My Queen, My Rules - 26
Lipstick
That chaotic little incident with the fish bone finally brought lunch to an end.
After the meal, Chen Biqing cleared the dishes, An Ning busied herself making tea, cutting fruit, and turning on the television, while Cen Sen stepped onto the balcony to answer a phone call. Left with nothing to do, Ji Mingshu settled onto the sofa and watched the local news program An Ning had switched on.
The featured story revolved around a young couple from a town outside Xingcheng who were about to get married. Before the wedding, the groom discovered that his fiancée had once had an abortion. Unable to accept it, he immediately called off the engagement.
The bride first begged him to reconsider. When that failed, she said canceling the wedding was fine, but she wouldn't return the 50,000 yuan betrothal gift. After all, they'd already slept together, so she deserved compensation if they were breaking up.
The two of them had come onto the show for one reason only.
To argue over that fifty thousand yuan.
Ji Mingshu had never watched a program like this before. At first she couldn't believe people would actually go on television and publicly tear each other apart over just fifty thousand yuan.
But when she noticed the scrolling teaser at the bottom of the screen reading, "Middle-aged man suffers cerebral hemorrhage after dispute over ten-yuan mahjong wager, rushed to Xingcheng People's Hospital," she suddenly felt the fight over fifty thousand sounded quite justified and convincing.
Nibbling on fruit, she found herself becoming oddly invested in the show.
Seeing An Ning standing awkwardly nearby after finishing her chores, unsure what else she should be doing, Ji Mingshu waved her over.
"Come sit and watch with me."
An Ning nodded with a flushed face and carefully perched herself on the very edge of the sofa, knees pressed together, hands neatly folded on top of them. She looked so stiff and reserved that anyone would have thought this was Ji Mingshu's home and she was merely a distant relative paying a polite visit.
Even sitting on a worn sofa eating fruit, Ji Mingshu somehow radiated effortless elegance. The apartment was ordinary, even shabby, yet she carried herself with the grace and luxury of someone seated front row at Milan Fashion Week.
Every so often, An Ning couldn't help stealing other glances at her.
She had never seen a woman this beautiful before, even television actresses paled in comparison. Ji Mingshu shone like a pearl that somehow sparkled even beneath the midday sun.
At first Ji Mingshu didn't notice those starstruck looks. But when she reached for a tissue, she happened to catch An Ning staring. She paused for a beat, then smiled warmly, trying to show she meant no harm.
An Ning only grew more shy. Caught red-handed, she immediately looked away, her cheeks turning tomato red in an instant.
Ji Mingshu: "…"
What era did this innocent young lady time-travel from? She's just too shy… No wonder wasn't actually Cen Sen's biological sister. This girl didn't inherit even one percent of his shameless genes.
The next moment, her thoughts naturally drifted to Cen Yang.
She'd been far too young when he'd still lived at the compound. Time had blurred her memories until she could barely remember what he looked like anymore. All she retained was the impression of a cheerful, sunny older brother, completely unlike his younger sister.
While she was lost in thought, Cen Sen finished his phone call and returned to the living room.
He walked straight over to the sofa but didn't sit down.
Ji Mingshu looked up and met his eyes.
She immediately understood the message: Lunch was over. Time to leave.
Wait. Did he come all this way just for a meal? He's seriously going to leave after eating?
Fine, he never bonded with An Ning as a sibling, there's nothing to talk about there.
But Chen Biqing...
From the moment they'd walked through the door until now, the mother and son hadn't exchanged more than three sentences.
Ji Mingshu froze, uncertain what she ought to do.
Fortunately, Chen Biqing emerged from the kitchen just then. She seemed to realize Cen Sen was preparing to leave and couldn't help calling softly, "Xiao Sen."
The room fell silent.
For a long while, nobody spoke.
The silence became so unbearable that Ji Mingshu finally forced out an excuse. "Um... I can't find my lipstick. Ningning, why don't you come with me to buy a new one?”
An Ning, suddenly put on the spot, was a bit slow to react.
Ji Mingshu, however, was a woman of action. She grabbed her handbag, pulled An Ning to her feet, and practically dragged her out the front door.
The security door creaked shut behind them.
The apartment was left with only Chen Biqing and Cen Sen.
The afternoon sunlight rested quietly across the room. The last fragrance of late-summer flowers drifted in through the breeze, carrying with it a faint rusty scent, so familiar that it seemed as if time had looped back on itself.
Cen Sen remembered another afternoon just like this.
The sun had been warm then, too.
He had woken early from his nap, eagerly looking forward to buying the newest comic book.
Before leaving for school with his backpack, he'd wanted to peek in on his baby sister.
But outside the master bedroom, he heard his parents talking.
Driven by curiosity, he pressed his ear to the door to eavesdrop.
Father An, An Guoping, was saying, "So what if the Cen family is rich and powerful? They can't just take him from us! This is outrageous! If they dare try anything by force, I'll report them to the authorities! This is society governed by law!"
Chen Biqing sighed softly. "The Cen family indeed is overbearing. They want to take A-Sen back, but they won't even let us see that child. We don't even know what his name is now."
After that, An Guoping fell silent.
The couple continued speaking in hushed voices that Cen Sen couldn't quite make out. In the end, all he clearly heard was Chen Biqing's tearful voice. "How could something like this ever happen?"
He'd been too young then to fully understand their fragmented conversation. Even so, he instinctively sensed that something involving him was unfolding in secret behind his back.
From that day forward, he deliberately listened whenever Chen Biqing and An Guoping talked.
Little by little, through scattered fragments of overheard conversations, he pieced together the truth.
Later, when the Cen family's cars and bodyguards arrived outside the faculty apartments, and Chen Biqing and An Guoping finally told him the truth at the last possible moment...
He had been surprisingly calm.
He had overheard countless conversations where they fiercely opposed sending him back to the Cen family.
Yet, in the end, his Dad and Mom had still abandoned him.
Perhaps too much time had passed. Looking back now, those memories felt as though they belonged to another lifetime.
Sitting on the sofa, Cen Sen looked at the no-longer-young Chen Biqing across from him and suddenly asked, "You never went overseas?"
Having studied abroad himself for many years, he could easily tell whether someone had only recently returned from living overseas.
Chen Biqing looked down at the fruit platter on the table and answered quietly. "No. We've been living in Nancheng. Yangyang... he went abroad. He..." She lowered her head a little further. "He isn't very close to us. He left many years ago and hardly ever comes back."
Cen Sen remained silent.
A moment later, Chen Biqing asked hesitantly, "Have... have you been doing well? You and Xiao Shu... you got married three years ago, right?"
"Mm."
She nodded. "Xiao Shu is wonderful. She's beautiful and such a lovely girl. As long as the two of you are happy... then I can rest easy."
As soon as she finished speaking, she hurriedly wiped the corner of her eye and forced a smile.
Cen Sen said nothing.
After a long silence, he suddenly asked, "Where's Dad?"
This time, it was Chen Biqing who fell silent.
A long time later, she quietly said, "He... passed away."
***
"Passed away?" Ji Mingshu froze for a moment.
After leaving the An family's apartment, she'd immediately pulled An Ning into the car, planning to visit a nearby shopping mall.
The closest mall was still fifteen minutes away, and fifteen minutes of awkward silence sounded unbearable. So she struck up a conversation with An Ning.
Though "conversation" might have been too generous a word.
It was really just Ji Mingshu asking questions and An Ning answering them.
An Ning was an honest, straightforward girl who answered whatever she was asked.
Naturally, Ji Mingshu couldn't resist taking the opportunity to ask about the An family.
"It happened not long ago," An Ning said softly, eyes lowered. "Dad got sick. Mom wanted to find Cen Sen-gege and let Dad see him one last time... but before she could, he couldn't hold on any longer."
"He passed away."
"We only returned to Xingcheng because of Dad's death," she continued. "Before he died, he said... he wanted to come home."
Mr. An had died.
Ji Mingshu was surprised, but not shocked. From the moment she'd noticed he wasn't at the apartment, she'd already imagined countless possibilities.
"What about... Cen Yang? Oh... I guess he should be called An Yang now?"
An Ning shook her head. "My brother never changed his name. I hardly know him. He moved overseas many years ago. I think the Cen family arranged it. Usually he only comes back once every few years."
"He said he'd return for Dad's funeral, but he still hasn't arrived. I haven't seen him in... a very, very long time."
"I see..." Ji Mingshu nodded absentmindedly. There was an indescribable heaviness in her chest, and she had no idea what to say next.
Fortunately, the shopping mall had arrived. There were many things she wasn't good at, shopping wasn't one of them.
She quickly adjusted her mood, linked arms with An Ning, and headed inside while launching into her usual Little Canary philosophy.
"You're already in university. You can't keep dressing this plainly forever. Look at you. You're so pretty. You should take advantage of your youth, dress up a little, and fall in love." She glanced back at An Ning. "You don't have a boyfriend yet, do you?"
Blushing, An Ning shook her head.
"University is the best time to date. Once you graduate, where are you going to find pure love? The moment two people meet eyes, they're already evaluating each other's financial situation."
Curiously, An Ning asked, "Were you and Brother Cen Sen university classmates?"
Ji Mingshu: "…"
Sorry. We're exactly the kind of plastic married couple who judged each other's financial situation the moment we met.
She smoothly changed the subject. "But dating isn't even the point. Even if you're not looking for romance, girls should still treat themselves well. Don't you think wearing pretty clothes every day just make you happier?"
This, An Ning agreed with. Among the girls in her dormitory, aside from studying and relationships, the most common topics were clothes, handbags, skincare, and makeup. After hearing about them for so long, she had learned a little herself. She'd simply never had the courage to take that first step. Instead, she'd buried herself in her studies every day.
Ji Mingshu couldn't bear seeing such a pretty girl living so plainly. She intended to start by buying An Ning a skincare set.
Just then, however, the production team from Designer's Abode called. The mall signal was poor, the voice cutting in and out. So, she randomly pointed to a nearby brand counter and told An Ning to wait there; she'd go outside to finish the call and be right back.
An Ning obediently nodded.
The first floor of the mall housed jewelry, skincare, and cosmetic boutiques. An Ning rarely came to places like this, she countless bright spotlights almost dazzled her.
As she wandered near the counter Ji Mingshu had indicated, she happened to spot a makeup brand her roommate had been obsessing over lately. Apparently one of its lipsticks was incredibly popular.
She walked over and slowly examined the display, trying to remember which shade her roommate had mentioned.
Finally, on the second-to-last shelf, she found the tester.
She swatched it across the back of her hand. It really was beautiful.
She was in her third year of university and had never owned a single lipstick. For the first time, she felt genuinely tempted.
"Excuse me, how much is this lipstick?" she asked, holding up the lipstick to the sales assistant.
The saleswoman gave her a dismissive once-over. One look at An Ning's plainly dressed student appearance, and she lost all enthusiasm. Rolling her eyes dramatically, she went right back to scrolling on her phone. "Sorry. That's one of our bestsellers. It isn't sold individually. It's purchase with allocation only. You need to buy two qualifying products before you can purchase that lipstick."
Purchase with allocation?
An Ning had no idea what that meant.
Thinking she was simply too inexperienced to understand, her face instantly flushed bright red. She stood there, flustered and not knowing what to do.
Then, the next second, afaint, familiar fruity fragrance drifted toward her.
Ji Mingshu had returned without her noticing. She snatched the tester straight out of An Ning's hand and tossed it onto the counter in front of the saleswoman.
Her voice was icy, edged with ridicule. "Purchase with allocation? Does that also include your rotten attitude? What do you think you are, Hermès?"
Even this princess has never had to play the allocation game at Hermès.
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