He leaned back in the back seat, his hand supporting his forehead. Whether it was the effect of the alcohol or the stimulation of blood, some inexplicable desire stirred within him.
The black sedan sped along to Star Harbor International in the sparse night breeze.
Stopping on the opposite side of the road, Cen Sen got out of the car, asked the driver for a cigarette, put one hand in his pocket and leaned against the car door, staring at a dark window. The restlessness in his heart seemed to be slowly calmed by the cold autumn night wind.
I slept without any dreams.
The next morning, Ji Mingshu and Gu Kaiyang got up together.
Whether Ji Mingshu was truly determined or just had a fleeting interest, she was discussing with Gu Kaiyang over porridge early in the morning: what she could do to support herself.
Gu Kaiyang opened his tablet to look at the latest fashion news and casually said, "That's easy. The key is that you have to spend less. I'm not saying this, but apart from the Ji family and Cen Sen letting you spend as much as you want, there are really not many people who can afford to support you."
"I just couldn't control myself, could I?" Ji Mingshu drank half a bowl of porridge, then elegantly wiped his lips clean and neatly clasped his hands together. "Seriously, what do you think I should do? My money is about to run out."
Gu Kaiyang thought for a moment, "Become a personal shopper? Isn't it easy for you, Miss Ji, to buy bags and limited editions for people at various luxury stores? You can easily make money by reselling them."
"No, do you even have a brain? Most of the people who can afford these things are from my circle. Do you want me to be ridiculed to death? Gu Kaiyang, you're so vicious!"
Gu Kaiyang raised his hand to signal him to stop. "Then what do you think you can do that will keep you out of your original circle? Become an internet celebrity? Debut as a star???"
Ji Mingshu shook his head vigorously, like a rattle-drum.
She's too sensitive and can't handle negative comments from netizens.
Moreover, although the entertainment industry is not as hostile to celebrities and internet personalities as it was in the past, Miss Ji herself is stuck in her high-class socialite image and has no desire to show her face or rely on her looks for a living.
Gu Kaiyang added, "If you want to do the interior design you like, it's impossible to completely cut off contact with your original circle. You've only ever done creative space design, so where are the clients for those kinds of things? Where are you going to find high-end clients if you leave your original circle?"
"Think about it, would a huge villa be entrusted to someone with no portfolio to design by someone who has no connection to you? So no matter what you do, the first thing you have to do is overcome that mental hurdle of not being able to reconnect with your original circle, understand?"
Ji Mingshu was resting her chin on her hand, still trying to figure it out, when her phone suddenly dinged.
The little goose informant brought her the latest big news in the industry early in the morning.
Jiang Chun: [OMG! Your husband beat someone up at Zhang Er's place last night!!!]
Jiang Chun: [A lot of people are here, Jiang Che, Shu Yang, Zhang Er, and your little white lotus rival!]
Ji Mingshu was taken aback.
Did Cen Sen assault someone?
Is Li Wenying still present?
So he did it for Li Wenying...
Before she could think any further, more intelligence came in.
Jiang Chun: [The one who got beaten up is that chubby little guy, Mo Zhengwei. I bet you don't even know him. I heard it's because he was talking badly about you, and your husband overheard it, so he smashed a bottle down on him! He almost killed him! This has caused a huge uproar. I heard that chubby guy is currently in the Third Hospital for a checkup!]
The author has something to say: I think Cen Shisen will be able to survive today.
President Jiang: No, I am the MVP today.
Chapter 44
Later, Jiang Chun sent a long string of exaggerated words with exclamation marks, but Ji Mingshu didn't even read them.
She stared intently at the chat interface, her eyes unblinking, her thoughts seemingly trapped in a vicious cycle, confirming her doubts one after another.
Seeing her staring blankly at her phone, Gu Kaiyang waved his hand in front of her eyes. "What's wrong?"
Ji Mingshu looked up, stared at her for three seconds, and suddenly blurted out: "Cen Sen beat someone up so badly that they were hospitalized because of what they said about me."
"Cough! Cough cough cough!"
Gu Kaiyang hadn't even swallowed the porridge in his mouth when Ji Mingshu's words choked him badly.
Seeing her bizarre reaction, Ji Mingshu also came to her senses a little more.
Hmm... there must be some misunderstanding. Maybe the chubby guy just cursed him out of the blue. How could someone like Cen Sen, who's too lazy to even talk, start a fight over something so trivial? And it was all for her sake, after all.
Although she tried to make up for it in her mind, Ji Mingshu spent the entire morning shamelessly immersed in a subtle pleasure.
The socialites and wealthy ladies are the most well-informed and adept at adapting to changing circumstances.
Aside from the usual brand PR invitations in the past few days, no one in the industry, big or small, invited Ji Mingshu to attend any events. Even if they did, it was with a lot of malice, as if they were just waiting to see him make a fool of himself.
But this morning, the "sisters" kept showering me with concern and inviting me to social events.
[Honey, I have a new product launch at my store tomorrow. It's been so long since I've seen you! Do you have time? I can have someone pick you up, okay?]
—This message came from Fiona, the daughter of the chairman of the Gande Group, a company that started with mining.
Fiona studied jewelry design abroad for two years and then founded her own eponymous jewelry brand upon returning to China. However, due to limited talent, her designs were often seen as miniature versions of classic pieces from high-end brands like Tiffany, Cartier, and VCA, and were priced extremely high.
However, her flattery was quite effective, and Ji Mingshu, out of respect for her, picked out a few decent pieces of jewelry from her shop, but he never wore them; they were either given away or left to gather dust in the closet.
[Shushu, my concert tour is ending this Saturday night at the Sports Center, and I've reserved a VIP seat for you. You absolutely have to come if you can! I miss you so much!]
—This is a message from Echo, the youngest daughter of the Bai family, a musical family.
Bai's parents had impeccable political backgrounds; in their youth, they were both national-level singers performing at state banquets, and their political careers progressed smoothly into their later years.
Echo's older siblings all followed the same path their parents had taken, but somehow she ended up cultivating a family image as a pianist. Despite not being a very good pianist, she relied on her family's connections to pave the way and launched a world tour of piano performances.
...
There were many more messages like this, and Ji Mingshu knew what they were even without reading them all.
After all, five out of ten socialites are independent fashion designers, and the other five are either jewelry designers, musicians, art exhibition organizers, or charitable foundations. Whether they are proficient or passionate about these things is irrelevant; the main thing is that their titles are respectable and sound good.
Normally, Ji Mingshu looked down on those who talked about art and design but were actually just half-baked goldfish brains. But today, she suddenly reflected on it while resting her chin on her hand: Even if they are not good, at least they are seriously running their businesses. They are still better than her, who is all talk and no action.
For some reason, she suddenly put down her phone, sat down at the computer, and started typing seriously.
Around 6 p.m., Ji Mingshu was about to get up from his computer to get a cup of yogurt from the refrigerator when he suddenly heard the door lock rattle.
She looked up and saw that it was Gu Kaiyang.
"You're off work so early today?"
Ji Mingshu was slightly surprised.
For fashion magazines like Zero Degree, working overtime is commonplace; she had never seen Gu Kaiyang leave work at a normal time before.
Gu Kaiyang didn't reply. He changed his shoes at the door and then suddenly sidled up to her, asking abruptly, "What are you doing?"
"I was just organizing some design work I'd done before," she said, looking Gu Kaiyang up and down, something seemed off. "What's wrong with you?"
Gu Kaiyang looked at her, unable to hide it, and chuckled to himself. Suddenly, he took out an exquisite blue velvet jewelry box from behind his back and shook it.
Ji Mingshu paused.
Gu Kaiyang placed the jewelry box on the table with great reverence, opened it solemnly, then stood up, placed his hands neatly folded over his lower abdomen, and said in Zhou Jiaheng's tone, "Miss Gu, Mr. Cen recently acquired a pink diamond ring. It's the fancy vivid pink diamond that Madam liked last year. After being recut, the color grade has been upgraded to fancy vivid pink, and it has been modified to Madam's size. Please pass it on to her."
Ji Mingshu stared at the exquisitely cut, oval diamond ring on the table, its pinkish hue still shimmering in the sunlight, unable to process what was happening.
After reciting Zhou Jiaheng's speech, Gu Kaiyang excitedly plopped down next to Ji Mingshu, chattering, "You have no idea how nervous I was when I came back with this ring! Luckily, your husband's assistant sent a car and bodyguards to give me a ride! My god, I just secretly checked in the car, and this ring sold for 32 million! In US dollars! Your husband is really going all out!"
Ji Mingshu: "..."
She stared at the ring, her eyes fixed on it for a long time.
No one knows what Gu Kaiyang went through while he was at work, but when he came back, his attitude had completely changed. He kept babbling in Ji Mingshu's ear, "Cen Sen is so good, Cen Sen is so wonderful, Cen Sen is so amazing," and he was just short of helping her pack up and send her back to Mingshui Mansion, along with two condoms as a bonus.
In fact, when Ji Mingshu received Jiang Chun's tip this morning, he wavered for a second.
Staring at the pink diamond, she wavered for another three seconds, much to her own chagrin.
She took the ring out of the box and tried it on.
As the evening sun cast its last rays, a faint, lingering gloom, the pink diamond shone brilliantly, each facet sparkling and translucent. A small ring of smaller diamonds set nearby reflected the dazzling light with the slight curve of the finger.
Wow, it's so beautiful!
This is the ring a princess should have!
Just like her beauty, she is so stunning, so breathtaking!
Ji Mingshu was so engrossed in her love for the ring that she completely ignored Gu Kaiyang's endless chatter, as if it had been sifted through. She only heard the last sentence, "When are you going back?" and she suddenly sobered up as if she had drunk a hangover soup.
—Does the ring mean going back?
"Who said I wanted to go back?"
"You think you can get rid of me with a broken ring?"
"Last time I threw the divorce papers at him, he just gave me a bracelet to get rid of me. Is he ever sincere?!"
Gu Kaiyang: "This ring is much more expensive than that bracelet. I think it shows a lot of sincerity."
Ji Mingshu took off the ring and examined it. Suddenly, she deduced and concluded, "He probably didn't do anything wrong last time, which is why he was so confident and just gave me a bracelet to appease me. This time, giving me something so expensive means he's guilty, right? What a scumbag!"
Gu Kaiyang: "...?"
Genius logic, reverberates.
Ji Mingshu's wavering resolve hardened once more. She put away the ring, tossed it into a small drawer, and looked at it again. Sitting down at the computer, she straightened her posture and continued working on her work.
The next morning, Junyi headquarters was to hold its monthly executive meeting.
Cen Sen, dressed in a white shirt and suit, sat at the head of the table, wearing a pair of light gold-rimmed glasses.
After the report was finished, he didn't even look up and said directly, "Manager Lan, I'm very curious who promoted you to your current position. When you report on your work, you use ambiguous words like 'should,' 'maybe,' and 'perhaps.' What use is Junyi to you? You might as well go through the training process with the management trainees again and start from scratch."
"And the entire corporate communications department, for two consecutive months, has come up with proposals that sound like long-time employees in the system taking advantage of their positions to freeload. Junyi is not a retirement home. Those who can't think straight should go to the HR department to go through the procedures and leave."
...
When he criticizes others, his voice is always cold and unapproachable. However, if it doesn't directly target him, one can still discern a certain beauty in his deliberate and measured delivery.
Everyone was on edge throughout the meeting, walking on thin ice. When it ended, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Cen Sen went straight back to his office without leaving a step, while Zhou Jiaheng stayed behind to help him organize his notebooks and documents.
Someone couldn't help but ask Zhou Jiaheng, "Assistant Zhou, what's wrong with President Cen these past few days? He seems a bit strange."
Cen Sen is usually aloof and distant, but he still gives people a gentle feeling when he speaks and acts. He is not like this today, so cold that he is almost mean. He even dragged out Manager Lan, who is recognized as a delicate flower in Junyi, and dissed her in public without any mercy.
Zhou Jiaheng smiled but didn't reply.
When others saw that they couldn't get any clear answers from him, they weren't surprised. They just shook their heads, sighed, packed their things, and went back to work.