She couldn't remember when it started, but the sordid affairs of the wealthy families in the circle became numb, commonplace, and nothing new to her.
There are far too many cases like this.
In her Ji family, her respected uncle secretly kept three mistresses, one of whom was three years younger than her.
My aunt never cared, always adopting the attitude of a feudal principal wife who believed that "you can have affairs outside, but the red flag at home must not fall."
The parents who left her with a vague impression had absolutely nothing to do with the loving relationship she subconsciously believed in.
As an adult, she learned by chance that the two of them had her only to prove that they had no problems with their fertility and to give an explanation to both families, and then they abandoned her after giving birth.
The two later died unexpectedly on their way out to pretend to be affectionate, which may have been a belated retribution.
To outsiders, Ji Mingshu was an orphan whose parents had both died, but her uncles and aunts still doted on her and treated her like a precious jewel. She must have been blessed with good fortune in her past life.
And that is indeed the case. Her uncles doted on her like their own daughter, and none of her cousins had ever lived a life of luxury and comfort.
But she also knew early on that being a biological daughter didn't mean she was her biological daughter, and that all the good things came at the cost of her marriage for the rest of her life.
So from the very beginning, when she married Cen Sen, she was prepared that the two of them would not grow old together in mutual respect.
You may not have a lot of love, but you can have a lot of money. It seems fair, doesn't it?
But when she stood there and suddenly learned that her husband had cheated on her, she didn't know why, but first she felt confused, and then she felt a little panicked and upset.
"Shushu, you...you mustn't cry, please don't cry..."
Gu Kaiyang gently coaxed her, his hands and feet were flustered and his words were incoherent. Seeing that she was about to lose her balance, he quickly helped her to sit down on the sofa.
Ji Mingshu didn't want to cry. Sitting on the sofa, she subconsciously crossed her legs to the side, gently placed her hands on her knees, straightened her back, and adopted her usual elegant sitting posture. However, her eyes were vacant, and her hands were trembling slightly.
After about a minute, she suddenly said, "Show me what you photographed."
Gu Kaiyang made no move.
Ji Mingshu: "It's okay, let me see it."
She wanted to see it, and it was only a matter of time before she did. Gu Kaiyang knew this very well. After a long silence, his fingers finally twitched.
The exposé consisted of a video and a few photos. The title of the exposé had nothing to do with Cen Sen. It claimed that Zhang Baoshu had a late-night rendezvous with Zhang Qi, the son of Fengchang Culture and Tourism. The two were described as intimate, and the words "suspected to be dating and in love" were used.
The article inside introduced the strong background of Fengchang Culture and Tourism and the great achievements of this Mr. Zhang in hunting for women. However, among the pile of evidence released, apart from the blurry candid photos that make it impossible to distinguish who is who, the rest is just a series of ten photos of Zhang Baoshu and Cen Sen in front of the car.
I don't know what's wrong with this paparazzi's professional skills; he couldn't even tell Zhang Qi and Cen Sen apart, yet he wrote a lengthy analysis of several thousand words.
Although the photo did not capture Cen Sen's face, his car model, the wedding ring and watch on his hand, his smiling profile, and Zhou Jiaheng standing not far away are all strong evidence to confirm his identity.
Not to mention Ji Mingshu, who was in close physical contact with him, and could recognize his figure at a glance.
He was still laughing.
They were laughing at a nobody, a nobody whose name they'd never even heard of.
Is he this gentle and considerate to all other women? Does he tell other women in bed that his wife is just a boring pretty face?
Ji Mingshu's mind felt like it was about to explode.
The impact of seeing a picture and hearing a news story are on completely different levels.
There was also a video of them spending eight hours intimately together in Zhang Baoshu's apartment. Ji Mingshu didn't have the courage to watch it at all. Her hand holding the phone was trembling, and she didn't know how she managed to stop herself from throwing the phone against the wall.
She suddenly remembered that when they got married, they had a traditional Chinese wedding that she didn't like, as requested by both families.
At the time, I thought, since she doesn't like the person, what does the wedding ceremony matter? Let's just make do.
At the time, she was very carefree and open-minded, and before the marriage, she and Cen Sen even made a three-point agreement on their married life.
The first rule of their agreement was that the couple's image as a loving couple must not be ruined. No matter what they do outside, they must never cause any trouble that would openly slap each other in the face.
Cen Sen's promise was very brief; he only said "no," and she believed him.
Unexpectedly, in just three short years, this confident promise backfired.
She hadn't expected that when this moment actually arrived, she felt a dull, aching pain in her heart. It wasn't just the surprise and anger of being slapped in the face by this bastard, but more of a feeling of being wronged and suffocated. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Seeing her like this, Gu Kaiyang also felt very sad.
The two met while studying abroad. She was a poor student whose family had sold everything they owned to send her abroad, and she dared not slack off in the slightest, while Ji Mingshu was a pampered and privileged girl.
When she first went abroad, she heard rumors in the study abroad circle that Ji Mingshu, an interior designer, bought an apartment casually in order to achieve the best results for her project, and that her family background was extremely wealthy and unattainable.
As a naive and inexperienced freshman at the time, she was truly shocked. Moreover, she never expected that the influential figure in the international student community would take the initiative to have more interaction with her.
Throughout the years they've known each other, Ji Mingshu has always been the brightest star in the sky.
Spending a lot of time with Ji Mingshu, she began to feel that it was a wonderful thing that such a beautiful thing existed in the world.
She didn't want to see the stars fall one day.
She silently walked to Ji Mingshu's side, wanting to offer some words of comfort.
But Ji Mingshu didn't even look up, only saying softly, "Let me have some peace and quiet."
Gu Kaiyang turned to look out the window, covered his forehead, wiped his face, and silently exhaled.
After a while, she quietly left the office.
When she left, she left the door slightly ajar, not wanting anyone outside to see Ji Mingshu's current state.
Her little fairy should always be beautiful and vibrant.
"Hey, wasn't your group shooting a cover featuring Zhang Baoshu and EE today?"
With Gu Kaiyang in charge and the entire editorial office area in a tense atmosphere, someone suddenly barged in and asked a question that seemed to have a sore spot.
Then, the visitor seemed to remember something, "Could it be that it was canceled because of Zhang Baoshu's matter? That man wasn't Young Master Zhang, was he? He was President Cen from Junyi."
She looked at Gu Kaiyang and said, "Oh, by the way, isn't President Cen the husband of your rich and beautiful best friend? You still have the mood to sit here and go comfort her? Or do these rich and beautiful women just like to be cuckolded?"
The malice was suddenly obvious.
"Shi Qing, I don't want to argue with you today. You'd better get out of here right now."
Gu Kaiyang shifted his gaze from the screen to the newcomer, speaking coldly as well.
Wherever there are people working, there will always be office politics. The struggle between Gu Kaiyang and Shi Qing began as soon as they joined the company, and it went from covert to overt, with a determination to fight to the death, showing a kind of entanglement that would last until the ends of the earth.
On weekdays, Gu Kaiyang and Ji Mingshu would hang out together, and whenever work came up, Gu Kaiyang would complain about Shi Qing. Over time, Ji Mingshu also remembered this person.
On several occasions when they met at the magazine office, Ji Mingshu casually dissed Shi Qing's outdated fashion sense, saying that he could only ever work in menswear magazines, which caused Shi Qing to be secretly ridiculed by others at the magazine office for quite some time.
Although Shi Qing didn't dare to do anything to Ji Mingshu openly, he secretly remembered every single detail, hoping that one day he could make Gu Kaiyang and Ji Mingshu, those two sisters, pay back everything with interest.
It's now quite clear that "one day" is coming.
"Can't I even speak the truth? The person isn't even here, so why are you fawning over them? Aren't you just trying to curry favor because they're rich? Why don't you ask them to introduce you to a rich and handsome guy so you can marry him and become a rich wife? It would be so much easier. So what if there's some grass on your head? What can't you sacrifice for money?"
Shi Qing spoke with great enthusiasm, and his expression was extremely unpleasant.
Gu Kaiyang slammed the keyboard down with a "bang," looking like she was about to rush up and hit someone. The junior editor next to her quickly pulled her back, saying, "Sister Gu, let it go."
This year, Shi Qing has been suppressed by Gu Kaiyang at the magazine. Now that he finally has a chance to vent his anger, he naturally becomes even more unruly.
"You want to hit me, huh? Go ahead and hit me! Come on, hit me."
"What did I say wrong? Isn't Ji Mingshu usually very arrogant? Isn't she just arrogant and domineering because her husband has a lot of money? Don't think I don't know what she is in the Ji family! The Ji family keeping her is no different from keeping Yangzhou sluts in ancient times. At most, she has a more respectable status. What's with all the high and mighty attitude? Does she dare to divorce him? She wouldn't dare to utter a word!"
Gu Kaiyang's eyes were red with anger. "Get out of my way! Don't you dare stop me! I'm not Gu if I don't tear this bitch to shreds today!!"
Before Gu Kaiyang could finish speaking, the door to the deputy editor-in-chief's office was suddenly pushed open with a "bang"!
Ji Mingshu was wearing a pair of strappy high heels today. The heels were carefully polished into the shape of the brand's letters. When she stepped on the marble floor, they made a ticking sound. The ribbons were slightly shiny and tied into knots around her slender white ankles, giving her a cool and elegant beauty.
She walked up to Shi Qing in her shoes, her footsteps clattering as she went. Her gaze slowly moved from top to bottom, and then she reached out and gently lifted Shi Qing's chin.
Who do you think you are?
She touched up her lipstick; it was a matte, true red. Her lips were perfectly shaped and delicate. She spoke softly, slowly, and with a cold indifference.
Just as Shi Qing said, standing in front of him exudes an innate arrogance.
Ji Mingshu: "The bag is fake, and the ring is a replica of a classic T brand design that you found a designer to copy based on a picture. How can you be qualified to work at a magazine if you have no respect for design?"
The moment she was exposed, Shi Qing's mind went blank, and she was so ashamed and angry that her face turned red from behind her ears to her neck.
"You can't stand me, can you? So whenever I'm slightly unhappy, you jump out to humiliate me, right? But remember this: no matter how down on my luck I am, Ji Mingshu, it's never your place to criticize me."
She suddenly loosened her grip on Shi Qing's chin, as if she found it dirty, and casually grabbed a piece of paper from the desk next to her to wipe it.
The office area was deathly silent.
After wiping his hands, Ji Mingshu put on his sunglasses, picked up the things he had just printed in Gu Kaiyang's office, and walked out without showing any expression.
Chapter 16
Ji Mingshu had the driver head straight to the headquarters of Junyi Group. The scenery outside the window was fleeting, but she had no interest in appreciating it. Whether her eyes were closed or open, many scenes from her marriage to Cen Sen kept replaying in her mind.
She originally intended to inform Cen Sen first.
But when she opened WeChat, she realized that she had deleted Cen Sen from her friends list, and there were no new friend requests from him.
It shouldn't have been there in the first place, and she didn't know why she clicked on it with a "let's give it a try" attitude.
She seriously wondered if there really were some things that were destined, such as whether she and Cen Sen were destined not to be compatible.
When Cen Sen first arrived at the compound as a child, she thought this older brother was really handsome. So, she took the initiative to show him kindness a few times, and even shared her favorite snacks with him. But he remained silent and indifferent to her.
After being repeatedly rejected, she lost patience and even developed a bit of resentment at a young age, gathering her friends in the compound to isolate him.
However, Cen Sen was a year or two older than her and her group of peers, and he didn't care about their isolation from the group of childish kids.
After that, throughout elementary, middle, and high school, Cen Sen was always two grades ahead of her. He was always a model student who was impeccable, praised by all the teachers, and was the one who gave speeches eight out of ten times.
She found it very annoying and grew increasingly disgusted and impatient with his template-like existence. Sometimes when they met at school, she would just brush past him without even glancing at him and give him a cold snort, or blow a bubble with bubble gum and then pop it with a "pop".
Cen Sen was even more indifferent, not even glancing at her, completely ignoring her existence.
So later, by a twist of fate, they slept together and got married as usual. Cen Sen still looked down on her for everything, just like when they were children.
However, the adult world has an added layer of disguise, and he will put on a gentle cloak to take care of her, this canary who doesn't like her but is willing to sleep in.
—I used to joke with Gu Kaiyang that I was a canary, and thinking about it carefully, it was surprisingly fitting.
On a weekend morning, Beijing's CBD was still bustling with people.