My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Half an hour later

Cen Sen sent Ji Mingshu a WeChat message.

Cen Sen: [Mingshu, what's wrong?]

He had originally edited it to say, "What's wrong again?" but today, Shu Yang and Zhao Yang happened to be lecturing in the group chat, saying: "Never use the phrase 'what's wrong again' with a woman; it makes them feel like the man has absolutely no patience."

He remembered this advice right before sending it and specifically deleted the word "again."

Ji Mingshu had been waiting specifically for him to ask, so naturally, she saw this message the moment it arrived.

She didn't reply. Being difficult and moody, she intentionally set her phone to silent mode and placed it face down on the table.

Gu Kaiyang, leaning against the other side of the sofa, slanted her eyes to glare at her, her entire face screaming, "I have absolutely nothing to say to this."

Back when Ji Mingshu first returned, she had gone on a nonstop, chattering rant to accuse Cen Sen of his crimes.

At the time, Gu Kaiyang didn't think it was a big deal and subconsciously helped Cen Sen by saying a few words in his defense.

Later, however, she couldn't be bothered to speak anymore, because no matter what she said, Ji Mingshu could find a twisted angle to come up with new charges and nail Cen Sen to the judgment rack.

Anyway, since Ji Mingshu had made up her mind to find fault, her husband was guilty of unforgivable sins regardless—whether he stepped over the threshold with his left foot first or took a breath of fresh air that she didn't approve of.

Thinking of this, Gu Kaiyang grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it, radiating deep despair from head to toe, feeling as though "there’s no end in sight for this couple of drama queens."

Ji Mingshu was extremely dissatisfied with this dismissive attitude and used a back-scratcher to poke at the pillow on her face.

"Gu Kaiyang, get up! What is that attitude? Do you feel like that scumbag man, thinking I’m being unreasonable?!"

"We’ve been friends for so many years; tell me the truth, did you take that scumbag’s money? Why are you siding with him?"

"Fine, even if you don't say it, I can see right through you. You don't love me anymore, I’m not your little princess, and as expected, women whose edges have been worn down by work are all this mercenary!"

As she spoke, she matched her poking rhythmically to her accusations.

Gu Kaiyang felt she was being driven to a nervous breakdown. She suddenly removed the pillow and asked a question that came from the depths of her soul: "Tell me, do you actually like Cen Sen? Didn't he fail to cheat and then pull his funding? You also put on a perfect, successful show to prove you aren't useless, so he’s brought you back—why don't you just continue to legitimately squander his money?"

"I've realized that after knowing you for so many years, suddenly lately, you’ve become incredibly principled. You've set such high requirements for your husband... And it's one thing to have high standards for your husband, but why are you setting such high standards for me too?!"

Ji Mingshu met her eyes for three seconds, then suddenly looked away and said nonchalantly, "Yeah, I do."

"What?" Gu Kaiyang had asked too much just now and didn't know which part she was replying to.

"I like Cen Sen. I just realized it a while ago; I forgot to tell you."

Ji Mingshu said it so naturally that the tone was exactly the same as when she went out, forgot to buy Coke, and told someone to settle for the Sprite they had at home instead.

Gu Kaiyang was stunned for a moment. "No, are you serious?"

Ji Mingshu: "Why would I lie to you?"

Having admitted it secretly to herself, and then to Cen Yang, she seemed less and less embarrassed to mention her feelings for Cen Sen.

She even felt that if she admitted it a few more times, she might actually dare to confess directly to Cen Sen.

"..."

Gu Kaiyang was speechless for a long while.

She carefully reviewed the series of abnormal behaviors Ji Mingshu had exhibited since moving into her house over the past few months. Come to think of it, if she added the prerequisite that "Ji Mingshu likes Cen Sen," many things that had seemed unreasonable now suddenly made perfect sense.

She had always wondered how Ji Mingshu, who had been content being a parasite for so many years, suddenly awakened to set up an "independent, strong woman" persona just because Li Wenyin provoked her. It turned out that, deep down, it was a blow to her pride—she couldn't stand being looked down upon by the person she liked. Running away from home was just her waiting for him to come, kiss her, hold her, and lift her up.

Minshui Mansion.

After Cen Sen finished sending the message to Ji Mingshu, he sat in the living room dealing with company affairs.

But he couldn't concentrate. He rubbed his brow from time to time and glanced at the phone on the coffee table.

After about half an hour, the phone finally showed some activity, but it was Zhou Jiaheng calling to report on Cen Yang's petty schemes.

After listening, Cen Sen only replied with a bland "Mm," showing no fluctuation in his emotions.

In fact, he had received the news the day Cen Yang returned to the country. This was information Cen Yuanchao had told him personally.

The Cen family, mindful of past ties, had given Cen Yang many green lights over the years he was abroad. Cen Yang did not fail their expectations, steadily moving toward the path of becoming an industry elite.

It could be said that as long as he was willing to let go of the past, the future laid out before him was a golden, smooth road.

But unfortunately, he couldn't let go of the past.

In reality, Cen Sen had no interest in anything Cen Yang was planning. He had been away from the Cen family for so long that he seemed to have forgotten how much this surname, seemingly warm but actually cold-blooded, had grown in stature.

Even the once evenly matched Huadian Ji family had to bow to Jingjian. Everything Cen Yang was doing didn't even qualify as an egg hitting a rock.

Compared to admiring his futile struggles, Cen Sen was obviously more interested in preparing pork ribs at this moment.

After hanging up the phone, he walked to the kitchen island, slowly rolled up his sleeves, and began to prepare the spare ribs.

Having spent the entire afternoon gossiping idly, Ji Mingshu finally stopped talking at dusk.

Both she and Gu Kaiyang were starving and rumbling, and they both held their phones, debating whether to order "braised chicken with rice" or "boneless pickled fish" tonight. At that moment, the doorbell rang abruptly.

Ji Mingshu stuck out her little foot to kick Gu Kaiyang. Being used to being enslaved, Gu Kaiyang got up quite voluntarily.

"Who is it?" Gu Kaiyang asked while looking through the peephole.

A polite male voice sounded from outside the door, "Hello, is this Miss Gu's home? I am a staff member from the catering department of Junyi Huazhang Hotel, here to deliver a meal for you and Miss Ji."

Hearing "Junyi Huazhang," Gu Kaiyang opened the door without hesitation.

The delivery person bowed slightly and smiled as he handed over the insulated food box, "Hello, inside are two bento boxes prepared by our hotel, and there is also a small box of braised pork ribs, which is for Miss Ji."

Gu Kaiyang smiled too, "Okay, thank you."

After seeing the person off, Gu Kaiyang carried the food box and darted back to the living room.

She was about to ask why the braised ribs were specifically named for Miss Ji when Ji Mingshu opened the box, scooped out the ribs, stared at them for a few seconds, and then suddenly cursed under her breath, "Stinking shameless!"

—When she cursed, a blush appeared on Ji Mingshu’s face uncontrollably.

Gu Kaiyang was completely out of the loop, her head full of question marks: She wasn't cursing at me, right? No, if you're going to curse, why are you blushing while doing it?

"Hey, are you not going to eat that? If not, give it to me..."

"How can you be so thick-skinned?!"

Before Gu Kaiyang could finish, she was interrupted by Ji Mingshu.

Ji Mingshu also guarded the small box of ribs vigilantly, placing a magazine across the coffee table to forcibly draw a line of demarcation, using her actions to show that "plastic sisters" can share suffering but cannot eat the same pork ribs.

Unknowingly, Beijing had entered deep winter.

After the little golden canary briefly returned to the cage and escaped once more, she had been out flying for more than half a month.

When she returned last time, she had smartly taken her passport. With the end of the year approaching, Gu Kaiyang was busy and didn't have the time to keep her company. Bored to death, she made an appointment with Jiang Chun to go to an island for a week-long vacation.

Her Moments was updated daily with grids of nine photos and short videos. The spicy bikinis were a treat for the eyes, and every time she posted, she would receive hundreds or thousands of likes and comments, essentially turning her Moments into the feed of a social media influencer.

In comparison, Jiang Chun’s posts were relatively restrained, because she often saw people on the internet complaining: "Some people on Moments go on a trip and post selfies and videos every day, spamming the feed—it’s annoying."

But seeing Ji Mingshu’s wildly popular Moments, Jiang Chun finally had an epiphany: Everyone isn't annoyed by the spamming, but rather that the people spamming aren't born bombshells :)

On the other side, Cen Sen had been thinking about why Ji Mingshu had suddenly gotten angry and left the nest again after returning home, but he still hadn't found the crux of the problem. He wanted to find a chance to talk to Ji Mingshu properly and solve the problem once and for all, but Ji Mingshu wouldn't cooperate; she didn't answer his calls and didn't reply to his messages. He was busy with official business and couldn't find the time.

With hundreds of subsidiaries under Junyi, plus the companies he had personally invested in, and the gradual transfer of power from Jingjian managed by Cen Yuanchao, his 24-hour utilization rate was precise to the minute. Project data, activities, and social engagements danced in his mind. Even Zhou Jiaheng, the "know-it-all," didn't remember that he had once offended Ji Mingshu deeply over the sponsorship of the program.

Although Ji Mingshu didn't reply, Cen Sen would still send her messages every few days, all short, dull, and innocuous greetings and reports.

Cen Sen: [Did you sleep?]

Cen Sen: [Did you eat?]

Cen Sen: [On a business trip today.]

Cen Sen: [Back in Beijing.]

Seeing the bikini videos and the nine-photo grids Ji Mingshu posted on her Moments, he only had four words.

Cen Sen: [Too revealing. Stop posting.]

Ji Mingshu laughed in anger and finally replied with a meme of "The Qing Dynasty has been dead for over a hundred years."

But for all other messages, she continued to adopt her three-part strategy of "don't answer, don't reply, I didn't see it."

It was already mid-January when Ji Mingshu finished her vacation and returned to Beijing.

The teaser for the Designers program had already hit Xingcheng Satellite TV and was being played on loop. Probably to drum up topics and get off to a good start, the producer said that their group's shooting would be scheduled to be aired in the first two episodes.

After all, Pei Xiyan currently had explosive traffic, and the drama caused by Yan Yuexing’s group also provided a certain level of topicality.

But the closer it got to the broadcast, the colder Ji Mingshu became toward Cen Sen.

Because she really, really did not see a single clear shot of herself in the teaser! That stinking jerk!!!

Gu Kaiyang’s magazine was going to host a media appreciation salon at the end of the year. The theme was "Decompression Day," meaning that since work is busy all year round, one might as well relax during the year-end holidays.

Ji Mingshu was invited as a consultant for the interior design of this salon event. Ji Mingshu didn't follow up on the actual installation but only provided some advice on color matching and space layout as a reference for them.

Ji Mingshu naturally received an invitation to the Zero salon, but she had no interest in attending. To be precise, she hadn't considered attending any social activities since running away from home.

For one, the failed battle with Li Wenyin at the cocktail party had left her with lingering shadows, and for another, she didn't want to be asked about her marriage.

Her marriage with Cen Sen was closely watched by those in their circle, but now no one could say exactly what their situation was.

If one were to say Cen Sen hitting someone for her was true, then her secretly showing off the midnight movie ticket stub was also true. But Cen Sen wanting to invest in his first love's movie, leading to Ji Mingshu running away and not returning to this day, was also as true as could be.

Moreover, Li Wenyin's movie had already started casting recently. She was quite capable; after Junyi announced the withdrawal of funds, she surprisingly managed to secure a large amount of investment from the film and television company under the Yuan family, and even hired Huang Boli, a former Berlin Film Festival Best Director winner, to be the producer for her little low-budget movie.

Whenever Ji Mingshu thought about appearing at the event site, with everyone smiling brightly on the surface while poking fun at her behind her back, she felt especially depressed. She decided simply not to participate; out of sight, out of mind.

But that little clever ghost, Gu Kaiyang, managed to glimpse a golden opportunity to get rid of the "god" from Ji Mingshu’s series of worries and entanglements.

When Zhou Jiaheng took time out of his busy schedule to come to the magazine office to ask her to help forward a gift, she didn't even lift her eyelids and said coldly: "Assistant Zhou, even if you aren't tired, I am. Do you think forwarding gifts like this is meaningful? Go back and ask your boss if he has any sincerity at all, and whether he still wants a wife."

Zhou Jiaheng was also clever. After a slight pause, he adopted a humble and teachable demeanor, said a basketful of pleasant things, and promised that there would be many benefits after the task was successfully completed.

Gu Kaiyang lowered her head and signed documents frantically, forcibly maintaining her high-cold, strong-woman persona, speaking at a rapid pace.

"Don't flatter me here. I don't buy that. Anyway, since Xiao Shu has been wronged for so long, don't expect me to give you a pleasant look."

"Your boss is wealthy and generous enough to invest in a program without blinking, but Xiao Shu worked hard for over a month, and with one word from him, her scenes were cut without an explanation. Do you think that’s appropriate?"

"Your boss’s rotten peach blossoms are still flying everywhere, flying so much that our Xiao Shu doesn't even dare to attend a salon event for fear of people pointing fingers behind her back. Do you think that’s appropriate?"

"Your boss is sharp-tongued and satisfied for a moment, but not even offering an apology—do you think that’s appropriate?"

Zhou Jiaheng didn't even dare to take a deep breath.

Gu Kaiyang didn't even lift her eyes, but directly threw an invitation for the salon event at him, "Figure it out yourself!”