My Queen, My Rules - 82
Payback
To be honest, Ji Mingshu wasn't exactly enthusiastic about having children. This year, with both families repeatedly dropping hints, sometimes subtle and sometimes anything but, she always managed to brush them off with a coquettish excuses.
But it wasn't as though she was strongly opposed to the idea, either. Every now and then, following the expectations of both families, she would even indulge in fantasies of a blissful future with a son and a daughter.
Her ambivalence probably stemmed from a subconscious belief that children weren't something you could have just because you decided you wanted one. She had never had any concrete concept of what bringing a new life into the world truly entails. As a result, she simply didn't dwell on it.
When he didn't get an answer, Cen Sen moved slowly again and, his voice hoarse, asked once more, "Should we have a baby?"
Ji Mingshu had no strength left to speak. Her voice came out soft and muffled, and even her refusal lacked any real conviction.
Sensing that Cen Sen had reached the point of no return, she instinctively reached for the little box on the table.
But the next second, she froze.
Huh? Empty?
She tipped the box over again, but nothing came out.
With effort, she pulled open the drawer. It, too, was completely empty.
Ji Mingshu's reactions were already sluggish from everything Cen Sen was putting her through, and now she simply sat there in a daze for a good while, unable to process what she was seeing.
Had they really used up that entire huge box she'd accidentally grabbed at the supermarket? A box that big would probably take a convenience store half a month to sell!
"Wait... wait..."
Unwilling to believe it, she pushed herself halfway upright and reached deeper into the drawer, still hoping to find something.
But Cen Sen was past the point of no return. Sweat slid down his temple, his eyes dark and heavy, and with one gentle press, he pushed her slender waist back down.
Click!
The Canary's Egg Incubation Chronicle officially began recording.
The next morning, Ji Mingshu woke to stare blankly at the ceiling. For nearly five minutes, her eyes remained unfocused and vacant.
By the latter half of the night, the storm had finally subsided. She'd been as exhausted as a dead bird, and by all rights, the moment her head touched the pillow, she should have slept like the dead. Yet she'd barely slept for a few hours in total, and even during those few hours, she'd been plagued by constant dreams.
In the dream, she'd given birth to a baby. She couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl, and its features were hazy, but judging from all the praise she heard from other people, the child seemed to be at least somewhat cute.
Unfortunately, this adorable little creature was infuriating. It had inherited every single bad habit known to mankind's most troublesome little brat, and could make someone so angry they were ready to drop dead within three minutes, with two and a half of those minutes spent completely furious.
Just as she was stuck at home to raise the child, dressed down and barefaced, she was suddenly struck by another piece of devastating news. Cen Sen had cheated on her!
The sheer sensation of having the sky split open over her head in that dream was almost impossible to describe. It was far more devastating than the time she'd mistakenly believed Cen Sen had cheated on her with that Zhang-nobody D-list actress.
And the dream followed the full dramatic arc. No sooner had she processed this horrific news, it wasted no time arranging a full-blown confrontation scene in which Cen Sen came home to confess everything.
Cen Sen stood in the living room in his impeccably tailored, expensive suit and laid out his terms directly.
Ji Mingshu couldn't remember the rest of them. She only remembered Cen Sen saying that the child belonged to him, with absolutely no room for negotiation. He spoke in that cold, detached tone that had once been so familiar to her and was now so strange, his gaze calm and icy.
In the dream, she simply couldn't accept reality. It felt as though the sky had collapsed, and she plunged straight into the apocalypse.
So even after waking, she could still somehow feel the grief, despair, disbelief, and unresolved anguish that had overwhelmed her in the dream.
"What's wrong?"
Cen Sen had only just woken up. Seeing her staring blankly into space, he instinctively pulled her back into his arms, his voice low, warm, and husky.
It was only three simple words, yet they carried such undisguised intimacy, the man in front of her was worlds apart from the cold, heartless Cen-shi Sensen of her dream.
Ji Mingshu curled into his arms in search of a comfortable position. Her cold hands and feet slowly began to warm, and she murmured sulkily, "Nothing. I had a nightmare."
Cen Sen didn't ask any further. He kissed her hair. "It's still early. Sleep a bit more."
Ji Mingshu hummed in response, her arms tightening unconsciously around him.
But it wasn't long before she couldn't resist poking a finger against Cen Sen's chest and whispering, "I dreamed that after I had a baby, you cheated on me."
Cen Sen paused slightly. His first thought was this was a childish excuse she'd concocted because she didn't want children. After two seconds of silence, he simply went along with her. "Then we won't have one."
"That's not what I mean. I really dreamed it!" Ji Mingshu poked him a little harder. "I dreamed that after you cheated on me, you came home to tell me everything. You wouldn't even sit down. You just stood there in the living room talking to me about how our property would be divided, and how the child had to go with you, and all that..."
Ji Mingshu kept rambling, and by the end, she even voiced a suspicious theory. "You don't think... I might have some ability to foresee the future? A lot of novels write it that way."
Cen Sen pondered for a moment, then countered, "Don't those novels also write about kidney and heart harvesting?"
"..."
"Alright, stop talking."
The subject was promptly abandoned after Cen Sen dragged up her black history. Ji Mingshu moved on to various other topics, talking about this and that while her fingers idly traced circles over his chest.
Then she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. When will we get the result for that Junyi Yaji design proposal?"
"It should be this afternoon. If I finish my schedule early, I might sit in on the project's design review."
Ji Mingshu gave a meaningful little "Oh."
Cen Sen didn't answer. He merely looked at her with equal significance, his expression practically saying, "If you bribe me, I might consider some behind-the-scenes interference."
Ji Mingshu struggled internally for a moment but ultimately decided to firmly protect her principles. She pushed at Cen Sen and urged him to get out of bed.
Cen Sen chuckled and, for once, didn't cling to her.
At the office, Cen Sen carried on as usual, drinking his black coffee while working through the mountain of documents piled up before him.
Halfway through, however, he suddenly took off his glasses and leisurely wiped them with a cloth before calling Zhou Jiaheng over. "Have Lawyer Wen come by."
Zhou Jiaheng paused briefly. "Yes, sir."
Lawyer Wen was Cen Sen's personal attorney and handled only his private property matters. He appeared only a handful of times a year, so this sudden summons was rather puzzling.
Half an hour later, Lawyer Wen arrived on the sixty-eighth floor of Junyi's headquarters.
Cen Sen got straight to the point. "Lawyer Wen, I'd like to revoke the prenuptial agreement my wife and I drew up before."
Lawyer Wen didn't quite understand. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Do you want to amend some of the clauses?"
"No. I want my wife to legally share all of my assets, both those acquired before the marriage and those acquired afterward."
"...?"
Lawyer Wen's entire face seemed to be asking, Have you been bewitched or something?
Cen Sen's expression remained unchanged. He rested one elbow lightly on the desk, loosely interlacing his fingers, and continued, "I'd also like to draw up a new agreement specifying how property should be compensated and divided if either spouse has an affair during the marriage. For example, if I have an affair, I leave the marriage with nothing. Something along those lines."
"..."
This wasn't a minor case of being bewitched. This was serious.
Lawyer Wen broke into a nervous sweat internally. He tactfully confirmed the matter several times, and after receiving an affirmative answer, carefully recorded Cen Sen's requests and explained, one by one, the possible consequences those provisions might entail.
Cen Sen confirmed every one of them without hesitation.
Although Lawyer Wen couldn't fathom what Cen Sen was trying to accomplish, he knew it wasn't his place to question his client's intentions. So he simply followed instructions and went back to prepare the contract.
After Lawyer Wen left, Cen Sen sat alone in his office, leaning back in his chair as he thought about the dream Ji Mingshu had told him about that morning.
The truth was, he knew there were many times when he hadn't done enough. Otherwise, Ji Mingshu wouldn't still be worried, even now, that he might cheat on her during the marriage. But he didn't know what else he could do to give her a sufficient sense of security.
After turning the matter over in his mind, it seemed the only thing within his power was to provide her with more security in material terms.
Zhou Jiaheng came in at that moment to deliver documents, reminding him of his lunch appointment and that it was time to leave.
Cen Sen hummed in acknowledgment, then asked, "What time is the Junyi Yaji design review?"
Zhou Jiaheng replied, "Two this afternoon."
Cen Sen gave a slight nod without comment.
Ji Mingshu's design proposal had been packaged up and sent directly to the Junyi Yaji project manager's email.
The manager had initially been at a loss over how he was supposed to handle the president's wife's submission. He'd tried sounding out his superiors, but no one was willing to give him a definite directive. Even Zhou Jiaheng had spoken in nothing but riddles, leaving him completely unable to figure out what was actually expected of him.
He'd agonized over it for two days. With the design review approaching, he finally couldn't resist taking an early look at the proposal. The moment he did, he was relieved.
"...I also think design number 052, with the 'B612 planet' theme, is excellent. The Little Prince and the Rose are a fairy tale everyone knows, so they already provide an excellent foundation for the concept. The designer's design philosophy also fits closely with the specific proposal and the background she's provided, creating a very vibrant and natural sense of harmony."
"Furthermore, from an operational standpoint, a considerable portion of the clientele we serve at Yaji are young women. Even our previous promotional campaign for the influencer hotel had a very clearly defined target audience. This proposal hits that particular segment of our customer base very well."
At the design review, the manager was in the middle of selecting the proposals he found most satisfactory.
Cen Sen arrived halfway through and gestured for everyone to continue. He merely sat to one side and listened, showing no intention of expressing his own opinion from start to finish.
But the manager noticed something. When Design 052's 3ds Max renderings were displayed, Cen Sen glanced at them and then seemed to fix his gaze there. There was even the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
The first Junyi Yaji property was currently planned to have sixty-eight suites, with an emphasis on personalized luxury.
Aside from the twenty-three renowned designers whose participation had already been confirmed, the remaining forty-five guest rooms would all be designed through this competition for young designers.
There was a minor disagreement midway through the review, but in the end, everyone reached a consensus.
***
Ji Mingshu was anxious to know the result of the design review, yet she was afraid of disturbing Cen Sen while he worked. All she could do was stare hopefully at her phone, thinking that if she'd made it through, the project team would surely send her an email.
But she waited and waited, and no email came. She couldn't help feeling increasingly uncertain, to the point that even shopping failed to lift her spirits.
Jiang Chun didn't particularly understand this designer's sense of professional pride. She only thought Ji Mingshu was being ridiculously dramatic and earnestly tried to persuade her. "It's just one guest room. He bought you an entire island. If you insist on designing it, do you really think he won't let you?"
“Why are you making such a fuss over it? So what if it's ugly? At worst, they can just keep the suite closed to the public and make it your private suite as the CEO’s wife. You can torture your own eyes with it whenever you want. Problem solved. Everyone’s happy!”
"..."
"Do you ever listen to yourself?"
Jiang Chun looked utterly innocent.
Ji Mingshu looked her up and down twice, then her gaze settled on the half-eaten pork-floss cake in Jiang Chun's hand. "Even food can't shut you up!"
---
Comments
Post a Comment