My Queen, My Rules - 4
Spa
Cen Sen's remark had been nothing more than an offhand jab, and he gave it little thought afterward. Work kept him busy. The moment he left Mingshui, everything related to home and his private life was pushed aside, never mind reflecting on what he'd said or worrying about how the young lady might be feeling.
At two o'clock that afternoon, traffic flowed steadily through the CBD. Waves of heat rolled across the streets beneath the blazing summer sun.
It was the rush back to work after lunch. Office workers wandered toward their buildings in small groups, coffee cups in hand, chatting as they walked.
It was Friday, and everyone seemed relaxed, laughing and joking. Everyone except two young women from Junyi, whose smiles vanished the moment a group notification appeared on their phones. They immediately hurried back toward the office.
"Why's he coming so soon? Didn't they say he probably wasn't showing up today?"
"Who knows? If I could understand the minds of these people, I'd be making a fortune picking stocks instead. Come on, hurry!"
Near the Financial Center, Junyi's headquarters consisted of two interconnected high-rise towers built in a striking geometric staggered design.
The eastern tower housed Junyi Huazhang, the company's flagship luxury hotel. The other tower served as the group's corporate headquarters.
At 2:15 p.m., the usually spacious lobby of the office tower was packed with management. They stood in two perfectly ordered lines, arranged by rank from the outermost to the innermost positions. Even the meeting coordinators had been lined up according to seniority.
At exactly 2:20, three black sedans pulled into the building's portico in succession.
A Cadillac led the convoy, stopping beside the Roman columns to the right. The Bentley in the middle ignored convention and came to a halt directly in front of the entrance.
A young man wearing glasses stepped out of the front passenger seat, fastening his suit jacket as he walked around the vehicle and respectfully opened the rear door.
Everyone unconsciously held their breath, every eye fixed on the door as inexplicable tension crept up from the soles of their feet.
The afternoon sun blazed overhead. Heat shimmered from the pavement, and the trees glowed with vibrant green. Amid the restless bustle of summer, everything suddenly seemed to slow, as though viewed through the gradual pullback of a long-focus camera.
Cen Sen stepped out of the car and slowly straightened to his full height.
His sharp brows and clear, refined features paired naturally with his tall, elegant frame, giving him an effortless air of cool reserve. Even from a distance, he looked every bit a young aristocrat.
Before anyone had fully recovered, the doors of the other two cars opened in unison. Three men and three women stepped out, all dressed in immaculate business attire, briefcases in hand. They quietly fell into formation half a step behind Cen Sen.
Many of Junyi's senior executives had come to welcome him today, though a handful of entrenched old veterans had deliberately stayed away, hoping to remind the younger generation that the corporate world came in every imaginable shade of power and politics.
The group walked inside without changing expression. As they entered the elevator, someone hurriedly reached over to press the floor button for them.
"President Cen, I'm Secretary Yu, President Huang's secretary. Just call me Xiao Yu. President Huang hasn't been feeling well lately and has been recuperating at home, so he couldn't come personally to welcome you today."
Secretary Yu's face was arranged in a smile. He seemed attentive, but his posture remained stiffly upright, and beneath his gentle tone lingered unmistakable arrogance.
"President Huang specifically instructed me to take good care of you. If there's anything you'd like to see or need, just let me know."
Silence settled over the elevator lobby.
Standing to one side, Zhou Jiaheng lowered himself slightly and gestured respectfully for Cen Sen to enter first.
Only after Cen Sen stepped inside did Zhou Jiaheng turn toward Secretary Yu.
"President Huang is getting on in years. Poor health is only natural." He smiled pleasantly. "Secretary Yu, please let President Huang know that he should focus on recovering. He can spend his retirement tending flowers and gardening at home. He won't need to concern himself with company affairs anymore."
"This time, President Cen will be taking full charge of Junyi. For veterans like President Huang, who've devoted so much to the company, President Cen will do everything possible to ensure they enjoy the highest quality retirement."
Retirement?
Secretary Yu froze for a moment, unable to process what he'd just heard.
But Zhou Jiaheng had no intention of waiting for a reply. He simply stepped into the elevator, moved to stand just behind Cen Sen, and changed the selected floor to sixty-eight.
The elevator doors slowly slid shut. Standing calmly in the center, Cen Sen wore the same mild, detached expression from beginning to end, never sparing Secretary Yu so much as a glance.
The entourage arrived at the long-vacant chairman's office on the sixty-eighth floor.
One assistant efficiently attached a temporary nameplate to the office door.
Two others worked in tandem, measuring and recording data within the office to facilitate adjusting the furniture and fixtures to Cen Sen's preferences.
Chief assistant Zhou Jiaheng opened his laptop and, through the company's internal network, distributed a notice that had clearly been prepared well in advance.
“By resolution of the Group's leadership, effective immediately, Mr. Cen Sen, formerly Director of Overseas Development and President of Junyi Australia Group, is hereby appointed President of Junyi Hotel Group. All departments are requested to fully cooperate with Mr. Cen Sen during this transition. We look forward to Junyi Hotel Group reaching new heights under his leadership.”
The signature at the bottom read:
Cen Yuanchao
At almost the same moment, notification chimes rang out across the office as employees received the new announcement.
The entire company exploded into discussion.
"Is Chairman Cen's health really that bad? How old is the new president, twenty-seven? Twenty-eight? That's ridiculously young."
That evening after work, one of Junyi's marketing teams held a department gathering.
Normally, by Friday everyone tacitly agreed that work ended the moment they clocked out. If coworkers happened to meet outside the office, pretending not to know each other was usually the preferred option.
Today, however, Cen Sen's appearance had thrown the whole company into a frenzy. Even after work, groups of employees gathered over drinks just to exchange gossip.
"So what if he's young? The guy graduated from Harvard. He led Sikang's acquisition when he was only twenty-two. That deal had Vice Chairman Liu tearing his hair out, and he wrapped it up in no time."
"I know he's capable. Wasn't Shuiyunjian his project? It's just... taking over the whole company still feels a little too soon."
Another female colleague chimed in. "I don't think it's about being young. It's because he's too handsome. He looks like a movie star. Somehow that makes him seem unreliable."
"What's wrong with handsome? You'd rather stare at Manager Yu's face every day?"
Manager Yu happened to be the head of their marketing department, famous throughout the company for possessing a face that defied conventional aesthetics.
The private room erupted in laughter. The atmosphere lightened considerably.
"So... does he have a girlfriend? With a face like that, it'd be a shame if he never had an office romance," another woman joked.
One of the men snorted, ruthlessly bursting the pink bubble that had just begun to form. "Girlfriend? He's been married for ages."
"He's married?"
"No way. How come I've never heard that?"
"Who's his wife?"
"What a waste of those good looks."
Questions flew around the table.
The office gossip queen finally contributed verified intel. "His wife is from the Ji family."
"Which Ji family?"
"Which else can it be? The Ji family that owns Huadian.”
---
"...Do you know what he said to me? He seriously told me to crawl all the way to the Potala Palace and kowtow three times nine! Can you believe a man would say something like that? Twenty-six years on this earth, and I have never met a man like him. And you're praising him? You have no idea how vile he is! What sin did I commit in my past life to... cough! Cough, cough!”
Inside Shuiyunjian's private ginseng hot spring, the very Ji Mingshu everyone at Junyi was gossiping about was wrapped in a bath towel, venting furiously. She was speaking so quickly that she accidentally inhaled some water, immediately grabbing the edge of the pool as a fit of coughing overtook her.
Gu Kaiyang had listened to her rant uninterrupted for a full fifteen minutes. She was laughing so hard that her stomach hurt. As she handed Ji Mingshu a tissue, she grabbed another one to wipe away her own tears of laughter.
The spring was maintained at a perfect forty degrees. It wasn't especially hot, but Ji Mingshu had become so worked up that after only a short soak she felt herself struggling to breathe.
"I can't do this anymore. I'm getting out."
She climbed from the pool, wrapped herself in a fresh towel, gathered up her long hair, and headed toward the edge.
Ji Mingshu's private ginseng pool occupied the deepest corner of Shuiyunjian's hot spring garden. A delicate pavilion had been built beside the pool, with carved lanterns hanging from the eaves while antique folding screens enclosed the area. During the day, lush greenery surrounded the spring. At night, drifting steam mingled with warm golden light, creating an entirely different kind of beauty.
The attendants waiting outside the screens heard movement and immediately sprang into action, one bringing bathrobes while another served hot tea.
Not long afterward, Gu Kaiyang emerged as well. They rinsed off in the showers, then wandered toward the spa center, still chatting.
As they passed the VIP lounge, Gu Kaiyang suddenly stopped. She nudged Ji Mingshu with her elbow and tilted her chin toward someone inside. "Jiang Chun."
Ji Mingshu paused, following Gu Kaiyang's gaze.
A server was placing a fruit salad in front of Jiang Chun, their bent body blocking most of Ji Mingshu's view.
Despite this, Jiang Chun spotted them through the gap and, with impressive audacity, called out first. "Ji Mingshu! Gu Kaiyang!"
Ji Mingshu smiled, exchanging a knowing look with Gu Kaiyang. She stretched her long legs and strolled leisurely into the lounge.
"Miss Jiang. What a rare pleasure."
She sat down beside Jiang Chun without the slightest hesitation, crossed her long legs to one side, casually picked up the tiny silver fork, and fished a single slice of cucumber from the fruit salad.
Jiang Chun looked the two of them up and down before something suddenly clicked.
No wonder her VIP annual hot spring membership and Junyi Black Card hadn't granted unrestricted access throughout the resort earlier.
That private spring belonged to Ji Mingshu.
She speared a piece of fruit and replied with a smile that never reached her eyes. "It's been a while. I heard your husband came back to China. He accompanied Su Cheng to the Zero Degrees gala last night and bid on that necklace? That necklace was worth, what, maybe 1.2 million tops. Your husband pushed the price to more than four times that. He's certainly generous."
Ji Mingshu was unfazed. "What can I say? Our A-Sen's always been passionate about charitable causes."
Our A-Sen...
Both Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun instantly broke out in goosebumps.
Ji Mingshu flashed Jiang Chun a regretful smile. "It's such a shame you weren't there last night. Oh, speaking of which, why didn't you?"
The goosebumps on Jiang Chun's arms vanished just as quickly as her smile.
Not long ago, she'd spent over four million just to secure a front-row seat at a luxury brand's debut show in the capital, flaunting her close relationship with the label everywhere she went in hopes of impressing the socialites who looked down on her.
Before the show could even happen, however, the brand was accused of serious plagiarism and publicly boycotted by several of the fashion industry's biggest names.
The company's arrogant response only fueled the scandal further. One controversy after another surfaced until it became a publicly known scandal. In the end, the brand's reputation collapsed and the fashion show was canceled altogether.
In the fashion world, outright accusations of plagiarism were actually rare. Most similarities were politely explained away as trends, classics, or shared inspiration. For a brand to have cemented itself so firmly to accusations of plagiarism was quite an achievement in itself.
Jiang Chun had been furious. For three straight days she bombarded the brand's PR department with angry phone calls but still couldn't recover the money she'd already spent.
The incident had turned her into a laughingstock among the city's elite. Lately she'd kept an unusually low profile, rarely appearing in public.
Now that Ji Mingshu had casually reopened the wound, Jiang Chun forsook every etiquette lesson she'd recently learned. Crunching loudly through her fruit, she answered expressionlessly. "Busy."
Fortunately for her, a message arrived just then from her fiancé, Yan, asking where she was and saying he was coming to pick her up for dinner.
Her gloomy expression immediately brightened. Waving the phone toward Ji Mingshu, she couldn't quite hide the childish pride in her voice. "Yan's coming to take me to dinner, so I won't be keeping you company any longer. By the way, why didn't President Cen come with you today?"
Ji Mingshu had seen every imaginable kind of woman showing off her relationship.
This barely registered.
She casually swept her long hair aside, artfully revealing the faint red marks along the side of her neck. Resting her chin in one hand, she smiled sweetly. "He's busy with work. He mostly keeps me company at night."
She then threw Jiang Chun a suggestive wink for good measure.
Jiang Chun: "..."
She truly was shameless, gloriously and unapologetically so.
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