As mealtime approached, Cen Sen had Zhou Jiaheng reserve a nearby restaurant.

Ji Mingshu didn’t want to go. Every time she ate out with Cen Sen, her appetite suffered terribly.

Because Cen Sen didn’t like to talk while eating, and though he appeared to eat slowly and methodically, his actual eating speed was quite fast.

After finishing, he would just sit across from her watching, occasionally glancing at his watch, like those exam proctors in school who would stand in front of you saying “just write whatever, hurry up and turn in your paper, five minutes left, three minutes left, last minute remaining”—who could bear that?

But having just caused a misunderstanding and accepted the bribe of a bracelet, she couldn’t reject her convenient husband’s face, so she had to pretend to agree happily.

Cen Sen still had some work to finish, and Ji Mingshu unusually showed understanding, “Go ahead and work, it’s fine, I can look around this floor by myself.”

Cen Sen: “Then let Zhou Jiaheng guide you. If you need anything, you can ask him.”

Ji Mingshu made an “OK” gesture, then looked past Cen Sen at the desk.

The divorce agreement that she had thrown at his head was lying quietly on the desktop.

She stepped to the desk first, casually pulled it out, and hid it behind her back, then quickly and lightly left the office.

Fortunately, when she had thrown it down, Cen Sen hadn’t even glanced at the paper. Even without studying law, she could tell how informal and pathetic this downloaded divorce agreement was. If Cen Sen had seen it, who knows how he would have mocked her?

Across from Cen Sen’s office was the executive assistant office, with two walls against the building and the other two designed with transparent curved glass, all workstations facing the president’s office.

As soon as Ji Mingshu came out, several assistants in the office immediately noticed her and synchronously stood up, nodding to her.

Ji Mingshu paused slightly, turned to Zhou Jiaheng, and asked, “Are all these Director Cen’s assistants?”

She counted silently—nine in total, plus Zhou Jiaheng, made ten. Did one person need so many assistants? Was he unable to take care of himself?

“Yes,” Zhou Jiaheng nodded.

He led Ji Mingshu inside and introduced them one by one: “These two are Director Cen’s translation assistants. Assistant Luo is proficient in four languages, and Assistant Wang graduated from the top interpretation academy. Assistant Li mainly handles Director Cen’s coordination with the group’s overseas departments, and Assistant Huang is currently responsible for Director Cen’s coordination with the group’s internal departments and Jingjiang Construction…”

“…”

“Such detailed division of work.”

Ji Mingshu had no work experience and didn’t particularly understand the specific functions he described. She was almost dizzy after listening, but pretended to understand and commented, “detailed,” then said: “Please continue with your work, don’t mind me. Everyone… thank you for your hard work.”

The assistants bowed in unison again.

Ji Mingshu almost thought they were going to shout in chorus, “At the service of the President,” and instinctively took half a step back.

Come to think of it, though she had frequently visited their hotels as the president’s wife, this was actually her first time setting foot in the headquarters.

By mealtime, she and Cen Sen were lovingly arm in arm as they left the group building under the watchful eyes of the employees.

Meanwhile, gossip spread throughout the company.

“The president’s wife is quite pretty.”

“Quite? I disagree with your quantifier!”

“My observant self has already noticed that when the president’s wife came down, she had a diamond bracelet on her hand that wasn’t there before, hehe.”

“What? Sister, you’re truly a werewolf.”

“Sister, you’re so meticulous, why don’t you come to our cleaning department to dust?”

“Marital harmony verification complete.”

While Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen, the plastic couple, had reconciled, Zhang Baoshu was in big trouble because of the exposure incident.

“Please believe me, this was just a misunderstanding. I don’t know why suddenly…”

Zhang Qi impatiently interrupted, “Cut the crap with your pretending. Don’t you know your weight? You dare to play me! I’m telling you, if you dare show your face in front of me again, I’ll finish you!”

“I…”

Before Zhang Baoshu could say anything more, Zhang Qi directly hung up the phone.

She held her phone, her lips pale, sitting on the sofa, trembling all over.

It was just a momentary lapse of judgment at first. She wanted to use her relationship with Zhang Qi to promote her image as a low-key, rich, beautiful woman whose boyfriend had a powerful background.

She thought that with so much news outside, plus their casual relationship, Zhang Qi wouldn’t trouble her over an ambiguous press release.

Unexpectedly, on the night they first met for business, a reporter happened to receive inside information about the club and went there to stake out news about another female celebrity who was supposed to meet someone. The reporter didn’t catch that celebrity at all but managed to take photos of her with Cen Sen.

She had a thought and simply asked the reporter to replace the photos in the press release with Cen Sen, without changing the text content or video.

This way, she could later have someone stir up hype, creating posts exposing that the person in the photos wasn’t Zhang Qi, but rather the young master of Jingjiang Construction with an even more powerful background.

She thought that even if Cen Sen came to cause trouble, she could pretend to be ignorant and distance herself, just saying it was the reporter who made a mistake and that she had that kind of relationship with Zhang Qi.

But unexpectedly, Cen Sen couldn’t be bothered to find her. He directly caused trouble for Zhang Qi by terminating the cooperation between the two companies, which directly led to Zhang Qi coming to make things unpleasant for her.

Her mind went blank, feeling both confused and panicked.

Around noon, there were few customers at the French restaurant near the CBD. Gentle musical notes floated in the air as waiters moved silently back and forth.

Today’s main course was French roast veal steak with sautéed mushrooms. After the waiter left, Ji Mingshu continued to repeat the question she had just asked, “So why did you smile at her?”

Earlier in the office, she had been distracted and forgotten the details. Now at the restaurant, while eating, she suddenly remembered the rare smile of Cen Sen in the photo.

It was strange—he had a cold face in front of his wife and didn’t even show a tender smile after finishing in bed, yet he smiled so happily in front of that third-rate woman.

Thinking about this, Ji Mingshu lost her appetite completely. After pondering, she still asked the question.

Cen Sen swirled his red wine glass, giving her a deep look, “I wasn’t smiling at her.”

Was he smiling at some fairy then?

This dog of a man only spoke half sentences, then went back to eating his food with no intention of explaining further. Ji Mingshu was completely confused and couldn’t help but look at the secretly taken photos again.

In the photo where he was smiling, Cen Sen’s gaze seemed to be cast downward.

She measured silently, following his line of sight, which fell on Zhang Baoshu’s bag.

This bag…

Even someone like Cen Sen, who didn’t pay much attention to women’s clothing and accessories, could recognize it at a glance. How could Ji Mingshu, who had been immersed in luxury brands since childhood, be less perceptive than he?

She immediately recalled her series of great achievements: covering Cen Sen’s head with a bag, beating him violently, and declaring that she would kill this pervert.

After a moment of silence, she put down her phone, picked up her knife and fork again, and said as if nothing had happened: “This French restaurant is quite authentic. The steak is good.”

Cen Sen gave her a faint glance without responding.

As usual, this meal was another torturous experience of having an exam proctor sitting across from her rushing her to turn in her test paper.

Just when Ji Mingshu couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted to tell Cen Sen to gouge out his own eyes rather than stare at her eating, Cen Sen suddenly asked: “In a few days, Jiang Che and Zhao Yang will be back in the capital and will gather at Heyong. Do you want to come?”

Ji Mingshu looked up, “What would I go for?”

“Up to you.”

“…”

“Is that how you invite people? If you don’t want me to go, don’t ask. You don’t want me to go, do you? Well, now I insist on going.”

Ji Mingshu was a bit peeved.

Cen Sen rubbed his brow bone, once again feeling the serious communication difficulties with this short-circuited wife.

He didn’t say much more, only saying: “I’ll send someone to pick you up then.”

Jiang Che, Zhao Yang, Shu Yang, and the others were boys of the same age as Cen Sen from the compound. After Cen Sen returned to Nanqiao Lane, they slowly began to play together, later attending the same schools, counting as childhood friends with fifteen to twenty years of friendship.

Ji Mingshu naturally knew them too, but since she had isolated Cen Sen with her little gang since childhood, she didn’t have much goodwill toward the group that played with him. When she met them at school, she would give them all the same treatment of cold snorts, eye rolls, and popped bubble gum bubbles.

Of course, this was just Ji Mingshu’s one-sided dislike. These boys were all older than her and viewed her as a spoiled little sister, occasionally teasing her for fun.

However, when the news of Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen’s marriage suddenly spread, this group of childhood friends was shocked, admiring their brother’s courage, fearlessness, wealth, and willingness to marry any kind of girl, even feeling somewhat sympathetic.

In the “Nanke Dream” private room at Heyong Club, a warm yellow square lamp cast light obliquely behind the half-hidden screen. Jiang Che lit a cigarette, the crimson fire only a thin line, flickering on and off.

After lighting it, he pushed the cigarette pack toward Cen Sen, who didn’t take it.

Zhao Yang, now a respectable doctor, didn’t smoke this stuff in his daily life either.

But Shu Yang nodded toward his newly dating girlfriend, gesturing for her to help him get one.

Zhao Yang and Shu Yang were always the more rambunctious ones, especially Shu Yang, who usually liked to call a few “princesses” to liven things up. Today, hearing that Ji Mingshu was coming, he didn’t dare call any dubious women; otherwise, Miss Ji would probably pour a drink all over him, curse him for lowering her status, and curse him for not being worthy of sharing the character “Shu” with her.

Cen Sen was a person who enjoyed quietness and couldn’t participate in boisterous activities. He usually communicated more with Jiang Che.

Moreover, the two had jointly invested in financial projects, so when they got together, they mostly talked about work.

At this moment, the group was sitting at a square table, playing cards while talking. As soon as Cen Sen and Jiang Che opened their mouths, they used financial vocabulary, which Shu Yang was very impatient to hear.

Shu Yang: “I say, you two, we finally get together, can’t you stop talking about your various projects?”

“Especially you, Brother Sen. No matter how much money you earn, doesn’t it all go to that woman Ji Mingshu? Let me tell you, she’ll spend as much as you have, absolutely never enough. Are you expecting her to be frugal and help you save money for generations? I advise you not to work so hard. Be a little nicer to yourself in this life, okay?”

Zhao Yang looked at the time and also asked Cen Sen: “Brother Sen, why hasn’t your wife arrived yet?”

Before Cen Sen could respond, Shu Yang directly answered for him, “Do you need to ask? Can Miss Ji go out without spending three to five hours on grooming and dressing up?”

Zhao Yang and Jiang Che both gave a light laugh, silently agreeing with his answer.

Shu Yang had drunk a little alcohol and was a bit tipsy, so he continued his grandiose speech, “Brother Sen, do you know what you’re doing? You’re earning the most money to keep the most expensive golden canary!”

“I’m more economical. I don’t need to earn that much money. These little birds and vases, I don’t keep them, right? Just ordinary ones are fine. I can change them every day and not repeat for years!”

The more he spoke, the prouder he became, his mouth chattering nonstop.

Cen Sen held his cards and inadvertently glimpsed sparkling high heels behind the screen. He looked up and glanced at Shu Yang.

Jiang Che also tapped his cigarette ash, gave a light cough, and picked up the iced whiskey on the table.

But Shu Yang didn’t catch their warning and continued to enthusiastically step on every landmine buried underground. “Oh, by the way, Brother Sen, Li Wenying has finished her studies and will probably return to the country soon. Do you know?”

Jiang Che’s previous cough was fake, but now he was truly choked.

Zhao Yang had also sensed the dangerous atmosphere.

“Let me say, Li Wenying is also quite beautiful, and that artistic aura is something special. Plus, she works in the arts field, not extravagant!”

As he was speaking, strangely, he finally sensed that something was off. This feeling came from the hair on his back that had somehow stood straight up on its own.

After a pause of about two seconds, his tone suddenly rose, “But! Men earn money for women to spend, just like Brother Sen. I especially envy Brother Sen for having a woman who knows how to spend his money!”

“Little Shu with such good taste, such a good figure, such beauty—tell me, can you find a second one like her in the entire capital? One of a kind in the city! Taking her out is face-giving! Isn’t this the value of a man’s existence? Tell me, how is Brother Sen so fortunate to marry such a fairy-like wife?!”