My Queen, My Rules - 59
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After asking her question, perhaps knowing she wouldn't get an answer, Ji Mingshu's slight melancholy deepened.
She sighed softly, rolled onto her back beside Cen Sen, and stared blankly at the ceiling as her mind drifted.
Drowsiness crept over her unnoticed. The fluttering of her eyelids slowed, then stilled, remaining closed as her breathing became even and steady.
The slightly intoxicated man beside her still had his eyes closed, but he suddenly turned onto his side, draped an arm over her waist, and pulled her closer into his embrace.
In the pale moonlight of the winter night, amid the dim half-light, the corner of his mouth seemed to lift, ever so slightly.
—
She slept dreamlessly. Having rested plenty the day before, Ji Mingshu woke early for once, at the same time as Cen Sen.
Cen Sen woke, lifted his collar to sniff, and without a word, got up to run a bath.
Ji Mingshu followed, stepping barefoot onto the floor. She leaned against the bed for a moment to gather her senses, then trailed after him into the bathroom.
Seeing her enter, Cen Sen glanced over. "Did I wake you? You can sleep a bit longer. It's still early." His voice was husky, rough with sleep.
Standing at the outer sink, squeezing toothpaste, Ji Mingshu wrinkled her nose in disdain. "You didn't wake me, you stank me awake.” She chattered on, "I'll have to ask the housekeeper to change the sheets later. The whole bed reeks of alcohol. I really don't know how I managed to sleep through that last night. I can't stand you.”
How she'd slept through it…
Cen Sen paused briefly, recalling the kisses planted on his lips and the soft murmurs whispered against his ear last night. A light chuckle escaped him.
Ji Mingshu was alert. She leaned back, peeking into the inner bathroom, her toothbrush buzzing in her mouth as she mumbled, "Wha' are you laughin' a'?"
"Nothing," Cen Sen replied offhandedly, his tone casual.
Seeing Ji Mingshu still holding her buzzing electric toothbrush, staring him down, he remained unperturbed. He began unhurriedly unbuttoning his shirt. After the shirt, his hand moved lower… Shameless! Ji Mingshu cursed silently, immediately averting her gaze.
The master bathroom was spacious, complete with a sauna, a mirror-embedded TV, and even a wine-tasting counter. Further in, it opened up to other areas: one side led to the east-facing sunroom, the other to the infinity pool on the west terrace.
In summer, lounging in the pool, sipping wine while admiring the mountain and lake views was a vacation without ever leaving home.
Ji Mingshu had even moved her vanity into the bathroom. After brushing her teeth, she sat there, going through her morning skincare routine while chatting with Cen Sen, who was showering inside.
By the time Cen Sen finished his shower, Ji Mingshu had just finished applying a face mask. Her hair was tied back with a light pink cat-ear headband, revealing her flawless, palm-sized face. She was now swirling a tube of mist, spraying it onto her skin.
"What is that?"
After spraying, Ji Mingshu patted her skin gently, used a hexagonal sponge to blot the excess, then waved her hand, signaling Cen Sen to bend down.
Cen Sen hesitated for a moment, then obliged, bracing his hands on her vanity and leaning in.
Ji Mingshu grabbed the spray and gave his face a few hearty spritzes. "Hydrating mist. You're almost thirty. Time to start hydrating."
"……"
Cen Sen wiped some off and smelled it. It seemed to be just plain water.
But looking down at Ji Mingshu's bare skin, as smooth and flawless as a peeled hard-boiled egg, without a single blemish under the row of lights, he found it hard to dismiss the potential efficacy of these seemingly frivolous bottles and jars.
Ji Mingshu continued slathering on products, glancing at Cen Sen oddly. "Why are you staring at me? You've got stubble. Aren't you going to shave?"
It was just short, darkish stubble, barely noticeable unless you looked closely.
Cen Sen gave a noncommittal "Mm," and obediently picked up his razor to clean up.
By the time he was done, Ji Mingshu had finished her skincare.
But just as she prepared to stand up, Cen Sen suddenly pressed her back down. Leaning in from behind, he wrapped an arm around her neck, nuzzled his freshly shaved cheek against hers, and asked, "Smooth enough?"
Ji Mingshu froze, her voice growing shamefully softer. "Smo… smooth."
The gesture was intimate. In the mirror, Ji Mingshu saw Cen Sen's head tilted slightly against her cheek, his features handsome and faintly lazy.
Her breathing became shallow, eyelids lowered. She distractedly continued to rub in hand cream, muttering complaints to hurry him along, terrified that any misstep might reveal her little spring-in-winter heart-flutters.
That morning, the two of them were like a newlywed couple deeply in love. The wife helped the husband fasten his cufflinks and tie; the husband spritzed perfume into the air for the wife to twirl through. Once ready, they went downstairs together for breakfast, discussing their schedules for the day.
When Cen Sen left, Ji Mingshu, still sipping milk, followed him out, smiling and waving at Zhou Jiaheng.
Zhou Jiaheng, flustered by the attention, hurriedly returned the greeting. "Good morning, Madam."
Watching the Bentley drive away, Ji Mingshu skipped back inside. She curled up on the sofa, hugging a pillow and giggling to herself for quite a while.
If only every morning could be like this one. Of course, it would be even better if that Dog Man had left her with a goodbye kiss.
The thought made her feel a bit greedy. She wondered if all girls became this insatiable after falling for someone, never satisfied, always wanting more.
She patted her cheeks to sober up, then went upstairs to change, preparing to go to Gu Kaiyang's place to move her luggage.
Because of Cen Sen's return last night, she hadn't watched the second half of the show. On the way to Gu Kaiyang's, Ji Mingshu checked Weibo and discovered she'd actually gained twenty thousand followers. Many had sent private messages praising her beauty, and some even asked if she took on interior design projects.
Scrolling through, she found no negative comments and promptly forgot all about watching the part of the show she'd missed.
In fact, the first episode of Designer's Abode had only aired up to the point where their team divided tasks to shop for home goods at the market. Most of the screen time focused on Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing. Ji Mingshu's parts, if compiled, probably wouldn't even fill three minutes.
Moreover, the editors had likely realized that whenever Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing stood together, Ji Mingshu looked more like the celebrity. So the second half had hardly any shots of them side by side. The entire episode was all love & peace, even bordering on… boring.
For a variety show, being lowbrow or featuring arguments isn't necessarily a problem, but being boring is. It directly affects ratings.
Even with the support of Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing's fans, the premiere ratings for Designer's Abode were mediocre, and its online viewership was downright dismal.
With ratings and views in such a sorry state, discussion around the show was virtually nonexistent. Aside from a few posts made by fans on gossip forums right after it aired, everyone quickly became engrossed in other celebrity dramas. Who had time for some home renovation show?
A handful of casual viewers did notice the designer Ji Mingshu's striking looks, but posts asking for opinions about her were either blindly dismissed as paid promotion or garnered less than a page of replies before sinking into oblivion.
Everything was calm. Unbeknownst to everyone, this calm completely contradicted the production team's original intention.
From the night of the broadcast until the next morning, the Designer's Abode team was in the conference room, holding emergency meetings to discuss new promotional strategies.
No one knew that yesterday's episode hadn't even finished airing!
The original plan was for the first episode to end on a cliffhanger, right when Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing had their big blow-up over the rug.
Paid posters and prepared press releases for Weibo and major forums were ready. Follow-up marketing would kick in immediately.
A glamorous amateur clashing with a young idol, combined with the presence of a top traffic magnet like Pei Xiyan—it was a recipe for guaranteed buzz.
But man proposes, God disposes. The station had abruptly interrupted the broadcast for an important local news bulletin: a violent homicide had occurred in the city center. Orders came from above; even the evening news anchors were pulled in for live updates. How could their little production team say no?
The crucial final twenty minutes of Designer's Abode's premiere were unceremoniously chopped off. The producer's pleas to the station to continue broadcasting were denied. The station prioritized its flagship prime-time drama that aired in the 10 p.m. slot, dismissively telling them to re-edit the remaining content into the next episode.
Next episode? With the premiere performing this poorly, who's going to watch the next one??? The producer, staring at the unremarkable and completely undiscussable premiere, felt like personally hunting down that damn murderer.
—
A week passed in this uneventful manner. On the night Designer's Abode's second episode was set to air, a wave of paid posters suddenly descended upon major forums, flooding discussions about the first episode: ‘Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing have great chemistry!’, ‘Pei Xiyan is adorably aloof!’, ‘Yan Yuexing is so cute!’, ‘The amateur is really beautiful but seems a bit bad-tempered’...
Although veteran forum users scornfully cursed the "flop show" and told the "shills to get lost," this expensive, widespread spamming campaign managed to generate a tiny bit of attention.
And when the show officially aired at 8 p.m., this attention began to translate into real viewership.
Ji Mingshu was oblivious to all this. Cen Sen, who'd promised not to travel but had left on a last-minute business trip, wasn't home. Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun were busy with work and romance, respectively. Left with little choice, she accepted an invitation from a few of her plastic society sisters to see a musical.
To be honest, none of them were particularly interested in musicals. But partying and carousing every day wasn't a good look; they needed to occasionally showcase their refined, cultured tastes.
After the painfully long musical finally ended, the drowsy plastic sisters beside her finally opened their eyes, secretly heaving sighs of relief.
Ji Mingshu felt like laughing but politely held it in. She cooperatively took a selfie with Vivian and let her post it to her social feed.
Vivian: [Watching a musical with my Shu-bao today. Yay!]
Her post was rich in images but scant on text. Mainly because… it couldn't be otherwise. This sister had been semi-comatose throughout, probably couldn't even remember the name of the musical they'd just seen. Expecting any substantive commentary on the content was out of the question.
Seeing from the corner of her eye that Vivian had hit 'post,' Ji Mingshu slowly took out her own phone from her bag, ready to give it a like and leave a "mwah mwah" comment.
But unexpectedly, the moment she switched off airplane mode, her WeChat exploded, messages pinging incessantly.
And Vivian suddenly stammered in surprise, "Xiao… Xiao Shu, my friend says… you're on the hot search. Weibo hot search…”
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