Jiang Chun was a peculiar person. Sometimes she was even quicker than a child prodigy, catching on with just a glance. Other times, she seemed as oblivious as someone with severe myopia, completely unaware even when someone walked right up to her face.
Ji Mingshu watched helplessly as Cen Sen stopped behind Zhou Zhen and his ABC fiancée, exchanging a meaningful glance with her before looking at Jiang Chun, seemingly listening attentively to this self-proclaimed fan’s flowery, non-stop praise.
Zhou Zhen and his ABC fiancée were already beginning to lose face.
They weren’t fools. Jiang Chun’s extravagant praise of Cen Sen was meant to tell them: her friend’s husband was leagues above them, so please don’t think so highly of yourselves, thank you.
However, compared to his ABC fiancée’s sour expression, Zhou Zhen’s emotional control was considerably better. Of course, this was also because he didn’t quite believe the exaggerated words Jiang Chun was saying.
He had been abroad for years and didn’t know that Ji Mingshu was already married, let alone that her husband was Cen Sen, the crown prince of the Cen family who could turn the world upside down. That’s why he had the mindset of showing off in front of Ji Mingshu.
After hearing this news from Jiang Chun, he was indeed a bit embarrassed.
But what Jiang Chun said was too exaggerated. The marriage between Cen and Ji was a family alliance. How good could Cen Sen possibly be to Ji Mingshu?
He also knew Cen Sen one-sidedly; after all, Cen Sen was a legendary figure during their high school days. Moreover, his cousin was Cen Sen’s classmate, and they had even been roommates.
The Cen Sen, in his impression, was not some perfect husband who would do laundry and cook for his wife.
After finishing a round of praise, Jiang Chun paused briefly.
Zhou Zhen smiled and timely interjected, “I never expected that you married Senior Cen, Mingshu.”
Ji Mingshu had no interest in responding to him. Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts: Was it because they were outdoors that no one could feel Cen Sen’s natural cold aura? It was understandable that Jiang Chun was too engrossed to notice, but why weren’t these two turning around?
Zhou Zhen truly had no intention of looking back. His mind was focused on saving face in front of his fiancée, and he enthusiastically began to show off, following the conversation thread by suddenly discussing his cousin’s friendship with Cen Sen. In his words, he placed the Zhou and Cen families on almost equal footing, even briefly mentioning Li Wenyin. Finally, he concluded with a smile: “When you think about it, Senior Cen and I also have a kind of connection.”
What kind of connection?
The connection of eating the same pile of shit?
Ji Mingshu mentally rolled her eyes, truly unable to tolerate this person’s talent for bringing up exactly what shouldn’t be mentioned. Her lips, which had been politely curved, suddenly widened into a smile, her eyes brightening as she sweetly called out in Zhou Zhen’s direction, “Husband!”
Zhou Zhen and his fiancée were both startled, and when they realized what was happening, they followed her gaze and turned around simultaneously.
Cen Sen didn’t look at them, only raising his eyes to meet Ji Mingshu’s gaze in mid-air.
From Ji Mingshu’s bright eyes, he somehow read a threat that said, “If you don’t cooperate with my performance, I’ll make sure you never have descendants for thousands of generations.”
After a moment, he nodded slightly and naturally walked up to Ji Mingshu, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Ji Mingshu also naturally took his arm, her voice sweet with a hint of coquettish blame, “Why did you come so early? Are you done with work?”
Cen Sen replied without changing his expression, “I didn’t have much to do this afternoon, so I thought I’d come pick you up early.”
He turned to greet Jiang Chun, then looked at Zhou Zhen and asked in a gentle voice, “And this is?”
Before Ji Mingshu could introduce him, Zhou Zhen immediately introduced himself, “I’m Zhou Zhen. Nice to meet you, senior. I also attended the affiliated high school, one grade below you and one grade above Mingshu.”
He added, “I don’t know if you remember Zhou Xian? He was your roommate and is my cousin.”
Cen Sen corrected him, “Only for those three days during military training.”
Zhou Zhen’s expression stiffened slightly.
Cen Sen continued, “But I just met your cousin this morning to discuss a potential collaboration.”
Zhou Zhen relaxed a bit and was about to speak.
Cen Sen added, “But it didn’t work out.”
Zhou Zhen was at a loss for words, and after a while, he managed to squeeze out, “That’s… really unfortunate…”
“Not at all,” Cen Sen said dismissively.
Zhou Zhen: “…”
He didn’t know what expression to put on anymore.
Cen Sen’s mockery was so obvious that only a fool wouldn’t understand. Zhou Zhen’s fiancée looked embarrassed, pulling him away hastily.
Jiang Chun had been struggling to hold back her laughter on the side. After they left, she nearly collapsed with laughter. It was only when Ji Mingshu pinched her and warned her to mind the occasion that she barely managed to control herself.
Perhaps because he had heard Jiang Chun’s extravagant flattery that could carry an entire praise group, Cen Sen was unusually patient today and even chatted with her for a few more sentences. But Jiang Chun felt she didn’t deserve this honor and quickly used finding Gu Kaiyang as an excuse to retreat from Ji Mingshu’s side.
At this point, the event had just begun, and they hadn’t even brought out the customizable new products for VIPs to view, so Ji Mingshu couldn’t just leave with Cen Sen.. The two of them walked arm in arm, casually strolling around the venue. Though they appeared intimate, there was a strange silence between them.
“…What makes this model classic is the representative quilted diamond pattern on the bag’s surface. It requires ninety-five intricate procedures to create, with both visible and invisible stitching…”
The brand presenter was introducing the new iterations of the classic bag, with guests and reporters gathered in a circle.
Ji Mingshu finally couldn’t help herself. She bumped Cen Sen and looked up, asking quietly, “This morning when you discussed collaboration with Zhou Zhen’s cousin, what did his cousin… say?”
“What do you think?” Cen Sen deflected skillfully.
Ji Mingshu fell silent, understanding that his rushing over here with an air of demanding an explanation meant that nothing good had been said.
Deep down, she felt a little pleased that Cen Sen was jealous for her sake, but was more reluctant to explain, feeling awkward since almost being “fish pond managed” wasn’t exactly something to be proud of.
“Don’t listen to nonsense. There’s nothing between Zhou Zhen and me.”
She only explained this much, without going into details.
Mainly because Cen Sen hadn’t shown excessive concern, so there seemed no need for her to rush to clarify their relationship.
Throughout the event, Cen Sen acted quite normally and even accompanied her to order some seasonal new products.
There was a small vintage bag auction afterward. Ji Mingshu wasn’t particularly interested, but Zhou Zhen’s fiancée had her eye on one. Zhou Zhen, wanting to show off, kept bidding against another lady, appearing determined to win.
Seeing this, the lady eventually stopped bidding, but just before the deal was closed, Cen Sen, without batting an eye, directly doubled Zhou Zhen’s bid.
This price was ridiculously high. Not only was Zhou Zhen unwilling to pay, but his fiancée also couldn’t bear it. In the end, they could only painfully watch as Cen Sen won the bag.
Ji Mingshu hadn’t expected Cen Sen to suddenly do this and said in surprise, “I don’t need this one. I already have one.”
Cen Sen replied casually, “Just bidding for fun. If you don’t like it, you can give it to your friend.”
Zhou Zhen and his fiancée were sitting nearby and nearly choked with anger upon hearing this.
Jiang Chun was also sitting close by, just a row in front of them. Hearing this, she turned around excitedly, looking eagerly at Ji Mingshu and giving her strong hints.
In the end, Ji Mingshu still couldn’t bear to give away the bag, since Cen Sen had bought it for her, but she promised to give Jiang Chun her previously collected bag of the same model.
For this, Jiang Chun showered her with flattery for three days straight, showing off like a schoolgirl in front of Gu Kaiyang.
Gu Kaiyang didn’t contend with her, but Ji Mingshu always treated her friends fairly and impartially, so she carefully selected another bag to give to Gu Kaiyang.
Setting aside the jealousy battle between friends triggered by a bag, when they returned home that day, Cen Sen prepared a sumptuous dinner like a perfect husband, and even decanted a bottle of fine aged red wine.
Recently, Cen Sen had been busy with work and hadn’t had much time to cook. Ji Mingshu hadn’t enjoyed a satisfying meal for a long time.
The dinner included many dishes she loved, including the long-absent braised pork ribs.
She ate with great satisfaction, so satisfied that she completely forgot the small unpleasantness caused by Zhou Zhen.
After dinner, she even very virtuously joined Cen Sen in wearing aprons to wash the dishes.
Although she knew what would happen in the evening when the pork ribs appeared, and even had some anticipation, she didn’t know that tonight’s pork ribs would come at a much higher price than usual.
Cen Sen seemed to have suddenly transformed into a different person, showing none of the gentleness from earlier in the day.
In the past, when she couldn’t bear it anymore, saying a few sweet words and showing some softness would make Cen Sen more gentle.
But tonight was completely different. He was extremely dominant, allowing no resistance from her, and even crying and begging didn’t work.
Ji Mingshu sobbed intermittently, dripping with sweat, and finally, amidst repeated defeats, she sensed Cen Sen’s dissatisfaction. She took the initiative to honestly confess her past with Zhou Zhen, which barely counted as anything.
Cen Sen’s black hair at his temples was slightly damp, his eyes tinged with red as he asked huskily from behind her, “Did you have feelings for him?”
She replied brokenly, “At that time… at that time he was good-looking, I had some… some feelings for him, isn’t that normal? I’ve had feelings for… for many male celebrities too. Besides, I just had some feelings, didn’t you… Didn’t you date Li Wenyin too…”
As soon as Ji Mingshu finished speaking, she realized she shouldn’t have spoken at all. Bringing up old wounds at a time like this wouldn’t win her any prizes!
Sure enough, what awaited her was another round of torment.
She had long given up resistance, softly whimpering, clutching the curtain fabric, sobbing and repenting that she would never want to eat pork ribs again and would never indulge in the pleasures of food.
But even so, Cen Sen showed no signs of letting her off, and she felt utterly desperate.
In such matters, it was usually the woman who couldn’t endure. Ji Mingshu remained quite stubborn for a while. But later on, dignity? Nonexistent.
She had no choice but to switch from repenting about pork ribs to expressing her endless love for Cen Sen, saying things like she only liked him and only loved him, which came with no psychological burden.
Not only that, but she also frantically dissed Zhou Zhen—
“How could I have anything with someone like him?”
“He’s not as tall as you, not as handsome as you, not as rich as you.”
“What would I see in him? That he can chat with five girls at once while watching six Harry Potter movies?”
Surprisingly, this tactic was quite effective, at least Cen Sen suddenly became much gentler—though it might also have been due to exhaustion.
Near the end, Cen Sen suddenly whispered in her ear, asking in a husky voice, “Let’s have a baby, shall we?”
Ji Mingshu: “…?”
I’m still a baby myself!!!