My Queen, My Rules - 86
Pregnancy Test
About half a minute later, Cen Sen finally realized the sounds from the bathroom didn't seem right. He set down his phone and walked over.
Before he could even raise a hand, Ji Mingshu pushed the door open, her face deathly pale.
Water was still running at the sink. She had one hand braced against its edge, looking so weak she might collapse on the spot at any moment.
Cen Sen stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. His voice was low and grave. “Not feeling well? I’ll take you to the hospital for a checkup.”
Ji Mingshu melted into his embrace, her slender white arms loosely circling his waist. Her voice came out muffled and hoarse. “No, it's the milk. The smell was way too strong this morning. It made me feel queasy."
Cen Sen gently stroked her thin back. A vague notion flickered through his mind, but he didn’t know enough to be certain, so he didn’t say anything carelessly.
Women tended to be much more sensitive when it came to vomiting, and Ji Mingshu in particular had spent quite some time quietly worrying about why she hadn't gotten pregnant. So the moment the nausea hit, her first thought was morning sickness.
But she knew that if she brought up this guess now, Cen Sen would definitely insist on taking her to the hospital. He had a meeting today to discuss new investment in the Nanwan project. What if he cancel the meeting because of this and the deal fell through?
Besides, she had very little confidence in her own guesses. The last time she'd fainted from dieting, she'd been convinced she had some incurable disease. For all she knew, this could simply be a stomach bug. Making a big fuss over a false alarm would be so embarrassing.
With that in mind, Ji Mingshu deliberately burrowed deeper into Cen Sen’s arms and complained coquettishly, "No more milk for breakfast tomorrow, okay? Just juice or coffee. Plain milk tastes so heavy. When I was in high school, I once drank a glass of plain milk before the flag-raising ceremony and felt so sick I had to run to the bathroom and throw up before it even ended."
After she'd gone that far, Cen Sen found it even harder to voice his own suspicion.
They let the matter drop there. After seeing Cen Sen off to work, Ji Mingshu’s little heart pounded wildly. Leaning against the door, she sent a furtive message to the girls’ group as though she were committing a crime.
Ji Mingshu: [Girls, you might be getting promoted to godmother soon.]
Before Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun could even react, she added an explanation.
Ji Mingshu: [Of course, I'm not saying it's definite. It's just that the milk tasted really strong this morning, it made me a little nauseous and threw up once.]
Gu Kaiyang: [Um... was it normal milk?]
Ji Mingshu: [...?]
Ji Mingshu: [Would the esteemed CEO's wife stoop to drinking spoiled milk? Do you think I'm as cheap as your magazine's penny-pinching boss?]
Gu Kaiyang: [That’s not what I meant.]
Gu Kaiyang: [It’s just that saying the milk smelled so strong is a pretty loaded description, you know? It makes a girl think.]
Ji Mingshu's mind had been unusually pure lately, and it took Gu Kaiyang's heavy hint for the light bulb to go off.
Ji Mingshu: [I don't know what you're talking about. Shut up.]
Ji Mingshu: [Soliciting lewd comments online. Reported.]
Jiang Chun had once been nothing more than a pure, harmless, innocent little earth goose. But after spending so long in this group, she had been thoroughly corrupted by the other two. These days, even conversations of this caliber barely fazed her. In fact, she even adopted the air of a professional gynecologist and began seriously questioning Ji Mingshu about her recent physical condition and how often she and the frequency of her bedroom activities with Cen Sen.
Ji Mingshu answered vaguely, then added coyly: [It's probably just an upset stomach.]
The little-goose-turned-gynecologist delivered her verdict with absolute authority: [What upset stomach? You’re eighty percent pregnant. What are you, a baby? You don't just spit up milk for no reason.]
Gu Kaiyang: [Maybe she thinks she can be cute and throws up milk.]
Ji Mingshu: [Gu Kaiyang.]
Ji Mingshu: [Shut up warning x2!]
The three of them bickered off-topic for a while before quickly returning to the subject of morning sickness. Both Jiang Chun and Gu Kaiyang were convinced she was pregnant and urged her to go to the hospital for a checkup, or, at the very least, buy a pregnancy test and try that first.
Ji Mingshu felt she needed Cen Sen with her for a hospital visit, but buying a pregnancy test was certainly doable.
After some thought, she went upstairs to change, put on a pair of sunglasses, and slipped out of the house like a spy.
Perhaps Ji Mingshu’s previous escape from home had left too deep a psychological scar on the driver. The moment he saw her wearing sunglasses and looking somewhat tense, he instinctively became tense himself. Along the way, he kept trying to probe information out of her, asking where she was going and what she planned to do.
Ji Mingshu obviously couldn't tell him the truth and gave evasive answers.
The driver became increasingly convinced that the CEO's wife was up to no good again. As soon as he dropped her off at the shopping mall, he immediately called Zhou Jiaheng to report the situation.
Zhou Jiaheng frowned slightly when he heard. “What about the bodyguards?”
"They followed Madam into the mall. I just don't know if they can keep up with her.”
Hearing that the bodyguards were secretly protecting her, Zhou Jiaheng relaxed somewhat. “Got it. Report to me immediately if anything happens.”
He was about to accompany Cen Sen to meet Chi Li, the second young master of the Chi family from the western part of the city. Chi Li had spent years cultivating the image of a man who neither fought nor competed for anything, but suddenly seize power and change course completely.
Chi Li was no simple character. Zhou Jiaheng had known Cen Sen had some personal connection with him, but he hadn't been clear on how deep it went. So now he couldn’t decide whether he should mention Ji Mingshu’s situation to Cen Sen.
If Cen Sen had another lapse in judgment and decided to abandon the enormous Nanwan project investment for Ji Mingshu again, Zhou Jiaheng would become the number-one sinner in the history of Jingjian.
But if Ji Mingshu really was up to something and he failed to tell Cen Sen in time, his days of packing up and leaving would probably not be far behind.
“What are you thinking about?”
Cen Sen stood beside the car and glanced at Zhou Jiaheng, who had been so lost in thought that he'd forgotten to open the car door for him.
“Oh, nothing... nothing.”
Zhou Jiaheng snapped back to himself and hurried over to open the door.
After the car had driven a short distance, Zhou Jiaheng wrestled with himself for a while before finally reporting, “It’s like this, President Cen. Madam went out just now. She went to Huijia Department Store. But the driver said Madam was acting a bit...off. She was wearing sunglasses and looked a little nervous. He was worried she might do what she did last time and quietly move to Xingang International, so...”
Zhou Jiaheng was still struggling to find a tactful way to describe “sneaking around” and “running away from home” when Cen Sen interrupted without even looking up.
“Don’t worry. She won’t run away from home.”
Zhou Jiaheng: “...”
He vaguely remembered that the last time Ji Mingshu had run away from home, their president had been just as confident while planning to go to the supermarket and buy ribs for dinner.
Cen Sen paused, then suddenly instructed, “Contact Zhao Yang. Have him arrange a proper prenatal examination. Within the next couple of days.”
“...?”
What was this sudden bombshell?
Zhou Jiaheng was silent for a moment before promptly answering, “Understood.”
Ji Mingshu had no idea that her furtive, roundabout mission to buy a pregnancy test had been suspicious enough to put even the driver on edge.
Following the navigation, she wandered through the shopping center and eventually crossed to the street opposite, where she finally found a pharmacy and bought several pregnancy tests.
Just when she thought the mission was complete and she could go home to test herself, she received a somewhat unexpected call from Cen Yang.
“Xiaoshu, I’m going back to America.”
His voice was as gentle and clear as it had been when he first returned, though there seemed to be a trace of weariness beneath it now.
Ji Mingshu was stunned for several seconds before asking, “Why?”
Cen Yang fell silent.
She realized it was a pointless question, so she asked instead, "When?"
"Today. I'm about to leave for the airport now."
He was probably getting into the car. Ji Mingshu heard the brief scrape of suitcase wheels, followed immediately by the heavy thud of the trunk closing.
Cen Yang opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat. “This time I leave, I probably won't be coming back again."
There was a brief silence.
He continued, “Xiaoshu, I’m sorry. You might not know this, but during my time back, I did some things that hurt you. I’m truly sorry.”
Ji Mingshu wasn’t stupid. Although Cen Sen had kept the matter from her, the timing of everything surrounding that incident and the way he had intercepted the investment had been far too coincidental. Somewhere deep down, she had already suspected the truth.
But for some reason, she found it difficult to hate Cen Yang. When she heard him say that he wouldn’t be coming back, she even felt a little sad.
It was as though those childhood days when she would seek out Brother Cen Yang whenever she was bored, and run to Brother Cen Yang whenever she needed help, really had gone forever.
Ji Mingshu stood outside the pharmacy. After a long silence, she finally said, “I’ll come to the airport to see you off.”
When Zhou Jiaheng heard that Ji Mingshu had gone to the airport, his heart began pounding furiously. Unfortunately, Cen Sen was currently discussing the specifics of the investment with Chi Li. Interrupting would be inappropriate, but saying nothing felt equally worse . The struggle was a hundred times more intense than before.
After about twenty minutes of internal agony, Chi Li noticed Zhou Jiaheng’s nervous unease. Lowering his eyes as he adjusted his cuff link, he said, “Your assistant seems to have something to say.”
Cen Sen turned slightly.
Zhou Jiaheng couldn’t worry about anything else anymore. He immediately leaned forward and reported quietly, “Madam went to the airport.”
Cen Sen was quiet for a moment, then, as if struck by a thought, he picked up his phone and called Ji Mingshu.
But, it seems, the telephone had been invented specifically so people could become unreachable at critical moments.
Seeing this, Chi Li calmly removed the cap from his fountain pen, signed at the end of the contract, then gestured for the legal staff to affix the perforated seal.
“It’s signed. I won’t keep you.”
Cen Sen didn't stand on ceremony. With a curt "Mn," he instructed Zhou Jiaheng to collect the contract and stood to leave.
Zhou Jiaheng paused for several seconds, realizing that he had apparently underestimated the private relationship between these two men.
Before they left the private room, Cen Sen suddenly received a call from Cen Yang. Cen Yang hadn't even spoken when Cen Sen asked, "Is Mingshu with you?"
Cen Yang was silent for several seconds. “Yes.”
Cen Sen: “What are you planning to do?”
Cen Yang: “What do you think?”
“Where is she?” Cen Sen’s voice dropped, and the tension in it was unmistakable.
Cen Yang fell silent. In truth, he'd originally wanted to toy with him a little longer and keep him guessing, but he genuinely couldn’t think of what else to say. So he could only ask in return, “Do you really think I would kidnap her?”
This time, it was Cen Sen’s turn to fall silent.
“When you care too much, you lose your head.” With those four words, Cen Yang hung up.
Ji Mingshu was completely bewildered.
What kind of riddle were they playing with each other?
After deciding to come to the airport to see Cen Yang off, she had spent the car ride sentimentally reminiscing about childhood. It wasn’t until she entered the airport that she remembered she needed to notify Cen Sen. By then, her phone had already run out of battery.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Cen Yang. She kept thinking that she needed to tell Cen Sen where she was, so she asked Cen Yang if she could borrow his phone to make a call.
Cen Yang asked if she wanted to call Cen Sen. She honestly said yes, then Cen Yang said he would make the call for her. Since all she wanted was to tell Cen Sen that she'd come to the airport to see Cen Yang off, it didn’t seem to matter who made the call, so she agreed.
And then he said that?
Did their imaginations have to be so dramatic? Jumping straight to kidnapping?
And what was wrong with Cen Sen? Hadn't he stopped to think about what could possibly happen to her at an airport? Was he stupid?
The two of them seemed to be operating on a completely different wavelength from her. After hanging up, Cen Yang even slipped both hands into his pockets and remarked with considerable satisfaction, “Xiaoshu, he really does care about you.”
Ji Mingshu nodded, while thinking to herself: If my husband doesn’t care about me, who is he supposed to care about? You?
Cen Yang’s flight was still some time away. And judging by the call, Cen Sen seemed to be planning to come to the airport as well, so Ji Mingshu stayed and chatted with Cen Yang a little longer.
Cen Yang was talking about how he planned to arrange immigration for Chen Biqing and An Ning after returning to America when Ji Mingshu suddenly felt someone gently but firmly pull her hand backward. She blinked in confusion. Before she could react, she was already falling into a familiar, warm embrace.
Cen Yang paused, swallowing the rest of what he'd been about to say. He simply stood there and quietly watched the two people before him, suddenly feeling as though everything that had happened in the past belonged to another lifetime, nothing but a dream. So many things had long settled. He was the only one still stubbornly clinging to things that had never truly belonged to him, wasting so much of his life for nothing.
Still, it was not too late. Everything had happened a little later than it should have, but there was still time to find his way back to where he had started.
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