Ji Mingshu’s clothes were stained with red wine. When Cen Sen went to buy pork ribs, she didn’t follow him out of the car.

After Cen Sen returned, Bentley sped to Mingshui Mansion.

By evening, the snow had stopped, and the sky was a gray-blue color, neither fully dark nor light, with dim illumination. On the lake island, trees and plants were all dressed in silver, street lamps winding along the path with soft halos. Ji Mingshu suddenly realized this was her first time seeing Mingshui Mansion in the snow.

Back home, Cen Sen carried the supermarket shopping bags to the kitchen island.

Ji Mingshu glanced at the wine stains on her clothes, said a quick greeting to him, and hurried upstairs to shower.

Before showering, Ji Mingshu stood in front of the closet containing her nightwear, deliberating for a full five minutes.

She occasionally picked out an item and held it against herself, but was never satisfied. Goose yellow was too childish, burgundy too sexy, a full-coverage pajama set too conservative, while a lacy little dress gave off an eager, impatient impression, not dignified at all.

After thinking for a while, she selected a few items, took photos, and sent them to the group chat for Jiang Chun and Gu Kaiyang’s opinions.

Gu Kaiyang was still pretending to be dead, but Jiang Chun immediately responded.

Jiang Chun: [The green one is nice, but why are you asking? Are you having a pajama party? When? I want to come too!]

Ji Mingshu completely ignored the second half of her message. [What green one?]

Jiang Chun: [Isn’t the second one green?]

Ji Mingshu: […It’s smog blue. Are you colorblind?]

Ji Mingshu: [Forget it, I must be crazy to ask for your opinion.]

Jiang Chun: [Weak, pitiful, and helpless.jpg]

Somehow, they began their daily round of sticker warfare. During this battle of expressions, Jiang Chun finally noticed something unusual—the background in Ji Mingshu’s photos was so high-end, obviously no longer Gu Kaiyang’s little pigeon nest!

She asked several follow-up questions, but Ji Mingshu kept evading, refusing to give a straight answer.

Gu Kaiyang had been silently lurking, but finally couldn’t resist and popped up.

Gu Kaiyang: [What does it matter what you wear, you’re going to take it off anyway.]

The chat group unexpectedly fell silent.

Thirty seconds later, Jiang Chun began flooding the chat.

Jiang Chun: [Wuwuwu I’m just an innocent little goose.]

Jiang Chun: [What did I do to deserve having my pure heart polluted by you two!]

Jiang Chun: [I suspect you two are doing something indecent, and I already have evidence!]

…

No one responded to her.

After Gu Kaiyang had dropped his bombshell, he switched his phone to silent mode and set the group messages to “Do Not Disturb.”

Ji Mingshu quickly threw down her phone and cupped her explosively red face, trying to cool down.

How strange—with Gu Kaiyang’s comment, the little deer in her heart seemed to go blind, bouncing frantically in all directions. She was too embarrassed to continue selecting nightwear and hastily grabbed one before darting into the bathroom.

What Gu Kaiyang said might not be wrong…

No, what was she thinking?

She slapped her cheeks hard.

It’s all Gu Kaiyang’s fault! Sinful! Vulgar!

Ji Mingshu: [Gu Kaiyang, you’re dead!]

An hour later, the bathroom was filled with mist. Ji Mingshu finished her shower and sat on a soft chair near the bathtub, carefully applying body lotion. The lotion had a faint camellia scent. She also applied the same fragrance of oil to her hair, which, after blow-drying, became slightly loose—her long, slightly curled black hair looking fluffy, soft, and naturally relaxed.

After finishing her preparations, she stood in front of the full-length mirror and turned in a circle, then nodded, giving herself an affirming look. Finally, she remembered to apply a layer of fruit-flavored lip balm.

When she went downstairs, Cen Sen was also finishing the cooking.

The braised ribs were bright red, the pearl meatballs translucent and lovely, the blanched vegetables fresh and green, with tempting aromas wafting through the air.

With her hands behind her back, she circled the dining table, then took small steps to the kitchen island, peeking around and asking, “Are there any more dishes?”

Cen Sen, while wiping his knife, said, “There’s also tomato egg soup. It’s already done and ready to be served.”

“Let me help you bring it over.”

Ji Mingshu volunteered.

Having stayed at Gu Kaiyang’s place for so long, she had learned to do a few things, at least enough to feel a bit uncomfortable just sitting and waiting to be served.

Cen Sen put the knife back in its place and said in a mild voice, “No need, I’ll do it.”

“Oh.” Ji Mingshu nodded obediently, then followed obediently behind Cen Sen like a little tail to the dining table.

Ji Mingshu was someone who couldn’t stay idle. She also enjoyed lively meals, but Cen Sen was very proper when eating and didn’t like to talk. The two could only sit at right angles to each other at the dining table, eating quietly, and even their chewing sounds were very soft.

But you never know what colorful thoughts might be running through a girl’s mind when she looks calm on the outside—for instance, Ji Mingshu, who was elegantly gnawing on a small rib while her mind couldn’t stop fantasizing about after-dinner activities.

As she thought about it, her feet, placed under the table, unconsciously swayed a couple of times, accidentally brushing against the inside of Cen Sen’s calf.

She froze, biting the tip of her chopsticks as she looked at Cen Sen.

Cen Sen returned her gaze, his expression calm. After a long while, he suddenly said, “Eat first.”

…?

Ji Mingshu had been holding herself together quite well, but with Cen Sen’s words, her cheeks and neck quickly warmed up. What did he mean? What was this “eat first”? Did she look that desperate?

Ji Mingshu opened her mouth wanting to explain, but didn’t know where to start. Besides, when someone does something they feel guilty about, they just can’t be righteous. Slightly humiliated, she could only bury her face in her bowl and hurriedly finish her rice.

When all was said and done, it was Cen Sen who was in the wrong.

He had been so suggestive in the car, giving her space for wild imagination, but once home, he suddenly changed, becoming an ascetic like Liu Xiahui who could remain unmoved even with a woman in his lap. And after finishing dinner, he still had the mind to clean up the dishes, and after cleaning the dishes, he still had the energy to hold a video conference!

Ji Mingshu crouched on the home theater sofa, waiting for a long time, feeling like her heart had aged, and whatever romantic thoughts she had were dissipating with the passage of time and Cen Sen’s complete lack of response. What gradually increased instead was anger.

The more she thought, the angrier she became. Suddenly, she stood up from the sofa and, barefoot, walked straight into the study.

In the study, Cen Sen was wearing a Bluetooth earpiece, making his final meeting summary. Suddenly, the door was pushed open. He glanced up slightly, only to hear Ji Mingshu angrily say, “I’m going to bed!”

—And then she turned and left with heavy footsteps.

Cen Sen’s lips curled slightly, then he lowered his gaze and continued his summary to the computer screen, though with a slightly accelerated pace, “The return on investment for this business is too low, and space compression is only a matter of time…”

All meeting participants simultaneously had the same thought: Huh? Did I just hear things? Why would I hallucinate a female voice from the CEO’s side? How strange—

Before this puzzlement could end, Cen Sen’s speech had already reached its conclusion: “That’s all for today, thank you, everyone, for your hard work.”

Then, the screen went black.

Cen Sen removed his earpiece and stood up, loosening his neck left and right.

When he reached the bedroom door, he discovered Ji Mingshu had vindictively locked the door. Thinking of something, his lips curled slightly again.

After returning to the bedroom, Ji Mingshu hugged a pillow and sat cross-legged on the bed, waiting for movement at the door. After three minutes, there was finally a slight noise at the door—not too late.

She continued to listen attentively, but ten seconds passed, twenty seconds passed, thirty seconds passed… she began to wonder if she had imagined it.

This didn’t make sense.

Why was there no more sound?

She held back for a while but couldn’t resist, moved the chair blocking the door, and quietly opened the door a crack.

The crack widened until her whole head was poking out, but outside was only space with no one in sight.

Ahhh, Cen Sen, this dog of a man, is just a dead pig’s trotter! Either she had just imagined it, or this dead pig’s trotter discovered the door was locked and simply gave up! Either way, Censhi Sensen must die!!!

Ji Mingshu was so angry. They had eaten pork ribs together, so why was she the only one with it on her mind? She slammed the door with a “bang,” still furiously cursing in her heart: Since you care so little about pork ribs! Then you’ll never eat them again!!!

But just as she slammed the door and turned around, she suddenly crashed into a cool embrace.

Her mind went blank, her heart almost stopping from fright.

After recovering, she was still confused, barely able to speak clearly, “How… how did you get in? I was almost scared to death, you…”

She caught a glimpse of the wide-open walk-in closet door behind her and suddenly realized—had he anticipated this day long ago when he expanded her closet to the upper floor?

Cen Sen never said much about these things. He just laughed softly, and while Ji Mingshu’s little mouth was still chattering nonstop, he had already pressed her against the wall, one hand propped beside her ear, the other arm around her, and then silenced her voice.

The lights in the room remained brightly lit. Ji Mingshu tried several times to reach out and turn them off, but not only did she fail, she accidentally turned on lights that hadn’t been on before. Eventually, Cen Sen no longer allowed her to turn off the lights, easily changing positions.

Ji Mingshu’s time away from home had been quite long this time, and Cen Sen had accordingly been abstinent for this long period. Although it couldn’t compare to those two years in Australia, for some unknown reason, his endurance seemed to be gradually decreasing with age.

Late at night, it began to snow over Mingshui Lake. The sound of falling snow mixed with the sound of water in the bathroom made it difficult to distinguish between the two.

Ji Mingshu sat sullenly in the bath facing away from Cen Sen, still urging him to go rinse his mouth. After her urging, she fanned herself with her hand and even covered her face with both hands, deeply regretting not having learned how to hold her breath underwater when she was young.

Cen Sen leaned against the washbasin, casually wearing a white shirt with a disheveled collar, the buttons fastened incorrectly.

He lowered his gaze towards Ji Mingshu, laughing silently, his eyes darkening with an inscrutable meaning. The pad of his thumb slowly wiped across his lower lip, as if still savoring the moment, and then the pad of his index finger wiped back from the other side.