The most embarrassing thing in this world isn’t being caught pleasuring yourself in the bathroom by an unfamiliar husband, but rather being caught pleasuring yourself in the bathroom by an unfamiliar husband and then having to pretend nothing happened while asking that unfamiliar husband to fetch your underwear.

This directly led to an exceptionally silent journey back to Nanqiao Hutong.

Ji Mingshu had embarrassed Cen Sen to the point of distraction. In the car, he wanted to review some documents, but as soon as he opened them, floating bullet comments replaying Ji the great rapper’s timeless masterpiece, appeared before his eyes.

As for Ji Mingshu, probably too embarrassed to speak, she kept her eyes closed the entire time with her head turned toward the window.

Upon arriving at Nanqiao Hutong, the two who hadn’t exchanged a word somehow simultaneously rediscovered their acting abilities, instinctively linking arms with radiant smiles, the very picture of a loving couple.

Ji Mingshu in particular, knowing they were coming here, had deliberately worn a simple pink dress she rarely touched, applied light lipstick, and temporarily straightened her usual flirty waves into an obedient ponytail, presenting the image of a virtuous, filial daughter-in-law.

The hutong lanes were narrow, making it difficult to park, so Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen got out at the entrance and walked in arm-in-arm.

Zhou Jiaheng followed behind carrying gifts. Seeing this couple’s face-changing skills again after two years, he strangely felt a sense of familiarity.

When they reached the courtyard entrance, the sentry on duty opened the door and saluted them with proper bearing.

“Grandpa, Grandma!” Ji Mingshu, always sweet-tongued around elders, smiled with crinkled eyes upon seeing the family busy setting up tables in the pavilion.

Seeing her, Old Mrs. Cen couldn’t help smiling too. “Oh my, Xiao Shu is here!”

She handed the bowls and chopsticks to Mrs. Zhou, then meticulously wiped her hands before taking Ji Mingshu’s, gently patting the back of her hand. “Today you’re in for a treat. I cooked your favorite braised spare ribs!”

“You cooked personally? Let me see,” Ji Mingshu held Old Mrs. Cen’s hands, examining them with concern. “How did you get so thin? I haven’t visited you for a while. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“What are you worrying about? I’m perfectly fine! It’s been hot lately, so I’m wearing lighter clothes, which makes me look thinner. What do you young people call it… visual effect!”

Old Mrs. Cen spoke with vigor and energy, truly not appearing ill, which finally eased Ji Mingshu’s concerns.

Ji Mingshu had always been beautiful and sweet-tongued, lively and cheerful, particularly skilled at winning the hearts of the elders in the compound.

Old Mrs. Cen had watched her grow up and treated her completely like her own granddaughter. A few years ago, when the young lady married into their family, she was beaming with joy, boasting to everyone about having gained such a delightful granddaughter-in-law.

In contrast, her biological grandson Cen Sen had only returned home halfway through his formative years and had maintained a superficially gentle but cold-hearted demeanor all these years. Old Mrs. Cen didn’t know how to get close to him.

There was affection, concern, and guilt, but in their interactions, there always remained an indescribable distance.

It wasn’t just Old Mrs. Cen; everyone in the Cen family was closer to Ji Mingshu than to Cen Sen. As he grew older and became more independent, now seemingly poised to take over as the new leader of the Cen clan, even the younger generation felt somewhat intimidated by him.

During dinner, when a young cousin accidentally touched Cen Sen’s chopsticks while serving herself, she blurted out a panicked “I’m sorry,” and the scene immediately fell silent.

Ji Mingshu was also momentarily stunned, her gaze moving between the young cousin and Cen Sen. For an instant, she had the outlandish thought—had this dog of a man done something beastly to the young cousin to make her fear him like a frightened chick?

Cen Sen paid no attention to this small incident and even kindly picked a piece of spare rib for the young cousin, fully playing the role of a considerate older brother.

Unfortunately, the young cousin was too young to know how to hide her feelings. She smiled stiffly and didn’t dare eat it.

Today was an ordinary family dinner. Though not everyone was present, the table was full. Among them were those who feared Cen Sen and those who did not.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, his aunt Cen Yingfrost started a conversation: “By the way, Xiao Shu, those changes you made at my place last time—my friend really loved them. She recently bought a house in America and wants to find an interior designer to properly design it. Money and budget aren’t issues; I just don’t know if you’re available recently.”

“Available? Of course, I’m available. I have plenty of time,” Ji Mingshu agreed immediately, adding playfully, “I love the kind of friends you introduce, Auntie. I can earn some pocket money to buy bags.”

“Oh my, what are you saying? Isn’t A-Sen buying bags for you anymore?” Cen Yingfrost teased.

Ji Mingshu leaned slightly toward Cen Sen, saying sweetly: “A-Sen works very hard for his money, too. I can’t always let him support me. Besides, I’d be idle anyway, so finding something to do is quite nice.”

Hearing this, Cen Sen turned his head and shared a smiling three-second gaze with Ji Mingshu.

There it was again—that “what am I going to do with you, my adorable little treasure” look.

Sometimes, Ji Mingshu quite admired this dog of a man; his acting skills at pretending to be deeply affectionate and doting in front of elders matched her own.

After their gaze ended and they looked away, she involuntarily broke out in goosebumps.

“A-Sen, this is where you’re wrong,” Cen Yingfrost automatically filtered out their performance, chattering away with an elder’s authority as she lectured Cen Sen. “Now that you’ve returned to Junyi, with Xiao Shu bored with nothing to do, you could arrange for her to learn more at the company, to develop and utilize her talents.”

Utilize her talents?

How to bankrupt a multinational corporation on the spot?

Cen Sen paused briefly before saying gently, “I’m happy just taking care of Xiao Shu. Taking care of her is my responsibility.”

—Scene 1, Act 3 of the drama “Loving Couple,” cut.

Perhaps the sweet love between the young couple stung the eyes of the single, middle-aged female PhD, and Cen Yingfrost went to the bathroom.

When she returned and before she had fully settled in her seat, she suddenly stared at Cen Sen with scrutiny.

Then, as if discovering a new continent, she put down her chopsticks and asked: “A-Sen, how did your hair grow so quickly? Just two weeks ago, Mingshu posted on social media, Your hair was this short.” She demonstrated with her thumb and index finger.

“Cough! Cough cough!”

Ji Mingshu, who was drinking soup, choked unexpectedly, nearly coughing to death on the spot.

Cen Sen was very attentive, patting her back while helping her drink water, and even wiping the corner of her lips with a napkin.

Several people sitting nearby also expressed concern for Ji Mingshu.

After recovering, Ji Mingshu said she was fine, but before she could inwardly feel relieved that the deadly topic had passed, Cen Yingfrost, exhibiting the knowledge-seeking scientific spirit of a female PhD, rearranged the sentence structure and asked the same question again.

She even pulled up Ji Mingshu’s social media posts and compared them with Cen Sen, looking back and forth between him and the photos, muttering with fascination: “It does grow fast! Based on the photo proportions, your hair has grown at least two centimeters in fourteen days. Normal hair growth rate should be one centimeter per month. Are you using some kind of hair growth product? Why would someone so young use hair growth products? What brand is it? The effect is so good! I should recommend it to some of the older men at our institute!”

Cen Sen inconspicuously glanced at Ji Mingshu.

Ji Mingshu looked down, shutting out everything but the braised spare ribs on her plate.

After all, she couldn’t understand why her detail-oriented and research-spirited aunt couldn’t tell the photos were photoshopped.

For the past two years, Cen Sen had been in Australia, too busy to return even for the Spring Festival.

As Mrs. Cen, Ji Mingshu spent her days idly traveling the world. If she didn’t frequently visit Australia to see her husband, it would destabilize their loving couple facade.

But she truly didn’t want to have more self-initiated interactions with Cen Sen, her husband of convenience. So after much deliberation, she found a photo editor to help photoshop them together, then regularly posted these photos visible only to the Cen family, creating the illusion that she frequently flew to Australia to visit Cen Sen and that they were sweetly in love.

After two years of this without being discovered, even now, when Auntie noticed Cen Sen’s mysteriously rapid hair growth but didn’t question the authenticity of the photos, it seemed to indirectly prove that the photo editor she hired was technically superb, flawless, and worth every penny.

Thinking of this, Ji Mingshu felt somewhat satisfied.

Perhaps because there were both old and young at the table, the topic Cen Yingfrost brought up seemed too irrelevant for the occasion. Before Cen Sen could respond, Old Mr. Cen said authoritatively, “No talking during meals. You’ve studied so much, yet you’re becoming increasingly ill-mannered. Still acting like a child at over thirty—no wonder you can’t get married!”

“…?”

Wasn’t everyone just chatting animatedly? Why was it suddenly “no talking during meals” for her? And what did this have to do with her being over thirty and unmarried? Was this family discriminating against older unmarried women now?

Cen Yingfrost felt wronged and was about to defend herself.

Cen Yuanzhao, however, gave her a timely look, signaling her not to talk back.

While Cen Yingfrost rarely listened to others, her big brother Cen Yuanzhao’s words still carried weight. She held back, silently swallowing her essay of rebuttal.

Due to Old Mr. Cen’s words, the latter half of the meal proceeded in silence.

After dinner, Old Mr. Cen called Cen Yuanzhao and Cen Sen upstairs for a talk, while the others stayed in the pavilion to chat and enjoy the cool evening with Old Mrs. Cen.

The conversation among the three generations of Cen men only concluded when the night sky was dotted with stars.

In the dim evening light, Ji Mingshu was chatting and laughing with Cen Yingfrost, temporarily unaware that Cen Sen had left the room. It was only when Cen Sen walked up the pavilion steps that she caught sight of him from the corner of her eye.

Unexpectedly, Cen Yingfrost was at the height of her story and forgot all caution: “…I’ve never seen a little girl who wet the bed more than you. I bet you don’t even remember. Once, when no one was in the compound, you were watching cartoons at our place. You fell asleep and wet the sofa! Cen Yang was such a neat freak, he nearly died of disgust! He carried you to the bed and then took off the sofa cover to wash it himself, hahaha…”

When Cen Yingfrost suddenly mentioned “Cen Yang,” no one quite caught on at first.

By the time they realized, everyone had noticed Cen Sen stepping onto the pavilion, and suddenly the night breeze felt exceptionally cold.

Ji Mingshu immediately shot Cen Yingfrost a warning glance, but Cen Yingfrost didn’t notice.

She strongly suspected that her aunt, having done too much physics research, wanted to change direction and compete for an award in the “Bringing Up the Wrong Topic at the Wrong Time” championship.

It was only eight o’clock when they left Nanqiao Hutong, but the night had already grown deep.

Sitting in the back seat, Ji Mingshu rarely felt uncomfortable. She turned to look out the window, but couldn’t help secretly observing Cen Sen’s expression through the window’s reflection.

But Cen Sen was leaning against the backrest, his profile too thin and faint. She unconsciously leaned back as well, her head pressed against the backrest…

The next moment, she unexpectedly met Cen Sen’s eyes in the car window reflection 🙂