My Queen, My Rules - 71
Plan
It had been more than half a month since Ji Mingshu's last Weibo post. Some people were still checking in under her New Year's post, waiting for her to show up and post something new. No one expected their wait would be rewarded with a spectacular public showdown instead.
[That’s a solid ground to stand on! The CEO's Wife is a real one!]
[Front row seats here! Have your snacks, sodas, and small stools ready!]
[? What happened? Who’s Li Wenyin?]
[Back when that certain director posted that essay titled 'My Ex Got Married,' I commented: 'If you really didn't want to disturb your ex, then you shouldn’t have posted this in the first place.’ MyThat comment got tons of likes. Then that certain director deleted it and blocked me. I still remember it crystal clear.]
[Not gonna lie, my husband’s ex was exactly this kind of nightmare. While we were dating, she’d constantly find ways to insert herself into our lives. Since we had mutual friends, I couldn’t really say much. Later, on our wedding day, she posted an old photos of the two of them on her Moments with captions about the past that could never be recovered and how much she missed it. I was too chicken to confront her, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I was miserable throughout our honeymoon. My husband could tell I was upset, so he posted in his Moments: 'I don’t want to go back. Please stop bringing me up, thanks.' This coward was fully satisfied then :)]
[The person above just reminded me of my own blood-and-tears history. Almost exactly the same experience, except different people get different fates. My ex-husband didn’t stand up for me back then. When I got angry, he even said I was being dramatic. Later he cheated on me while I was breastfeeding, and guess who it was with? His own nightmare of an ex :)]
……
Actually, once the Weibo was posted, the worst of Ji Mingshu's fury had subsided. She never expected this post would strike such a powerful chord with so many women, along with a small number of men.
The post was also reposted by a hugely popular relationship blogger with nearly ten million followers, who added: “Not every current partner has the CEO's Wife’s confidence to go to war on their behalf. So I suppose all we can do is hope that certain exes who have absolutely no self-awareness will voluntarily enroll in a course on ‘The Ex’s Guide to Self-Respect.’ /smile”
Before long, #TheExsGuideToSelfRespect quietly climbed onto the trending charts. It shot from somewhere beyond the top thirty straight into the top ten. Every time Ji Mingshu refreshed the page, she could see her follower count shooting upward, while her reposts, likes, comments, and private messages were all exploding.
When the repost count passed thirty thousand, Cen Sen finally woke up.
“What are you looking at?” His voice was husky with sleep, a little rough around the edges.
Ji Mingshu glanced over at him and slipped her phone behind her back. “I... I was just looking at Weibo.”
She had been furious before, but once she had actually posted it, she felt inexplicably guilty.
Somehow, she didn’t really want Cen Sen to see this more aggressive side of her. She had publicly torn into his ex on Weibo. What if he thought she was undignified or lacking in grace?
But the deed was done. After causing such a commotion, deleting it would look even worse, and there was no hiding it from him anyway.
Ji Mingshu steeled herself, suddenly threw her arms around Cen Sen, and showered him with kisses. Then she tipped up her face and coaxed sweetly, “I have something to tell you. Prepare yourself mentally. You have to accept it!”
“What is it?”
Cen Sen lowered his eyes to her. His voice remained fairly calm, but the muscles at his temples had already begun to throb uncontrollably.
“So, it's like this. Li Wenyin posted something on Weibo last night...”
As she organized her words, Ji Mingshu also raised her phone and gave him a vivid, illustrated account of the entire saga. “...Look, look! Her fans said all these awful things about me! They called me a homewrecker! How could I possibly not get angry, right? And I tend to be a little grumpy when I wake up in the morning. You know what I’m like. So I posted something too. This one. This one right here.”
She cautiously watched Cen Sen’s expression before adding, “Actually, right after posting, I felt like maybe I shouldn’t have. What’s the point of stooping to her level? But it was already posted...”
When he didn’t respond immediately, she wrapped both arms around his and shook it while declaring firmly, “Anyway, you’re not allowed to be angry or think I’m some kind of shrew! I’m just telling you that this happened. But you have to forget about it. The Ji Mingshu in your heart can only ever be a little fairy!”
“Mm. A little fairy.”
Cen Sen skimmed the Weibo post and gave an indifferent little response. He set down the phone, and with that, Ji Mingshu’s worries were put to rest.
Ji Mingshu ventured cautiously, “Do... do you have any thoughts about what I posted?”
Cen Sen thought about it. “The sentences are coherent, the logic is clear, it's well written.”
“Then... you don’t think I was being a little too aggressive?” After all, I was going after your ex.
Cen Sen thought again. “I am aware something like this happened, but I’ve already forgotten it. In my heart, you’ll always be... a little fairy.”
Ji Mingshu: “...”
Why did the feeling of forcing someone to say romantic things sound so much like she was dragging an innocent young woman into a brothel?
She gave him a look that said, ‘Alright, I can see you’re trying your best to keep up,’ then went off to the bathroom in complete satisfaction.
While Ji Mingshu was washing up, there was another development on Weibo. After lying dormant for several days, Junyi’s official account once again stepped in and liked Ji Mingshu’s post, making its stance and position crystal clear.
[I don’t know why, but somehow I’m getting an overwhelming sense of the President’s intense will to survive from everything the official account has been doing.]
[Diagnosis confirmed: henpecked husband.]
Actually, it was Zhou Jiaheng who had clicked the like. The previous times the official account had stepped in, he had also personally written the copy himself whenever he could steal a moment from his packed schedule.
But Zhou Jiaheng’s intentions naturally represented Cen Sen’s intentions. Calling him a man with an ‘intense will to survive’ or a ‘henpecked husband’ wasn't exactly unfair.
Meanwhile, within their social circle, opinions were divided. Some felt that Ji Mingshu had lowered herself by doing this, that a wealthy socialite should have better things to do than engage in online spats.
Others thought that if Cen Sen didn’t mind and even used used the group’s official Weibo account to make his position clear, then what business was it of anyone else? People with nothing better to do should worry less about other people’s marriages and take a look at what kind of half-baked arranged marriage partner their own families were lining up for them.
When Ji Mingshu’s second uncle found out, he called her and gave her a thorough scolding. His lecture amounted to the same old routine: keep a lower profile, say less online, and, most importantly, hurry up and start planning for pregnancy and children.
Ji Mingshu played the obedient niece with a string of “Yes, yes,” while shooting desperate looks at Cen Sen for rescue. Only after he stepped in did she finally escape her second uncle’s extended lengthy, point-by-point executive-to-subordinate sermon.
Fortunately, beyond a few wealthy socialite bloggers disclosing more details of Li Wenyin's white lotus antics, nothing unexpected happened, and the matter did not cause an even bigger stir online.
As for Li Wenyin, she never responded.
Her fans, who initially believed Ji Mingshu was distorting the truth, already had their hearts turned cold after witnessing Junyi’s official support and watched several widely recognized wealthy beauty bloggers expose more details.
They waited stubbornly for several days, but Li Wenyin never gave them an explanation. Then, one night, she quietly wiped her entire Weibo account clean, changed her username, and replaced her profile picture.
—Later, Jiang Chun declared that Li Wenyin’s move marked the revolutionary victory of the Operation Expel-Little-Lotus-Li, with far-reaching significance in striking terror into the hearts of the ‘White Lotus Sect’ and preventing them from acting recklessly again. After this battle, Comrade Ji Mingshu had also earned the indisputable honor of the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from the ‘Association of Lotus Exorcists’.
Ji Mingshu clearly did not particularly want this honor. The fact that her Weibo followers had surpassed Li Wenyin’s over the past few days was already the greatest honor she could have wanted.
But after surpassing her, Ji Mingshu’s attitude became much more detached. She never intended to become a celebrity or internet influencer in the first place, so she stopped posting on Weibo and had no desire to attract any more attention.
This series of storms finally drew to a gentle close as the New Year festivities concluded. Although the capital no longer saw snow after the holidays, the temperature had yet to warm up.
On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, Cen Sen officially returned to work at the company.
This time, Cen Sen had taken nearly twenty days off, which, by his own account, was the longest vacation he had taken since he started working.
Even so, Ji Mingshu felt that he had spent every day working. He had merely relocated his office from the company to their home.
As the saying went, one became like those one spent time around. After confirming their mutual feelings, Ji Mingshu found herself influenced by Cen Sen to some degree. A thought kept nagging her: He's this rich and still works this hard. Shouldn't I also find something to do to be worthy of him?
It seemed that when you truly fell for someone, you couldn't help wanting to draw closer to them. You greedily want to step into their world, to share more interests and have more things to talk about.
So when Ji Mingshu saw Cen Sen’s densely packed work schedule for the first half of the year, she sidled into his study, rested her chin in her hands with an expression of utmost seriousness, and said, “I want to make a New Year’s plan too. Teach me how.”
Cen Sen’s fingers paused slightly over the keyboard. “What kind? Travel or shopping?”
“...”
Ji Mingshu stared straight at him with a look that said: Do I really look that idle, lazy, and unambitious to you?
Cen Sen met her gaze with one that clearly said: Yes. You really do look exactly that idle, lazy, and unambitious.
Ten seconds later, Cen Sen raised the white flag, because Ji Mingshu had been rubbing her bare foot against the inside of his calf beneath the desk the entire time.
He pulled out a document and handed it to her. “I remember you were interested in the Junyi Yaji project. The hotel is scheduled for completion this April. The project team has already shortlisted more than thirty designers to design the guest rooms. If you’re interested, I can arrange for you to participate in the design competition. But there’s one condition. Your design proposal has to pass the project team’s anonymous blind vote.”
Ji Mingshu took the document and studied it carefully for quite some time.
When she finished, she suddenly laughed, casually pushed back her hair, and murmured as though it were merely an idle observation, “How strange… why does this Potala Place feel so much like our study?”
“...”
Cen Sen didn’t understand what she meant at first. By the time he figured it out, Ji Mingshu had already slid onto his lap, planted a quick kiss on him, and said sweetly, “Thank you, husband.”
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Author’s Note:
Little Golden Canary: This baby has kowtowed her way to the Potala Palace and successfully moved heavens and earth.
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