That voice was neither loud nor soft, slightly lowered, carrying a familiar calmness.

Ji Mingshu’s mind exploded!

How was this possible?

How could he be here?

As if to confirm the possibility to her, Cen Sen knocked on the door again.

“If you don’t open up, I’m calling someone.”

“No!” Ji Mingshu reflexively called out to stop him.

Jiang Chun also chimed in at this moment, shouting toward the men’s restroom: “Ji Mingshu, you can come out now! Your husband has cleared everyone out, there’s no one outside!”

Ji Mingshu: “…”

Please, compared to having this bastard see her in such a miserable state, she would rather rush out regardless of consequences before he arrived, or simply press the flush button and flush herself down the drain to evaporate from this world!

This young girl had been standing outside for so long without being of any help, and now she had even brought over the last person Ji Mingshu wanted to deal with to witness her embarrassment. What was she doing? Where was her brain? Did getting dumped come with a debuff that lowered intelligence???

Cen Sen was not very patient. Seeing that she hadn’t responded for a long time and showed no movement, he was about to call his assistant, “Zhou Jiaheng…”

“Wait!”

Ji Mingshu raised her voice to cover his and quickly reached up, fumbling to unlock the door bolt.

The next second, the stall door gently opened outward.

Cen Sen looked down to see Ji Mingshu, small, pitiful, and helpless, crouching on the ground.

She hugged her knees with both arms, her entire face buried deeply in the crook of her arm. Yet Cen Sen could still vaguely see her reddened ears through the gaps in her hair.

Before Cen Sen could speak, Ji Mingshu said in a muffled voice: “My legs are numb, I can’t stand up.”

She was quite good at taking the initiative.

Cen Sen’s expression remained indifferent, not responding.

After waiting for a while without seeing any movement, Ji Mingshu wasn’t sure if this bastard was pretending not to understand her meaning just to watch her embarrassment, or if he was truly such a clueless man that he didn’t get her hint. She finally had to steel herself and directly command: “Carry me out.”

Cen Sen stood there still without moving, his thoughts unknown.

Ji Mingshu felt anxious, fearing he was deliberately refusing to give her face.

Fortunately, after a few seconds of silence, Cen Sen finally moved.

He unhurriedly unbuttoned his coat, took off his suit jacket, and covered her head with it.

Then he half-bent down, one arm around her thin shoulders, the other passing under her knees, securing her slender legs, and lifted her in a princess carry.

In that instant when her body was suspended in the air, Ji Mingshu’s legs felt extremely numb and sore, as if thousands of tiny insects were densely stinging her feet. To make matters worse, Cen Sen bounced her slightly after lifting her, immediately intensifying that numbness. She wasn’t sure if he did it on purpose.

The restroom had been temporarily cleared by Cen Sen and was very quiet. Outside, conversations, laughter, and the sound of rolling luggage wheels mingled together, making it noisy.

Ji Mingshu was feeling extremely self-conscious now, thinking everyone was pointing and gossiping about her. Not caring about what kind of mockery she would have to endure from Cen Sen afterward, she instinctively curled up in his arms, her hands encircling his neck, cowering like a quail, not making a sound.

Cen Sen had a very faint scent of cold fir, crisp and clean. Nestled against his chest, Ji Mingshu unconsciously took a couple of extra breaths.

Cen Sen noticed and glanced at her but said nothing.

Outside, Jiang Chun was handling the luggage handover with Zhou Jiaheng. Seeing Cen Sen shielding Ji Mingshu completely and carrying her in a boyfriend-power-max princess style, she felt envious while secretly giving Yan a mental double scissors-cut.

She had always thought that Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen were a standard family arranged marriage, showing affection when they needed to appear together in public, but otherwise doing their own things and ignoring each other.

But after witnessing this scene today, she felt that she had previously been blinded by jealousy, pre-judging their marriage as unhappy without knowing anything. That was truly malicious of her. She had always thought herself kind-hearted—when had she become so malicious?

To the parking lot, Jiang Chun followed behind them, silently reflecting.

Sitting in the back seat, she watched as Cen Sen carried Ji Mingshu to their car and drove away. She suddenly took off the couple’s wristwatch that matched Yan’s, thinking angrily: Today is another day when the lemon tree blooms and bears fruit. Go die, you scumbag!

Outside the window, the sun shone brilliantly. In the capital’s midsummer, the sunlight was scorching, and the air was stuffy and dry.

Sitting in the car, Ji Mingshu still covered her head with Cen Sen’s suit jacket, not saying a word.

Cen Sen didn’t bother her either, continuously on the phone with business partners.

Just as he finished his work calls, a call from home came in. He glanced at the caller ID, then at Ji Mingshu, and put it on speaker.

“Ah Sen, have you picked up Xiao Shu?” came Grandmother Cen’s strong voice.

Ji Mingshu’s ears perked up immediately upon hearing her.

Cen Sen responded with an “Mm,” then, “I’ve picked her up.”

Grandmother Cen urged from the other end, “Then hurry over! Today, Auntie Zhou has prepared a big table of dishes, all your favorites!”

Wait, go to South Bridge Hutong for dinner? In her current stinky, terrible state?

Ji Mingshu immediately emerged from under the suit jacket, shaking her head repeatedly at Cen Sen.

Cen Sen looked at her, his gaze calm, saying nothing.

Ji Mingshu, quick-witted in her desperation, scooted closer to him and tentatively began to massage his shoulders and back.

After enjoying about ten seconds of massage service, Cen Sen switched the phone to his other hand and said, “Grandmother, I have an emergency meeting tonight, and Xiao Shu hasn’t adjusted to the time difference yet and is a bit tired. She’s already fallen asleep in the car.”

“Is that so?” Grandmother Cen was understanding. “Then you take Xiao Shu home to rest first, and come over for dinner another time.”

“Alright.”

Grandmother Cen added one more sentence, “Don’t overwork yourself, take care of your health.”

Cen Sen again responded with a “Yes.”

Only after the call ended did Ji Mingshu completely relax, also stopping her shoulder and back massage. She quickly returned to her seat as if nothing had happened.

Cen Sen, probably accustomed to her emotional inconstancy, didn’t make much of it. Ji Mingshu herself felt a bit guilty and kept looking out the window, unwilling to turn around.

But the more she looked, the more she felt something was wrong—

This wasn’t right, this was already the road back to Mingshui Mansion.

She realized this and turned to glare at Cen Sen, but he had already crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, resting.

Cen Sen had been on a business trip out of town for the past two days and had just flown back to the capital from Xingcheng two hours ago. After getting off the airport expressway, he received a call from South Bridge Hutong and only then learned that Ji Mingshu was returning to the country today.

He had Zhou Jiaheng check the flight schedule, and it was perfect timing—the flight from Paris had just landed.

So he instructed the driver to turn around and go back to the airport, planning to pick up Ji Mingshu and go to South Bridge Hutong for dinner together.

He had originally been sitting in the car, sending Zhou Jiaheng to pick her up. Unexpectedly, Zhou Jiaheng didn’t return with her but instead called him, and then he heard a young girl shouting on the other end: “Mr. Cen, your wife is trapped in the men’s restroom and can’t get out!”

Recalling that scene, Cen Sen unconsciously rubbed his brow bone.

By the time they returned to Mingshui Mansion, it was already dusk. Ji Mingshu wrapped herself in the suit jacket as she walked in, never removing her sunglasses, her lips pressed tightly together.

She walked very quickly, entering the house and immediately going upstairs to run a bath.

Hearing the water running, Cen Sen only looked up briefly, then continued changing his shoes.

As he walked to the refrigerator to get water, another series of miserable screams came from upstairs, “Aaaaahhhhh!!!”

This scream was not from an accident or fear. Although it was just a short syllable, Cen Sen could hear the deep frustration and regret of “How could I do something so stupid,” “My reputation is ruined just like that,” and “Mom, let me die once more.”

He snorted softly and took another sip of water.

Cen Sen held a video conference downstairs for nearly two hours.

Noticing no sound from upstairs, Cen Sen went up to check and discovered that Ji Mingshu was still in the bathroom.

He knocked from outside, “Ji Mingshu?”

“What?”

“Have you developed an addiction to bathrooms?”

Just as he finished speaking, the glass door was pushed open forcefully.

Ji Mingshu wore a hair-drying cap on her head with only a bath towel wrapped around her body. With her makeup removed, her face looked clean and clear, with a pink flush from the steam. Her collarbones, arms, and calves were all fair and slender, making her appear both pure and sexy.

She walked out barefoot, deliberately moving closer to Cen Sen, “Smell me, is there still an odor?”

She wasn’t sure if she was experiencing a delusion from being in that men’s restroom, but she felt like her entire body still smelled bad.

Cen Sen’s voice lowered slightly, “Yes, there is.”

“?”

Ji Mingshu immediately wanted to lower her head to sniff herself.

Cen Sen, who hadn’t found release for many days, couldn’t withstand the temptation. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he suddenly embraced Ji Mingshu, pressing her against himself. His hands moved from her back to her tailbone while he whispered against her ear: “Trying to bribe me?”

“???”

What kind of logic was that?

Ji Mingshu’s mind went blank for a moment, followed by a sensation of spinning as she felt herself suddenly lifted up and then thrown onto the bed.

Only when she was lying under Cen Sen, feeling coolness from the front, did she realize what he meant—that she was deliberately seducing and bribing him to not mention the men’s restroom incident again for the sake of her dignity???

Great, as expected of a Harvard graduate, what excellent thinking. Why hadn’t she thought of it herself?

Ji Mingshu suddenly took the initiative to wrap her arms around Cen Sen’s neck and boldly asked, “So if I bribe you, will you accept it?”

Cen Sen’s pupils showed visible desire, his voice rolling low.

“I accept.”

This bribe turned out to be somewhat substantial.

Ji Mingshu felt like she had been tormented between life and death several times. She had already soaked in the bathtub for a long time, and somehow the battlefield had extended back to the bathroom again. After soaking twice in one day like this, she felt like she was getting waterlogged.

In the middle of the night, Ji Mingshu woke up and found Cen Sen wasn’t beside her.

She was a bit hungry.

Upon returning home, she’d gone straight to the bath, and after bathing, she’d served her sugar daddy. Now lying in bed, she felt like her front was touching her back.

After struggling for about five minutes, she dragged her weakened legs downstairs, planning to find something to eat. Unexpectedly, as she reached the stairs, she smelled a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen island.

She instinctively looked over and saw Cen Sen with his shirt sleeves rolled up, skillfully plating a dish.

“Smells good, what are you making?” She approached, “Pork rib rice?”

Cen Sen made an affirmative sound, lowered his sleeves, picked up the plate of appetizing pork rib rice, and walked toward the dining room.

Ji Mingshu eagerly followed him.

But Cen Sen turned to look at her and said, “I didn’t make any for you.”

“?”

“Why not?”

As soon as she asked, she felt something was off, having the feeling he would respond like in an R-rated novel with something wickedly arrogant and obscenely shameless like: “Heh, little temptress, didn’t I feed you enough just now?”

However, reality is often harsher than imagination. Just as this thought flashed through her mind, she heard Cen Sen say: “I thought after staying in the men’s restroom for so long, you probably wouldn’t have an appetite to eat anything.”

So this was what he meant by accepting the bribe?