My Queen, My Rules - 42

Greedy

---

The passionate entanglement on the ceiling did not officially conclude until three in the morning.

Gu Kaiyang had long since drifted into dreamland. Ji Mingshu lay on the other side of the bed, wrapped tightly in her blanket, eyes closed, yet sleep never came.

At six a.m., the alarm clock rang on schedule.

Gu Kaiyang sat up in bed, yawned, grabbed her phone, and ordered breakfast delivery.

Today was the monthly magazine finalization day, which required an early start. No matter how sleep-deprived she was, she had to get up, wash, and put on her makeup.

Once ready, Gu Kaiyang glanced toward the upstairs bedroom and saw Ji Mingshu also sitting up slowly in bed, leaning against the headboard.

As she wiped away excess lipstick, she asked, "Why are you up so early? Did my alarm wake you?"

“No.”

Because she hadn’t slept at all.

Gu Kaiyang didn’t press further. Checking the time, she hurriedly instructed, “I ordered breakfast; there’s soy milk, fried dough sticks, and soup dumplings on the dining table. If they’re cold, just microwave them for thirty seconds. I also left the keycard on the table. Remember to eat, okay? Alright, I really have to go to work now.”

“Mm, go ahead.”

Ji Mingshu responded, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. Her heart beat rapidly from the sleepless night.

Hearing the front door slam shut, she didn’t move, only quietly closed her eyes.

Two days had passed since the incident. Compared to the initial emotional turmoil, her heart had returned to calm.

Yet it was within this calm that she felt unprecedentedly lost about her future.

Actually, back when she’d mistakenly thought Cen Sen was cheating with Zhang Baoshu, she’d already felt this confusion: How would she live if they divorced?

Later, when hesitating about joining the show, she’d also seriously considered Gu Kaiyang’s advice to develop a career. But after living comfortably for over twenty years, it was hard to worry in times of peace, to plan ten steps ahead for every move.

Even now, in her current predicament, she kept bantering with Gu Kaiyang, unwilling to face the reality that this marriage couldn't be easily dissolved and that she truly was useless without Cen Sen. But in the quiet of the sleepless night, she had thought a lot and reflected a lot.

She wondered whether Cen Sen would apologize, compromise, and take her home.

She wondered, now that she understood her own feelings for him, if she could still be satisfied with their previous plastic marriage lifestyle, content to never receive his affection or respect.

She also wondered if the root cause of all this was that she wasn’t good enough.

From the summer solstice to the winter solstice, the days grew shorter. In late autumn and early winter, the sky didn't fully lighten until seven-thirty in the morning.

The sounds of a new day’s traffic rose outside. Gu Kaiyang’s little Beetle had already merged into the flow of cars. Ji Mingshu closed her eyes, slowly turned to her side, curled into a ball, and drifted into a heavy, troubled sleep.

She slept until two in the afternoon. When Ji Mingshu got up, the sun outside was already blazing.

She went downstairs and casually checked her phone for her bank statement. The skincare and household items she’d casually purchased yesterday had already cost nearly a hundred thousand.

She scrolled through the messages from the producer of Designer’s Abode. She hadn’t noticed before, but her payment for participating in the show had long been settled.

The problem was, back then she'd looked down on such a paltry sum. The bank card she'd casually filled in wasn't with her, wasn't linked to her phone, and who knew in which forgotten corner it lay.

So, all she had left was the final hundred thousand Jiang Chun had given her to tide her over.

She sat quietly for a while, then picked up the keycard, changed her shoes, and went out.

The magazine where Gu Kaiyang worked wasn’t far from Xinggang International. Ji Mingshu bought an afternoon tea set from a nearby cha chaan teng and headed straight for Zero Degree.

It was finalization day. The entire magazine office was exceptionally busy. Everyone rushed about with their tasks, too occupied to pay her any attention.

She spotted a familiar assistant and pulled her aside to ask, “Where’s your deputy editor-in-chief?”

The assistant knew Ji Mingshu was Gu Kaiyang’s close friend. She pushed up her glasses and said awkwardly, “Sister Gu… she’s in the editor-in-chief’s office right now. Probably getting a talking-to.”

She said the last part very softly, almost a whisper.

Ji Mingshu: “Why is she being talked to?”

The assistant replied cautiously, “Sister Gu took sudden leave yesterday, and the handover wasn’t done well. There was a small issue, and today during finalization it became a huge problem. An entire layout had to be rushed and replaced, so..."

Ji Mingshu froze.

The assistant added, “Miss Ji, if you’re looking for Sister Gu, why don’t you wait in her office?”

“No need,” Ji Mingshu suddenly shoved the packed afternoon tea snacks into the assistant’s hands. “You guys have it. Don’t say I brought it, and don’t tell your deputy editor I was here.”

“Huh?”

The assistant watched Ji Mingshu’s retreating back, completely bewildered.

In the capital’s winter, the days dawned late and darkened early. By six p.m., the sunset was already gone.

On the way from the equestrian club to the private club, Zhou Jiaheng reported to Cen Sen on the progress of the follow-up work in Xingcheng.

Cen Sen leaned back in the seat, eyes closed in feigned sleep, and didn't respond.

After finishing his report, Zhou Jiaheng paused briefly, his tone unchanged as he shifted topics, “Today, Madam went out at 2:30 p.m., bought some snacks from a cha chaan teng. Arrived at Zero Degree magazine at 3:00 p.m., left at 3:10 p.m. Walked along Huainan Third Road all the way to the Lawson supermarket at the intersection of Huainan Second Road and Dongjing Street, bought a bag of groceries. Walked back to Xinggang International at 4:30 p.m. and hasn’t come out since.”

Cen Sen still didn’t respond, only adjusted the position of his loosely clasped hands.

The Bentley drove all the way to Heyong Club. Jiang Che was back in the capital today to meet a professor from a chip R&D team and had arranged to meet Cen Sen there.

Jiang Che was currently in the throes of a new relationship, riding high on the crest of success, and was feeling slightly inclined to dispense advice.

Seeing Cen Sen, who rarely drank during private meetings, order a bottle of whiskey upon entering, he suddenly said, “Have you noticed you have a problem?”

Cen Sen glanced up slightly.

Jiang Che stretched his arm along the back of the sofa, head tilted, looking lazily irreverent.

The ember at the tip of his cigarette glowed faintly, smoke curling, making his voice sound low and languid. “You’re particularly bad at handling things involving emotions. You don’t know how to face the An family, and you don’t know what to do with your wife.”

Cen Sen lowered his eyes again. He usually never touched cigarettes, but today he lit one with Jiang Che’s lighter, holding it low between his knuckles, letting it burn and fade.

“Do you remember when you first arrived at Nanqiao Hutong as a kid? Ji Mingshu really liked you back then. She’d bring little snacks every day to play with you."

“Did she.”

He only remembered Ji Mingshu being particularly princessy and childish, and that she seemed to have rallied a few other kids to ostracize him.

"Of course she did. Back then, Shu Yang teased her every day for getting the cold shoulder from you, said she'd forgotten about Cen Yang so fast, thrown him to the winds, called her heartless."

When Jiang Che mentioned Cen Yang, Cen Sen gained a bit of an impression.

Because Shu Yang and Cen Yang shared a homophone in their names, they had always been close. Because of this, Shu Yang hadn’t been very welcoming to him initially. Their little group of childhood friends had only come together later.

Jiang Che flicked his cigarette ash. “Let me be objective. I actually quite admire Ji Mingshu’s personality. She’s relatively simple, straightforward…”

Cen Sen shot him a look.

“I don’t mean anything else. I’m just saying, when dealing with someone like your wife, you should be more direct. For that little mess with Li Wenyin blowing up into such a scandal—you yourself bear a large part of the responsibility.”

Shu Yang and Zhao Yang didn’t know Cen Sen as well as Jiang Che did. Jiang Che had witnessed the entire thing between Cen Sen and Li Wenyin back then.

If anyone said Cen Sen would disregard the ties between the Cen and Ji families for Li Wenyin, insist on divorcing and remarrying, Jiang Che would be the first to disagree. First, Cen Sen wasn't a love-struck fool. Second, Li Wenyin truly didn't have that kind of power.

Thinking of this, he suddenly teased lazily, “And let me say something I probably shouldn’t. Do you know your current behavior… rushing back as soon as you hear Ji Mingshu's in trouble, drinking and smoking to drown your sorrows when something happens... is exactly the kind of thing I do when I have a fight with Zhou You.”

Cen Sen paused, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and said flatly, “If you shouldn’t say it, then shut up.”

Jiang Che gave a light, scoffing chuckle.

Their meeting naturally wasn’t for idle chat, and Jiang Che wasn’t a busybody who loved meddling in others’ love lives. After a few sentences, the topic quickly shifted back to business matters of their cooperative project.

At nine p.m., a star-speckled night enveloped the pleasure-seeking city.

While Cen Sen and Jiang Che conversed in low tones inside the Heyong Club private room, Gu Kaiyang finally finished her overtime and rushed back to Xinggang International.

Worried that Ji Mingshu hadn’t eaten properly, she returned home to find Ji Mingshu crouched by the coffee table, holding a bleeding finger and searching for the first-aid kit.

“Ji Mingshu, what did you do? What happened to your hand?!” Gu Kaiyang was so nervous she rushed forward without even changing her shoes, her eyes fixed on the finger oozing beads of blood. “Does it hurt?”

"Of course it hurts, what a stupid question!" Ji Mingshu's face was scrunched up pitifully. Seeing Gu Kaiyang fully focused on helping her put on a band-aid, she held back and forced a nonchalant tone. "But it's okay. Just a little cut. It'll stop hurting soon.”

Gu Kaiyang's worried heart settled slightly, and she continued asking, "How did this happen? What did you touch? Were you trying to scare me to death?"

“I just thought you work so hard, so I wanted to cook a few dishes for you.”

“…?” Gu Kaiyang’s face was a picture of utter bewilderment. “You. Cook?”

She glanced back at the kitchen. Indeed, there were signs of pots and pans being used. "So where’s the food?”

“You’re so annoying.”

Ji Mingshu swatted her hand away in mock annoyance, got up by herself, and sat on the sofa, righteous yet with a hint of guilt. “Isn’t this just a lack of practical experience? Still constantly exploring on the path of socialist construction?”

The fact that no food was produced was within Gu Kaiyang’s expectations. What truly stunned her was that Ji Mingshu, the young lady who'd never lifted a finger, had suddenly thought of cooking.

Wanting to turn the page on this embarrassing history, Ji Mingshu sat up straight and said to Gu Kaiyang with serious solemnity, "Yangyang, I thought about it carefully today. You're right. I can't keep living like this, relying on others to support me. Jiang Chun specifically found out some insider news for me today. She said Junyi withdrew its investment from Li Wenyin’s movie the day before yesterday.”

Gu Kaiyang struggled to follow her train of thought. “Then, then isn’t that a good thing? I told you there must be a misunderstanding between you and Cen Sen. Wait, then why did you suddenly think about not relying on others…”

"Whether he handled it as a business matter, making Li Wenyin follow the proper channels, or whether he simply didn't know the movie's content in the first place, the fact is he initially never considered my feelings and showed me no respect."

“He doesn’t respect me because he thinks I’m just a golden canary he keeps. No need for respect. Actually, when you get to the root of it, it’s my own fault. I want money, I want respect, I want too much. And my second uncle and the others—aren't they just banking on me not being able to survive without Cen Sen?"

Gu Kaiyang was somewhat shocked by Ji Mingshu's serious expression and said hesitantly, "What is this? Are you transforming into Niuhulu Shushu?”

"Be serious, I'm talking for real. Isn't everyone working very hard to live? Even though Cen Sen is… difficult to describe in a word, his work attitude is praiseworthy. I heard from his assistant once that he slept only three hours a day for two straight weeks to negotiate a merger deal. And you, working so hard every day, being so diligent, and then getting scolded by the editor-in-chief because of me, a deadweight... I should also..."

Gu Kaiyang: “Wait, how do you know I got scolded by the editor-in-chief?”

Ji Mingshu paused, then skillfully turned the tables. "What's wrong with you? It's all your fault for interrupting my train of thought. Now I've forgotten what I was going to say.”

She glanced at the time. “It’s almost ten. Aren’t you going to sleep? Gu Kaiyang, are you going to work tomorrow or not?”

Gu Kaiyang thought of the box of her favorite pastries her assistant brought her this afternoon, and suddenly understood something.

Both Ji Mingshu and Gu Kaiyang went to bed early that night. Ji Mingshu lay with her eyes closed, thinking of the words she'd heard at the magazine office that afternoon, thinking of the street vendors she'd passed in her daze on the way back, and pulled the blanket tighter.

In this world, everyone was working hard to rely on themselves. Why couldn't Ji Mingshu do the same?

She had to admit, when she received the message Jiang Chun sent today, there had been a tiny flicker of secret delight in her heart. But if she went back without any backbone like this, Cen Sen would look down on her for the rest of his life, wouldn't he?

She was so greedy. Now she not only wanted Cen Sen's money, she also wanted his respect, wanted him to like her, wanted his heart.

When Ji Mingshu and Gu Kaiyang were already fast asleep, the capital's nightlife was just beginning.

Cen Sen was usually a very restrained person. Apart from business entertaining, he rarely participated in recreational activities and didn’t go to nightclubs.

But today Jiang Che was here, and Shu Yang kept calling them both, urging them to come to the pub, saying he wanted to buy drinks to make amends, so the two of them moved locations.

This pub was the very one where Ji Mingshu had stood up for Jiang Chun. Thanks to the publicity from Zhang Lin’s birthday party, it had become the new favorite playground for the capital's party animals. Most of the regular partygoers there were familiar faces.

When Cen Sen and Jiang Che arrived, the night scene was at its peak. Men and women swayed on the dance floor under crisscrossing colored lights.

The two made their way past the booth area. Amidst the music and noise, Cen Sen suddenly heard someone nearby mention “Ji Mingshu.” Following the sound, he turned his head slightly.

“She’s just a high-class prostitute. I really don't know what she's putting on airs about all day, talking about divorcing her husband. It's fucking hilarious. If she actually divorces him, I'll write my name backwards!"

“Writing it backwards is nothing. I’d even take her surname! Hahahaha.”

“Can’t blame her for wanting a divorce, though. Her husband’s investing in his first love’s movie. Damn, I’ve never seen such a novel and unique way of slapping someone in the face. Her husband is really something else.”

"I heard the movie is supposed to commemorate their relationship? If Ji Mingshu can tolerate that, I'll eat my hat. Haven't you seen how high and mighty she usually acts?"

"Hey, don't get me wrong, Ji Mingshu is a real looker. If the divorce really goes through, that's not bad. I'd have a go too, see what this high-maintenance princess—"

Before the man could finish his crude remark, a sudden flash of white light crossed his vision. He felt something warm and liquid slowly trickling down his temple.

“Ah—!”

Screams erupted from the women in the booth as they scrambled to their feet, dodging shards of glass from the shattered bottle.

---

← Previous | Table of Contents | Next →

0