The private room was silent for three seconds. Cen Sen, Jiang Che, and Zhao Yang all looked at Shu Yang simultaneously. Cen Sen and Jiang Che were fine, but Zhao Yang’s disdain and disgust were written all over his face.

But Shu Yang’s skin was thicker than the silt at the bottom of the Yellow River. Even at this moment, he bravely pretended nothing had happened, turning around with a surprised expression, “Oh my, Little Shu, you’ve finally arrived! Come, come, let brother take a look, where did this beauty come from!”

Ji Mingshu smiled without humor, gripping her purse and swinging it over his head.

He was good at pretending and immediately started crying out, “Ouch, ouch!”

“Shut up, I haven’t even complained that your greasy hair would dirty my purse, what are you yelling about?” Ji Mingshu wanted to roll her eyes.

These two people with “Shu” in their names had always been talkative since childhood. Everyone was long accustomed to it. Now, as they bickered back and forth, the others tactfully stayed out of it.

Jiang Che played a pair of queens as if nothing had happened. Cen Sen followed with a pair of kings, while Zhao Yang tapped the table edge, “Pass.”

After Ji Mingshu thoroughly expressed her disdain for Shu Yang from head to toe and achieved an overwhelming victory, as in their every previous verbal battle, she sat down directly next to Cen Sen.

Cen Sen gestured toward the cards, and she naturally took them, even brazenly peeking at Jiang Che and Zhao Yang’s cards, then rearranging her playing order accordingly.

“9, 10, J, Q, K, straight; three 4s with two cards; pair of 5s; done, I’ve played everything.”

“…Damn.” Zhao Yang covered his cards and stretched his neck forward to look. “Who can handle this?”

Having not seen this style of play for several years, he felt a bit bewildered.

Ji Mingshu had already started calculating the gambling stakes: “You owe me one bag, you owe me three.”

“Why do I owe three?” Jiang Che lazily raised his eyes and asked.

Ji Mingshu: “He’s at least a white coat saving lives and serving the people now, while you’re just an unscrupulous capitalist exploiting the common folk. What’s wrong with you owing three?”

Zhao Yang instantly had the illusion that he’d gotten a great deal.

Ji Mingshu continued to speak righteously to Jiang Che: “Besides, your buddy just said that whoever earns more money should contribute more to the golden canary. You owe three, very fair.”

Jiang Che was unconcerned, “Oh, he’s not my buddy.”

…?

“That’s not what I said, is it?” Shu Yang’s head was full of question marks as he turned to look at Jiang Che, “Come on, are you going to disown me over three bags?”

Jiang Che: “Then you buy them.”

“Fine, I’ll buy them! I’ll buy ten!”

Ji Mingshu’s face changed as quickly as turning a page. Smiling sweetly while resting her chin on her hand, she said, “Thank you, Brother Yang.”

Shu Yang always boasted without thinking. Now, remembering the price range of Ji Mingshu’s bags, his heart was bleeding.

He turned to provoke Cen Sen, hoping to recoup some of his losses, “Brother Sen, how do you usually mistreat her? Not buying her bags, making her come to fleece us?”

Cen Sen wasn’t provoked at all and simply said calmly, “Little Shu is rather frugal and good at managing the household.”

Ji Mingshu also offered a timely “virtuous wife being frugal” smile.

Shu Yang: “…”

OK, fine, you two are perfect for each other, just lock it down and stop coming out to plague good people 🙂

During this gathering, Ji Mingshu swindled over a dozen bags through various tricks. Everyone indulged her; it had been a long time since they’d seen her, and they enjoyed teasing her.

Ji Mingshu was substituting for Cen Sen, filling in the not-so-lively gap he left in the atmosphere.

Everyone was smart enough that no one mentioned the minefield topic of “Li Wenyin” for the rest of the evening.

Li Wenyin was Cen Sen’s ex-girlfriend, with rumors spanning three years but an actual relationship of three months.

An ex-girlfriend wasn’t a taboo topic that couldn’t be mentioned, but the key issue was that Li Wenyin and Ji Mingshu didn’t get along at all. They had been at odds since middle school, causing many unpleasant incidents.

Moreover, though Li Wenyin appeared carefree, she occasionally expressed lingering feelings for Cen Sen.

In the first year of Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen’s marriage, Li Wenyin gained massive popularity on Weibo with a first love story called “My Ex Got Married.”

Although Li Wenyin later deleted that Weibo post herself, citing “not wanting to disturb the other party’s life,” it was widely reposted online and is still quoted from time to time even now.

On the way home after the gathering, Ji Mingshu didn’t say a word the entire journey. She looked at the window, her phone, and the rearview mirror, attempting to observe Cen Sen’s micro-expressions through any reflective surface.

But Cen Sen had no expression, let alone any changes. He fell asleep as soon as he got in the car, and his brain seemed to have a built-in radar that woke him up as soon as they arrived home.

Ji Mingshu didn’t know why, but she felt very annoyed and didn’t want to talk to him at all.

Cen Sen was completely oblivious to her mood. He had originally planned to conserve energy to enjoy marital life when they got home, but after taking a shower, he found Ji Mingshu already sound asleep. He didn’t pay much attention to it, just mentally rescheduled their marital activities for another day.

The magazine photo shoot that had been postponed due to the Zhang Baoshu incident was back on schedule. The “Zero Degrees” team had replaced them with a couple, but they still wanted to borrow the dress.

Ji Mingshu now found that dress very irritating and would have preferred to give it to them directly, so she readily agreed.

On Thursday morning, she took Jiang Chun along to “Zero Degrees,” intending to expose this little country goose to some fashion culture.

Today’s screen couple being photographed were popular celebrities who had become famous through a co-starred idol drama. Each had many dedicated fans, and their number of fans was numerous, too. With fans holding different positions, they argued every three days and cursed every five, forcibly turning these two performers with hardly any notable works into traffic magnets.

“The lighting for Ache should be a little closer… yes, yes, just like that.”

Gu Kaiyang, dressed in a stylish small suit, stood in the studio with arms crossed, directing. She had been in her new position as deputy editor-in-chief for some time now, and her commanding presence was becoming increasingly prominent.

Ji Mingshu and Jiang Chun sat in the corner of the photo studio, watching the shoot and talking in low voices.

Ji Mingshu: “Where did you go last night? I was planning to ask you out for a movie, but I couldn’t reach you by phone.”

Jiang Chun: “Couldn’t reach me? Maybe the signal was bad. Tang Zhizhou invited me to see a movie last night.”

Ji Mingshu turned to look at her, “After the ‘Eight Great Mountain Men’ and ‘Strawberry’ incidents, that Tang guy is still willing to talk to you?”

Jiang Chun: “What do you mean? Although my cultural literacy isn’t high, I’m very sincere, okay? After you told me, I sent him a WeChat apology, and he said it was fine. He even called me cute.”

Ji Mingshu looked at Jiang Chun with an “is he blind?” expression.

After forcefully praising herself, Jiang Chun recalled the slight intimacy with Tang Zhizhou while watching the movie last night. Her ears reddened, and she couldn’t help but reach out her goose paw to pat Ji Mingshu, forcibly changing the subject: “What about you? What’s the deal with Cen Sen and that third-rate little green tea? I didn’t see how it started or developed, how did it reach a conclusion?”

Ji Mingshu: “I already told you it was just a misunderstanding. I don’t even remember that woman’s name, what’s the point of asking me?”

Indeed, asking Ji Mingshu was useless. From beginning to end, she only understood that Cen Sen had not cheated; she neither knew nor cared about the rest.

However, Gu Kaiyang was clear about the whole story. After the photographer took over the shooting, she explained some behind-the-scenes details to Ji Mingshu and Jiang Chun, mainly about how Zhang Baoshu had caused trouble and how tragic her consequences were.

“She was a promising young girl, and now she’s been shelved directly. I mean, of all people, why provoke Zhang Qi? That young master holds grudges.”

“And once these young girls have tasted fame, you can’t expect them to quit the industry and find a nine-to-five job. Anyway, her path forward will be very difficult.”

Jiang Chun, remembering the white lotus who had stolen Yan Yu from her, couldn’t summon an ounce of sympathy and merely commented, “It’s all her own doing.” After a slight pause, she asked about something else, “By the way, what about that Shi Qing you mentioned?”

Gu Kaiyang raised an eyebrow and made a throat-cutting gesture.

Jiang Chun: “Fired?”

Gu Kaiyang: “Yes. Speaking of this, I still find it quite strange. That day’s incident was, after all, a personal grudge between her and me. Shu Shu said it wasn’t her doing, so I don’t know why the company fired her.”

Jiang Chun had a sudden thought and looked at Ji Mingshu, “Could it be your husband’s doing?”

“…?”

“Sister, have you been reading too many novels?”

Jiang Chun was silenced by her incredulous expression and began to doubt the reasonableness of her inference.

As for Ji Mingshu, hearing Jiang Chun’s suggestion, she first thought it was absurd, but upon careful consideration, she felt it wasn’t entirely impossible.

During the mid-session break, she sent a WeChat message to Cen Sen.

Ji Mingshu: [A few days ago, I had an argument with a woman at Gu Kaiyang’s magazine office, and that woman was fired.]

Ji Mingshu: [observing.jpg]

She was somewhat distracted waiting for Cen Sen’s reply, but Cen Sen seemed busy and didn’t respond for a while.

During this time, Jiang Chun went to the restroom, and Gu Kaiyang returned after taking a phone call.

When she came back, Gu Kaiyang’s expression was somewhat strange.

Ji Mingshu looked up, and seeing her expression, immediately recalled the fear she had felt when being notified of the “cheating” a few days ago. “What’s wrong with you? Another weird expression.”

Jiang Chun also happened to return, wiping her hands and adding a comment from the side, “Are you constipated?”

“No, I just received notice of a personality interview.”

“Who? Her husband? Showing off their love in a magazine?”

Jiang Chun had a complete novel-brain and pointed at Ji Mingshu without even thinking.

Gu Kaiyang paused, “Her husband’s ex-girlfriend.”

Jiang Chun & Ji Mingshu: “…”

The atmosphere suddenly became subtle and awkward.

To alleviate this awkwardness, Jiang Chun asked another question from the depths of her soul: “But… isn’t ‘Zero Degrees’ a men’s magazine? Why interview a woman?”

“Aren’t you photographing women for the cover right now?”

Gu Kaiyang pointed backward, then continued, “I’ll think of something. This topic doesn’t necessarily have to be Li Wenyin, but Li Wenyin should be returning in the next few days.”

She could find a way to refuse this interviewee, but she had no way to prevent someone from flying back to the motherland.

Just then, Ji Mingshu’s phone made a sound.

Cen Sen: [I did it.]

Ji Mingshu looked at these three brief words and paused slightly.

Cen Sen: [Are you at the magazine office?]

Ji Mingshu: [nodding obediently]

Cen Sen: [Then I’ll pick you up after work.]

Looking at the brief conversation on the screen, Ji Mingshu felt a little happy for some reason.

She couldn’t help but curl the corner of her lips, then sat up straight, flipped her hair, and said to Gu Kaiyang in a very noble and cold manner: “No need, just do her interview. I want to see what kind of flowers she can come up with.”

Jiang Chun silently drank her milk beside her. Having spent a lot of time with Ji Mingshu, she felt the subtext was, “If this little bitch dares to talk nonsense, I’ll finish her.”