My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 35

Chapter 35

After hanging up the phone, Cen Sen remained silent for a while.

Coincidentally, Zhou Jiaheng came over to deliver documents. Cen Sen paused, looked up, and asked, "If a man likes a woman's Moments, and praises her photos as pretty and cute, does that mean he is pursuing her?"

Zhou Jiaheng’s heart and mind were entirely consumed by work. Hearing such a question out of the blue, he was speechless for several seconds.

Once he managed to process it, his mind raced: Was President Cen implying something or using a metaphor? Or had some thorny situation appeared in his personal life that required his chief assistant to use intuition to actively alleviate his worries and burdens?

In just over ten seconds, Zhou Jiaheng had already weighed and measured a diplomatic response.

However, Cen Sen seemed to see that he had misinterpreted the question. Before Zhou could speak, he looked away and said, "Don't overthink it, I was just asking."

"..."

He had already overthought it.

Cen Sen: "You can go out first."

Zhou Jiaheng paused, nodded slightly, and turned to leave. Deep down, however, he felt a rare sense of confusion and unease.

He had followed Cen Sen for many years and understood his temperament perfectly. He could always grasp what Cen Sen was thinking or doing immediately and handle things appropriately.

But Cen Sen rarely mentioned private emotional matters, and with today’s attitude, he found himself momentarily unable to fathom his boss.

It wasn't just Zhou Jiaheng who couldn't fathom it; Cen Sen hadn't quite figured it out himself.

The office was silent. He took off his glasses, leaned back, and subconsciously rubbed his brow bone.

When it came to emotions, he had always been detached. He couldn't say he understood women well, nor had he ever felt a strong "like" or "dislike" for anyone he dated; at most, it stopped at the level of appreciation.

As for Ji Mingshu, since their student days, she had possessed many unsavory traits that fell outside his scope of appreciation.

Flashy and flighty, shallow and vain, arrogant and imperious, and extremely self-centered.

Back when Ji Mingshu would childishly provoke him repeatedly, he had even felt that, aside from her face, this girl was completely devoid of merit.

Fortunately, their paths rarely crossed, and they saw even less of each other after high school graduation.

However, every time he returned to Nanqiao Hutong, he would passively hear news about Ji Mingshu from the Cen family.

They would mention which university she was accepted into, what gifts she had sent back from abroad, how beautiful she had grown, and which boy from which family was currently pursuing her.

There had been a few informal encounters, but they were always fleeting glimpses, and they never even had a chance to speak.

It wasn't until the Centennial Celebration of the Affiliated High School, when the alumni organized a gathering, that he officially reunited with Ji Mingshu.

He and Ji Mingshu were in different grades, so logically, they shouldn't have run into each other at the gathering. But social gatherings for adults were never purely about reliving student friendships; they were merely opportunities to occupy a name for the sake of networking and exchanging resources.

To be more realistic, anyone useless had long ago been removed from the category of "classmate."

It was strange to say, but Cen Sen still remembered that Ji Mingshu wore a silver-green slip dress that night.

The style of the dress was simple and elegant, yet the pleated skirt was exquisite and complex. With her movements, the fine pleats swayed like ripples on water.

There was an ultra-thin belt of the same color cinching her waist, making her slim waist look so small it seemed it could be gripped with a single hand.

By the time Ji Mingshu arrived, Cen Sen had already consumed quite a bit of alcohol.

He felt sober, but for an instant upon seeing her, he mistakenly thought he was heavily intoxicated.

Ji Mingshu’s two uncles—one in business, one in politics—both desperately needed a powerful marriage alliance to bolster their standing.

At that time, Cen Sen had just happened to learn that they had secretly scouted a target for Ji Mingshu’s marriage.

The target they had scouted was the Su family, who had started in textiles in Jiangnan. The Su family had moved north to develop for several years and had achieved quite a bit in both political and business circles. Although they couldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the Cen family, they were the rising stars among the nouveau riche—a fierce force with a limitless future.

Cen Sen also knew the Su family’s youngest son; the man was intelligent, talented, and handsome, and was the primary protégé of the Su generation. However, he wasn't particularly clean in his private life—he was bisexual and engaged in all manner of promiscuity.

Thinking of all this, and then looking at the bright-eyed, white-toothed, and charming girl before him, Cen Sen felt a trace of pity in his heart.

Perhaps it was starting from that pity that he began to have vague thoughts, which was why, when Ji Mingshu accidentally drank alcohol spiked with additives, he stepped forward to take her away.

Actually, Cen Sen had originally intended to send Ji Mingshu to the hospital. But after Ji Mingshu sat there obediently for only a few minutes, she suddenly climbed onto him. She straddled him face-to-face, kneading his face and scolding him.

She scolded him for worshipping foreign things and fawning over foreigners, scolded him for having poor taste in dating a "little white lotus" like Li Wenyin, and immediately went on to mumble incoherently about how he shouldn't have broken up with Li Wenyin, that "non-recyclable trash" like them should just stay locked together and never let each other go.

He had drunk a lot that evening. To leave early with this heartless woman, he had been goaded into drinking a glass of whiskey without ice, and he was already far from sober.

He didn't have the presence of mind to ponder where this woman had gathered so much resentment, or why, upon reuniting after several years, she remembered to give him such a thorough dressing-down.

But the moment she finished scolding him, Ji Mingshu took the initiative to kiss him, moving from his lips down to his Adam's apple. She licked gently and lazily like a kitten, her voice sweet—even her scolding sounded like flirting.

Cen Sen was no saint immune to temptation; naturally, he couldn't withstand such vivid, sensual teasing.

For a few seconds, he even wondered if this was some trick cooked up by the Ji family to lure him into a trap. But with such soft, fragrant beauty in his arms, he found that being caught in this trap didn't seem so bad after all.

Just right; he happened to be missing an exquisite vase to use as a decoration.

The memory stopped abruptly as he entered the hotel suite. Cen Sen opened his eyes, rubbed his brow bone, and reopened the documents on his desk.

Perhaps he was just too tired lately, that he would let his imagination run wild because of a single sentence from that kid, Pei Xiyan.

Ji Mingshu was his wife. It was perfectly normal to praise her as pretty and cute; there was nothing to discuss regarding pursuit or liking.

Absurd.

Yet, not long after, he stopped writing and picked up his phone to send Ji Mingshu a message.

*

Cen Sen: [When does filming end today? I'm passing by, I can come pick you up.]

By the time Ji Mingshu saw this message, she was as tired as a salted fish.

Renovation work was a labor-intensive chore; ordinary people would find it exhausting, let alone a pampered socialite like Ji Mingshu.

She leaned languidly against the window and dialed Cen Sen, her voice limp and lifeless. "Just saw your message. I'm done recording. I'm so tired; I'll just go back myself."

Cen Sen: "I'm already here."

Ji Mingshu looked out the window instinctively.

In the corner of the residential parking lot, a familiar car was flashing its hazard lights.

Coincidentally, the staff had finished packing up the equipment and were calling to her, "Teacher Ji, shall we go? The car is here."

She covered the phone and turned back. "Oh, no need. My husband is here to pick me up."

"Huh? Teacher Ji, you're already married?"

"Couldn't tell at all, eh."

The staff were incredibly surprised by the fact that she was married.

In truth, when amateurs participated in recording, the production team would conduct background checks beforehand. However, Ji Mingshu was someone brought in by Meng Xiaowei, and since the financial backers had rejected the plan to have her manufacture a fake romantic scandal with Li Che or make her a key subject for filming, the production team hadn't wasted much energy on this decorative vase.

Add the fact that Ji Mingshu didn't have the habit of wearing a wedding ring, and she was fashionable and young—no one had thought in the direction of marriage. Thus, her simple marital status became a blind spot in the shadows.

Ji Mingshu didn't have the time to explain all that to them. She responded casually, went to the restroom to fix her makeup, and then ran downstairs impatiently.

She had been walking in high heels all day, and both her legs were on the verge of trembling. As soon as she got into the car, she bent down to rub her calves, whimpering "woo-woo-woo" and "it hurts, it hurts," shouting loud enough for the whole world to hear.

Cen Sen put down his documents and said nonchalantly: "You can wear flat shoes."

"?"

"What do you know? High heels are a woman's final stance! I would rather die than wear flat shoes to a recording!"

"..."

Cen Sen gave a cold "Oh," and continued reading his documents.

Oh?

Oh??

Oh???

Ji Mingshu stared at him in disbelief for ten seconds. Seeing him acting so nonchalant and relaxed while she was so tired her limbs felt soft and she was practically an invalid, she was absolutely furious!

She suddenly leaned to the side, and one leg, then the other, quickly and nimbly landed on Cen Sen.

"It hurts, help me rub it."

She spoke with total self-righteousness. Cen Sen turned to look at her; for a moment, he couldn't tell if she was acting like a spoiled brat or giving an order.

And once Ji Mingshu finished speaking, she behaved like a rogue and ignored him, occupying herself with her phone.

Cen Sen lowered his eyes and watched her legs for a while, remaining motionless for a long time.

"It hurts! It hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts!"

Ji Mingshu moved her legs to urge him, her tone filled with a coquettishness even she didn't notice.

Cen Sen’s heart stirred slightly. Thinking who knows what, he actually rolled up his sleeves in a leisurely manner and used his hands to gently knead her calves.

"..."

He was actually kneading?

Ji Mingshu shrank back instinctively.

In truth, she just wanted to act a little bratty to torment this dog of a man; who knew this dog of a man would be so compliant today.

Fortunately, she was very good at accepting kindness from others. She quickly relaxed and felt completely at ease nestled in the seat, enjoying exclusive service that cost thousands upon thousands of dollars per second.

It was such a pity not to brag when Cen Sen was doing something as rare as kneading legs.

Ji Mingshu opened WeChat, trying to think of how to post on her Moments without looking too pretentious.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated; Gu Kaiyang had sent a message.

Gu Kaiyang: [Ahhhhhh, sister, hold on!]

Gu Kaiyang: [Li Wenyin’s interview is out!]

Gu Kaiyang: [I’ll show you the highlights; this Gu-Gu has never seen such a shameless person in her life!!!]

Ji Mingshu: [?]

Gu Kaiyang sent over a screenshot of the interview with highlighted text.

In the thumbnail, one could see the bold heading "Li Wenyin Interview Transcript." Ji Mingshu’s heart skipped a beat. She clicked it open, scanned it, and quickly grasped the key points—

Li Wenyin: "I think turning what you write into a movie should be the dream of every writer. This story I wrote is, to me, very... how should I put it, very special and irreplaceable."

...

Li Wenyin: "Yes, in fact, many people know that this story has a prototype. The prototype is my first love and me. I used to write a piece called 'My First Love Got Married' on Weibo. I didn't think much of it when I wrote it, and I didn't think it would be widely reposted. Later, because I was afraid of causing him trouble, I chose to delete it."

...

Li Wenyin: "I want to make this movie not because I want to disturb him, but because I just want to say that when people are young, they don't know how to cherish things; they are childish and reckless. Perhaps because of my childishness and recklessness, I have lost him forever. But in another sense, we once possessed the most beautiful years of each other's lives."

...

Li Wenyin: "Yes, this story is very important and meaningful to me, so I will do my best to present it in its most perfect form. I also hope that when it appears on the big screen, everyone can recall their own youth, recall those years that they can never replicate—this is also the most sincere wish I have for him."

???

Wish?

What kind of bullshit is this? Does this little white lotus dare to say that to her face? If she didn't smear a face full of shit on this little white lotus, her surname wouldn't be Ji!!!

Ji Mingshu couldn't control the murderous aura inside her; her legs suddenly gave a twitch.

Cen Sen noticed and glanced up at her. "What's wrong?"

The little flame of anger in Ji Mingshu was already burning through her internal organs; she felt that if she opened her mouth, she could breathe out the Divine Fire of the Vermilion Bird. She endured it and endured it, swallowing the blood of rage as she said nonchalantly, "It's nothing."

The dignified and virtuous me absolutely must not get angry!!!