My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Afterwards, Jiang Chun sent a long string of exaggerated words accompanied by exclamation points, but Ji Mingshu didn't even take them in.

She stared at the chat interface without blinking, her thoughts seemingly trapped in a repetitive loop of confirmation and doubt, over and over again.

Gu Kaiyang saw her staring blankly at her phone and reached out to wave a hand in front of her face. "What's wrong with you?"

Ji Mingshu looked up, stared at her for three seconds, and suddenly blurted out, "Cen Sen beat someone until they were hospitalized because they bad-mouthed me."

"Cough! Cough, cough, cough!"

The porridge Gu Kaiyang had in her mouth wasn't even swallowed yet before she was choked violently by Ji Mingshu’s words.

Seeing her react so magically, Ji Mingshu also sobered up a little.

Mm... there must be some misunderstanding here. Maybe that little fatty happened to insult him, too. How could someone like Cen Sen, who is too lazy to even speak, start a fight over a disagreement—and do it for her sake?

Although she tried to rationalize and explain it to herself this way, Ji Mingshu spent the entire morning wallowing in a subtle, shameful sense of delight.

The noble young ladies and wealthy wives in the socialite circle were the best informed and the most adept at shifting with the wind.

In the past few days, aside from normal invitations from brand PR, no one had invited Ji Mingshu to attend the various big and small social events in the circle. Even if they had, it was with full malice, hiding behind the scenes to watch the joke.

But today, all morning long, the solicitous inquiries and social invitations from her "sisters" hadn't stopped.

[Dear, I have a new product showcase at my store tomorrow. I haven't seen you in so long! Do you have time? Should I send someone to pick you up?]

—This was a message from Fiona, the daughter of the chairman of the Gan-De Group, which made its fortune in mineral mining.

Fiona had studied jewelry design abroad for two years and launched an eponymous jewelry brand upon returning to China. Unfortunately, her talent was limited; the products she designed were always filled with the classic shadows of big brands like Tiffany, Cartier, and VCA, and they were also priced very high.

However, her flattery was quite heart-winning. Ji Mingshu had given her face and picked out a few pieces of jewelry that were passably decent at her store, but she had never worn them; they were either passed on to others or left to gather dust in a cabinet.

[Shushu, the final stop of my recital tour is back in the Imperial Capital! It's this Saturday night at the Sports Center. I've reserved a VIP seat for you. You must come if you have time! I miss you so much!]

—This was a message from Echo, the youngest daughter of the Bai family, a family of musicians.

Echo's parents were "red-rooted and sprout-straight" (politically impeccable), having been national-level singers who performed at state banquets in their youth; as they got older, they turned to a political career that was also smooth sailing.

Echo’s older siblings also followed the golden road their parents had walked before, but when it got to her, she somehow ended up posing as a pianist. Her playing wasn't anything special, but she relied on her family to pave the way and build momentum, launching a world tour for her piano recitals.

......

There were many more messages like this. Even without reading them all, Ji Mingshu knew what they contained.

After all, five out of ten socialites were independent fashion designers, and the other five were either doing jewelry design, playing music, opening art galleries, or heading titular charitable foundations. Whether they were proficient or passionate was debatable; the main thing was that putting those titles out there sounded decent and impressive.

On ordinary days, Ji Mingshu looked down on them for having "goldfish brains"—always hanging art and design on their lips while actually being half-filled buckets of water rattling around. Today, however, she suddenly propped her chin up and reflected: No matter how bad they were, they were at least seriously running a business. How were they not stronger than her, someone who looked down on everything and did nothing?

Not knowing what she thought of, she suddenly put down her phone, sat at the computer, and started typing seriously on the keyboard.

Around six in the evening, Ji Mingshu was just planning to get up from the computer to grab a yogurt from the fridge when a sound came from the door lock.

She looked up and saw it was actually Gu Kaiyang.

"You got off work so early today?"

Ji Mingshu was a little surprised.

For a fashion magazine like Zero Degree, working overtime was a common occurrence. She had never seen Gu Kaiyang get off work at a normal time before.

Gu Kaiyang didn't answer. Being all mysterious, she changed her shoes at the entrance and then "whooshed" over to her side, suddenly asking, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just organizing some of the design works I've done before." She looked Gu Kaiyang up and down, always feeling like something was strange. "What's wrong with you?"

Gu Kaiyang looked at her and couldn't hide it; a sneaky smile played at the corner of her mouth. She took out a delicate blue velvet jewelry box from behind her back and gave it a shake.

Ji Mingshu paused.

Gu Kaiyang placed the jewelry box on the table with great reverence, opened it solemnly, then stood up, crossing her hands properly over her lower abdomen. Imitating Zhou Jiaheng’s tone, she said, "Miss Gu, President Cen recently obtained a pink diamond ring. It is the intense-color pink diamond that Madam was very fond of last year. After being re-cut, the color grade has been upgraded to Fancy Vivid Pink, and it has already been modified to Madam's size. Please, do me the favor of passing it on."

Ji Mingshu looked at the oval diamond ring on the table, shimmering with pink light and exquisitely cut, unable to come back to her senses.

After finishing her impression of Zhou Jiaheng, Gu Kaiyang excitedly sat down next to Ji Mingshu, chattering away, "You have no idea how nervous I was carrying this ring back! Luckily, your husband's assistant sent a car and bodyguards to give me a ride! God, I secretly looked it up in the car—this ring sold for 32 million! In dollars! Your husband is being so sincere this time!"

Ji Mingshu: "..."

She stared at the ring, unable to look away for a long while.

She didn't know what Gu Kaiyang had experienced during the workday, but her attitude had shifted 180 degrees upon her return. She was frantically murmuring in Ji Mingshu’s ear about how "Cen Sen is good, Cen Sen is wonderful, Cen Sen is great," almost to the point of packing her bags to send her back to Mingshui Mansion, perhaps even throwing in two condoms as a gift.

Actually, when Ji Mingshu received the intelligence from Jiang Chun this morning, she had unhelpfully wavered for a second.

Now, staring at the pink diamond, she unhelpfully wavered for three seconds.

She took the ring out of the box and tried it on.

The rays of the evening sunset were just a shallow wisp, carrying a sleepy, dim dusk, but the pink diamond was dazzling; every facet was translucent and bright. The small circle of small diamonds set next to it also reflected brilliant light with the flexion and extension of her fingers.

Wuwuwu, it's too beautiful!

This is the ring a princess should own!

It's as stunning and breathtaking as her beauty!!!

Ji Mingshu was intoxicated by her love for the ring, unable to pull herself away. Gu Kaiyang's chattering, which had worn her tongue out, was ignored as if it had been filtered out, but when she heard the final sentence, "When are you going back?", her whole person suddenly sobered up as if she had drunk a hangover remedy.

—Ring equals going back?

"Who said I was going back?"

"Does he think he can dismiss me with a broken ring?"

"Last time I threw the divorce agreement at him, he just took a bracelet to dismiss me. Every time he does this—does he have any sincerity at all?!"

Gu Kaiyang: "This ring is more than a little bit more expensive than that bracelet. I think it shows quite a bit of sincerity."

Ji Mingshu took off the ring to examine it and suddenly deduced and concluded for herself: "He probably didn't do anything bad last time, which is why he was so righteous and just took any old bracelet to brush me off. Sending something so expensive this time doesn't it mean he's very guilty? Scumbag!"

Gu Kaiyang: "...?"

Ghost logic. Respect.

Ji Mingshu’s wavering heart became firm again. She put away the ring, threw it into a small drawer, and stopped looking at it. She straightened her body in front of the computer and continued organizing her work.

Early the next morning, the Junyi headquarters was to hold its monthly executive morning meeting.

Cen Sen sat at the head of the table in a white shirt and suit, wearing a pair of light gold-rimmed glasses.

After the reports below were finished, he didn't even lift his eyes as he said directly, "Manager Lan, I am very curious about who promoted you to your current position. When reporting work, all you use are ambiguous words like 'should,' 'possible,' and 'perhaps.' What use does Junyi have for you? You might as well go through the training program again with the management trainees and start from scratch."

"And the entire Corporate Communications Department—the plans brought out for two consecutive months look like old staff members in the system relying on their tenure to get a free meal. Junyi is not a retirement institution. Those whose brains can no longer turn should go to the Personnel Department to go through the procedures and leave."

......

When he criticized people, his voice was always cold and emotionless. If it weren't directed at oneself, one could even hear a certain sort of well-arranged, methodical linguistic beauty in it.

During the whole meeting, everyone was trembling and walking on thin ice. When it ended, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Cen Sen left without a pause, heading straight back to his office, while Zhou Jiaheng stayed behind to help him pack up his laptop and materials.

Someone couldn't help but ask Zhou Jiaheng, "Assistant Zhou, what is wrong with President Cen these past few days? He feels weird."

On ordinary days, Cen Sen was also cold and distant, but his speech and conduct could still give people a sense of gentleness. He wasn't like today, where he was cold to the point of being almost mean. Even Manager Lan, a flower recognized as a "delicate flower" of Junyi, was singled out by him and publicly dissed without mercy.

Zhou Jiaheng smiled but didn't answer.

Others saw that they couldn't get anything out of him, so they didn't find it strange; they just shook their heads, sighed, and packed their things to return to work.

Although Zhou Jiaheng hadn't answered the question, he had his own bitterness that he couldn't voice. After all, who else could bear more invisible transferred anger than his personal assistant?

As soon as he left the meeting room, Zhou Jiaheng found a place where no one was around and made a phone call to his subordinates.

"Has the news been spread? Does Miss Jiang know about Junyi withdrawing the investment and the boss hitting someone?"

......

"It's been spread? Then why is there no reaction at all?"

......

"Did Madam go out today? She didn't return the ring, right?"

......
After finishing the call, Zhou Jiaheng felt even more uneasy. He couldn't understand why the "little aunt-grandma" was so hard to coax this time. For a moment, his pace toward the President’s office became increasingly heavy, and his mood felt like he was headed to a funeral.

In the week that followed, Cen Sen sent four or five gifts to Ji Mingshu one after another.

Ji Mingshu accepted them all without exception, but there was not a word of reply.

Zhou Jiaheng couldn't help but hint and remind Cen Sen that this probably wasn't enough sincerity. You send gifts quite diligently, but you could at least show your face... or, at the very least, make a phone call.

But Cen Sen only glanced at him coldly, without ever taking action.

Zhou Jiaheng didn't know that every night, when the world was quiet, Cen Sen would drive himself to Xinggang International and park across the street, quietly looking at that window that was sometimes pitch black and sometimes lit with a warm yellow light.

Every time he parked there, he felt he could think some things through clearly. But on a deeper level, he subconsciously didn't want to admit it, didn't want to expose it.

Clearly, at the beginning, he didn't have this kind of feeling for Ji Mingshu.

This week, Ji Mingshu carefully organized her past works and compiled her education and honors received during school into a beautiful resume, putting it online to take on interior design work as an independent designer.

But as Gu Kaiyang said, the design direction she took actually overlapped highly with her social circle.

And people in this social circle, without a referral from an acquaintance, would usually only look for more famous designers to complete their projects.

She had it posted for a week, and there wasn't even a single person asking.

Late at night, Ji Mingshu squatted in front of the computer, somewhat frustrated.

This whole week, the desire to spend money had been stirring in her bones, and she had resisted it all. But her balance was still visibly shrinking day by day.

"Making money is so hard," "Being an ordinary person is really so tiring," "I don't want to work hard, I'm just a beautiful little golden canary baby," "Wuwuwu, the new bag from Chanel is so pretty," "If that dog-man Cen Sen called, I would reluctantly forgive him"—various thoughts took turns attacking her mind, making her feel exhausted.

Gu Kaiyang was as tired as a dog from work and fell asleep upon returning. Ji Mingshu sat at the computer for a while, then suddenly got up, grabbed her key card and phone, and crept out quietly.

In the past, Ji Mingshu hadn't really stepped into a convenience store, but recently she had become familiar with them, and she could even exchange smiles with the familiar cashier.

She bought a small cup of oden and a salted egg yolk ice cream at the convenience store, then sat on a stone bench by the side of the road, blowing in the night wind and eating her solo meal in small bites.

The street lamps intermittently dropped a layer of warm yellow halos from the treetops. She finished the last piece of spinach, peeled open the ice cream, and bit it mouth by mouth, suddenly missing Cen Sen a little.

It had only been ten days or so, but it felt like it had been longer than the two years he went to Australia.

She didn't know why she wanted to think of him. Clearly, he was always so cold; only when he wanted to go to bed would he make braised pork ribs to coax her, and he would disdain her designs and tell her to kneel and kowtow to the Potala Palace.

But she couldn't help but think of him.

Halfway through the ice cream, Ji Mingshu felt a little cold, but it was a bit wasteful not to finish the remaining half. She got up, planning to go home to continue eating; at least she wouldn't have to blow in the wind.

But the moment she stood up, she seemed to sense something. She subconsciously looked across the street, and her heart unexpectedly gave a violent jump.

But before she could search for anything, a string of WeChat messages suddenly arrived, from the Chinese designer Chris Chou, whom she hadn't been in touch with for a long time.

Chris Chou: [Shu, I wonder if you are free lately?]

Chris Chou: [I am coming to the Imperial Capital for a show. The Milan runway stage you designed for me is the most spiritual and fitting stage for my work I have seen in recent years. I hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with you again.]

Chris Chou: [This is the relevant information for this runway. Looking forward to your early reply.]

Ji Mingshu’s spirits lifted, and she opened the attachment message sent by Chris Chou.

She hadn't looked carefully at the rest yet, but her gaze accurately locked onto the venue of the big show, and her vision suddenly went black.

Are you serious?

Junyi Huazhang?