Ji Mingshu, far away at home, didn’t know that her husband of convenience had uttered a compliment about her.

She went to bed early, but forgot to adjust the humidifier mode before sleeping. The room became quite dry, and she woke up thirsty in the middle of her sleep.

She got up groggily with her eyes half-open, pushed open the door, and walked downstairs barefoot.

When she normally stayed at Baicui Tianhua, her bedroom had a refrigerator, making it very convenient to just get up and grab water at night.

Thinking of this, she cursed Cen Sen again in her mind for stuffing her back here without even asking, then going out socializing himself—truly inconsiderate.

As luck would have it, the inconsiderate person in question was returning at that very moment.

However, Ji Mingshu, half-asleep and thirsty, didn’t notice him standing at the entrance as she came downstairs.

Cen Sen had drunk quite a bit that evening and wasn’t feeling well when the gathering ended. But his self-control was strong, and even when drunk, he maintained a calm and serene appearance, showing no outward signs of intoxication.

After changing his shoes in the entryway, Cen Sen tilted his head slightly, looking at the slender, graceful figure by the kitchen island.

He suddenly realized that he had omitted two words when speaking to that young actress with the “Shu” in her name—”figure.”

Looks, temperament, education, background—she couldn’t compare to Ji Mingshu in any of these, and her figure couldn’t compare either.

This wasn’t the first time since his marriage that he had encountered women making advances, nor was it the first time he had flatly refused.

They were all vases—when you already have the most precious and beautiful one, why collect defective products? He wasn’t a professional collector of garbage.

Ji Mingshu had just drunk half a glass of ice water and hadn’t yet turned around when she suddenly felt a pair of hands encircling her from behind, tightly locking around her waist.

Her brain froze for three seconds. She put down the water glass and turned her head, only to have her lips captured by Cen Sen.

He pressed closer, his lips and teeth warm as they moved against hers, his breath carrying the scent of alcohol.

Ji Mingshu tried to struggle, but he twisted her arms behind her back and held them with one hand, while the other hand gripped her jaw, kissing her more deeply and dominantly.

Damn.

Had someone drugged him or what?

Ji Mingshu kept trying to find moments to breathe. Initially, her feet were still free, but after she kicked a couple of times, Cen Sen simply lifted her onto the kitchen island. His lower body pressed against the countertop, controlling her legs tightly, looking as if he intended to take her right there.

“…You pervert! Let me go!”

After being kissed for about a minute, Ji Mingshu finally found an opening. She forcefully kicked at his lower body, freed her hands, and pushed his face away.

Cen Sen was pushed back half a step. Ji Mingshu also lost her strength, sitting on the edge of the island, breathing heavily.

The ceiling lights weren’t on downstairs, only a ring of warm yellow accent lighting.

In the dim light, her smoke-pink silk nightgown and snow-white skin emitted a faint glow, but her lips were kissed to a glistening sheen. She looked like a beautiful yet pure ghost, unconsciously casting hooks to ensnare people.

Cen Sen was ensnared.

His fingers slowly traced her lower lip in reverse, his eyes looking at Ji Mingshu, and suddenly, he laughed very lightly.

Ji Mingshu instinctively felt something was wrong and scooted backward.

But she had nowhere to retreat, and could only watch helplessly as Cen Sen stepped forward and effortlessly lifted her in his arms.

“What are you doing! Put me down! Pervert! I can report you for marital rape!”

As they went upstairs, Ji Mingshu struggled violently in Cen Sen’s arms, punching and kicking.

However, she had always strictly controlled her figure through diet rather than regular exercise. No matter how fiercely she struggled, to Cen Sen, it was merely like a kitten scratching playfully.

“Go ahead and report me. Your second uncle has been transferred back to the Beijing Bureau this year. How convenient for you to report to him,” Cen Sen said unhurriedly.

With the smell of alcohol on him and his collar disheveled by Ji Mingshu’s tugging, his casual smile gave him the air of a cultured degenerate.

Ji Mingshu flailed a couple more times, but just before entering the room, she suddenly paused—

Amid the smell of smoke and alcohol, there wafted a faint, familiar sweet scent.

She quickly identified which perfume it was.

She sniffed again carefully.

It was.

This perfume, in Ji Mingshu’s perception, belonged to the category of girlish street fragrances. Walk around a shopping mall, and the probability of smelling this scent would rank second only to Chanel No. 5. She had worn it once in high school and was criticized by her friends for it having a very “green tea bitch” vibe.

“Did you play with some pure college girl outside? Where’s that perfume smell from? You played with other women and then came back to touch me, isn’t that disgusting?”

Unconcealed disgust showed in Ji Mingshu’s eyes.

Cen Sen kicked open the half-closed door, threw her on the bed, then leaned over, his hands supporting himself at her sides, enclosing her within his embrace.

Ji Mingshu shrank back defensively.

Cen Sen said in a low voice: “Haven’t studied math for years, and now you can’t even calculate time? How long has it been since I sent you home? Am I that quick?”

“…”

To be so shamelessly straightforward was truly rare in this world.

Ji Mingshu was so confused by his logic that she couldn’t speak for a while.

Cen Sen didn’t make any further moves. He got up, took off his shirt, and went straight to the bathroom.

Ji Mingshu stared in the direction of the bathroom for a few seconds, then tugged at her nightgown to smell it, afraid that it had been tainted with the smoke, alcohol, and perfume scents she disliked.

Soon, the sound of running water came from the bathroom. Ji Mingshu lay back in bed and thought carefully.

Having been married to Cen Sen for so long, they had a certain degree of understanding of each other.

Cen Sen was the kind of man who was full of ambition and desire for his career but had little patience for women and emotions.

She thought that he might engage in casual encounters to satisfy his needs, but probably wouldn’t go so far as to keep a mistress. After all, maintaining an improper relationship would be too energy-consuming for him.

Thinking of this, she let out a self-mocking snort, recalling Gu Kaiyang’s criticism before the wedding—

“Your only requirement for your husband is that he doesn’t keep mistresses, or if he does, he doesn’t embarrass you?! As a beautiful, rich white girl, do you need to be so humble???”

Thinking about it carefully, it was quite humble.

The Ji family from North Beijing was a genuine prestigious family. Born into such a family, she had seen too much from a young age and knew well that the wealthier the place, the more filth it could hide. Truly harmonious marriages and families were too rare in this social class. For arranged marriages like hers and Cen Sen’s, being able to appear loving in public was already quite an achievement.

She was generally satisfied with Cen Sen—handsome, good in bed, not clingy, and generous with money.

Before sleeping, she thought: It’s fine just like this. No need to lecture each other for the rest of our lives. Just muddle through like this.

Soon, the annual Paris Fall/Winter Haute Couture Week arrived, and Ji Mingshu received invitations from various major brands early on.

She had been attending fashion shows since she was eight years old, developing an extraordinary taste amidst luxury. In the Beijing and Shanghai socialite circles, she was considered a trendsetter at the forefront of fashion.

Before departing for Paris, Ji Mingshu made a series of whirlwind preparations at home.

She needed to match her outfit with whichever brand’s show she was attending. She wasn’t a celebrity, so airport looks for photo ops could be skipped, but afternoon tea looks, dinner party looks, and her favorite high jewelry exhibition looks couldn’t be omitted.

In two or three days, Ji Mingshu had packed seven suitcases.

For her, this was traveling light. She also had custom-made dresses at the haute couture atelier that she could wear directly to the shows when she arrived in Paris.

About to go out and splurge again, Ji Mingshu was in a great mood and had been all smiles even when seeing Cen Sen these days.

Cen Sen didn’t quite understand this pleasure unique to decorative vases. He only knew that whenever Ji Mingshu went abroad to watch fashion shows with a radiant face, the number of her luggage would certainly double upon her return.

And during this period, his credit card would constantly update with new transactions, seemingly reminding him that this high-end canary he had married was probably unrivaled in the art of squandering money.

When Cen Sen graduated from university, Old Mr. Cen gave him a Gulfstream aircraft as a graduation gift. He seldom used it, but after marrying Ji Mingshu, she certainly made good use of it.

Taking the private jet to Paris late at night, Ji Mingshu slept for a full eleven hours on the plane. When she woke up, dawn was just breaking in Paris.

A private car was waiting at the airport. By the time she reached the hotel, the suite butler had already prepared coffee and various breakfast options for her. Invitations and gifts from major brands were arranged in a heart shape.

The room had been selected in advance by the butler, completely fulfilling all her pre-specified requirements, and even included a small surprise—the room number matched her birthday, and her English name was embroidered in subtle patterns on the bedding corners.

After breakfast at the hotel, Ji Mingshu changed clothes to go shopping.

As she went downstairs, she remembered Gu Kaiyang and casually made a video call to check in.

As the deputy editor of a fashion magazine, Gu Kaiyang was naturally a fixture at Fashion Week. However, they traveled as a team and had arrived two days earlier.

When Gu Kaiyang received Ji Mingshu’s video call, she was personally inspecting the details of more than a dozen gowns for a photoshoot.

She had been so busy these past two days that she was dizzy from exhaustion. Seeing Ji Mingshu on the screen wearing sunglasses and looking radiant, with leisure time to walk down stairs to burn calories, she chattered away: “I swear I’ll never criticize arranged marriages like yours again. It’s too blessed! Do you know that this manual laborer hasn’t closed her eyes for two whole days! Truly, you can’t imagine how stingy our group is! Strangely enough, before I became deputy editor, the group was quite generous. When it was the previous deputy editors’ turn, they all got suites. How come when it’s my turn, I get a standard room?! Clothes piled up all over, not even space to step! If they get any stingier, they might as well arrange for us to sleep under the overpass!”

“I’m serious, I don’t want to work hard anymore! Being a beard wife or marrying a memorial tablet isn’t even an issue!”

Ji Mingshu: “Wait, who’s being a beard wife or marrying a memorial tablet?”

Gu Kaiyang: “Aren’t those your own words? Don’t blame me.”

Ji Mingshu was about to refute something when, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a familiar figure.

On the other end, Gu Kaiyang was still chattering away endlessly. Ji Mingshu’s steps slightly hesitated, and she inconspicuously switched to the rear camera, pointing it at a couple checking in at the hotel lobby.

Simultaneously, as she had expected, Gu Kaiyang’s prairie dog-like scream came through her earphones.