My Queen, My Rules - 70

"Su Ke? Drug trafficking?" Ji Mingshu had just finished applying a face mask when she saw the news. She hastily peeled off the sheet, not even bothering to rinse her face before dashing out of the bathroom. "Did you have something to do with this?"

Cen Sen, leaning against the headboard with a book in hand, glanced up calmly. "Do I look like the mafia?"

Ji Mingshu: "..."

Cen Sen turned a page leisurely, his gold-rimmed glasses catching the light. "I can't very well force someone to commit a crime."

Ji Mingshu understood the subtext. Translated, it meant: I didn’t make him break the law, but I certainly made sure his crimes came to light.

It had never occurred to her that Cen-shi Sensen was such an upstanding, model-citizen watchdog operating from outside Chaoyang District.

She sidled over to the bed and peeked at the book in his hands. As expected, Cen-shi Sensen’s CEO pretentious aura was impeccable; he was reading a foreign-language edition of some highbrow literature.

She pressed down on the book, planted a quick kiss on his lips, then sat up straight, looking down at him with an air of superiority. "Good job. Consider that your reward."

Cen Sen let out a soft snort, his gaze returning to his book.

The only reason Ji Mingshu dared to initiate a kiss at night was because she was on her period and could act out without consequences. What she called a ‘reward’ was more like torture.

Ji Mingshu was well aware of this. After her little provocation, she stood up in high spirits, hands clasped behind her back, her steps light and bouncy. She even hummed a tune that had strayed about ten miles from the theme song of some palace drama.

Cen Sen watched her go. His usually stern features seemed to soften under the glow of the bedside lamp. A faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Truthfully, if Li Wenyin hadn't been so relentlessly provocative, Cen Sen wouldn't have intervened this early or this decisively.

Other scandals could be buried or weathered over time without much impact on the film. But drug trafficking? That wasn't just a scandal or a problematic celebrity issue. That was a crime worthy of jail time.

Furthermore, all the related arrest reports emphasized that Su Ke had been apprehended on the set of Li Wenyin's film.

They were shooting at an international high school in the capital. The scene they were filming—a classic unrequited-love moment where the male lead stayed alone in the classroom while the female lead secretly watched from the back door—was abruptly interrupted by the police storming in and apprehending Su Ke.

The sudden disruption forced production to halt. Everyone on set was taken in for questioning. Rumor had it the female lead threw a diva fit, refusing to go to the police station, which escalated into an ugly scene; she was almost forcibly escorted away.

Overnight, alongside the rampant news of Su Ke's drug trafficking, numerous topics about the film itself began trending.

Su Ke had been handpicked by Li Wenyin as the male lead, touted as the perfect choice in terms of talent, fanbase, and backing. She knew he wasn't clean, but she also knew his not-so-clean background came with some solid connections. Barring a major accident, he was likely untouchable. That's why, after officially announcing him as the lead, she had confidently taken to social media to endorse him.

Who could have predicted that such a catastrophic turn of events could happen overnight?

After leaving the police station, Li Wenyin's phone rang nonstop.

At first, she thought there might still be a way to salvage the film. The film had just started shooting; if the male lead was out, they could simply recast.

But then, like a coordinated strike, the female lead, second lead, and supporting actors all posted Weibo announcements stating their withdrawal from the film—without even notifying her first.

Seriously, who would dare to stay? The entire crew was being labeled a drug den from the outside!

They might be willing to latch onto other types of hype, but right now, they'd rather be unknown extras for the rest of their lives than be associated with Li Wenyin's production!

The investors were more realistic. Due to the pre-release buzz, Li Wenyin had secured several product placement deals. Now, calls came in one after another to cancel those collaborations.

The Yuan family, her key backer, didn’t even bother calling her themselves. Instead, they sent a cold message through an assistant: they wouldn’t reclaim their initial investment, but any future funding was off the table.

It was upon receiving this call that Li Wenyin truly sobered up. Perhaps genuine appreciation didn't really exist in this world.

Back when Feng Shuxiu introduced her to the sickly heir of the Yuan family, she hadn't been particularly impressed. But seeing it as an opportunity to build connections, she maintained a perfectly polite and appropriate demeanor.

Unsurprisingly, the other party expressed great admiration for her, frequently inviting her to movies and art exhibitions, discussing classical literature and art, as well as the history of Chinese and Western cinema...

Gradually, her opinion of him changed. She began to think he had genuine talent and a sincere appreciation for art.

So she employed a few subtle tactics to make this man firmly believe that her motivation for making this film wasn't lingering feelings for a first love, but rather a pure desire to create the most inspired work of art—a pursuit of artistic creation.

She wasn't being arrogant; she knew exactly how much allure she held for a certain type of man. Securing the investment from the Yuan family was the best proof.

What she didn't understand was that supposed attraction and appreciation couldn't withstand a single scandal that caused his initial investment to fail.

The final call came from Feng Shuxiu.

There were no words of comfort or condemnation. She simply pointed out one last chilling path. "The Cen family has sent word to the Zou family. They never want to see you in the capital again. Wrap up your mess and leave the country. Don’t come back."

Li Wenyin closed her eyes.

In that instant, countless memories flooded her mind.

She remembered seeing Ji Mingshu as a child, wearing beautiful little dresses and acting spoiled with her uncles and aunts.

She remembered boys in middle school whispering amongst themselves about how pretty Ji Mingshu was.

She remembered the one decent birthday party she managed to have, inviting classmates for dinner and karaoke, feeling proud of herself—until everyone started talking about how Ji Mingshu had spent her birthday attending Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris...

For years, she had stood in Ji Mingshu’s shadow, closer than anyone else yet separated by the most insurmountable distance in the world.

Only during those three months of dating Cen Sen had she, deep in her subconscious, truly felt she stood on equal footing with Ji Mingshu.

That was the time she missed the most.

Li Wenyin left. After issuing a public apology and announcing the halt of her film, she disappeared indefinitely.

But as Jiang Chun said, ‘once a green tea bitch, always a green tea bitch’. Even in her farewell statement, Li Wenyin couldn’t resist adding a cryptic line:

"Not being able to bring this story to life on paper and screen is my greatest regret. But no matter what, those were the days I hold closest to my heart."

Initially, fans had mostly pitied Li Wenyin for her bad luck. But by linking the shelved book and the halted film herself, she inevitably made people wonder: Was this all part of some elaborate targeting?

The more people thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. What were the odds that her book would be blocked one moment and her film halted the next?

Curious netizens started digging into her first love’s real-life prototype based on her past articles. Combined with the fact that Ji Mingshu's social circle wasn't airtight, insiders soon politely pointed the way—it wasn’t long before the connection was made: Li Wenyin's first love was none other than the husband of the recently scandalous ‘The Silencer’ herself, the current President of Junyi Group, Cen Sen.

Cen Sen had some public information online, but it was just mundane stuff like age, education, and career history. There were no photos showing his face.

And his lack of public photos only fueled more curiosity.

Because in her writing, Li Wenyin had described her first love's looks as godlike, practically a male lead straight out of a campus romance novel.

And this campus romance–novel male lead grew up to become the dashing male lead in the CEO romance novels of every girl’s fantasies, who went on to wage war for his breathtakingly beautiful wife—having her search trends suppressed, posts deleted, and the corporate Weibo issuing multiple statements to demand justice for her.

One man, written into two different novels by two women? This was far too intriguing!

While the online drama enthusiasts were fascinated by Li Wenyin's so-called final Weibo post, Ji Mingshu was practically dying of rage.

Overnight, her social media was flooded with messages from Li Wenyin’s fans. They asked if she had come in between Li Wenyin and Cen Sen, asked if her conscience hurt, asked if her marriage to Cen Sen was just an alliance between families, and what was the point of living with someone who didn't love her...

The crucial part was that Cen Sen was sleeping soundly right beside her! His arm was wrapped tightly around her waist! She couldn't even sit up to give him a kick!

Ji Mingshu, already prone to morning irritability, didn’t bother to think things through. She began furiously typing:

"From a young age, I was taught many rules of etiquette—what not to do and what not to say. Don’t curse; it’s uncouth. Don’t engage in public disputes; it only reveals one's own lack of grace. Don’t nitpick over trivial matters; be magnanimous and forgiving.

"I, too, have always believed that private conflicts should be resolved face-to-face between the parties involved, not aired out for the world to dissect. However, Miss Li seems to have mistaken my restraint for permission to push boundaries, turning my repeated forbearance into an opportunity to overstep.

"I’d like to ask: Miss Li has repeatedly emphasized that her first love is married and that she has no wish to disturb him. Yet, after the involved parties have repeatedly requested that she refrain from distorting facts through books and films, she persisted in her single-minded pursuit of peddling her so-called nostalgic sentiments. Does Miss Li not feel that the term 'virtue-signaling hypocrite' was tailor-made for her?

"I hope Miss Li can learn to respect herself and cease disturbing my husband's and my life. Let this farce of self-righteousness end here. And I hope none of you ever have to encounter a shameless ex who, upon your joyful marriage, writes an essay titled 'My Ex Got Married,' pushes it to trending, and periodically seeks to publish books and make films to memorialize the past.

— Ji Mingshu"

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Author's Note:

Little Canary Baby: Wuwuwu my follower count is finally going to surpass that woman's!!! Cen-shi Sensen is such a cheapskate! He didn't even buy me any followers!!!

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