So in the time it took Ji Mingshu to carefully consider her WeChat message, she once again found herself trending on the hot search.

People who hadn’t been able to consume the hot gossip in time due to the blocked keywords last night were now simultaneously learning new information from the trending topics while catching up on what they’d missed. Many expressed that the feeling of learning was truly delightful for both body and mind.

Entertainment gossip public accounts with extraordinary summarizing abilities organized the cause and effect of this incident with both text and images, using the title—Click to See the Domineering CEO Doting on His Wife Online!

This public account post was later regarded as a classic gossip piece of the year, compiling many overlooked details.

For instance, as soon as Ji Mingshu spoke out, Feng Yan, Li Che, and Pei Xiyan had liked and reposted her Weibo; when the incident first occurred, a certain niche rich beauty blogger had predicted that the program team and Yan Yuexing were doomed.

At the same time, discussions on various forums flourished in all directions. Some dug up that Ji Mingshu had twice collaborated with Chrischou on runway stages; some earnestly watched these two episodes of “Design Home” and commented that Ji Mingshu’s designs were quite noteworthy; more people were enjoying screenshots of Ji Mingshu’s beauty attacks and turning her into expression packs and GIFs.

Among them, the most viral expression pack GIFs were of Ji Mingshu pointing at the carpet, questioning Yan Yuexing, and Ji Mingshu turning away impatiently from Yan Yuexing.

The text content had been replaced with phrases like “Be quiet when it’s dawn,” “You wasteful girl,” “I have nothing to say to you, idiot,” “I’ll give you one second to get out of this CEO’s wife’s sight,” and so on.

By the afternoon, all related program content was taken down across the internet, and the program team and Yan Yuexing’s studio issued apology announcements one after another.

Interestingly, the two sides seemed to have failed to reach an agreement. Yan Yuexing’s studio didn’t mention “malicious editing” at all, and their apology only addressed the issue of fans cyberbullying Ji Mingshu, appearing especially white lotus-like, as if they knew nothing about everything, and it was all done by the program team alone.

The program team was probably indignant, as they unexpectedly released three videos on Star City TV. The three videos together totaled nearly two hours. Clicking in to watch, they were clearly the unedited original footage—no filters, no skin smoothing, and you could even hear the on-site sound recording.

[Heavens, I thought the contrast in the broadcast program was devastating enough, but the unedited comparison is simply a young lady and her ugly maid.]

[Is Silent Master’s appearance, skin, and figure real? By the way, praise for Yan-zai being so handsome, why is he so tall at sixteen?!]

[Pay attention to the key points! From 3:18 to 4:01 in Video One, JMS’s words were completely deleted. YYX created her drama, yet edited it to make it look like JMS was losing her temper for no reason. Mind-blowing!]

[Watching the unedited version, I noticed that Ji Ji Red, Feng Yan, and Pei Xiyan all seemed to ignore Yan Yuexing. Those three were communicating well with each other.]

[Pei Xiyan followed JMS and FY on Weibo but not YYX. I’ve said this too many times, but no one is listening to me T_T]

Forum experts quickly skimmed through the videos at increased speed, then cut out a key segment from the lengthy, boring original footage.

No one expected that this cut would directly set the entire internet on fire!

“If you don’t understand, then talk less and do more. Have you graduated from university? Are your songs original creations? Do you have even the most basic respect for original design in your brain? A brand collectively boycotted by the fashion industry, unable to enter the Chinese market, continues its bad habits and collaborates with furniture merchants on a piece of broken carpet selling for 6,500, and the important thing is that there are still half-knowledgeable people like you sincerely praising it?”

This segment of the carpet dispute, which reasonably and forcefully criticized Yan Yuexing but wasn’t included in the final cut, was frantically reposted throughout the afternoon. Ji Mingshu’s fans were increasing by hundreds and thousands almost every second, and the most liked comments on her long Weibo post suddenly changed to—

[Ahhhhh, the CEO’s wife’s full aura has killed me!!!]

[The CEO’s wife expressed exactly what I was thinking! That ugly carpet for 6,500 and a bunch of internet celebrities promoting it!!!]

[I unilaterally declare I’m in love! Will Madam debut? Wuwuwu I’m willing to use all my pocket money to send our Madam to the center position debut!]

[After watching this original footage, I think the program team has issues. Maliciously editing Ms. Ji to prop up Ms. Yan?! Featuring Ms. Ji would have made the program fire!!!]

Ji Mingshu: “…”

She was particularly curious about who had posted on Junyi’s official Weibo, repeatedly referring to her as “Ms. Ji,” resulting in people everywhere now calling her Ms. Ji.

Please, she was just an eternal eighteen-year-old fairy, okay? “Ms. Ji” sounded too much like a serious NPC committee member or a discipline teacher who makes all students tremble.

She complained about this in her friend group chat.

Gu Kaiyang: [???]

Gu Kaiyang: [Sister, your focus is really off track.]

Jiang Chun: [Yan Yuexing is also being called Ms. Yan, and she’s much younger than you, so you’re not at a disadvantage.]

Ji Mingshu: [Please shut your goose mouth, thank you.]

Jiang Chun: [Getting famous and turning on your friends, I see through you, Ji Shu-Shu!]

Jiang Chun then launched another wave of expression pack attacks, this time using her expression packs, both static and dynamic.

Ji Mingshu couldn’t take it anymore and directly turned off her phone, collapsing on the bed.

—At this point, this farce could be considered settled. She had gotten the justice she wanted and was inexplicably gifted with explosive attention.

It had to be admitted that the power of internet public opinion was truly formidable nowadays, and this opinion changed in an instant. No one knew what would happen the next second, just as Ji Mingshu had never imagined that once the original video was released, she would somehow enter fan-attracting mode.

To say something that might invite a beating, the feeling of being forced to become a public figure was really a bit strange, and for the time being, she didn’t know how to deal with it, so she simply couldn’t be bothered to deal with it at all.

She rolled over, planning to continue her nap.

But after only about three minutes, she suddenly grabbed her phone again to attack Cen Sen.

Ji Mingshu: [Dead pig’s trotter.]

Ji Mingshu: [I’m famous now.]

Ji Mingshu: [Let’s break up.]

Ji Mingshu: [Of course, if you can bring back some gifts from Paris, I can consider living with you for a while longer.]

After waiting five minutes without a response from Cen Sen—it should be morning in Paris now, so he couldn’t still be in bed—was he discussing business?

Thinking of this, Ji Mingshu didn’t wait any longer. She put down her phone and contentedly entered dreamland.

When Ji Mingshu woke up, it was already getting dark. With lifeless eyes, she yawned while thinking about what to eat tonight.

She was alone in the house, and since she was sleeping, she hadn’t closed her bedroom door. Now, with her sharp ears, she heard rustling sounds from downstairs, seemingly including footsteps.

Her first thought was of their housekeeper.

But that wasn’t right. Although their housekeeper also lived in the house, the housekeeping and driver quarters were not connected to the main living area. They had to enter directly from the back of the villa, and when family members were home, the housekeeper would never come in without calling first.

Ji Mingshu suddenly thought of something and quickly shook off her drowsiness, hurriedly getting out of bed and walking outside. A certain guess was about to burst forth in her heart.

She suppressed it, not daring to let her secret expectation become too intense, but when she stood at the stair railing and saw Cen Sen, truly and present downstairs, changing his shoes and loosening his tie, she seemed to be struck by an enormous sense of happiness.

Cen Sen had just arrived home and, hearing movement, slightly looked up.

The fatigue from forty-eight hours of non-stop work seemed to dissipate instantly at the moment he met Ji Mingshu’s gaze.

The winter sunset streamed in beam by beam through the four-paned south window, landing on him. After changing his shoes, he leaned against the door, right at the junction of half-light and half-shadow, with an aura of drowsiness still surrounding him.

But as he looked up at Ji Mingshu, he suddenly gave a faint smile and slightly opened his arms, making an embracing gesture.

The daylight seemed to suddenly brighten in that moment. Ji Mingshu didn’t hesitate for even a second, running down from upstairs barefoot.

Somehow, as she ran down, her mind uncontrollably recalled many scenes from her middle school days.

The red plastic track. The brick-colored teaching building. The blue-black school uniform.

The blue of the sky back then seemed brighter than now, and the lawn was tender green. Probably because of youth, memories automatically come with a vivid halo.

And Cen Sen back then was clear and aloof, always very far from her. On the rare occasions they encountered each other, she would disdainfully brush past him.

But after each disdainful encounter, she seemed to unconsciously look back, glancing at the boy’s slender, straight figure.

After many years, she could finally throw herself into that boy’s arms as she wished, openly and righteously.

The scene of Ji Mingshu rushing down to him from upstairs was something Cen Sen would often recall later.

The smoky pink nightgown, the waterfall of black hair, and the stars twinkling in her eyes.

At that moment, he seemed to finally be certain that his feelings for Ji Mingshu were not merely liking.

She had a faint, clear fragrance of camellia body lotion. He closed his eyes and buried himself in the crook of her neck, allowing himself to sink into her scent, not wanting to break free.

The embrace after their short separation in the winter dusk probably lasted for a minute. After the hug, Ji Mingshu still wouldn’t let go, just leaning against his chest and asking in a muffled voice: “How did you get back already? Did the cooperation go well?”

Cen Sen gave a low “Mmm.”

Ji Mingshu hugged him even tighter, initially wanting to ask if he was tired and if he needed to rest, but as the words reached her lips, they strangely transformed without thought into: “Why aren’t you spinning me around in your arms? In TV dramas, they always spin in circles while hugging.”

Before Cen Sen could speak, she softly muttered: “Never mind, you’re almost a thirty-year-old man now, you probably don’t have much strength, and probably can’t lift me… Ah!!!”

Before Ji Mingshu could finish speaking, she suddenly found herself airborne without warning. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around Cen Sen’s neck as the room scenery spun around them.

“Okay… okay, okay, put me down!”

She acted quite fierce, but her physical condition wasn’t good at all. A few spins and she was already dizzy. Finally, when she landed, she was stepping on Cen Sen’s feet and still leaning backward. It was only thanks to Cen Sen holding her that she didn’t fall.

As Ji Mingshu was recovering from her dizziness, Cen Sen took advantage of her distraction to suddenly ask: “I only saw your message after getting off the plane. I didn’t bring you a gift. What should we do?”

Ji Mingshu was still seeing stars, and the words “It’s okay” were already on the tip of her tongue, but she suddenly came to her senses just before speaking.

“What else can we do? Break up, of course.” She challenged in a very soft voice, poking Cen Sen’s chest with a finger.

Cen Sen’s eyes darkened, and his voice grew husky and slightly rough: “But I did come back from Paris. How about accepting me as your gift?”

Ji Mingshu: “…”

Could such a smooth-talking dog of a man exist?!!!