It had to be admitted that Cen Sen’s statement “I’m not someone who likes to reminisce” brought pleasure to Ji Mingshu’s body and mind. That bit of unpleasantness caused by the impending arrival of an invasive species was instantly swept away.

Lying in bed to sleep, Ji Mingshu unconsciously clung to Cen Sen, her arms wrapped around his neck and her clean, bare legs coiled around his waist.

Half asleep, Cen Sen adjusted his position, pushing the restless octopus that was wrapped around him and moving back and forth into his arms.

That night, Ji Mingshu had a dream.

Whether it was dusk in the dream or the dream itself came with a warm yellow halo, all scenes seemed to be soaked in a honey jar, each frame pulling out crystalline and bizarre scenes from the past.

The first fifty percent of the dream consisted of lengthy, boring, and illogical high school life details. One moment she was altering the length of her school uniform skirt in the dormitory, the next she was urgently notified to take an exam.

Halfway through the exam, the grade coordinator ran in and said: You’re taking the wrong exam, you’re arts students, you don’t need to take physics.

After leaving the exam room, she was both happy and confused, wondering, “Aren’t I just in the first year of high school without arts or science tracks yet? And wasn’t I just doing a geography test paper?”

Then Cen Sen appeared unexpectedly in the second half of the dream—

In the hallway outside the exam room, Ji Mingshu saw him and Li Wenyin walking together from the far end.

His figure was tall and slender, and the blue-black school uniform, often complained about by the affiliated middle school students, looked neat and good on him. As the two approached, they met her face to face, then coldly brushed past her.

Ji Mingshu stood there, feeling a bit displeased, but she wasn’t clear about what was bothering her.

The scene quickly shifted to a classroom after school. The honey-colored sunset projected onto the desks, the afterglow warm, as if there was also a fine breeze gently swaying the curtains.

The classroom was empty except for Ji Mingshu. She lay on her desk, thinking about what to eat for dinner.

At that moment, Cen Sen walked into the classroom.

It was completely absurd that a third-year high school student would suddenly enter a first-year classroom and sit beside her to explain the test paper.

But in the dream, Ji Mingshu’s brain seemed to have been eaten by zombies. She didn’t think anything was wrong at all. After rummaging through her backpack, she nervously told Cen Sen, “My test paper is missing.”

Cen Sen: “It doesn’t matter.”

He very gently patted her head, then leaned in slightly and kissed her.

What happened after that took a rather R-rated turn.

She was lifted by Cen Sen to sit on the desk, and Cen Sen stood at the edge of the desk, lifting her shortened skirt and removing the last layer of covering from her body.

Eventually, she was lying completely on the desk’s surface, with Cen Sen still standing at the edge, moving back and forth.

She covered her eyes with both hands but couldn’t help secretly leaving a small gap to peek at Cen Sen’s pure, restrained yet indulgent appearance.

As passion surged, Cen Sen gripped her waist, bending down to ask her some embarrassing questions.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Li Wenyin standing at the classroom door. Her heart was nervous and apprehensive, yet there was a secret, indescribable excitement. She said sweetly in Cen Sen’s ear, “I like it.”

Then, the dream ended.

In the first few seconds after waking, Ji Mingshu’s mind went blank, and her fingertips were trembling.

What kind of strange dream was this?

Her heart was beating particularly fast, and the unusual sensations in her body didn’t abruptly end with the dream.

Then her vision focused, and she finally saw clearly the culprit who was working mischief on her body early in the morning, causing her dream to take such a turn.

Cen Sen hadn’t expected Ji Mingshu to sleep so deeply. Earlier, despite his teasing for quite a while, she showed no signs of waking, only finally coming to when he reached release.

Fortunately, her body’s instinctive responses while asleep were still honest.

Their eyes met.

Ji Mingshu seamlessly connected with the scene in her dream, her ears reddening shamefully, her gaze somewhat flickering.

In contrast, Cen Sen, the one who had done something bad, was very composed. After the last trace of pleasure dissipated, he withdrew, looking quite satisfied, as if he had “already been satisfied.”

Even until the sound of water rushing came from the bathroom, Ji Mingshu still lay foolishly in bed, not having recovered for quite some time.

Why on earth did she have such a strange dream? And in the dream, it was even in front of Li Wenyin—how embarrassing!

Also, Cen Sen, this dog of a man, came three times last night, so why couldn’t he stay quiet early in the morning?

She was still asleep. How was this any different from necrophilia?

No, she wasn’t a corpse!

While Ji Mingshu was lost in these random thoughts, Cen Sen had finished his shower and come out of the bathroom. Having indulged in bed this morning, they had wasted quite a bit of time. His phone had been ringing since eight o’clock.

He was talking on the phone while adjusting his collar with one hand, but he couldn’t tie his tie with just one hand. He glanced at Ji Mingshu, walked to the bedside, and handed the tie to her.

Ji Mingshu didn’t know what had gotten into her. Wearing nothing but wrapped in the blanket, she sat up, took the tie, and helped him knot it.

“…It’s only a matter of time before they give in. Their funding gap is too large, and apart from Junyi, they have no other choice. You don’t need to worry about this.”

Perhaps due to the vigorous activity early in the morning, Cen Sen’s voice was a bit deep and hoarse, exuding a sense of physical and mental satisfaction.

Ji Mingshu kept reminding herself that this was just marital intimacy and not to act like a fangirl, while shamefully recalling embarrassing scenes and blushing rapidly with a racing heart.

In the end, by the time Cen Sen had finished his call, she still hadn’t tied the Windsor knot properly.

Cen Sen gave her a deep look, suddenly reaching out to take the tie from her hands.

“I’ll do it myself.”

Ji Mingshu didn’t dare to look up and meet his eyes. Wrapped tightly in the small blanket, she sat on the bed, and after a long time, she finally said with forced righteousness: “You, you should tie it yourself in the first place. Is something wrong with your brain? Couldn’t you just put the call on speaker instead of bothering me!”

When she said the word “bothering,” she was more sensitive than anyone. Before blushing, she quickly lay down and pulled the blanket over her head.

From outside, the blanket came a soft, low chuckle. She remained motionless, determined to play dead until Cen Sen left.

At eight-thirty in the morning, Zhou Jiaheng and the driver finally saw Cen Sen come out.

It was strange—in Zhou Jiaheng’s impression, Cen Sen had always been frighteningly self-disciplined. Being late should never happen to this boss.

But he didn’t dare to ask, silently assuming unexpected situations like a marital argument.

There was a regular group meeting in the morning, basically for the managers of various divisions to give routine reports.

The cities with the most Junyi hotels in China were the capital and Xingcheng. The previous hotel inspection hadn’t included Xingcheng because there were twenty-three hotels from four different series under Junyi in Xingcheng, and going there would require at least a week’s stay.

Coincidentally, this regular meeting also brought up messy matters involving the senior management of the Xingcheng branch.

After the meeting, Cen Sen immediately instructed Zhou Jiaheng to adjust the recent schedule.

Zhou Jiaheng reminded him that it would be best not to postpone tonight’s appointment with Director Chen. Cen Sen said in a low voice, “Then we’ll leave after it ends.”

In his office, after handling the documents at hand, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

Inexplicably, his mind conjured up images of Ji Mingshu moaning beneath him, both sweet and alluring.

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he sat up again, taking a sip of black coffee.

He and Ji Mingshu had known each other for a long time, but thinking carefully, they didn’t know much about each other.

For instance, Ji Mingshu’s insistence on divorce in case of infidelity was completely unexpected to him. Even his reaction seemed somewhat beyond his expectations.

Towards the word “divorce,” there seemed to be an uncontrolled, strange aversion.

Thinking about it again, he found it laughable. The Ji family wasn’t of much use to him; rather, this marriage connection was all benefit and no harm to the Ji family. If Ji Mingshu kept bringing up divorce every other day, the Ji family would be the first to object.

He opened a new document, but after reading just a couple of lines, he suddenly picked up his phone from the side and sent a WeChat message to Ji Mingshu.

When Ji Mingshu received Cen Sen’s WeChat, she was checking out a popular dessert shop with Jiang Chun and Gu Kaiyang.

The three had ordered a table full of desserts and taken plenty of photos, but they were only drinking plain tea.

Ji Mingshu and Gu Kaiyang had requirements for their figures. Finishing an entire plate of braised ribs last night made Ji Mingshu feel quite guilty. Although the bed activity from night to morning had been vigorous, when she weighed herself, she had gained a full six ounces.

—There was no help for it, fat is like a lie detector that even money can’t buy off, realistic and merciless.

Jiang Chun did want to eat, but before she could extend her goose paw, Ji Mingshu was already frantically nagging in her ear.

“Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating. Do you think you’ve already become as slim as Zhao Feiyan? Maintaining your figure is a woman’s lifelong responsibility. Yan Yu and that little green tea are still watching. With you like this, do you still want Yan Yu to deeply regret and for him and the little green tea to both eat shit?”

“Don’t think that just because you’ve made some progress with Tang Zhizhou, you can have no standards for yourself. Tang Zhizhou might say you’re adorably chubby today through the eyes of love, but tomorrow he could completely change his tune and call you an uncultured little fatty!”

Jiang Chun: “…”

Who could eat after that?

After stopping Jiang Chun from letting herself go, Ji Mingshu chatted with Gu Kaiyang about being on the show.

Her socialite burden was too heavy, and she couldn’t make up her mind.

Gu Kaiyang thought it was quite an interesting experience. Besides, she had always been a relatively independent and strong girl, consistently holding the view that women should have their own careers.

Gu Kaiyang: “Participating in the show is primarily an experience, and secondly, you can use it to develop your career. Xingcheng TV has a good influence. If you participate in their show as an interior designer, you can also get more cases in the future. Your husband is generous, and he has more money than he can spend, but spending money you’ve earned yourself is still more satisfying, right?”

“Not really,” Ji Mingshu said matter-of-factly, resting her chin on her hand. “I think spending other people’s money is more satisfying.”

“…”

Thinking carefully, there wasn’t anything wrong with that.

Just then, Ji Mingshu received a WeChat message from Cen Sen.

Cen Sen: [I’m going to Xingcheng tonight, probably for a month or two.]

He’s going to Xingcheng?

Ji Mingshu remembered that the recording of that show would also be about a month ago.

Then another new message came in.

Cen Sen: [Call me if you need anything.]

Last night, Ji Mingshu had wanted to ask him if he had any opinions or suggestions about her participating in the show, but after their entanglement in bed, she had completely forgotten about it.

Now she seriously and promptly implemented Cen Sen’s “call me if you need anything,” calling him just as he had sent the message and before he had put down his phone.

After saying a few random things, Cen Sen suddenly asked her to wait a moment.

After waiting for about half a minute, Cen Sen’s voice reappeared at the other end of the phone. Ji Mingshu got straight to the point: “Actually, it’s like this. Xingcheng TV wants to invite me to participate in a show about spatial design. It’s a format where you team up with celebrities to complete design tasks. What do you think?”

Cen Sen looked at the list of the show’s team that Zhou Jiaheng had brought half a minute ago, his gaze falling on the line Zhou Jiaheng had marked:

“Team Three: Li Che, Ji Mingshu (tentative)”

“Note: Li Che has plans to unbind with Meng Xiaowei and can cooperate with the production team to form a CP with a non-celebrity. The non-celebrity has an excellent appearance and can be listed as a key filming subject.”

He flipped through Li Che’s profile again and said flatly: “I don’t think much of it.”

Ji Mingshu: “…”

Cen Sen: “You might be more suitable for a show like ‘Change of Life’.”

Ji Mingshu: “…?”