My Queen, My Rules - Chapter 71

Chapter 71

It had been over half a month since Ji Mingshu last posted on Weibo. Some people were still checking in under her last New Year’s post, waiting for her to reappear, but they never expected that what they would eventually be waiting for was such a head-on confrontation involving a massive piece of drama.

【Steady footing, tough stance! The CEO’s wife is real!】

【Front-row seats: popcorn, cola, sprite, and a small stool all ready for the show!】

【? What happened? Who is Li Wenyin?】

【Back when I left a comment on that director's post, "My Ex Got Married," saying: "If you don't want to disturb your ex, you shouldn't have posted this article," that comment got a lot of likes. As a result, the director deleted it and blocked me. I still remember it clearly to this day.】

【To tell you the truth, my husband's ex-girlfriend was the same kind of extreme piece of work. When we were dating, she would constantly try to find ways to make her presence felt in front of us. Because we had mutual friends, it was hard to say anything. Later, when I married my husband, she even posted an old photo of the two of them on her social media on our wedding day, saying something like, "A past I can't return to, I miss it." Being a coward, I didn't dare to confront her, but the more I thought about it later, the angrier I got. Even our honeymoon was miserable. My husband felt I had been wronged, so he posted on his social media: "I don't want to go back, please stop mentioning me, thanks." This coward was finally satisfied :)】

【The person above reminds me of my own blood-and-tears history. It was almost the exact same experience, but different people have different fates. My ex-husband didn't help me fight back at the time, and when I got angry, he accused me of being dramatic. Later, he cheated during the breastfeeding period—with that same extreme ex of his :)】

……

In truth, once the Weibo post was out, the suffocating anger in Ji Mingshu’s heart had mostly dissipated. She never imagined that this post would trigger such a strong resonance among her female compatriots and even a small portion of the men.

The post was even retweeted by a popular relationship blogger with nearly ten million followers, who added: "Not every current partner has the confidence of a CEO's wife to call people out. So, we can only hope that certain exes who lack self-awareness might voluntarily enroll in the course 'The Self-Cultivation of an Ex.' /smile"

Before long, #TheSelfCultivationOfAnEx# quietly climbed the trending topics list, surging from outside the top thirty all the way into the top ten. Ji Mingshu refreshed her page every second, watching her follower count skyrocket, with her notifications, likes, comments, and private messages all completely flooded.

When the retweets surpassed thirty thousand, Cen Sen finally woke up.

"What are you looking at?" His voice sounded as if he had slept until it was hoarse—a bit raspy.

Ji Mingshu turned her head to glance at him, tucking her phone behind her back, "It... it's just Weibo."

Even though she had been furious before, now that the post was out, she felt inexplicably guilty.

How could she put it? She actually didn't want Cen Sen to see her more sharp-tongued side. Tearing his ex to shreds on Weibo—she didn't know if he would think she wasn't dignified or broad-minded enough.

But the deed was done, and it had blown up so much that it wouldn't be right to delete it, nor could she hide it.

Ji Mingshu steeled her nerves, suddenly wrapped her arms around Cen Sen, showered him with kisses, and looked up, acting coquettish in a soft voice: "I need to tell you something. Prepare yourself mentally; you have to accept it!"

"What is it?"

Cen Sen looked down at her. His voice remained calm, but his temples were already starting to throb uncontrollably.

"The thing is, Li Wenyin posted on Weibo last night..."

As Ji Mingshu organized her thoughts, she held up her phone, vividly illustrating the whole sequence of events with screenshots, "...Look, look, her fans are cursing me like this! Saying I'm a mistress! How could I not be angry, right? And I had some morning grumpiness when I woke up, you know that, so I posted on Weibo too. Just this one, just this."

She carefully observed Cen Sen’s expression and added, "Actually, after I posted it, I felt it wasn't great. What’s the point in bickering with her? But it’s already out..."

After a long silence where Cen Sen didn't respond, she hugged his arm, shaking it while speaking firmly: "Anyway, you are not allowed to be angry or think I’m a shrew! I’m just telling you this happened, but you have to forget it. The Ji Mingshu in your heart can only be a little fairy!"

"Hmm, a little fairy."

Cen Sen finished reading the Weibo post, responded noncommittally, put down the phone, and eased his mind.

Ji Mingshu probed, "Do... do you have any thoughts on the Weibo post I made?"

Cen Sen thought for a moment. "The sentences are coherent, the logic is clear, it's well written."

"Then, won't you think I'm a bit aggressive?" After all, she was also targeting his ex-girlfriend.

Cen Sen thought again. "I know this happened, but I have already forgotten about it. In my heart, you will always be... a little fairy."

Ji Mingshu: "..."

The feeling of him forcing out romantic words like this felt suspiciously like she was dragging an innocent woman into a brothel.

She gave Cen Sen a look that said, Fine, I can see you've tried your best to keep up with the times, and then contentedly headed to the bathroom.

While Ji Mingshu was in the bathroom washing up, there was a new development on Weibo: After days of silence, the official account of Junyi once again chimed in, "liking" Ji Mingshu’s post. Their attitude was extremely clear, and their stance was unshakeable.

【I don't know why, but from this series of actions by the official account, I see a desperate survival instinct from the CEO.】

【Wife-controlled status: Confirmed.】

In fact, this "like" was clicked by Zhou Jiaheng. The previous interventions were also written by this executive assistant in his busy schedule.

However, Zhou Jiaheng’s intentions naturally represented Cen Sen’s, so calling him "desperate to survive" and "wife-controlled" wasn't exactly a mischaracterization.

Meanwhile, the social circle was also buzzing with discussion. Some felt that Ji Mingshu’s actions were beneath her, a socialite doing nothing but bickering with people online all day.

But others felt that if Cen Sen didn't mind and even used the group’s official account to show his stance, then it was none of your business. Those who were busybodies meddling in others' affairs might as well look at the imperfect marriage arrangements their own families had set up for them.

Ji Mingshu’s second uncle found out about the matter and called her, scolding her at length. The content of the scolding was nothing more than the old cliches: telling her to keep a low profile, stop talking online, and hurry up to arrange for pregnancy and childbirth.

Ji Mingshu played the "yes, yes, yes" obedient granddaughter for a while, then signaled to Cen Sen to rescue her, finally gaining freedom from the superior leader's lecture that had been broken down into one, two, and three points.

Fortunately, aside from a few "white-rich-beautiful" bloggers revealing more details about Li Wenyin's "white lotus" behavior, no other accidents occurred, nor did it cause a greater stir online.

As for Li Wenyin, she never responded.

Li Wenyin's fans, who had originally thought Ji Mingshu was distorting the facts, watched as the Junyi official account intervened, and then watched the exposés from several well-known socialite bloggers; their little hearts had long since turned cold.

They waited persistently for several days, but never got an explanation from Li Wenyin. Instead, one night, Li Wenyin quietly wiped her Weibo clean, changed her name, and switched her profile picture.

——Later, Jiang Chun stated that this move by Li Wenyin marked a revolutionary victory in the "Drive Out Li Xiao-Lotus" campaign, having a profound impact on striking at members of the White Lotus Sect and making them afraid to act rashly. Comrade Ji Mingshu, through this battle, became the well-deserved honorary recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Lotus-Exorcists.

Ji Mingshu clearly didn't really want this honor. Surpassing Li Wenyin in Weibo followers over these few days was already the greatest honor for her.

However, after surpassing her, her mindset became quite indifferent. She never intended to be a celebrity or an influencer, so she didn't post on Weibo again, and even less did she want to attract more attention.

This wave of events, one after another, finally came to a gentle close as the New Year ended. Although it stopped snowing in the Imperial Capital after the New Year, the temperatures had yet to warm up.

On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, Cen Sen officially returned to work.

Cen Sen had taken a vacation of nearly twenty days this time—according to him, the longest break he had taken since he started working.

Yet even so, Ji Mingshu felt that he had been working every day; he had simply moved his office to their home.

As the saying goes, one who stays near vermilion gets stained red; one who stays near ink gets stained black. After confirming their feelings for each other with Cen Sen, Ji Mingshu felt somewhat influenced by him, always having the sense that "He is so rich yet so hardworking, so I should find something to do to be worthy of him."

It seems that when you truly fall in love with someone, you subconsciously want to get closer to them, becoming greedy to invade their territory and wanting to have more topics to discuss with them.

So, seeing Cen Sen's dense, packed work plan for the first half of the year, Ji Mingshu snuck into his study and, with a straight face, rested her chin on her hands and said, "I also want to write a New Year's plan. Teach me."

Cen Sen’s hands paused on the keyboard. "What aspect? Travel, or... shopping?"

"..."

Ji Mingshu looked at him straight on with a look that said, Do I look that lazy, gluttonous, and uneducated?

Cen Sen looked back at her with a look that said, Yes, you actually do look that lazy, gluttonous, and uneducated.

Ten seconds later, Cen Sen raised the white flag, because Ji Mingshu had been rubbing her bare feet against the inside of his calves under the desk.

He pulled out a file and handed it to Ji Mingshu, "I remember you were very interested in the Junyi Yaji project before. The hotel will be completed in April this year. The project has already scouted over thirty designers to design the guest rooms. If you are interested, I can arrange for you to participate in the pitch, but the premise is that your design draft must pass the anonymous blind vote of the project team."

Ji Mingshu took the file and studied it seriously for a long while.

Once finished, she suddenly let out a laugh, pushed back her hair, and muttered to herself as if casually, "How is this Potala Palace so similar to our study at home?"

"..."

Cen Sen didn't understand what she meant at first. By the time he processed it, Ji Mingshu had already snuggled onto his lap, planted a kiss, and said with sugary sweetness: "Thank you, husband."