My Queen, My Rules - 10
It's Me
Ji Mingshu quickly spotted the fatal flaw in the screenshot herself. Assuming Cen Sen wouldn't see it so soon, she swiftly unsent both the image and the follow-up message, "Learn from this,” hoping to pretend the whole thing had never happened.
Less than thirty seconds after she withdrew it, however, a series of new messages appeared.
Cen Sen: [What celestial fairy has descended to earth]
Cen Sen: [The dress isn't haute couture, you are]
Cen Sen: [The way our Little Canary Baby showcases her beauty and spends money is truly mesmerizing]
Ji Mingshu: "…”
Without all the exclamation marks, Gu Kaiyang's rainbow compliments looked oddly mechanical coming from Cen Sen's pitch-black profile picture, like some cold, sarcastic copy-and-paste. For one bewildering moment, Ji Mingshu genuinely couldn't tell whether he was showing off his memory or his learning ability.
Cen Sen: [Did I learn it well?]
Ji Mingshu: ...
She understood now. The Dog Man was trying to show off both. :)
The only reason he'd left out the last message was probably because he thought he'd mastered the literary technique of "leaving something unsaid," giving readers endless room for imagination.
Setting down her phone, she turned to the sales assistant with a tight, mirthless smile. "Sorry. I don't want the tie clip anymore."
Thanks to Cen Sen thoroughly offending her, Ji Mingshu showed absolutely no restraint during the remaining three days of Couture Week. Everywhere she went, her credit card made another glorious appearance.
Designers who normally treated celebrities with aloof indifference eagerly asked to take photos with her, telling her how much they'd missed seeing her. Senior executives somehow found time in their packed schedules to invite their distinguished guest from China to lunches and dinners. As for the runway shows, if a seat wasn't in the front row, the invitation would never have reached Ji Mingshu in the first place.
Even Gu Kaiyang, who had long grown accustomed to the young heiress's extravagant lifestyle, couldn't help sighing in envy.
"Waaah... Money really can buy everything... T_T"
Gu Kaiyang had come to Paris with her magazine's editorial team. As the newly promoted deputy editor, she had countless decisions waiting for her and couldn't simply disappear to do her own thing.
Even after Couture Week ended, the team had another full day of additional photo shoots. Their publishing group had a legendary reputation for being stingy. If they flew all the way to Paris without squeezing every possible photoshoot out of the trip, they'd act as though they'd lost a fortune.
Ji Mingshu had originally planned to fly home with Gu Kaiyang aboard her private jet, but Gu Kaiyang couldn't leave the team. Since the aircraft was also due for scheduled maintenance, Ji Mingshu simply sent it in for servicing and stayed in Paris one extra day so they could return to China together.
Although they were on the same flight, Gu Kaiyang still had to work with her colleagues during the journey, and therefore didn’t upgrade her seat from economy.
As fate would have it, Ji Mingshu ran into Jiang Chun again in first class cabin.
Jiang Chun had noticeably lost weight since they'd last met. Her once-round chin had become delicately pointed, and she'd traded designer labels for a plain T-shirt and blue jeans. Barefaced and looking somewhat exhausted, she nevertheless possessed a fragile beauty that naturally inspired sympathy.
Lowering her sunglasses slightly, Ji Mingshu studied Jiang Chun's face with mild surprise.
She'd always known Jiang Chun had nice features, but this was the first time she'd seen her without makeup.
Well, well. Guess her parents didn't name her wrong. She really was quite the pure, pretty little thing.
Ji Mingshu had always had a soft spot for beautiful people. Though she'd usually treated Jiang Chun with haughty indifference, today she graciously decided to tease her. "Miss Jiang, looks like you're still nursing the heartbreak."
Jiang Chun: "..."
This time, Jiang Chun didn't immediately bristle to full battle mode. Nor did she lash out like she had in the hotel lobby a few days earlier.
Instead, she simply slumped into her seat, radiating the defeated energy of someone saying: Fine. Humiliate this abandoned woman however you like.
A flight attendant approached to offer drinks.
Ji Mingshu tilted her chin toward Jiang Chun. "Could you bring this lady a meal as well? And a Midsummer Breeze cocktail. Thank you."
Jiang Chun remained motionless in her seat.
The flight attendant glanced at her, then at Ji Mingshu, uncertain whether she should comply.
Ji Mingshu smiled. "We know each other. Please go ahead."
The flight attendant froze for a second, suddenly aware that her heartbeat had sped up.
She was...
Far too beautiful.
That smile alone completely redefined the very meaning of the phrases ‘bright eyes and dazzling smile’ and ‘breathtaking beauty’.
After regaining her composure, the flight attendant hurried away. Back in the galley, she immediately asked her colleagues: Was that woman in first class a celebrity? Why didn't she recognize her? Was she not famous? But how could someone that gorgeous not be famous?
Not long afterward, Jiang Chun's meal arrived. The flight attendant also brought Ji Mingshu a complimentary dessert, saying it was a new item they'd like her to try.
Ji Mingshu graciously accepted and took a bite.
Jiang Chun, meanwhile, still looked too dispirited to eat.
Ji Mingshu didn't bother urging her. She wasn't responsible for the Pacific Ocean. If Jiang Chun wanted to starve herself, that was her own business.
Silence settled over the cabin.
Jiang Chun stared out the window, looking every bit the tragic heroine mourning a broken heart.
After finishing her dessert, Ji Mingshu idly flipped through a few magazines.
She'd already read nearly all the fashion publications the airline provided. The only one she hadn't touched was Zero Degrees, the place Gu Kaiyang worked for, but that was a men's magazine.
It wasn't as though she was some devoted wife personally managing her husband's wardrobe. Why would she read them?
Covering a yawn, she pulled on her eye mask and drifted off to sleep.
Outside the window, the sky stretched endlessly blue. Clouds floated beneath the aircraft like giant fields of cotton candy, glowing beneath warm sunlight as a faint golden horizon shimmered in the distance.
After several minutes without hearing another page turn, Jiang Chun glanced out of the corner of her eye. Ji Mingshu was asleep with her eye mask on.
Her eyes drifted toward the untouched sandwich and cocktail beside her. Almost instinctively, she licked her lips.
She hadn't eaten properly in three or four days. Out of sight, out of mind, she could manage. Having it sitting right in front of her was another, the delicious smell slowly chased away some of the gloom weighing on her heart.
Very, very quietly, she picked up the sandwich, then glanced nervously at Ji Mingshu again.
Although Ji Mingshu hadn't moved, her sleep was far from peaceful.
For some reason, she dreamed about Jiang Chun catching Yan cheating.
Except this time...
She was Jiang Chun.
And Cen Sen was Yan.
Dream-Cen Sen was even more scummy than Yan. He grabbed her wrist, shoved her aside without hesitation, watched her fall to the floor, then couldn't even spare her another glance.
Around them stood a circle of superficial society friends, openly laughing at her. One of them sneered, "Just endure it. In the future, you'd better serve the mistress tea and wait on her properly. Otherwise Cen Sen will throw you out."
Ji Mingshu woke up furious.
Ripping off her eye mask, she grabbed her water and drank more than half the glass in one breath.
She silently reminded herself it was only a dream while simultaneously cursing the Dog Man.
Even in her dreams he wouldn't leave her in peace.
Setting down the glass, she casually turned her head, just in time to catch Jiang Chun secretly eating the sandwich.
Perhaps starved silly, Jiang Chun had taken an enormous bite. Before she could swallow it, Ji Mingshu's sudden movement startled her so badly that the sandwich lodged halfway down her throat.
Covering her mouth, she broke into a violent coughing fit.
Ji Mingshu watched her cough until her face turned bright red as she frantically searched for tissues while washing everything down with her cocktail.
Suddenly, she burst out laughing.
Jiang Chun reacted like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on. "What are you laughing at? So what if I'm eating? Cough! Cough, cough, cough!!!"
For reasons she couldn't explain, Ji Mingshu's mood instantly brightened.
Resting her chin on one hand, she looked at Jiang Chun thoughtfully. "You're kind of adorable, do you know that?”
"..."
Jiang Chun stared at her as though she'd completely lost her mind.
Ji Mingshu searched for an appropriate comparison. "You're like... a penguin that's never left Antarctica, suddenly discovering it can survive in the subtropics… but still clumsy and clueless about it?"
Did penguins like that even exist?
Jiang Chun blinked blankly before finally understanding. "Are you calling me uncultured?"
"No. I'm calling you adorably uncultured."
Jiang Chun: "..."
Gee, thank you very much for the compliment.
Rolling her eyes, she straightened up and finally began eating without the slightest embarrassment.
The flight from Paris to the capital took eleven hours. Bored out of her mind, Ji Mingshu kept finding excuses to tease Jiang Chun throughout the journey.
At first Jiang Chun had stubbornly ignored her. But the heartbreak she'd been nursing had long since faded. When she noticed Ji Mingshu watching a variety show she followed herself, she found herself unconsciously responding to Ji Mingshu's chatter.
"I think Pei Xiyan is pretty handsome," Ji Mingshu said.
"I think so too," Jiang Chun agreed, unable to help herself. "So handsome, and he's got so much personality. He's going to be incredible when he grows up."
"He's emotionally intelligent, too."
Jiang Chun nodded vigorously. "Right, right, right! I even went back and watched that show he did with his mom when he was a kid. I'm not a huge fan of her, but he was so cute! All cool and aloof."
"I know, right?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be landing at Capital International Airport in approximately fifteen minutes. The current ground temperature is thirty-six degrees Celsius. Ladies and gentlemen..."
By the time the landing announcement played, not a trace of the defeated, heartbroken woman who'd boarded the plane remained.
She was glowing, practically surrounded by heart-shaped sparkles, and even stopped Ji Mingshu not fast-forward through any part. Her baby's god-tier visuals deserved to be savored frame by painstaking frame.
Speechless, Ji Mingshu simply shoved the tablet into her arms.
Her luggage had already been shipped back to China the day before. All she carried was a small cabin suitcase.
After landing, she planned to meet up with Gu Kaiyang, but the magazine had encountered an emergency and everyone had to rush straight back for a meeting.
Left with no alternative, Ji Mingshu continued walking with Jiang Chun, generously giving her an impromptu lesson on duty-free shopping all the way through the airport.
Jiang Chun had never realized choosing luxury goods involved so many details. At first, she walked beside Ji Mingshu, listening as they went. Somewhere along the way, she'd seamlessly transformed herself into Ji Mingshu's personal luggage assistant. She found a trolley, loaded both their suitcases onto it, and cheerfully pushed everything herself.
By the time they reached the arrivals hall, the crowd had become much denser.
Ji Mingshu was still explaining why one particular handbag had become a timeless classic when her voice abruptly stopped.
Her pace slowed.
"What happened?" Jiang Chun asked innocently.
Ji Mingshu pressed a hand against her stomach, frowning.
"Does your stomach hurt?" Looking around, Jiang Chun pointed ahead. "There's a restroom over there."
Cold sweat had already beaded on Ji Mingshu's forehead. She hurried toward it as quickly as her towering heels allowed, every step sending burning pain through the backs of her feet.
The moment she entered the restroom, her vision briefly went black.
Jiang Chun, who'd followed close behind, let out a small gasp. "Why are there so many people?!"
At least seven or eight women were waiting in line. And, of all the bathrooms in the airport, this one had to be the smallest, only four stalls, one of which was accessible.
After two agonizing minutes, the line hadn't moved an inch.
Jiang Chun was about to suggest finding another one, but seeing Ji Mingshu’s desperate, I-can’t-hold-it expression, her gaze flicked around, and an absolutely terrible idea escaped before she could stop herself.
"...Why don't you use that one instead? No one's in there."
She pointed toward the men's restroom.
Ji Mingshu looked at her as though she'd gone insane.
But Jiang Chun was astonishingly enthusiastic. She even ran inside to scout it out and returning. "Really. It's empty. I'll stand guard outside."
For one horrifying moment, Ji Mingshu suspected her own brain had stopped functioning as well. Because a tiny, traitorous part of her was actually considering it.
Then another violent cramp hit, her resolve weakened even further.
Finally, unable to hold it any longer, she painfully adjusted her sunglasses and whispered, "Stand watch. WeChat me.”
Jiang Chun nodded solemnly, as though accepting an important military mission.
Three minutes later, Ji Mingshu finally realized exactly what kind of idiotic decision she'd made.
Jiang Chun: [Don't come out. A man's just gone in.]
Five minutes later.
Jiang Chun: [Oh no. A whole tour group just showed up. Just wait it out. Whatever you do, don't make a sound.]
Ji Mingshu: ...
I really must've been possessed to listen to you.
No sooner had the message arrived than a noisy crowd of men poured into the restroom. The unmistakably awkward sounds around the urinals echoed one after another.
Someone even stopped outside her stall and pounded heavily on the door. "Hey, buddy! You constipated or what? Been in there forever. Did you fall into the toilet?"
“…”
The stall was cramped and narrow. The smell was unbearable.
From the tips of her ears all the way down her neck, Ji Mingshu flushed scarlet.
Closing her eyes, she wondered what she'd done in a past life to deserve this wretched plight, trapped in a men's room, too mortified to make a sound.
Her mind was completely blank. She couldn't think of anything that might possibly rescue her from this suffocating embarrassment.
To make matters worse, after five minutes, her legs had gone completely numb, and her phone had chosen that exact moment to die. Which meant she'd lost contact with her intelligence officer outside.
The last message Jiang Chun had sent before communication was cut off was: [Why don't you just run for it? Nobody here knows you anyway.]
Ridiculous!
She, Ji Mingshu, had lived gloriously for over twenty years! She could go without food, but never without dignity!
She'd rather be fumigated to death in this toilet than risk running out while people were still outside and get labeled ‘that pretty girl who’s enough of a pervert to use the men’s room’!
And so, she stubbornly stayed crouched there. Minute after minute crawled by. She lost count of how many knocks she’d silently ignored. Eventually she couldn't even feel the lower half of her body anymore.
After what felt like an eternity, the restroom suddenly fell silent.
Ji Mingshu’s little heart revived from death, thinking the coast was finally clear.
But the second she tried to stand, a new knock sounded on the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
How despairing :)
She slumped back down, hugged her knees, buried her face against them, and refused to make a sound.
"Ji Mingshu." The voice came from just outside the door, calm and unmistakable. "Open up. It's me."
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