To be honest, Ji Mingshu wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about having children. This year, both families had repeatedly hinted at it, but she always evaded the topic with coquettish excuses.

But it wasn’t that she was completely against it either. Occasionally, she would follow both parents’ suggestions and fantasize about a future blessed with sons and daughters.

Her ambivalence might have been because subconsciously, she felt that having children wasn’t something that just happened on command. She didn’t have a concrete concept of a new life’s arrival, so she couldn’t think too deeply about it.

Before she could answer, Cen Sen moved slowly against her and asked again in his husky voice, “Let’s have a baby, shall we?”

Ji Mingshu had no strength to speak, her voice whimpering and soft, her refusal not quite clear.

Sensing Cen Sen was about to finish, she instinctively reached out for the small box on the table.

But in the next second, she suddenly froze.

Huh? It’s gone?

She tipped the box again, but nothing came out.

She managed to pull open the drawer, only to find it empty as well.

Ji Mingshu was already feeling dazed from what Cen Sen was doing to her, and now she couldn’t process what was happening for quite a while.

That large box she had accidentally bought at the supermarket before—was it all used up? Such a big box would take half a month to sell at a convenience store!

“Wait… wait a minute…”

Not giving up, she half-propped herself up, wanting to search deeper in the drawer.

But Cen Sen was already at the point of no return. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his eyes dark and intense, as he gently pressed down on her slender waist.

Click—!

The recording of the golden canary hatching eggs officially began.

The next morning, Ji Mingshu stared blankly at the ceiling, gazing for nearly five minutes, her eyes unfocused and scattered.

Last night, after the storm had calmed, she was exhausted like a dead bird. By all rights, she should have fallen into unconsciousness the moment her head hit the pillow, but she had only slept for a few hours, and during those few hours, she kept dreaming.

In her dream, she had given birth to a child, gender unknown, with an indistinct appearance, though from others’ compliments, she could deduce it was somewhat cute.

However, this cute child was quite aggravating, embodying all the bad habits of troublesome kids, capable of infuriating someone for two and a half minutes out of every three.

Just as she was raising the child at home, hair unkempt and face bare, she suddenly received terrible news—Cen Sen was having an affair!

The thunderbolt feeling in the dream was indescribable, far more profound than when she had mistakenly thought Cen Sen was cheating with some obscure actress surnamed Zhang.

And the dream was quite complete. After she had processed this devastating news with genuine emotion, she wasted no time in arranging a classic confrontation scene with Cen Sen returning home.

Cen Sen wore an impeccable, expensive suit, standing in the living room, directly proposing his terms.

Ji Mingshu couldn’t remember the other conditions, only that Cen Sen said the child would be his, with no room for negotiation. He used that cold tone that was once familiar but now strange, his gaze calm and icy.

In the dream, she couldn’t accept the reality at all. It was as if the sky had fallen, and she entered the apocalypse.

Even after waking up, she felt she could still sense that heartbreaking despair and the bitter resentment of disbelief from the dream.

“What’s wrong?”

Cen Sen had just awakened. Seeing her dazed, he instinctively pulled her back into his embrace, his voice low, mellow, and husky.

Though it was just a simple three-word question, it carried undisguised intimacy, completely unlike the cold and heartless Cen from her dream.

Ji Mingshu found a comfortable position to curl up in his arms. Her cold hands and feet began to warm up as she mumbled, “Nothing, just had a nightmare.”

Cen Sen didn’t ask further, simply kissed her hair and said, “It’s still early, go back to sleep for a while.”

Ji Mingshu made a sound of agreement, and the arm around him unconsciously tightened a bit.

But after a moment, she couldn’t help but poke Cen Sen’s chest and say quietly, “I dreamt that after I had a baby, you had an affair.”

Cen Sen paused slightly, instinctively thinking this was a childish excuse because she didn’t want to have a child. After a two-second silence, he played along and said, “Then we won’t have one.”

“That’s not what I meant. I did have a dream!” Ji Mingshu poked him harder. “I dreamt that after you had an affair, you came back to confront me. You wouldn’t even sit down, just stood in the living room talking about asset division and how the child must be yours and things like that…”

Ji Mingshu kept rambling on, and in the end, she suspiciously speculated, “I wonder if I have some ability to predict the future. Many novels are written about this kind of thing.”

Cen Sen pondered for a moment before asking, “Don’t novels also write about kidney and heart harvesting?”

“…”

“Alright, stop talking.”

This topic was dropped as Ji Mingshu actively changed the subject when Cen Sen brought up her dark history. She talked about other things intermittently, her fingers idly drawing circles on his chest.

Suddenly, she remembered something. “By the way, when will the results for the Junyi Collection design proposal come out?”

“Probably this afternoon. If my schedule ends early, I’ll sit in on the project team’s design review.”

Ji Mingshu responded with a meaningful “Oh.”

Cen Sen didn’t pick up the conversation but just looked at her with equal significance, as if to say, “If you bribe me, I might consider some behind-the-scenes manipulation.”

Ji Mingshu struggled a bit but decided to firmly hold onto her integrity, pushing Cen Sen and urging him to get up.

Cen Sen chuckled lightly, not pursuing the matter further.

At the company, Cen Sen went about his day as usual, drinking black coffee while handling mountains of documents.

However, halfway through, he suddenly removed his glasses, took out a cleaning cloth, and meticulously wiped them, then called for Zhou Jiaheng. “Ask Lawyer Wen to come over.”

Zhou Jiaheng paused slightly: “Yes, sir.”

Lawyer Wen was Cen Sen’s lawyer, who only handled his private property matters and rarely appeared more than a few times a year. Suddenly calling him in was indeed a bit peculiar.

Half an hour later, Lawyer Wen arrived on the sixty-eighth floor of Junyi Headquarters.

Cen Sen got straight to the point. “Lawyer Wen, I want to cancel the prenuptial agreement I previously had with my wife.”

Lawyer Wen didn’t quite understand his intention and hesitantly asked, “Do you want to modify some clauses?”

“No, I want my wife to legally share all my pre-marital and post-marital assets.”

“…?”

Lawyer Wen’s face clearly said, “Have you been bewitched?”

Cen Sen’s expression remained unchanged. With his elbow slightly propped on the desk and fingers loosely interlocked, he continued, “Additionally, I want to draft a new agreement regarding how property should be compensated and divided if either spouse has an extramarital affair after marriage. For example, if I have an extramarital affair, I leave with nothing but the clothes on my back—clauses like that.”

“…”

This bewitchment was no small matter.

Lawyer Wen inwardly broke into a cold sweat, tactfully confirming a few points. After receiving affirmative responses, he noted down Cen Sen’s related requests and informed him one by one of the potential consequences of these requests.

Cen Sen acknowledged without hesitation.

Although Lawyer Wen couldn’t fathom Cen Sen’s intentions, he knew it wasn’t his place to comment, so he proceeded as instructed and went back to prepare the contract.

After he left, Cen Sen sat alone in his office, leaning back in his chair, recalling Ji Mingshu’s dream from this morning.

In truth, he often knew he wasn’t doing enough, which was why Ji Mingshu still worried about him having affairs even now. But he also didn’t know what else he could do to give Ji Mingshu enough sense of security.

After much thought, it seemed that the most he could do within his means was to provide more material guarantees.

Zhou Jiaheng came in at the right moment to deliver documents and reminded him of a lunch meeting today, saying it was time to leave.

He responded with a sound of acknowledgment and asked, “What time is the Junyi Collection design review meeting?”

Zhou Jiaheng replied, “Two o’clock this afternoon.”

Cen Sen nodded slightly, without expressing approval or disapproval.

Ji Mingshu’s design proposal had been sent directly to the project manager’s email inbox at Junyi Collection.

The manager had been uncertain about how to handle the CEO’s wife’s proposal. He had tried to probe higher-ups for guidance, but no one would give him a straight answer, and even Zhou Jiaheng was full of veiled responses, making it impossible to discern the true intentions.

He had been stressed about this for two days. As the review meeting approached, he couldn’t resist previewing the proposal—and was immediately relieved.

“…I think design No. 052 with the ‘Planet B612’ theme is also excellent. The Little Prince and the Rose, a widely recognized fairy tale, provides a good background foundation. The designer’s concept aligns well with her specific proposals and design background, creating a very lively and natural sense of harmony.”

“Moreover, from an operational perspective, a significant portion of our Collection’s customer base consists of young women, including the previous viral hotel promotion plan, which had a clear target audience. This proposal hits the mark with this customer segment.”

At the design review meeting, the manager was selecting design proposals that he was satisfied with.

Cen Sen arrived halfway through and gestured for everyone to continue, only listening from the side, showing no intention of expressing his own opinions from beginning to end.

But the manager observed that when the 3D Max design effect of No. 052 was displayed, Cen Sen glanced at it, his gaze fixed, even revealing a slight, barely perceptible smile.

The first Junyi Collection was currently planning to have 68 suites, following a personalized high-end approach.

Apart from the 23 renowned designers already confirmed earlier, the designs for the remaining 45 guest rooms would all come from this young designers’ competition.

There was some debate during the review meeting, but ultimately, a consensus was reached.

Ji Mingshu was anxious about the results but didn’t want to disturb Cen Sen at work, so she could only stare at her phone, thinking the project team would surely send an email reply if she passed.

But after waiting for what seemed like forever, she still hadn’t received any email, which made her feel uneasy, even taking the joy out of shopping.

Jiang Chun didn’t quite understand her pride as a designer, thinking she was just being difficult, and persuasively argued, “It’s just one guest room. He bought you an island, how could he not let you design it?”

“Why are you being so fussy? So what if it’s ugly? At worst, that suite won’t be open to the public and will just be your private suite as the CEO’s wife. That way you won’t have to look at it, and everyone’s happy, right?”

“…”

“Do you even know how to talk?”

Jiang Chun looked innocent.

Ji Mingshu looked her up and down, then stopped at the half-eaten meat floss pastry in her hand. “Even food can’t shut your mouth!”