Ji Mingshu has always had a strong ability to organize her thoughts. In the few dozen seconds before and after getting on the bus, she had already prepared a long string of resounding and soul-searching questions.
But the moment she met Cen Sen's gaze, a strange thought suddenly flashed through her mind: Wait, could he... be jealous?
Thinking about it this way, Ji Mingshu's eyes flickered, and he felt inexplicably a little guilty.
Gu Kaiyang: [Isn't this just being jealous, or is it like drinking oil?]
Jiang Chun: [The vinegar bottle is indeed the real deal, case closed.]
Jiang Chun: [But isn't this the legendary "friend is also person"? Your Highness, you don't need to be so subtle in showing affection in front of us, please be more direct!]
Gu Kaiyang: [Add one, and besides the two of you, who else do you have?]
Ji Mingshu: [?]
Gu Kaiyang: [I misspoke. What I meant was, besides the two of us, what other slut's love life is worth your so much concern?]
Ji Mingshu: [...]
This is definitely a slut.
Humble :)
Back at the hotel that day, Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen found themselves in a very delicate stalemate.
The two didn't argue, nor were they in a cold war. They still ate together at the hotel, slept in the same bed at night, and even brushed their teeth side by side at the sink in the morning.
They just didn't talk to each other.
Cen Sen was habitually silent, while Ji Mingshu had more pressing matters on her mind and couldn't break the ice with him for the moment.
After agonizing over it for a day and a half, she finally turned her suspicion that Cen Sen was jealous into a poorly told story about friends in the group chat.
Although the members of the Rainbow Fart Squad had already determined that he was "jealous," Ji Mingshu still couldn't be sure.
Because the Cen family's affairs were not to be publicized, she omitted the deeper relationship between Cen Sen and Cen Yang during the transformation process. However, it was this deeper relationship that made her lean more towards Cen Sen not out of jealousy, but because she didn't want to hear anyone mention Cen Yang.
Amidst Ji Mingshu's constant internal struggle, the recording of "The Designer" finally came to an end.
In a month and a half, Ji Mingshu threw away six pairs of high heels and lost a full four pounds despite having a very small starting weight.
On the last day of filming, Pei Xiyan gave gifts to his partners and staff.
The gifts were all decent things that wouldn't cause any trouble; Feng Yan gave a razor, and Yan Yuexing gave skincare products, both of which were endorsed by themselves.
Ji Mingshu's was a little different; it was a box of vitamins, containing everything from A to D, along with a little note reminding her to replenish her nutrients in case she fainted at any moment.
Pei Xiyan is still a minor and has always followed a cool boy route that perfectly matches his personality, so it's impossible for him to be so thoughtful and considerate.
Ji Mingshu was so moved that she saw the care and love that Yan Zai had for her from the box full of vitamins prepared by the team. She posted three WeChat Moments praising Pei Xiyan and said that Pei Xiyan's next movie must be supported by everyone in his WeChat Moments. Everyone who sees it should take a screenshot and save it.
In no time, her three posts on WeChat Moments were flooded with compliments and jokes about her generosity.
It's quite generous of him to spend his money to pursue children.
After reading the post, Cen Sen turned off his phone without expression.
After the recording ended, Ji Mingshu naturally had to return to the capital. However, Cen Sen hadn't finished his business in Xingcheng and couldn't go with her. She didn't mind, secretly planning to go back first and give Li Wenying, that little white lotus, a good talking-to.
Ji Mingshu was planning to leave, but in her original plan, she wanted to stay in Xingcheng for a couple more days to take some photos at a popular art museum. However, Gu Kaiyang secretly passed on a tip that Li Wenying would be attending a high-end brand cocktail party tomorrow with an investor.
Upon receiving this news, Ji Mingshu set off ahead of schedule and flew back to the capital without saying a word.
The moment the plane landed at Beijing's Terminal 2 airport, Ji Mingshu looked out the window at the setting sun, which was just beginning to slant, and a feeling of nostalgia welled up in his heart, as if he had finally returned to his hometown after working away from home for many years.
Waaaaah!
In the dazzling, decadent capital, this canary has finally returned! This is my most radiant home ground!
Before even leaving the airport, she had already grabbed Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun and arranged a threesome at the Shuiyun Hot Spring.
Soaking in the ginseng hot spring that she had once longed to enter but could not, Jiang Chun splashed the water with a little little interest, "This ginseng isn't anything special."
Ji Mingshu looked her up and down, then poked her rounded shoulder. "You think you're so special that you can lose three pounds in one go? I'm not trying to be mean, but can't you have a little self-awareness as a girl? Look at your shoulders, your collarbone. Oh, you don't have a collarbone."
"..." Jiang Chun really didn't know what she had done wrong. "I haven't seen you for more than a month, can you be a little gentler?"
Ji Mingshu pressed down on it with her hand and said gently with a smile, "I'm sorry, I misspoke. You do have collarbones, but they are rather inconspicuous."
Jiang Chun slapped her hand away, her face showing a constipated expression that seemed to say, "You'd better shut up already."
For the past month or so, Gu Kaiyang has been hanging out with Jiang Chun. The two of them have secretly betrayed the princess and united their weak forces into one.
Seeing Jiang Chun being bullied, Gu Kaiyang patted Jiang Chun's shoulder to comfort her, "She's only tough on her own people. Let's see if she dares to be so tough on Li Wenying tomorrow."
Ji Mingshu kicked her, "What do I have to be afraid of? Hey, I've noticed you're quite good at boosting others' morale and belittling your own. What a perfect fence-sitter, turning on me so quickly."
Ji Mingshu was busy dealing with the two weaklings, Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun, and didn't notice that his phone, which was placed by the pool, was ringing with a series of new messages.
This new information was sent by staff from the "Designer" program.
Ji Mingshu's group finished recording yesterday morning. The production team is quite disciplined; the contract was clearly written, and they didn't delay for even a day.
The other groups that were recording at the same time had also basically finished their renovations by the same time. The last one to finish was Li Che's group, because some unexpected situations occurred, and they had to reshoot a segment during the day today.
Just like a wrap party is held when a movie finishes filming, the production team also organized a wrap party after the variety show finished recording. This was partly to thank everyone for their hard work over the past few days, and partly to wish the show great success in advance.
But when the director brought this up after yesterday's recording, Ji Mingshu went to the restroom and didn't hear it at all.
The director asked a staff member who was familiar with Ji Mingshu to convey the message. The staff member agreed, but once they got busy with the post-production work, they completely forgot about it.
At the wrap party for the show, the staff member who had been entrusted with the task finally remembered that Ji Mingshu had not been notified.
She panicked and hurriedly called and texted Ji Mingshu, but received no response.
Unfortunately, the producer caught her again and asked, "Are all the designers here?"
She forced herself to speak, feeling guilty, "Everyone's here, except for Ji Mingshu from Group C, the designer. She had something come up and can't make it."
The producer frowned. "What is it?"
"have no idea……"
The producer was about to scold her when someone ran in to announce that the sponsors had arrived. He didn't have time to think about anything else and rushed outside to greet them.
The person from the sponsor's side this time is quite something; I heard he's the heir of the Junyi Group, a truly rare and important figure.
The young master was able to attend because he valued the development of his "Elegant Gathering" project and happened to be in Xingcheng on business.
If they could get this guy to treat their show differently, wouldn't they have secured sponsors for the second and third seasons?
Thinking of this, the producer's eyes instantly crinkled with a smile, and he looked at Cen Sen as if he were seeing a walking God of Wealth.
Cen Sen and Ji Mingshu hadn't spoken for several days. Their relationship, which had finally started to loosen up a bit, suddenly felt like it had returned to the beginning when they returned to China. Moreover, Ji Mingshu had been acting strangely lately, staring at him from time to time, but she didn't pursue the car door incident that day, nor did she give him a cold shoulder or roll her eyes at him, which was very unlike her personality.
Welcomed into the main hall by the producer, Zhou Jiaheng stepped forward and helped Cen Sen take off his coat.
Cen Sen raised his hand to straighten his shirt collar, then casually glanced at the large round table.
After taking his seat at the head table, Cen Sen looked up slightly and asked the producer, "Is everyone here?"
The producer hurriedly replied, "Everyone's here, everyone's here except for Xiao Pei who has to go to class."
"Hmm, is that so?"
The producer paused, then added, "Oh, there's still one designer, Ji, who hasn't arrived yet. She has some personal matters to attend to today and can't make it."
Remembering that the sponsors hadn't been very fond of Ji Mingshu from the start, he chuckled, "This season's designers... are still a bit too young, being girls. Speaking of composure and maturity, we have to mention designers Wu and Yang; their performances this time were quite remarkable."
The two people he praised were exactly the ones Junyi had chosen and brought in.
After praising him, he observed Cen Sen's expression, which remained largely unchanged.
The production team wasn't just the executive producer who knew about the early sponsors' decision to refuse to focus on filming Ji Mingshu. Since Ji Mingshu wasn't present at the moment, they all followed the executive producer, subtly criticizing Ji Mingshu and praising the designer Junyi had his eye on.
Hearing this shift in the tone, Yan Yuexing suddenly chuckled, "Designer Ji is quite the troublemaker. Sigh, I've been working with her for over a month, and I'm exhausted. Maybe she just lacks experience. I'm so envious of your Group D and Group E..."
Before she could finish her pointed remark, the guests at the head table suddenly slammed their glasses down.
The room fell silent instantly, and everyone turned to look.
Chapter 38
Cen Sen sat there calmly, his gaze lingering on Yan Yuexing for less than three seconds before quickly shifting away, his emotions unreadable.
The producer's heart skipped a beat. He quickly got up to pour Cen Sen more wine, then changed the subject, saying, "I wonder if Mr. Cen often comes to Xingcheng? The crabs at Yaoyuelou are the best in Xingcheng. You must try them when you come up later!"
Although the producer didn't know which sentence was said wrong, he could still tell that the sponsor was unhappy.
He was secretly hoping that his sugar daddy would be magnanimous and not hold it against them. Of course, it would be even better if his sugar daddy could just let the matter drop.
Unfortunately, Cen Sen didn't respond to him. He got up and walked out without even saying "excuse me."
Just then, the waiter served the dishes. In the spacious private room, one of the main characters walked out, while another called out "President Cen! President Cen!" and hurriedly chased after him. The remaining people at the table looked at each other in bewilderment, and the scene instantly became particularly strange.
"What happened? Why did you leave so suddenly?"
"I don't know, it's inexplicable."
"That's really disrespectful to Lao Yang..."
"Old Yang doesn't have that much influence."
Inside the private room, everyone whispered and discussed amongst themselves, while outside, the night air was chilly.
Zhou Jiaheng followed behind Cen Sen, stretching his coat as he walked.
After Cen Sen finished dressing, he slightly raised his hand to straighten his collar. From beginning to end, he didn't give the producer a single glance.
The producer was in a great hurry and didn't dare to pull Cen Sen away, so he could only hold onto Zhou Jiaheng tightly, insisting on getting to the bottom of things.
Having been by Cen Sen's side for a long time, Zhou Jiaheng had become quite indifferent to things. He easily pried the producer's fingers apart, and before getting into the car, he coldly said, "Producer Yang, you'd better not talk about right and wrong."
"...?"
Who's judging right and wrong? Weren't they just praising the two designers Junyi was going to promote?
Producer Yang was genuinely confused at this point, and could only watch helplessly as Cen Sen's car backed out of the parking space and sped away on the main road, his mind filled with thoughts like, "Oh no, oh no, is the sponsorship going to fall through?"
On the bus, without Cen Sen giving any instructions, Zhou Jiaheng found out Ji Mingshu's whereabouts and reported them to Cen Sen.
Cen Sen hummed in agreement, looked out the window, and seemed to be in a bad mood.
He knew that Ji Mingshu had many flaws, but that didn't mean he liked listening to others criticize his wife.