My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

After Ji Mingshu finished asking, perhaps knowing she wouldn't get an answer, the melancholy that had only been at thirty percent expanded to fifty.

She sighed slightly, rolled over to lie flat beside Cen Sen, and stared at the ceiling, her mind drifting into a blank space.

Unconsciously, drowsiness washed over her. Her eyelids fluttered with decreasing frequency until they finally drooped and didn't open again, her breathing becoming steady and long.

The tipsy man beside her was still keeping his eyes closed, but he suddenly shifted, draped an arm over her waist, and pulled her a bit closer into his embrace.

In the dim, hazy winter moonlight, the corners of his lips seemed to lift and tug slightly.

There were no dreams throughout the night. Since Ji Mingshu had rested well the day before, she managed to wake up early with Cen Sen for once.

Cen Sen woke up, grabbed his shirt collar to sniff it, and without saying a word, got up to run the water for a shower.

Ji Mingshu followed, barefoot, stepping onto the floor. She braced herself against the bedside to clear her head before following him into the bathroom.

Seeing her enter, Cen Sen turned his head. "Did I wake you? You can sleep a little longer; it's still early." His voice was raspy, as if he’d slept on it, sounding a bit gravelly.

In the outer area of the bathroom, Ji Mingshu squeezed toothpaste while wrinkling her nose in disdain. "You didn't wake me; I was fumigated awake."

She rambled on, "Later, I have to have the housekeeper come up and change the bedding. The whole bed reeks of alcohol. I really don't know how I managed to fall asleep last night; I can't stand you."

How she managed to fall asleep.

Cen Sen paused slightly. Recalling the kisses that had fallen on her lips and the soft murmurs against his ears last night, he suddenly chuckled aloud.

Ji Mingshu was quite alert. She leaned back, looked inside, and while brushing her teeth, questioned him garbledly: "Yoo (You) laff (laugh) at wut (what)?"

"Nothing."

Cen Sen answered nonchalantly and casually.

Seeing Ji Mingshu still staring at him while holding her buzzing electric toothbrush, he remained composed, leisurely starting to take off his shirt. After taking it off, he reached downward... Ji Mingshu inwardly cursed him for being shameless and immediately looked away.

The master bathroom was large, featuring a sauna, an embedded mirror TV, and even a wine tasting bar. Walking to the very end of the bathroom revealed another world: one side led to the eastern sunroom, and the other led to the infinity pool on the western terrace.

In the summer, you could soak in the pool while tasting wine and admiring the mountain and lake scenery; you could be on vacation without ever leaving home.

Ji Mingshu had even moved her vanity to the bathroom. Once she finished brushing her teeth, she sat in front of it, chatting with Cen Sen, who was showering inside, while going through her morning skincare routine.

By the time Cen Sen came out after his shower, Ji Mingshu had just finished applying a facial mask. Her hair was tied back with a light pink cat-ear headband, revealing her palm-sized, smooth face. Right now, she was holding a spray bottle and whirling it around as she misted her face.

"What is that?"

After spraying, Ji Mingshu patted it gently with her hands and used a hexagonal sponge to absorb the excess moisture before beckoning Cen Sen to bend down.

Cen Sen hesitated for a moment before actually leaning over, bracing himself against her vanity.

Ji Mingshu snatched the spray and fiercely misted his face several times. "Hydrating spray. You're almost thirty; it's time you started moisturizing."

"..."

Cen Sen wiped some off and smelled it; it seemed to be pure water.

But looking down at Ji Mingshu’s makeup-free skin, which remained as delicate and smooth as a peeled egg—even under the harsh glare of a row of vanity lights, he couldn't find a single flaw—he couldn't judge for the moment whether these bottles and jars, which didn't look like serious items, were actually effective.

Ji Mingshu continued applying her products, glancing at Cen Sen strangely as she did so. "Why do you keep staring at me? You've grown stubble; go shave it off."

It was actually just a very short, dark stubble that couldn't be seen unless one leaned in closely.

Cen Sen casually gave an "Mmhmm" and got up to grab his razor, cleaning it off quite obediently.

By the time he was finished, Ji Mingshu had also completed her skincare.

But just as she prepared to get up, Cen Sen suddenly held her down, leaned over from behind, wound his arms around her neck, and leaned in to rub his chin against her cheek. "Is it clean now?"

Ji Mingshu froze, her voice lowering uncontrollably. "I... it's clean."

The action was very intimate. Ji Mingshu saw Cen Sen in the mirror, his head tilted slightly against her cheek, his features refined yet appearing somewhat languid.

She took small, shallow breaths, her eyelashes lowered, as she continued applying hand cream in an offhand manner. She kept complaining about him, urging him to leave quickly, fearing that some slip-up would expose her secret, springtime thoughts.

That morning, the two of them were like a pair of newly married, loving spouses: the wife helped the husband fasten his cufflinks and tie his tie, and the husband sprayed perfume into the air, letting her twirl through it. After getting ready, they went downstairs together for breakfast and chatted about the day's schedule.

When Cen Sen left, Ji Mingshu even followed him out while drinking her milk, smiling as she greeted Zhou Jiaheng.

Zhou Jiaheng was pleasantly surprised and hurriedly responded with, "Good morning, Madam."

Watching the Bentley drive away, Ji Mingshu returned to the house with a light heart, curling up on the sofa and hugging a pillow to giggle to herself for quite a while.

If only every day could be like this morning. Of course, if this scumbag could leave behind a good-morning kiss before heading out, that would be even better.

Thinking about it, she felt she was being too greedy. She didn't know if all girls became as greedy as she did after falling for someone—getting an inch and wanting a mile, and then even fantasizing about a full yard.

She patted her cheeks to wake herself up, then went upstairs to change, preparing to go to Gu Kaiyang's place to move her luggage.

Because Cen Sen had returned home last night, she hadn't finished the latter half of the program. On the way to Gu Kaiyang's house, Ji Mingshu hopped onto Weibo and discovered that she had gained twenty thousand followers. Many people sent her DMs praising her beauty, and others asked if she accepted interior design projects.

She scrolled for a while and didn't see any negative comments, so she forgot to watch the second half of the program she had missed.

In fact, the premiere of the first episode of Designer only aired up to the point where their group divided labor to go to the market for household items. Most of the camera time was concentrated on Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing, and Ji Mingshu’s cuts probably amounted to less than three minutes in total.

Furthermore, the program editing had likely realized that whenever Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing stood together, Ji Mingshu looked more like a celebrity, so there were barely any shots of them in the same frame for the latter half. The entire episode felt very "love & peace" and could even be called boring.

For a variety show, being low-brow or vulgar was fine, and arguments or fighting were also fine, but being boring was a huge issue, as it directly impacted ratings.

Even with the support of Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing's fanbases, the premiere ratings of Designer were very ordinary, and its online streaming numbers were dismal.

With ratings and streaming numbers like that, it was no wonder the topic had no buzz. Besides the moment it aired when fans opened a few posts on gossip forums, everyone else was too busy indulging in drama and gossip elsewhere; who would bother with a home renovation show?

There were a few passersby who noticed that the designer Ji Mingshu had a good look, but when they posted to forums asking for opinions, aside from being mocked as "paid bots," the replies didn't even reach a page before the thread "plunked" into obscurity, as if the person never existed.

Everything was calm; no one even knew that this was completely contrary to the production team's original intent.

The morning after the show aired, the Designer production team held an emergency overnight meeting to discuss a new promotional plan.

No one knew that the program from last night hadn't been fully aired at all!

According to the original plan, the first episode was supposed to end on a cliffhanger precisely when Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing had a huge blowout over the "carpet incident."

The paid-commenter scripts for Weibo and major forums were already prepared, and the follow-up marketing and promotion were ready to follow suit immediately.

With the conflict between a stunning ordinary person and a teen idol, plus the inclusion of Pei Xiyan, a trending traffic magnet, they weren't worried about failing to stir up hype.

But human plans were no match for the unexpected. Last night, the TV station had suddenly inserted an important local news segment. A vicious murder had occurred in the Star City urban area. With a direct order from the higher-ups, the hosts originally scheduled for the late-night news were dragged away to read the news report. How could a tiny program production team say no?

The last twenty minutes of the "essential" content for the first episode of Designer were unceremoniously sliced away. The producer tried to negotiate with the station to air it later, but the request was denied because the station had to prioritize the ratings-king drama series airing at 10:00 PM. They only perfunctorily told them to edit it further and air it in the next episode.

Air it in the next episode? The first episode was already a dumpster fire—would anyone even watch the next one??? Looking at the mediocre premiere, which had zero points for discussion, the producer wanted to personally find that damn murderer and kill them.

A week passed in quietude. On the night of the second episode of Designer, a wave of paid commenters suddenly descended upon major forums, starting a discussion on the first episode. They were saying things like "Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing have quite a bit of chemistry," "Pei Xiyan is so coldly adorable," "Yan Yuexing is so cute," "The ordinary person looks quite beautiful, but her temper seems a bit bad..."

Although veteran forum users scoffed and told the "paid bots" of the failing show to go away, this kind of expensive, screen-flooding discussion still managed to attract a tiny bit of attention.

And by 8:00 PM, when the program officially aired, this attention began to have a real conversion rate.

Ji Mingshu was completely oblivious to this, as Cen Sen was away on a temporary business trip, and Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun were both busy with work and romance respectively. She had no choice but to accept an invitation to see a musical with a few "plastic" friends.

None of them were actually interested in musicals, but partying and fooling around outside every day didn't look good; they had to demonstrate their "elegant tastes" as socialites every now and then.

After a long musical, the plastic friend sitting next to her, who had been dozing off, finally opened her eyes and let out a long, secret sigh of relief.

Ji Mingshu wanted to laugh but gave face by not laughing aloud, cooperating by taking a selfie with her and letting her post it to her Moments.

Vivian: [Watching a musical with Shu-bao today, yay.]

The picture in her Moments was very rich, but the text was quite short. Mostly, it couldn't be anything else—this friend had been in a semi-comatose state the whole time; she probably couldn't even remember the title of the musical they saw, so one couldn't expect her to chat about the content of the play.

Catching sight of her hitting "send" from the corner of her eye, Ji Mingshu also slowly took her phone out of her bag, preparing to "like" it and leave a "Mwah" comment.

But unexpectedly, as soon as she turned off Flight Mode, her WeChat started exploding as if it had self-destructed, with messages dinging and donging incessantly.

Vivian suddenly gasped in surprise, "S... Shu, my friend says you're trending—you're on a Weibo hot search…”