Jiang Chun had sent a long string of exaggerated words with exclamation marks afterward, but Ji Mingshu didn’t take them in.

She stared at the chat interface, eyes unblinking, her thoughts caught in a repeating cycle of confirmation and doubt, followed by more confirmation and doubt.

Seeing her lost in thought, looking at her phone, Gu Kaiyang waved her hand in front of Ji Mingshu’s eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”

Ji Mingshu looked up, stared at her for three seconds, then suddenly blurted out, “Cen Sen hospitalized someone for badmouthing me.”

“Cough! Cough cough cough!”

Gu Kaiyang hadn’t fully swallowed her porridge and choked badly on Ji Mingshu’s words.

Seeing such a fantastical reaction, Ji Mingshu also sobered up a bit.

Hmm… there must be some misunderstanding. Perhaps that little fatty had also insulted Cen Sen. How could someone like Cen Sen, who barely bothered to open his mouth, suddenly resort to violence, especially for her sake?

Despite making these excuses in her mind, throughout the entire morning, Ji Mingshu shamefully indulged in a subtle sense of delight.

The young ladies and madams of the socialite circle had the most efficient information network and were most adept at adapting to changing winds.

In the past few days, aside from normal PR brand invitations, Ji Mingshu had received no invitations to any social activities in the circle, large or small. Even if there were any, they were filled with malice, hiding intentions to watch her make a fool of herself.

But this morning, the “sisters'” warm greetings and social invitations hadn’t stopped.

[Darling, tomorrow my store is having a new product showcase. Haven’t seen you in ages! Do you have time? I can send someone to pick you up, okay?]

—This message came from Fiona, the daughter of the chairman of Gande Group, a company that had started in mineral mining.

Fiona had studied jewelry design abroad for two years and created her namesake jewelry brand upon returning home. Unfortunately, with limited talent, her designs always featured classic elements from Tiffany, Cartier, VCA, and other major brands, yet with very high prices.

However, her flattery was quite effective. Ji Mingshu had bought a few decent pieces of jewelry from her store to save face, but had never worn them, either giving them away or letting them gather dust in her cabinet.

[Shushu, my concert tour’s final stop is back in the capital! This Saturday evening at the Sports Center. I’ve reserved a VIP seat for you. You must come if you have time. I miss you so much!]

—This message was from Echo, the youngest daughter of the Bai Family, a musical household.

Echo’s parents were proper and orthodox, both national-level singers who had performed at state banquets when they were young. As they aged, their political careers also progressed smoothly.

Echo’s older brothers and sisters had all followed the same prestigious path their parents had taken. Yet somehow, she had styled herself as a pianist. Although her playing wasn’t particularly good, she relied on her family’s influence to pave the way and create hype, launching a world piano concert tour.

…

There were many similar messages, but Ji Mingshu didn’t need to read them all to know their content.

After all, out of ten socialites, five were independent fashion designers, and the other five were either jewelry designers, musicians, exhibition painters, or nominal charity foundation heads. Whether they were proficient or passionate about their fields was debatable—the main point was that these titles sounded respectable.

Normally, Ji Mingshu looked down on these socialites who constantly talked about art and design while being superficial like goldfish with half-empty brains. Today, however, she suddenly rested her chin in her hand and reflected: no matter how mediocre they might be, at least they were seriously managing their careers, which was better than her high standards, but lack of skill, doing nothing.

Thinking of something, she suddenly put down her phone, sat at the computer, and began typing earnestly.

Around six in the evening, just as Ji Mingshu was about to get up from the computer to get some yogurt from the refrigerator, there was suddenly a sound of a key in the lock at the door.

She looked up and saw it was Gu Kaiyang.

“You’re off work so early today?”

Ji Mingshu was somewhat surprised.

For fashion magazines like “Zero Degrees,” overtime was routine. She had never seen Gu Kaiyang leave work at a normal time before.

Gu Kaiyang didn’t respond, acting mysteriously. She changed her shoes at the door and quickly slid over to Ji Mingshu’s side, then abruptly asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m just organizing some design work I did before,” she looked Gu Kaiyang up and down, feeling something was odd. “What’s wrong with you?”

Gu Kaiyang looked at her, unable to hide her smile. The hand behind her back suddenly produced an exquisite blue swan velvet jewelry box, which she waved around.

Ji Mingshu paused.

Gu Kaiyang reverently placed the jewelry box on the table, solemnly opened it, then stood up, hands properly folded over her abdomen, imitating Zhou Jiaheng’s tone: “Miss Gu, Mr. Cen recently acquired a pink diamond ring. It’s the fancy pink diamond that Madam was quite fond of last year. After being recut, its color grade has been upgraded to fancy vivid pink, and it has been adjusted to fit Madam’s size. I kindly ask you to pass it on to her.”

Ji Mingshu stared at the oval-shaped diamond ring on the table, with its exquisite facets emitting a pink glow, unable to come to her senses.

After imitating Zhou Jiaheng’s speech, Gu Kaiyang excitedly sat down beside Ji Mingshu and rattled on: “You have no idea how nervous I was coming back with this ring! Fortunately, your husband’s assistant sent a car and bodyguards to escort me part of the way! God, I just quietly checked—this ring sold for 32 million! In US dollars! Your husband is showing so much sincerity with this gesture!”

Ji Mingshu: “…”

She stared at the ring, not moving her eyes for a long while.

Who knows what Gu Kaiyang had experienced during her work hours, but upon returning, her attitude had undergone a 180-degree change. She was frantically praising “Cen Sen is good, Cen Sen is wonderful, Cen Sen is amazing” in Ji Mingshu’s ear, just short of helping her pack up to send her back to Mingshui Mansion with two condoms thrown in.

In truth, when Ji Mingshu received Jiang Chun’s intelligence report this morning, she had already weakened for a second, despite herself.

Now, staring at the pink diamond, she shamefully wavered again for three seconds.

She took the ring out of the box and tried it on.

The evening sunlight only had a shallow beam left, with a hint of fading drowsiness, but the pink diamond’s brilliance was dazzling. Each facet was clear and bright, and the small circle of pavé diamonds surrounding it reflected eye-catching brilliance as her finger joints slightly bent and extended.

Wuwuwu, it’s so beautiful!

This is exactly the kind of ring a princess should have!

As stunning as her beauty, making it hard to breathe!!!

Ji Mingshu was so absorbed in her love for the ring that she completely ignored Gu Kaiyang’s endless chatter, only catching the last question, “When are you going back?” She suddenly sobered up as if she had drunk a sobering soup.

—Does the ring mean going back?

“Who said I’m going back?”

“Trying to buy me off with just a broken ring?”

“Last time, he took a bracelet to appease me when I threw the divorce agreement at him. Is this how he shows sincerity every time?!”

Gu Kaiyang: “This ring is way more expensive than that bracelet, not just a little bit. I think it shows quite a lot of sincerity.”

Ji Mingshu took off the ring to examine it, then suddenly reasoned to herself and concluded: “Last time he probably hadn’t done anything wrong, so he was righteous enough to casually appease me with a bracelet. Sending something this expensive this time just proves he feels guilty, right? Scumbag!”

Gu Kaiyang: “…?”

Bizarre logic, really makes you think.

Ji Mingshu’s wavering heart became firm again. She put away the ring, tossed it into a small drawer without another glance, sat back in front of the computer, straightened her posture, and continued organizing her work.

Early the next morning, Junyi headquarters held its monthly senior management meeting.

Cen Sen sat at the head of the table in a white shirt and suit, wearing light gold-rimmed glasses.

After listening to the reports from below, without even looking up, he directly said, “Manager Lan, I’m curious who promoted you to your current position. Your work report is full of words like ‘should,’ ‘maybe,’ and ‘perhaps.’ What use are you to Junyi? You might as well go back through the management trainee program and start over.”

“And the entire corporate PR department, for two consecutive months, the proposals you’ve put forward are like those of long-tenured civil servants eating free meals thanks to their permanent positions. Junyi is not a retirement home. If your brain can no longer function, go to HR and process your departure.”

…

When criticizing people, his voice was always cold and unsympathetic. If not directed at oneself, one could hear a certain rhythmic beauty in his measured speech.

Throughout the meeting, everyone was on tenterhooks, as if walking on thin ice. When it ended, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Cen Sen went straight back to his office without lingering for even half a step. Zhou Jiaheng stayed behind to help him pack up his notebook and materials.

Someone couldn’t resist asking Zhou Jiaheng: “Assistant Zhou, what’s wrong with Mr. Cen these days? He seems off somehow.”

Normally, though Cen Sen was cool and distant, his words and actions still gave people a sense of gentleness, not like today, cold to the point of harshness. Even Manager Lan, recognized as one of Junyi’s delicate flowers, was picked out and publicly criticized without mercy.

Zhou Jiaheng smiled without responding.

Seeing that they couldn’t get anything out of him, the others weren’t surprised. They just shook their heads, sighed, and gathered their things to get back to work.

Although Zhou Jiaheng didn’t answer the question, he too was suffering in silence. After all, who could bear more of the invisible anger than he, the personal assistant, did?

As soon as he left the meeting room, Zhou Jiaheng found a deserted corner and called his subordinate.

“Has the news been spread? Does Miss Jiang’s family know about Junyi withdrawing investment and the boss’s fight?”

…

“It’s been spread? Then why hasn’t there been any reaction?”

…

“Did Madam go out today? She hasn’t returned the ring, has she?”

…

After the call, Zhou Jiaheng felt even more uneasy, completely unable to understand why the young mistress was so difficult to appease this time. His steps toward the president’s office became increasingly heavy, and his mood felt like he was visiting a grave.

Over the next week, Cen Sen sent four or five gifts to Ji Mingshu one after another.

Ji Mingshu accepted them all without fail but didn’t reply even once.

Zhou Jiaheng couldn’t help indirectly reminding Cen Sen that perhaps his sincerity wasn’t enough. While he was diligent in sending gifts, perhaps he should make an appearance… or at least make a phone call.

But Cen Sen only gave him a cold glance and never took action.

Zhou Jiaheng didn’t know that during these nights, Cen Sen would drive to Star Harbor International himself, park across the street, and quietly look at the window that was sometimes dark, sometimes lit with warm yellow light.

Each time he stopped there, he seemed to understand some things better. But at a deeper level, his subconscious didn’t want to admit it, didn’t want to reveal it.

Initially, he didn’t have such feelings for Ji Mingshu.

During this week, Ji Mingshu meticulously organized her past works, compiled her education and honors received during school into a beautiful resume, and put herself online as an independent designer accepting interior design jobs.

But as Gu Kaiyang had said, the design direction she pursued overlapped significantly with her social circle.

And people in this social circle, without introductions from mutual acquaintances, would typically only hire more famous designers to complete their projects.

She had been listed for a week but hadn’t received a single inquiry.

Late at night, Ji Mingshu crouched in front of the computer, feeling somewhat dejected.

Throughout the entire week, the desire to spend money had been stirring in her bones, but she had resisted it all. Yet her balance was visibly decreasing day by day.

Thoughts like “Making money is so hard,” “Being an ordinary person is tough,” “I don’t want to try anymore, I’m just a beautiful little golden canary baby,” “Wuwuwu, Chanel’s new bag looks so good,” “If that dog-man Cen Sen calls, I’ll reluctantly forgive him” took turns attacking her mind, making her feel exhausted.

Gu Kaiyang, tired from work, had gone to sleep right after coming home. Ji Mingshu sat at the computer for a while, then suddenly got up, took the door card and her phone, and sneaked out.

In the past, Ji Mingshu had hardly ever set foot in convenience stores, but recently she had become quite familiar with them, even exchanging smiles with the cashiers she knew.

She bought a small cup of vegetable oden at the convenience store, as well as a salted egg yolk ice cream, then sat on a stone bench by the roadside, enjoying her solitary meal while feeling the night breeze.

The street lamps cast warm yellow halos through the treetops. After finishing the last spinach stick, she unwrapped the ice cream and nibbled at it occasionally. Suddenly, she found herself missing Cen Sen.

It had only been about ten days, yet it felt longer than his two-year trip to Australia.

She didn’t know why she was thinking of him. He was always so cold, only making braised ribs to coax her when he wanted to sleep with her, and even criticized her designs, making her kowtow to the Potala Palace.

Yet she couldn’t help but think of him.

Halfway through the ice cream, Ji Mingshu felt a bit cold, but it seemed wasteful not to finish the remaining half. She stood up, planning to go home to continue eating, at least without the wind.

But the moment she stood up, she seemed to sense something, instinctively looking across the street. Her heart also unexpectedly skipped a beat.

Before she could search for anything, WeChat suddenly received a string of messages from Chris Chou, a Chinese designer she hadn’t contacted in a long time.

Chris Chou: [Shu, I wonder if you’re available recently?]

Chris Chou: [I’m coming to the capital for a show. The Milan show stage you designed for me is the most spirited and fitting stage for my work that I’ve seen in recent years. I hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with you again.]

Chris Chou: [Here’s the relevant information for this show. Looking forward to your early reply.]

Ji Mingshu’s spirits lifted as she opened the attachment Chris Chou had sent.

She hadn’t looked at the other details carefully yet, but her gaze precisely locked onto the show venue, and her vision suddenly darkened.

Are you serious?

Junyi Huazhang?