“Limit! Limit! Limit!”

“Are you even speaking human language?!”

Ji Mingshu was very depressed, looking unhappy since leaving the party. During the car ride to the Junyi headquarters, she gazed out the window in frustration.

Perhaps because tomorrow was Chinese New Year’s Eve, the driver was in a relaxed mood and even chatted humorously with her while waiting at a traffic light.

Unfortunately, she remained silent from start to finish, staring out the window at who knows what, her lips pressed downward, adding a touch of coldness to her otherwise beautiful face.

The driver glanced at her through the rearview mirror and tactfully stopped talking.

The car cabin fell into silence, but Ji Mingshu’s imagination was running wild—

That dog Cen Sen! Did she look like the kind of woman who only wanted him for his money? Well, she used to be, but now didn’t she want him as a person too?! Was he from the planet “I’m blind and clueless but handsome and rich”? He couldn’t see her feelings at all!!

He should use his brain a little. Who would easily forgive the unforgivable mistake of being cyberbullied just because of a small island if they didn’t like him?

Who would risk being scolded by their father-in-law to stubbornly rush into the study with soup if they didn’t like him?

Who would cooperate with his fooling around all night! Being exhausted to death but still having to satisfy his male ego by conveying “Honey, you’re amazing” through gestures, expressions, and words in every possible way!

Angry! She was truly so angry!!!

Upon arriving at Junyi, the angry Ji Mingshu put on her sunglasses with an air of coldness before slowly getting out of the car.

Today, she had attended a birthday party, wearing a burgundy cocktail dress underneath a custom-made off-white coat. Her high heels sparkled from toe to the thin, high heel; crystal strands loosely wrapped around her slender ankle bones, each step radiating shattered light. Perhaps thanks to this outfit, even the thermos in her hand somehow had the quality of a Hermès New Year limited edition.

At this moment, Cen Sen was on a video call with Jiang Che.

Jiang Che noticed the high-definition surveillance screen beside him, smiled, and even took a screenshot to send to the group chat before ending the call.

Jiang Che: [Image]

Jiang Che: [Not talking anymore, your wife is here to check on you.]

Zhao Yang: [Is that Xiao Shu? So beautiful even in surveillance footage? Tsk tsk!]

Shu Yang chimed in with extreme flattery: [That’s right! Ji Mingshu! A woman who exudes class and dignity even in minus eight-degree weather!]

Cen Sen didn’t bother responding much. He glanced at the surveillance screen and called Zhou Jiaheng on the intercom to go down and meet her.

But he hung up after just one ring because Zhou Jiaheng had already appeared scurrying in the corner of the surveillance screen.

After messing up twice in a row, the executive assistant’s awareness had suddenly improved dramatically.

Knowing Ji Mingshu was coming to visit the office, he had specifically instructed the driver to alert him three traffic lights before arriving at the company.

By the time Ji Mingshu got out of the car and walked in, he had already been waiting respectfully at the entrance for the CEO’s wife.

He carefully accompanied Ji Mingshu, his expression extremely respectful, bordering on flattery. “Madam, you’ve gone to such trouble. Let me carry this for you. This way, Madam.”

The aloof Ji Mingshu didn’t even give him half a glance, just responding with an “Mm.”

Walking into the CEO’s private elevator, the aloof Ji Mingshu looked at the illuminated 68th floor and suddenly asked, “Tomorrow is New Year. Zhou, aren’t you going home?”

Zhou Jiaheng: “Yes, yes, I am. Mr. Cen specially arranged a flight for me. I’ll be heading home first thing tomorrow morning.”

He smiled and told her how considerate Cen Sen was to his employees. “Mr. Cen even prepared a car full of gifts for my parents and insisted I take them home. He said that he couldn’t go back home for the New Year the past two years when he was in Australia, so he wanted me to have a good time with my parents this time, and these gifts are his sincere regards.”

“Mr. Cen even gave me a full seven days off and planned the New Year’s Eve dinner for me. He arranged for me to eat at our local Junyi Huazhang. If relatives and friends come over, they can stay directly at the hotel…”

The more Zhou Jiaheng rambled, the more stifled Ji Mingshu felt.

Please, who wanted to hear all this?

She had thought that since Zhou Jiaheng worked so closely with Cen Sen, he would surely be like-minded with her and complain about workaholic Cen Sen, who wouldn’t even take time off for the New Year. She never expected that this guy would be so delighted with just some small favors, so grateful to Cen Sen!

Too spineless, too disappointing! Such an unprincipled opportunist doesn’t deserve to be a friend of Ji Mingshu!

She was about to signal Zhou Jiaheng to stop talking immediately, but the next second, Zhou Jiaheng suddenly mentioned how hard Cen Sen had been working these past few days to remedy the losses incurred from returning to China early.

Ji Mingshu paused slightly and suddenly asked, “So, how much was lost?”

Zhou Jiaheng stopped abruptly, his face showing some reluctance. But as Ji Mingshu kept asking, and since it wasn’t exactly a business secret, Zhou Jiaheng hesitated for a moment before uncertainly holding up one finger.

“One hundred million?”

“…in US dollars?”

Zhou Jiaheng raised his other hand and made a zero gesture.

“…One billion?”

Zhou Jiaheng kept his eyes down, quickly saying: “The twelve-phase investment adds up to one billion. US dollars.”

Ji Mingshu fell silent.

Although she was somewhat numb to large sums of money and knew that Cen Sen’s wealth far exceeded this amount, she also understood that one billion US dollars was a very substantial personal investment.

The anger she had been nursing on the way there was instantly extinguished by this one-billion-dollar cold shower. At the same time, a feeling of guilt slowly grew in her heart. If it weren’t for her, this investment wouldn’t have been lost.

“Madam, we’ve arrived.”

The elevator reached the top floor. Seeing her lost in thought, Zhou Jiaheng held the elevator door and reminded her.

To the CEO’s office, Ji Mingshu was in a daze, the feeling of guilt growing stronger the closer she got to Cen Sen.

Standing at Cen Sen’s desk, she lowered her eyelashes and silently opened the thermos, saying softly: “I brought you chicken soup. Drink a little to warm yourself up. Many people lined up for this restaurant; they say it’s made with quality ingredients.”

Cen Sen was momentarily silent.

Earlier when he had asked in WeChat if she wanted to buy something that exceeded her supplementary card limit, she had been clearly angry and accused him of thinking she was too materialistic.

And just now in the surveillance footage, her demeanor didn’t look like someone coming to deliver soup out of concern, but more like someone ready to splash the hot soup in his face and settle scores.

He took off his glasses and scooped a small spoonful from the small bowl Ji Mingshu pushed toward him.

Hmm, the taste was normal.

He looked up at Ji Mingshu. “Sit.”

But Ji Mingshu lingered at the edge of his desk, fidgeting with the thermos lid, reluctant to move.

There was moisture on the inside of the thermos lid. As Ji Mingshu played with the outside rim without paying much attention, water dripped down onto the floor.

After a while, she put down the lid and shifted her feet slightly. Just as she was about to say something to Cen Sen, she unexpectedly slipped, followed by a 98.5-degree high-difficulty side rotation, her high-end red dress fluttering in the wind and her flowing hair dancing wildly in the air—

She landed perfectly in Cen Sen’s lap 🙂

Cen Sen still held the soup spoon in one hand, not moving at all, only feeling a sudden weight on his legs. In contrast, Ji Mingshu was much more proactive; the moment she sat down, she automatically wrapped her arms around his neck.

“…”

“…?!”

Ji Mingshu was stunned, her brain probably blank for four or five seconds before she realized what had just happened.

When she belatedly met Cen Sen’s calm gaze, she saw various emotions in his eyes: “I didn’t expect you to be so forward,” “Very good, quite an ingenious method of throwing yourself at me,” “Since you’re being so blatant, I might as well accept it.”

No! She didn’t do it on purpose! There must have been a ghost possessing her to complete this series of high-difficulty movements so smoothly, naturally, and flawlessly!

Thinking this, Ji Mingshu instinctively let go of her hands.

But Cen Sen had already put down the spoon and wrapped both hands around her waist.

“Wait… wait!”

“I’m not, the floor was too… too slippery, I didn’t do it on purpose!”

Cen Sen’s gaze had already fallen to the area below her collarbone. He just made an indifferent “Mm” sound and agreed: “We’ll change the flooring after the New Year.”

He didn’t take her explanation seriously.

Ji Mingshu’s face reddened helplessly. Seeing Cen Sen’s lustful gaze, the shyness in her heart somehow gradually evolved in the direction of “in for a penny, in for a pound.”

Sensing that Cen Sen’s hands had begun to caress intimately, she simply went all in, openly hugging him and nestling into his embrace.

Cen Sen was moved, and she brought up the main issue in a small voice: “A few days ago, I heard Grandfather and Father talking in the study. You came back early from Paris, and as a result, Cen Yang snatched an investment project. I’m sorry…”

The darkness in Cen Sen’s eyes diminished slightly.

Ji Mingshu nervously added in a soft voice: “Otherwise, maybe we shouldn’t buy that island for now. Those places where you can see the aurora are all in the Arctic Circle, definitely very cold. We can’t go more than a few times a year, and the maintenance costs are very high.”

“Also, I can buy fewer things in the future. And that ring you gave me last time, I haven’t had a chance to wear it. Why don’t I sell it to compensate you?”

“It’s just a small change. I’m not so broke that I need my wife to sell her jewelry.” He ruffled Ji Mingshu’s hair, and the fatigue on his face suddenly seemed to lighten.

Having saved the island and the ring, Ji Mingshu was a bit happy, after all, she was just making a gesture and hadn’t intended to sell them.

Sitting on Cen Sen’s lap and swinging her legs restlessly, she somehow brought up Cen Yang again, even quietly explaining on his behalf: “Actually, Cen Yang has had it tough too. It’s just… It’s easier to get used to luxury than to downgrade, something like that, you know? He must have had some regrets over these years…”

Cen Sen certainly understood. He could even understand why Cen Yang would still be unable to let go after so many years.

In fact, there were some things about the Cen family that were not for outsiders to know. Even someone close like Ji Mingshu didn’t know the details, and he didn’t want her to know.

Being forever happy and carefree was far better than carrying the burdens of the past.

Just like he didn’t want to tell her the truth about the malicious video incident, to avoid destroying the beautiful image of Brother Cen Yang who had given her warmth in her childhood.

However, not destroying it didn’t mean he could allow Ji Mingshu to keep mentioning other men in front of him.

Ji Mingshu wanted to say more, but Cen Sen suddenly sealed her lips, kissing her tenderly.

She was also weak-willed; within seconds she was lost in the tenderness, and what awaited her was the suddenly fierce tenderness deeply pushing in, conquering her territory in the next moment.

She squirmed back and forth on Cen Sen’s lap, really struggling to catch her breath from the intensity of the kiss, whimpering as she tried to speak.

But Cen Sen didn’t give her any chance. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cen Sen press a button on the touch panel on the desk. The button glowed slightly, with a faint slash on it, meaning “Do Not Disturb”?

She had no time to think further because as the kiss ended, Cen Sen carried her up and placed her on an empty corner of the desk.

The desk was much colder and harder than Cen Sen’s thighs, not very comfortable to sit on.

Seeing Cen Sen casually wipe his lower lip with his fingertips, Ji Mingshu instinctively leaned back slightly. But Cen Sen also leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of her.

His eyes were deep black, clearly gazing at her as he loosened his collar, his Adam’s apple moving slightly, subtly revealing his collarbone. Ji Mingshu suddenly had the feeling that… this man was so sensual.

The air was quiet, and their gazes were unavoidable. Ji Mingshu’s ears turned red as she carefully asked, “Is this… going to be office play?”