Ji Mingshu patted his face, repeatedly telling himself to wake up quickly.
How could she possibly feel annoyed that nothing happened between her and Cen Sen, and even imagine it herself?
No, that's impossible! It must be because he hasn't had sex in so long that he's so sexually frustrated!
Moreover, there's no way she could like a man like Cen Sen, with whom she's been incompatible since childhood. It's a joke!
She simply liked his money!
Yes, that's right, that's exactly it.
After convincing himself, Ji Mingshu nodded solemnly.
Yesterday was chaotic, and I slept very lightly last night, so Cen Sen hasn't adjusted to the time difference yet.
This morning, another meeting was convened with the branch's senior management. A group of people who are usually well-dressed sat there pointing fingers and shirking responsibility, arguing for a full three hours.
With Cen Sen, a grown man, sitting in the main seat, they argued heatedly, their faces flushed, and neither would back down, creating a scene reminiscent of a dispute over the inheritance.
Even after the meeting ended, the boisterous clamor of the ducks still echoed in Cen Sen's mind.
He went into the office alone and instructed Zhou Jiaheng not to let anyone in. He then leaned back in his office chair and listened to piano music for half an hour before he finally came to his senses.
Everyone says women are noisy, but compared to these men, he felt that Ji Mingshu could be considered gentle and considerate.
Thinking of Ji Mingshu, he picked up his phone again, opened WeChat, and accepted her friend request.
Cen Sen rarely checks his WeChat Moments, but when he saw that Ji Mingshu had posted photos in her album, he casually clicked on them and took a look.
Unexpectedly, this one glance lasted for more than half an hour.
Ji Mingshu's circle of friends was pretty much what he had imagined, but besides posting about her elegant socialite and wealthy wife image, there were also many posts that were very down-to-earth and even a little silly.
When Zhou Jiaheng called in to remind him that he had a social engagement in the afternoon, he had just seen the New Year's photo that Ji Mingshu had posted at the beginning of the year.
She was building a snowman with the younger generation of the Cen family, wrapped in a fluffy coat and wearing a little red hat on her head. Her eyes were smiling, bright and lovely.
While saving the photos, he calmly gave instructions on official business.
Meanwhile, Ji Mingshu, who was eating a hotel-delivered lunchbox while scrolling through her phone, was so shocked that she almost dropped the lunchbox.
She had just opened her WeChat Moments when she saw several notifications. When she clicked on them, she was surprised to find that Cen Sen had given her hundreds of likes.
And even as she was wondering if the crappy software was really bugged, Cen Sen was still liking it in real time.
One reminder after another kept popping up, but the liked content was getting older and older, and online comments started to appear.
Cen Sen: [The photo is out of focus.]
Cen Sen: [The clothes are too brightly colored.]
Cen Sen: [Incorrect tense.]
Cen Sen: [The idiom was used incorrectly.]
Ji Mingshu stared at the comment reminder, his head full of question marks. Did he think he was a homeroom teacher, grading comments as he read them?
Ji Mingshu: [?]
Ji Mingshu: [What are you doing?]
Cen Sen: [Looking at your WeChat Moments.]
Although she always publicly shares things on her WeChat Moments, Cen Sen was not actually within the scope of what she considered sharing.
And what's wrong with this man? He just looks, but he also has to give a like and write a comment, like "I have read it"? It's so inexplicable!
Ji Mingshu didn't want to argue with him anymore, so she stopped it at the source by changing the posting time on her WeChat Moments to the last three days, and then posted a smug tongue-out emoji.
Unexpectedly, Cen Sen acted unpredictably, sending her a candid photo of him building a snowman during the Chinese New Year, along with his one-on-one comments.
Cen Sen: [This one is the best.]
Ji Mingshu: [...]
Cen Sen: [Quite cute.]
Ji Mingshu: [...]
Her ears turned red.
This jerk, is he trying to seduce her? Why is he suddenly being so direct?
Feeling inexplicably guilty, she quickly hid her phone in her bag.
She finished her lunchbox absentmindedly, and on her way upstairs, she bumped into Feng Yan and Pei Xiyan sawing wood.
Most of the wood they sawed was useless; it was just to enhance the show's entertainment value and make viewers think that the guests also contributed to the custom furniture.
The camera wasn't on at the moment, and the two of them were just practicing. After all, if their sawing posture was too strange when they were actually recording, they might get criticized.
She crouched down and cupped her face in her hands to observe, but her thoughts were still wandering in outer space.
Feng Yan casually asked, "Ming Shu, what's wrong? You seem a bit out of sorts today."
Ji Mingshu snapped out of his reverie. "I'm fine. I was just thinking... about how to specifically enhance the practicality of our plan."
Neither Feng Yan nor Pei Xiyan could offer any advice on this issue.
They are celebrities, mostly living a life of luxury, and can appreciate Ji Mingshu's high-end designs, but they don't know how to make designs relevant to everyday life.
Cen Sen said last night that Ji Mingshu's design was not practical enough, and Ji Mingshu thought about it seriously for a while.
However, the renovation project was already halfway complete, and there wasn't much room for change in the hard furnishings, so we could only start with the soft furnishings.
She felt that the root cause of the lack of homeyness was insufficient storage space. When she came over today, she visited her neighbor's house in this building and, based on her observation, temporarily modified the designs of several custom-made furniture pieces.
For example, a sofa.
Located in the south, Xingcheng does not have underfloor heating in winter, and most families are accustomed to using electric heaters for warmth.
She saw at her neighbor's house that they had placed an electric grill under the coffee table. However, electric grills are quite large, and placing them under the coffee table would take up space underneath, making it inconvenient to stretch one's legs while watching TV. In addition, it was not aesthetically pleasing.
So she modified the custom sofa, leaving a rectangular space under the base of the long sofa to store the electric heater, and making the outside into a sliding wooden door style, while the bottom of the sofa on both sides was made into storage cabinets.
Of course, more specific modifications will have to be made to the overall design drawings after we get back today.
Ji Mingshu squatted for a while longer, and seeing that they had changed the direction of the wood, he suddenly said out of the blue, "I have a question for you."
Feng Yan: "What's the problem?"
Ji Mingshu: "Exactly, do you guys suddenly give a girl a lot of likes, save a picture from her Moments, send it to her, tell her the picture is beautiful, and compliment her on being cute?"
Feng Yan and Pei Xiyan paused for a moment, looked at each other, and then shook their heads.
It's one thing for Yan Zai to be a child with no dating experience, but Feng Yan is not young either, so what's with him shaking his head?
Ji Mingshu then caught him and asked, "So what do you think this kind of behavior usually means?"
Feng Yan: "This...could it be liking?"
"What's there to like? Isn't it just flirting?"
Yan Yuexing rolled her eyes, feeling utterly speechless at the actions of these three people, whose combined age was over sixty, who were still pretending to be innocent.
Fearing that the two girls would start arguing again, Feng Yan quickly shook his head slightly at Ji Mingshu, signaling her not to take it to heart.
Over this period of time, everyone has seen Yan Yuexing's true colors. In front of the camera, she is a cute and adorable idol, but as soon as the camera is off, she becomes a delinquent.
She initially wanted to maintain a good image and get close to Pei Xiyan, but with Ji Mingshu protecting her child and Pei Xiyan's super-fast disappearing skills, she couldn't get close to him at all while recording the show together, and they barely exchanged a few words. So she gave up on wasting her time.
She and Cen Sen are husband and wife, yet they can sleep together directly; what's with all the flirting? Ji Mingshu ignored Yan Yuexing's nonsense, only resting her chin on her hand, pondering Feng Yan's words. Did Cen Sen like her?
How strange, I never notice it normally, it only happens occasionally. Could it be that besides intermittent amnesia, I also have intermittent liking?
She discussed it with Feng Yan again.
Throughout the process, Pei Xiyan maintained a polite and distant attitude, not participating in the conversation. However, he went outside to answer a phone call from Cen Sen.
Cen Sen called him to ask if Ji Mingshu had revised the design plan. He had just sent Ji Mingshu a WeChat message to ask, but Ji Mingshu didn't seem to be looking at his phone and hadn't replied.
Pei Xiyan responded with a few words, then thought for a moment and reminded him, "Brother Sen, it seems like someone's been pursuing Sister Mingshu lately."
Cen Sen: "What?"
Pei Xiyan felt that as a boy, he shouldn't be so gossipy, and told him to ask Ji Mingshu instead.
But Cen Sen asked again, and when he couldn't, he coughed lightly and said briefly, "A man gave Ming Shu a lot of likes on her WeChat Moments and sent her photos of Ming Shu, praising her for being pretty and cute. That's all. Don't tell anyone I told you."
He coughed again, seemingly embarrassed by his act of informing.
Chapter 35
After hanging up the phone, Cen Sen remained silent for a while.
Just then, Zhou Jiaheng came over to deliver some documents. Cen Sen suddenly paused, looked up and asked, "If a man likes a woman's posts on social media and compliments her on her photos, does that mean he's pursuing her?"
Zhou Jiaheng was completely focused on his work, and when he was suddenly asked this question, he didn't react for several seconds.
After he realized what was going on, he wondered: Was President Cen hinting at something or implying something? Or was there some thorny issue in his relationship that required him, the assistant, to understand and take the initiative to help him out?
In just over ten seconds, Zhou Jiaheng had already come up with a suitable answer.
But Cen Sen seemed to realize that he had misunderstood, so he quickly looked away and said before he could speak, "Don't overthink it, I was just asking."
"..."
I've overthought it.
Cen Sen: "You can go out now."
Zhou Jiaheng paused for a moment, nodded slightly, and turned to walk out, but he felt unusually puzzled and uneasy.
He had followed Cen Sen for many years and knew Cen Sen's temperament very well. He could always understand what Cen Sen was thinking or doing and handle it appropriately.
However, Cen Sen rarely mentioned personal matters, and his attitude today was somewhat perplexing to him.
Not only Zhou Jiaheng couldn't figure it out, but Cen Sen himself hadn't quite understood it either.
The office was quiet. He took off his glasses, leaned back, and subconsciously rubbed his brow bone.
In matters of the heart, he has always been indifferent. He doesn't seem to understand women very well, and he doesn't have strong feelings of liking or disliking his partners. At most, he just admires them.
Ji Mingshu, since his student days, has had many flaws that are not within his sphere of appreciation.