My Queen, My Rules - 83
Suprise
Ji Mingshu was stunned for a second, then confirmed, “The B612 Planet theme?”
“It’s mine. That one is mine!” When everything clicked, her voice was instantly bright with delight. “You recognized it, didn’t you? You definitely recognized it!”
Cen Sen's silence was his confirmation.
He was indeed very familiar with Ji Mingshu’s style. No matter how much the theme changed, he could always recognize one of her designs at a glance.
Now that she had learned her proposal had not only been selected but had also received the highest number of votes, Ji Mingshu was so happy she could have taken flight right there on the spot. She didn't care that she was in a crowded shopping mall, or that a certain Little Earth Goose who loved pulling her pigtails and picking fights was right beside her. Sweet nothings poured from her mouth toward Cen Sen as though they were free.
Jiang Chun, nibbling on her pork floss cupcake, looked at her with an expression that even words couldn't quite capture.
And she calls herself a socialite? She had no shame at all, calling her husband all sorts of sweet names in broad daylight. Was she not embarrassed?
Yet, Cen Sen seemed to relish every bit of it. He glanced at the two sentences Ji Mingshu had added to the notebook while listening to her stream of honeyed words over the phone, the corners of his lips curling faintly upward. He didn't interrupt her.
Only after Ji Mingshu finally finished did he say, “Which shopping mall are you at? I’ll come pick you up.”
Ji Mingshu gave him the address. He hummed in acknowledgment and told her to get a cup of coffee and wait for him.
Before leaving, he closed the little notebook and casually tossed it into the drawer beside the bed.
In truth, after writing out the date plan in the notebook, he too had felt it was a little absurd, childish even. Just a few simple lines—was it really worth writing down?
But he could not deny that those few simple lines had actually taken him a long time to analyse and ponder over.
For instance, he'd spent quite a while pondering why, when the two of them chatted, Ji Mingshu would sometimes suddenly lose the desire to continue. Or why she had seemed so reluctant when eating French cuisine with him, yet so relaxed when she ate with Cen Yang.
Some things had initially seemed like trivial details that were not worth overthinking, yet he cared about them far more than he had imagined.
***
After her brief burst of delight, Ji Mingshu developed a few unnecessary worries of her own. The moment she saw Cen Sen, she kept pressing him for details about the top-voted design, afraid that she had somehow coincidentally come up with the same idea as another designer and made a colossal blunder. It was not until the person in charge of the Junyi Yaji project team contacted her directly that she finally became convinced.
Being selected didn't mean Ji Mingshu could sit back and relax.
After signing the contract, she had to revise the designs according to the hotel’s actual conditions, keep up with the progress of the custom furniture in real time, and so on. For a while, she was extremely busy.
This was especially true when special techniques and materials were involved. If the designs were to be brought fully into life, she would have to fly all over the world.
Days slipped quietly by in a steady rhythm of peace and busyness. Before she knew it, the capital had moved from spring into summer.
In June, Ji Mingshu went to Osaka to visit a master of woodcarving craftsmanship, then made a detour to Tokyo to show her support at an art exhibition held by one of the plastic friends in her social circle.
While waiting for her flight home at Narita Airport, she also stopped by the duty-free shops and picked out a tie clip for Cen Sen.
As luck would have it, it was the exact same tie clip she'd been planning to buy for Cen Sen the previous year when she attended a fashion show in Paris, the one she'd put down in a huff after he irritated her with his smart mouth.
She took a photo and sent it to Cen Sen, asking: [Do you like it?]
Cen Sen: [I do.]
Ji Mingshu smiled as she paid. Accessories did not really go in and out of season anyway, and besides, there was no way to tell whether this old antique, practically dripping with a sense of bygone years from every inch of its design, was in or out of fashion.
After spending the money, there was still time before boarding. Ji Mingshu sat in the lounge with her legs crossed elegantly and browsed Weibo for a while.
She loved browsing Weibo but rarely posted. Her last update was still that lengthy essay from when she'd openly confronted Li Wenyin.
The top comments underneath had long since cycled through several rounds, and by now they had settled into the likes of: “Waiting for the CEO's wife to post again,” “Give me one front-facing photo of the CEO and I can Photoshop a gigabyte of sweetness out of it,” and “What kind of ferocious perfection is this woman?”
The gossip frenzy had actually died down long ago, and the rate at which people followed her had slowed considerably. Still, every now and then, viewers who had found their way to her after watching the re-released version of Designer's Abode would send her private messages expressing their encouragement and admiration.
Whenever she had time, she would scroll through them and sincerely reply.
This time, opening Weibo to check messages and replies as usual, she noticed one conspicuous DM from a verified gold-V official account among the messages from non-followers.
Before opening it, Ji Mingshu instinctively thought someone had finally approached her for a paid promotion. But once she clicked on it, she discovered that it was actually an invitation to participate in the filming of a documentary.
[Hello, Ms. Ji. I am the chief producer of the program Old Scenes. Our program plans to film a public-interest documentary this year about the preservation and adaptive restoration of old residential buildings. I personally very much admire the renovation proposal you presented on Designer's Abode, and would like to invite you to participate in the design. I look forward to hearing from you soon.]
Ji Mingshu paused.
Another renovation program?
She had definitely had enough of those.
She instinctively typed out a whole string of polite refusals, but when her eyes landed on the two key phrases “preservation and adaptive restoration of old residential buildings” and “public-interest documentary,” she found herself strangely hesitating.
Maybe just ask about it first.
Asking won't hurt.
With that thought in mind, Ji Mingshu added the producer and chatted with him for a few minutes while waiting for her flight.
The producer was refreshingly straightforward, immediately understanding all of Ji Mingshu’s concerns.
Make the hot searches? Absolutely not. Our documentary topic is niche, we won't invite celebrities, and we probably won't get many viewers.
The renovation might not actually be suitable for people to live in? Not an issue. The ultimate purpose of our project was to combine the old-fashioned charm of Shanghai from the last century with modern design and open the building to the public as a protected historical structure. No one would be living there.
In short, this was a public-interest design project led by the government. There was nothing she needed to worry about.
Ji Mingshu was easily swayed. The more she listened, the more she felt that maybe she really could give it a try.
She sent screenshots of their conversation to Cen Sen, wanting his opinion. But before she could get his reply, it was time to board.
The actual flight from Tokyo to the capital was only two or three hours, and Ji Mingshu, in a stunning display of frugality, chose business class.
Once on the plane, she adjusted her seat, draped a blanket over herself, then comfortably picked up a newspaper and put on her best businesswoman act.
When she read newspapers, she basically only looked at the financial section, scanning ten lines at a glance for any news related to Jingjian and Huadian.
This time, after searching for quite a while without finding anything and just about to give up, she suddenly came across an article titled “Borui Fails to Return to the A-Share Market as New Energy Development Faces Heavy Obstacles” while turning a page. She stopped.
Ji Mingshu knew little about Borui and cared even less. The only reason the article caught her attention was purely because its subheading mentioned "Haichuan Capital."
If she remembered correctly, Cen Yang was the head of Haichuan Capital’s Greater China operations.
For some reason, her intuition told her that this might have something to do with Cen Yang previously intercepting Cen Sen’s investment opportunity. So she patiently read the entire article in detail.
Ji Mingshu only half understood the financial terminology. After reading it, the gist she pieced together was:
Borui had accumulated deep internal conflicts, its capital restructuring had failed, and its prospects were bleak. It would most likely be swallowed up through an acquisition.
As one of Borui’s investors, Haichuan Capital had made several poor decisions along the way, resulting in heavy losses. The head of its Greater China operations had recently resigned, taking responsibility for the debacle.
The article also mentioned that Jingcheng Capital intended to acquire Borui at a low price.
—Jingcheng Capital had absolutely no ownership connection to Jingjian, but wasn't this the company Cen Sen and Jiang Che had started together?
Ji Mingshu's mind went blank for a moment. Then, all at once, she seemed to understand something.
After disembarking, Ji Mingshu switched her phone out of flight mode. The first thing she received was Cen Sen’s opinion on the documentary program.
He had approached it like he was writing an argumentative essay. First, he presented his thesis: she could participate. Then he provided arguments from multiple angles, both the pros and cons.
Ji Mingshu only glanced at it, then called the driver directly. “Hello, have you arrived at the airport?”
For some reason, the driver’s response sounded slightly hesitant. “Ah! Y-yes! Here! Please wait a moment, Madam."
Nearly half a minute passed before he spoke again. “Madam, the car is parked outside International Departures Exit 2. Which exit will you be using m?”
Ji Mingshu looked up and glanced behind her. She was right at International Departures Exit 2. “Oh, just wait there. I’ll be right out.”
As usual, her large pieces of luggage had already been shipped back home separately. Now she had one hand tucked into the pocket of her silk trench coat, black sunglasses covering her eyes, while her other hand pushed a light little suitcase. She looked rather like a celebrity.
However, preoccupied with the news she'd read on the plane, she was a bit distracted and walked quickly.
When she spotted the familiar license plate waiting by the curb with its hazard lights flashing, a trace of something strange flickered through Ji Mingshu’s mind. But before she could think it through, her body had already moved ahead of her brain. She opened the car door and climbed into the back seat.
Only after sitting down did she finally realize what had seemed strange.
Why had the driver not helped her with her luggage? Why had he not opened the car door for her? Did this driver even want his job anymore? He...
Ji Mingshu unexpectedly met a pair of familiar eyes in the rearview mirror. Her heart skipped a beat.
She immediately leaned forward, playfully hitting the driver's arm a couple of times, then wrapped her arms around his neck. “Why are you here? Didn’t you say you had to go on a business trip today?”
Cen Sen had one hand on the steering wheel and the other wrapped around her slender, pale wrist. After a moment of thought, he said seriously, “I heard this is called a surprise.”
With that, he magically produced a bouquet of roses.
Ji Mingshu had been trying to maintain a cool façade, but seeing the flowers, she couldn't hold it anymore. In a few quick movements, she got out, opened the door, and hopped into the passenger seat. Then she hugged the little bouquet of roses and took a deep breath of their fragrance. Immediately afterward, she leaned over and kissed Cen Sen on the cheek. “Good job!”
Cen Sen’s expression remained perfectly calm, as though her kiss had made no particular impression on him. He only said that they couldn't stay parked by the roadside for long, then leaned over to fasten her seat belt for her.
The distance between them suddenly closed.
Ji Mingshu carried the faintest trace of perfume, perhaps something she had sprayed on before leaving. By now, only the citrusy base notes remained.
Though it had only been a week, Cen Sen realized he missed this temporarily uncaged little golden canary more than he'd imagined. They video-called every day, but that was completely different from having her lying beside him, warm and real.
After fastening the seatbelt, he didn't straighten up immediately. Bracing one hand on the side of her seat, his gaze fell on her lips, touched only with tinted balm. His Adam's apple moved slightly, and he unconsciously leaned closer.
Are we... are we going to kiss?
But there are so many people outside.
After several days apart, Ji Mingshu was a little shy. The tips of her ears flushed, her lashes trembled faintly, and then her eyes slowly closed.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. At last, she felt Cen Sen’s warm breath. Unable to help herself, she leaned forward slightly, wanting to close the distance between them.
But she had misjudged the force and ended up bumping straight into his lips.
The air fell silent in an instant.
Cen Sen still maintained that short distance of a few centimeters, not moving an inch. Then he suddenly let out a soft laugh. “I didn't know you missed me this much."
---
Author's Note:
1. Don't watch 4D movies anymore.
2. Call Mingshu "baby" more often.
---
Comments
Post a Comment