly air. It was just that she didn't look like a returned overseas Chinese who had lived abroad for over a decade; there was a sense of world-weariness about her, as if she had weathered many storms.

The old apartment was quite dusty. Light projected from the window outside, and dust motes were illuminated into beams, floating in the air, perfectly still.

The apartment was also very quiet, with only the faint sound of the range hood coming from the kitchen.

Chen Biqing stood three or four meters away from Cen Sen. Almost at the moment she saw him, her eyes reddened.

She covered her mouth, staring unblinkingly at Cen Sen, and tears rolled straight down her cheeks.

For some reason, at that instant, Ji Mingshu felt her heart being severely tugged.

It was too strange. She was clearly a contrarian who could laugh and nitpick bugs in pure-love tragedy movies, but she inexplicably felt that if she had a mother who loved her very much, the look in her eyes should be just like Chen Biqing’s.

Cen Sen—she glanced at Cen Sen.

No expression.

Facing the person he had called "mother" for seven or eight years, he was just like that: expressionless.

She felt that she might never find any surplus emotion on Cen Sen’s face for the rest of her life.

At noon, they sat down to eat. Ji Mingshu never saw Cen Yang, who had been gone for many years, nor did she see the An father who should have been present. At the small square table, there was only Chen Biqing, Cen Sen, her, and Cen Sen’s sister, An Ning.

When Cen Sen left, An Ning was only one year old, just a little baby. The two of them had no bond as siblings, so naturally, there was nothing to say. Cen Sen was naturally silent, and Chen Biqing remained choked with emotion, only able to transfer her attention by constantly picking up food for them. Thus, the heavy responsibility of enlivening the atmosphere fell upon Ji Mingshu.

Ji Mingshu felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. She didn't know how to address Chen Biqing. Should she follow Cen Sen’s lead? But Cen Sen never called her anything from beginning to end. Should she chat about recent events? That wasn't appropriate either. Intuition told her that the An father and Cen Yang were minefields she couldn't step on; she even felt that asking where An Ning was studying might accidentally trigger an explosion.

Since that was the case, she could only develop a topic based on the dishes in front of them.

"This lotus root sandwich is so delicious; I’ve never eaten it before."

—That was because she never ate fried food.

"This vegetable is also very fresh and fragrant."

—That was because it was stir-fried with lard, and she would absolutely never touch a weight-killer like lard in her daily life.

"This fish is also very tender..."

In order to use practical action to awkwardly praise the fish, Ji Mingshu took a large piece and swallowed it alive.

The next second: "Cough! Cough, cough!"

She suddenly grabbed Cen Sen’s arm and pointed at her throat, coughing until her face was red.

Chen Biqing: "What's wrong? Is it stuck?"

An Ning: "Sister-in-law, are you okay? Swallow a spoonful of rice and use some force."

Ji Mingshu believed her nonsense and actually swallowed it, nearly dying of pain on the spot.

Chen Biqing hurried to get up. "I'll go get you some vinegar."

After a bowl of vinegar was poured down and she swallowed twice, until the fish bone softened, she looked at the three people who had stood up and were surrounding her, listening to their concern—one sentence after another. She felt a small sense of comfort.

To liven up the atmosphere, this baby has really sacrificed too much.

Cen-family Sen-Sen, what you owe me must be paid back with an aircraft carrier. :)