She suppressed her feelings, not daring to let her secret expectations become too strong, but standing on the stair railing, seeing Cen Sen downstairs changing his shoes and loosening his tie, a real and tangible figure, she felt as if she were still struck by a huge sense of happiness.
Cen Sen had just arrived home when he heard the noise and slightly raised his eyes.
The fatigue from working non-stop for 48 hours seemed to vanish the moment he met Ji Mingshu's gaze.
The winter sunset cast beams low through the four south-facing windows, falling on him. After changing his shoes, he leaned against the door, positioned at the boundary of the dim light, still exuding a sense of drowsiness.
But when he looked up at Ji Mingshu, he suddenly gave a slight smile and opened his arms slightly, making a hugging motion.
The sky seemed to brighten suddenly in an instant, and Ji Mingshu did not hesitate for a moment before running downstairs barefoot.
For some reason, as she ran down the hill, many scenes from her middle school days uncontrollably flashed through her mind.
Red synthetic running track. Brick-colored school building. Dark blue school uniforms.
The sky seemed brighter then than it is now, and the lawn was a vibrant green. Perhaps because we were young, these memories always seem to carry a fresh glow.
At that time, Cen Sen was also aloof and distant; he always kept a great distance from her. Occasionally, they would bump into each other, and she would simply brush past him without a second glance.
But after each dismissive glance, she seemed to unconsciously turn back to look at the boy's handsome and upright back.
After many years, she was finally able to openly and legitimately throw herself into that boy's arms again.
In fact, Cen Sen always remembered the scene of Ji Mingshu running towards him from upstairs.
A smoky pink nightgown, cascading black hair, and stars twinkling in her eyes.
At that moment, he seemed to finally be certain that his feelings for Ji Mingshu were more than just liking.
She had a faint, pleasant scent of camellia body lotion on her body. He closed his eyes and nestled his head in the crook of her neck, letting himself be immersed in her scent, not wanting to break free.
The embrace after their brief separation on that winter evening lasted about a minute. Holding Ji Mingshu tightly, he wouldn't let go, pressing his chest against hers and asking in a low voice, "Why did you come back so soon? Did you finalize the deal?"
Cen Sen gave a low "hmm".
Ji Mingshu hugged him even tighter. She originally wanted to ask him if he was tired and if he wanted to rest for a while, but the words that came out of her mouth without thinking were inexplicably, "Why don't you hug me and spin me around? In TV dramas, they always hug and spin me around."
Before Cen Sen could speak, she whispered, "Forget it, you're almost thirty, you're not strong enough to lift him... Ah!!!"
Before Ji Mingshu could finish speaking, she was suddenly lifted into the air without warning. She instinctively wrapped her arms around Cen Sen's neck, and the scenery inside the room spun around her.
"Okay...okay, okay, put me down now!"
She was quite a handful, but her physical condition was terrible; she got dizzy in no time. When she finally landed, she was leaning backward with her foot on Cen Sen's instep, and it was only thanks to Cen Sen catching her that she didn't fall.
Ji Mingshu was recovering from her dizziness when Cen Sen suddenly asked her when she wasn't paying attention, "I only saw your message after I got off the plane. I didn't bring you a gift. What should I do?"
Ji Mingshu was still seeing stars, and the words "I'm fine" were on the tip of her tongue, but she suddenly snapped back to reality just before she could say them.
"What else can we do but break up?" she whispered provocatively, poking Cen Sen's chest with a finger.
Cen Sen's eyes darkened, his voice deep and slightly hoarse, "But I also came back from Paris. How about you accept this gift from me?"
Ji Mingshu: "..."
Do men this good at cheating really exist?!
Chapter 64
In the end, Ji Mingshu reluctantly accepted Cen Sen's gift, which had come all this way from afar and was delivered to her door, though she was secretly pleased and shy.
Around 10 p.m., Ji Mingshu was carried into the bathroom. Her face was flushed, her chin was sweaty, and a few strands of hair clung to her thin cheeks.
Cen Sen placed her in the warm water and brushed her stray hairs aside. He looked at her with his clear eyes and his voice was as deep as ever, seemingly with a hint of a smile, "Your stamina is not good, you need to exercise more."
Without thinking, Ji Mingshu pinched his face, then pushed it away, saying, "You're so annoying!"
She's seven parts shy and three parts coquettish, but there's no trace of being annoying in the literal sense.
Ji Mingshu knew that she was not physically strong, but she did not know that Cen Sen's physical strength was so good that it repeatedly exceeded her expectations.
He only arrived in Paris last night and was home this evening. He even had a business meeting with investors during that time. Even with people picking him up and dropping him off, and a nap on the plane, all that non-stop traveling back and forth must have been incredibly exhausting. She thought the gift-giving process would just be a formality, lasting twenty or thirty minutes, but she underestimated him.
The warm water in the bathtub flowed gently. After Ji Mingshu washed her hair, Cen Sen used a comb to smooth it out, then wrung out the water and put a hair drying cap on her.
Cen Sen had never done these things before, and he was only doing them step by step under Ji Mingshu's guidance, so his movements were a little clumsy.
Fortunately, Ji Mingshu didn't mind. She reached out and tucked her wet hair that was sticking out, glancing back out of the corner of her eye, and couldn't help but secretly raise the corners of her lips.
Ji Mingshu hadn't eaten dinner and had been forced to exercise for several hours, leaving her exhausted and extremely hungry.
After taking a shower, Cen Sen cooked two bowls of tomato and egg noodles with the remaining ingredients in the refrigerator, and gave the last few slices of luncheon meat to Ji Mingshu.
After filling her stomach, Ji Mingshu was unusually virtuous and gentle for once. She didn't bother him to do this or that anymore, but just lay on the bed and told him about the unpleasant things that had happened in the past two days.
In fact, Cen Sen had already heard a detailed real-time report from Zhou Jiaheng, but Zhou Jiaheng's report obviously did not include Ji Mingshu's subjective feelings.
Listening to her rambling, which was sometimes angry and sometimes funny, Cen Sen suddenly turned his head and said seriously, "I'm sorry."
The curtains inside were drawn, and the winter night sky outside the French windows was pitch black, dotted with a few quiet stars.
Cen Sen pulled her into his arms, his long, slender fingers running through her soft, long hair. His voice, as if moistened by the dampness of her hair, was gentler than usual, "I'm sorry you had to suffer this time. I promise, it won't happen again."
Ji Mingshu suddenly felt a lump in her throat. Although she would rather hear Cen Sen say "I like you" than "I'm sorry," this "I'm sorry" also instantly stirred up the grievances that had been weighing on her heart.
The chilling fear I felt last night, as if I had fallen into an ice cellar, is not something I can completely forget once I wake up.
She's not a celebrity or an internet celebrity, she doesn't need to rely on fans and netizens to make a living, and she hasn't done anything heinous or unforgivable. So why should she be expected to have a strong heart to face unwarranted insults and curses from others?
She wasn't going to take the opportunity to say things like "I'm fine," "I'm okay," or "I don't blame you," because it was clearly his fault!
Thinking of this, Ji Mingshu bit his neck hard, then followed up on his words and said matter-of-factly:
"I'm so wronged!"
"That obscure fan even photoshopped a funeral portrait of me! Do you know how awful that funeral portrait was? Oh, and that fan was quite logical, probably thinking I'm too young to die, so they photoshopped wrinkles and gray hair onto the funeral portrait! It made me so angry!"
"It's all your fault! You're the type who admits your mistakes but refuses to change. No way, you have to make it up to me today!"
"Okay, compensation."
Ji Mingshu persisted, "How are you going to compensate me? I need a plan now, quick, quick, don't try to get away with this!"
Cen Sen thought for a moment, "How about I open an interior design studio for you?"
"...Are you even human?"
"Is the compensation just so I can devote myself entirely to working and earning money to support my family?"
Ji Mingshu asked incredulously.
So, did she overdo her independent persona before, and now Cen Sen mistakenly think she wants to be a strong, independent woman?
Cen Sen paused for a moment, then thought for a while, "How about I buy you an island? Buy one... where you can see the aurora borealis."
Some time ago, he met with Mr. Chang, another investor in the Nanwan project. Mr. Chang often talked about his wife and children, and mentioned that he had recently bought a private island for his wife and children abroad. He planned to build a villa on the island and hire someone to maintain the beach regularly, so that he would be able to have a very peaceful and pleasant vacation there in the future.
Mr. Chang also said that if needed, he could introduce reliable sellers, as some islands have very good seawater quality and you can even see the Milky Way and the aurora.
He was briefly tempted at the time, but then he got too busy and forgot about it. Now that the compensation was being brought up, he wasn't sure if Ji Mingshu would be satisfied.
Admittedly, not all women are blinded by the pursuit of material luxury such as money, jewelry, yachts, airplanes, and private islands, but Ji Mingshu is.
Without a moment's hesitation, she happily agreed, and her attitude suddenly changed completely.
Just moments ago, she was so aggressive she almost confronted Cen Sen in the face, but now she's nestled gently into his arms, massaging his shoulders. Her eyes are sparkling, and she excitedly asks about the island's exact location, its size, whether it can be named independently, the duration of the property rights, whether it's convenient for parties, and whether it's very cold to see the aurora...
Cen Sen was also a very efficient person. Seeing that Ji Mingshu was interested, he contacted Zhou Jiaheng and asked him to handle it.
Zhou Jiaheng made two mistakes in a row, and after returning to China, he hadn't heard how Cen Sen was going to deal with him. He was worried about whether he could keep his job.
When work came, Zhou Jiaheng suddenly perked up. He jumped out of bed without even putting on his shoes, sat in front of the computer with shining eyes, and kept making phone calls to contact people.
After all, the workplace is like a battlefield. Although he is always by Cen Sen's side and seems to be the president's most trusted confidant, the competition for the position is actually extremely fierce. So many assistants in the president's office are eyeing him and are hoping that he will fall from power so that they can take his place!
Thinking about soon having his own island, Ji Mingshu smiled and immediately ran to the group to inform Jiang Chun and Gu Kaiyang, asking them to respectfully call him "Aurora Island Master" from now on.
The two were in rare unison, both uttering the word "crazy" at the same time.
Jiang Chun complained, "Can't you even see what time it is? Disturbing someone's sleep will get you thrown into a pig cage!"
Ji Mingshu: [It's not even midnight yet, what are you sleeping for? Eat and sleep, sleep and eat. Calling you a goose is an insult to geese. You can prepare your own pig cage.]
Ji Mingshu was completely focused on typing, even chatting with the air of someone about getting first blood in a game. Cen Sen couldn't get a word in edgewise, so he glanced at his phone.
At this hour, their childhood friends' group chat was still quite active. Jiang Che was asking what gift he could give his girlfriend to make her happy since the New Year was approaching.
Cen Sen: [Jewelry, yachts, islands.]
He had just successfully charmed someone and was kindly sharing his experience.
But Jiang Che didn't appreciate it.
Jiang Che: [How can you be so vulgar? Can't you come up with something original?]
Shu Yang: [?]
Shu Yang: [I like Sen Ge's vulgarity.]
Zhao Yang: [It depends on the type of woman. Just like with surgery, you can't generalize. This trick might work for Xiao Shu, but it definitely won't work for someone like Xiao Youyu. You can't talk about money with a girl like her who's a bit stubborn, and you don't need to talk about novelty. You have to talk about sincerity. Am I right, President Jiang?]
Jiang Che: [Hmm.]
Jiang Che: [Before we started dating, I gave her a necklace, and she felt I was humiliating her.]
Cen Sen: [……]
He put down his phone and glanced at Ji Mingshu, who was happily sharing her identity as the island owner, and suddenly felt that he was quite lucky.
After pondering for a moment, he assigned Zhou Jiaheng another task: to collect valuable and rare items in his spare time for future use.
Zhou Jiaheng, radiating the human warmth of "work makes me happy," readily agreed and casually wrote down the "asteroid naming rights" he had heard about a couple of days ago in the expensive and rare memo.
Before we knew it, it was the Little New Year. In the depths of winter in the capital, the snow was falling even more heavily.
At this time of year, the Forbidden City, with its red walls and white snow, exudes an ancient charm. Ji Mingshu, not fond of joining the crowds taking photos, spent two days with Grandpa Cen, Grandma Cen, and Cen Sen at the garden where Cen Yuanchao was recuperating in the suburbs of Beijing.
Cen Sen didn't know what she had done wrong, but for the past two days, Cen Yuanchao had been lecturing her for at least half an hour each time, and his voice was so loud that she could hear him even when she was taking a selfie in the snow-viewing corridor.
Cen Sen is now her sweetheart, so being scolded like this makes her feel a little sorry for him. She pretends not to hear, and every now and then, when Cen Yuanchao is in the middle of his tantrum, she goes in and brings him a rock sugar pear, white fungus and bird's nest soup.
Cen Yuanchao looked displeased, but he couldn't bring himself to get angry at his wife. So, whenever this happened, he would wave his hand and tell the two of them to go out and stop making a fool of themselves!
Ji Mingshu asked in a low voice, "What did you do? Why is Dad so angry?"