The night was quiet, moonlight spilling onto the lake surface, spreading a gentle halo.

Mingshui Mansion stood in the center of the lake, surrounded by lush greenery. When the wind blew, it raised a rustle of sound.

Ji Mingshu had a very bad dream.

This dream entangled her repeatedly, impossible to escape. Though she knew she was dreaming, her eyelids felt as if they had been sewn shut, impossible to open no matter how hard she tried.

At six in the morning, the daylight was dim.

Ji Mingshu finally awoke from her nightmare.

Her silk nightgown was soaked with cold sweat, the smoky pink on her back had deepened a shade, and there was a faint sheen of sweat on her neck and jaw.

She opened her eyes, gazing blankly at the ceiling. After a few seconds, she moved her fingers and touched her heart.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Beating vigorously.

Still there, still there, thankfully still there.

As her awareness returned, Ji Mingshu grabbed half her pillow, folded it upward, and covered her face.

She shouldn’t have read that kind of kidney-and-heart-harvesting novel last night. In her dream, she had somehow created a bizarre scenario where Cen Sen harvested her heart and kidneys to treat his ex-girlfriend’s illness.

Thinking about it now, dreams had no logic. If her heart were harvested first, wouldn’t she be dead already? How could she still be alive for her kidneys to be harvested? Besides, if Cen Sen dared to harvest her organs to treat some little green tea bitch, wouldn’t she have already dug up his family’s ancestral graves while still alive?

But speaking of which, the Cen Sen in her dream was truly terrifying. He even wore a white coat and gold-rimmed glasses to perform the surgery himself. What a psychopath.

Ji Mingshu turned her head to look at Cen Sen, instinctively moving away a bit.

But seeing Cen Sen’s steady breathing, apparently sound asleep, Ji Mingshu somehow regained her courage. She quietly moved closer and extended her small hand, suddenly slapping him—

“Slap.”

This slap was very light, just a tap, completely incomparable to the slap she had delivered at the birthday party last night.

After the slap, Ji Mingshu intended to withdraw her hand.

But Cen Sen, with his eyes still closed, somehow accurately grabbed her wrist.

“What are you doing?” His voice sounded hoarse from sleep, somewhat low.

“You, you’re awake… There was something dirty.”

Ji Mingshu was dumbfounded, completely not understanding how this dog of a man had suddenly awakened. Her heartbeat accelerated from the fright, and she couldn’t speak smoothly.

Cen Sen slowly opened his eyes, turning his head to look at her. “What dirty thing?” His gaze was calm and knowing.

“…”

Ji Mingshu used force, struggling a bit, but couldn’t break free.

She simply spoke the truth with righteous indignation: “I dreamed you harvested my kidney. I didn’t sleep well all night, so what’s wrong with hitting you once?”

Cen Sen: “…”

His grip loosened slightly, and Ji Mingshu promptly withdrew her hand, pretending to cover her kidney to prove she wasn’t making things up.

Cen Sen glanced at her. “That’s your stomach.”

Ji Mingshu paused, immediately switching to the other side. But she quickly realized something was wrong—don’t people have kidneys on both sides? What difference does it make which side?

She became confused, touching left and right, completely forgetting the exact location of the kidneys.

In the end, she simply covered her heart and declared emphatically: “You didn’t just harvest my kidney, you harvested my heart too. Why were you so psychotic in my dream?!”

“Didn’t take your cornea?”

Cen Sen mocked lightly.

…?

Ji Mingshu’s mind exploded, and she immediately sat up to search for her phone.

It wasn’t on the cabinet, nor under the pillow. Looking up, she found it on Cen Sen’s bedside table.

“You psycho, looking through my phone? Don’t you know that’s an invasion of privacy?!” Ji Mingshu was almost furious, grabbing her pillow to hit him.

“Well, I’ve invaded much more than that.”

Cen Sen shifted slightly, his gaze lingering on her chest for a moment.

Ji Mingshu’s vision darkened.

If not for the clear prenuptial property division they had signed, she would have been tempted to smother Cen Sen with the pillow and directly inherit his enormous fortune 🙂

After such a quarrel early in the morning, Ji Mingshu had no desire to catch up on sleep. She got up to wash and dress, deliberately making a lot of noise to prevent Cen Sen from sleeping peacefully.

When Cen Sen was finally bothered enough to get up, she casually flipped her hair and left with style.

Originally, this series of actions had brought her mood up, but when she opened WeChat to find someone to hang out with, she remembered she had leverage against Cen Sen that she hadn’t used, and became angry again.

Unwilling to let it go, she searched online and then sent Cen Sen a screenshot.

When Cen Sen saw the screenshot, he was already sitting in the back seat of his car.

The screenshot contained an online explanation: “‘Duck.’ When used as a modal particle, it replaces ‘ya,’ expressing a pure tendency to act cute… The emotion expressed is similar to coquettishness and being cute, hoping to leave the other person with an impression of adorableness and childishness…”

Ji Mingshu: [Mr. Cen, please go online more often, okay? With such isolation from the world, I think Junyi will eventually go bankrupt in your hands :))

Cen Sen scrolled up through their chat history and suddenly chuckled lightly.

Both the driver and Zhou Jiaheng reflexively glanced at the rearview mirror because of this soft laugh, but only for a moment, not daring to ask anything.

After being around a taciturn boss like Cen Sen for so long, everyone’s desire for conversation and curiosity had grown very faint.

Not long ago, a bodyguard had left the car behind. It wasn’t because of insufficient salary or hard work, but purely because the young man was young and couldn’t stand a car full of people with mouths who wouldn’t utter a word all day.

Soon, Ji Mingshu also received a new message from Cen Sen.

The first two were his standard rebuttals to her previous screenshot.

Cen Sen: [So you wanted to be coquettish and cute, I’ll remember to cooperate next time.]

Cen Sen: [But you’re already twenty-five, no need to give me an impression of childishness, I have no interest in molesting children.]

The third was a link to the Junyi Group’s official account announcing good news.

Clicking in to see, the article was full of boasts about the group’s glorious achievements in the hotel industry, ending with some encouragement for employees and flattery for the leadership.

Of course, to Ji Mingshu, the meaning automatically became “Rest assured, Junyi won’t go bankrupt even by the time your grandson gets married.”

Ji Mingshu replied with a “smile” emoji, found Cen Sen’s WeChat avatar, and smoothly performed the block-delete-friend sequence.

After blocking him, Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen didn’t see each other for a week.

Cen Sen had a half-month hotel inspection schedule, flying domestically and internationally, with at least three meetings a day, ensuring he could follow up on the projects he had arranged at any time.

Ji Mingshu, unable to resist Jiang Chun’s persistent pleading, agreed to supervise the little country bumpkin’s makeover transformation.

Ji Mingshu didn’t understand why she took on this job that seemed more suited for a male protagonist in a novel, but since she had accepted it, she was determined to fulfill her duty strictly, completing the objective without allowing any trace of country bumpkin style to survive.

“Why are you still fifty-eight kilograms?” Strict Teacher Ji stared at the scale accusingly.

Jiang Chun looked innocent. “I don’t know either. I haven’t had bubble tea, or even barbecue.”

Ji Mingshu walked around her ugly house that hadn’t yet been renovated, then accurately found three boxes of instant noodles in the corner. “Then what’s this? A gift with fruit purchase?”

Jiang Chun was very candid, taking the instant noodles from her hands, then standing back on the scale.

“Look, my weight hasn’t changed, so this doesn’t make you fat.”

Ji Mingshu looked at the unchanged fifty-eight on the scale, was speechless for three seconds, and for a moment thought she had a point.

Thankfully, the quick-thinking Teacher Ji soon spotted the bug. “You eat instant noodles dry? They get digested and excreted immediately after eating?”

Jiang Chun: “…”

She hadn’t managed to get away with it.

Teacher Ji continued to lecture: “Every day you post on Moments and Weibo about losing weight, but with such an insincere attitude, why bother? Why not save your energy to go back to Shenzhen to sell fish and occasionally check Moments to see Yan and the little green tea bitch happily married?”

“I did say I wanted to lose weight properly, and I’ve been saying it every day, haven’t I?” Jiang Chun couldn’t help but mutter.

But seeing Ji Mingshu’s expression that seemed to say, “Say that again and you won’t see tomorrow’s sunset,” she immediately corrected herself: “Okay, I was wrong. I won’t eat instant noodles anymore either.”

“Elliptical trainer, thirty minutes, incline level eight, don’t even think about slacking off.” Teacher Ji coldly commanded.

Having to use the elliptical trainer every day recently, Jiang Chun felt her thighs and calves aching just hearing those three words.

But Ji Mingshu was already standing by the elliptical trainer, her death stare locked on target.

She took a deep breath and walked over as if marching to her doom.

Jiang Chun’s determination to advance and upgrade this time was also because she wanted to vent her anger.

The incident of Ji Mingshu slapping the little white flower that night had been recorded and photographed by many people present. Although Zhang the Second had checked everyone’s electronic devices and deleted all the image data according to the rules when they left, there were still some that slipped through the net.

Within two days, the incident of the little white flower being slapped for being a mistress was leaked online.

She was now considered a minor celebrity with some name recognition, so naturally, there was a small group of people discussing it online.

The little white flower had somehow played the victim to Yan, and Yan, as if under a spell, flew into a rage for his beauty, issuing a statement saying that he and the little white flower were in a legitimate relationship, and even went to the Jiang family to warn Jiang Chun not to make any more trouble.

Jiang Chun almost fainted with anger, wanting to hire internet trolls and buy hot searches to smear them both and make them eat dirt!

But Jiang’s father was diplomatic and extremely patient. He peacefully dissolved the engagement and stopped Jiang Chun from causing more trouble, saying that there would be ways in the future to make Yan regret deeply.

Jiang Chun didn’t take after her father; she was impatient and wanted to make Yan join the “Scumbag Go Die Die” club immediately.

So she pestered Ji Mingshu shamelessly to help supervise her, holding back her anger to achieve a magnificent transformation that would crush that little green tea bitch in every way, then find a rich and handsome man like Cen Sen to make Yan regret so much that his intestines turned from red to blue and then from blue to white as he knelt to call her daddy!

Regarding her desire to find a rich and handsome man to outdo Yan, Jiang’s father was in full agreement.

She was three months younger than Ji Mingshu, and in recent years, her family had become wealthy, with money being the least of their concerns, so naturally, no one required her to find a proper job to earn money and support the family.

Jiang’s father’s only expectation for her was to find a prestigious family and marry gloriously. At that time, she had been dead set on loving Yan, which Jiang’s father wasn’t very happy about. Now that she had seen the light, Jiang’s father was very pleased and quickly arranged a family gathering similar to a blind date for her, scheduled for next Friday.

Ji Mingshu also knew about the match Jiang’s father had found for Jiang Chun. Ji Mingshu had already shown Jiang Chun photos of him; he was quite handsome, refined, and elegant, clearly cultured.

After a week of hellish training, Jiang Chun looked somewhat like a socialite when she was quiet.

Ji Mingshu picked out clothes for her to wear to the dinner while instructing: “The Tang family is all highly educated. When you meet them, don’t talk nonsense. If you don’t know what to say, just keep quiet.”

Jiang Chun nodded like a little duck pecking rice.

On Friday, she would wear the battle outfit selected by Ji Mingshu to meet the rich and handsome man.

On Friday night, Ji Mingshu went to bed early and forgot to ask Jiang Chun how the blind date went. Early Saturday morning, she received a series of urgent calls from Gu Kaiyang asking to borrow her dress.

Gu Kaiyang’s magazine had invited a screen couple to shoot a double cover, but the dress prepared for the female star suddenly had issues and couldn’t be worn, so they urgently needed to find an identical dress to complete the shoot.

The dress was a new style from this year’s fall and winter collection. Ji Mingshu happened to have one, though she had only worn it once and didn’t particularly like it, so it had been relegated to the back of her closet, gathering dust. Now, hearing Gu Kaiyang’s request, she agreed without hesitation.

Gu Kaiyang had originally planned to send a small assistant to her house to pick it up, but since she had nothing to do, she said she would deliver it herself.

On the way to deliver clothes to Gu Kaiyang, Ji Mingshu finally remembered Jiang Chun’s blind date and called her to ask about it.

Jiang Chun answered the phone quite quickly, but her voice was listless, with dejection traveling through the signal to Ji Mingshu’s side.

Ji Mingshu: “What, unsuccessful first attempt?”

“Probably not very successful. I don’t know what I did wrong, but anyway, when that guy looked at me, he always seemed… to have a half-smile, a smile that made me feel a bit numb.”

Jiang Chun hadn’t gotten out of bed yet. Lying on her bed, she recounted the blind date process to Ji Mingshu.

She recalled it in great detail, describing everything from what lipstick she used in the morning to what dishes were served at lunch and how many bowls of rice she had.

Ji Mingshu impatiently interrupted her, asking for the main points.

She paused, then skipped to the key moments when they were alone.

“He asked me which painter I liked. How would I know any painters? I just remembered you mentioned that your husband had bought several paintings by Bada Shanren, so I said I quite liked Bada Shanren, and that their paintings are very special. That’s all I dared to say.”

“Wait,” Ji Mingshu thought she had misheard. “You think you said very little?”

“I only said one sentence, how is that a lot? Aren’t they special? Did I say something wrong, even with such a vague statement?”

“No, did you think Bada Shanren was like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove or the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou? You said ‘their’—he’s one person, not eight people! Didn’t I tell you to keep your mouth shut if you don’t know something?!”

Ji Mingshu was almost laughing from frustration.

Jiang Chun was confused for a moment. “Then why didn’t he expose me and still go to the supermarket with me? Did he perhaps not know either?”

“Don’t project your ignorance onto others!”

Ji Mingshu’s scolding made Jiang Chun cower.

After humbly admitting her mistake, she recalled what happened at the supermarket.

“When we were in the fruit section, he mentioned several fruits I hadn’t heard of, saying he liked to eat them. Then he asked what fruits I liked. I felt I couldn’t lose, so I said I liked pears, especially that popular one now, ‘strawberry pear.’ I like it, but we couldn’t find this pear even after going around the whole place…”

…?

Jiang Chun was still rambling on.

Ji Mingshu, expressionless, interrupted her with a standard British pronunciation: “Strawberry, listen carefully, strawberry. Did you attend elementary school? Strawberry, ‘strawberry’ means strawberry, not pear.”

Jiang Chun: “…”

Ji Mingshu: “Please don’t tell anyone you’re my friend, thank you.”

Excuse me.

Jiang Chun silently hung up the phone.

When she arrived at the magazine office, Ji Mingshu still felt both angry and amused.

Because of her relationship with Gu Kaiyang, everyone at the magazine knew her. When they saw her arrive, they all stood up to greet her.

Ji Mingshu’s mind was still full of Jiang Chun’s goose talk, so she responded casually, not noticing the slightly strange expressions on their faces.

Meeting Gu Kaiyang in the deputy editor-in-chief’s office, she found that Gu Kaiyang wasn’t as busy as she had imagined. As soon as she arrived, he immediately stood up from his chair, carefully serving her tea and water, his expression cautious.

Ji Mingshu took off her sunglasses and asked, strangely, “Aren’t you in a hurry for the photoshoot?”

Gu Kaiyang: “The group urgently issued a notice saying it’s canceled.”

She casually asked: “Why canceled?”

“Well, something happened with the female party, news that just broke…”

Gu Kaiyang’s voice was very soft and extremely ambiguous, giving a very guilty feeling.

Ji Mingshu found it strange. “What’s wrong with you? You’re acting so weird.”

Seeing her clueless demeanor, Gu Kaiyang struggled back and forth in his heart, feeling extremely tormented.

But thinking that getting it over with quickly would only be a moment’s discomfort, he braced himself, closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and spilled everything—

“Okay, I’ll tell you. That shameless woman called Zhang Baoshu is in the news with your Cen Sen. It just broke twenty minutes ago!”

“It hasn’t blown up outside yet. We received advance notice. I think you should contact your husband first. Maybe there’s some misunderstanding. Don’t act impulsively!”