The entanglement on the ceiling didn’t officially end until three in the morning.
Gu Kaiyang had long since fallen asleep, while Ji Mingshu lay on the other side of the bed, wrapped tightly in her blanket, eyes closed but unable to sleep.
At six in the morning, the alarm went off on time.
Gu Kaiyang sat up in bed, yawned, then picked up her phone to order breakfast delivery.
Today was the monthly magazine finalization day, which required an early arrival. No matter how sleep-deprived she was, she had to get up, wash up, and put on makeup.
Once ready, Gu Kaiyang glanced upstairs and happened to see Ji Mingshu slowly sitting up in bed as well, leaning against the headboard.
While wiping off excess lipstick, she asked, “Why are you up so early? Did my alarm wake you?”
“No.”
Because she hadn’t slept at all.
Gu Kaiyang didn’t press further. Glancing at the time, she hurriedly instructed, “I’ve already bought breakfast—soy milk, fried dough sticks, and steamed buns are all on the dining table. If they’re cold, just microwave them for thirty seconds. I’ve also left the access card on the table. Remember to eat breakfast, okay? I really have to go to work now.”
“Mm, go ahead.”
Ji Mingshu responded, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees, her heart racing from a sleepless night.
Even as she heard the front door slam shut, she didn’t move, only quietly closed her eyes.
Two days had passed since the incident. Compared to the initial emotional turmoil, her heart had calmed down.
Yet it was in this calmness that she felt an unprecedented sense of confusion about her future life.
In truth, she had already felt this confusion back when she mistakenly thought Cen Sen was cheating with Zhang Baoshu: if she got divorced, how would she live?
Later, when hesitating about whether to join the show, she had seriously considered Gu Kaiyang’s advice to focus on developing her career. But after living comfortably for over twenty years, it was hard for her to think ahead and plan her life like a game of Go, thinking ten steps ahead for every move.
Although she was now in this situation and still joked with Gu Kaiyang, unwilling to face the reality that she couldn’t get a divorce and that she truly felt useless without Cen Sen, during the quiet, sleepless nights, she had thought a lot and reflected deeply.
She wondered if Cen Sen would apologize, compromise, and bring her home;
She wondered if, now that she understood her feelings for Cen Sen, she could still be satisfied with their previous superficial marriage, content with never receiving his affection or respect;
She also wondered if the root of all this was because—she wasn’t good enough.
From the summer solstice to the winter solstice, the days grew shorter. In late autumn and early winter, the sky didn’t fully brighten until seven-thirty in the morning.
Outside, the hustle and bustle of a new day began, with Gu Kaiyang’s little Beetle already merging into the traffic. Ji Mingshu closed her eyes, slowly turned to her side, curled up into a ball, and drifted into a heavy, drowsy sleep.
She slept until two in the afternoon. By the time Ji Mingshu woke up, the sun outside was already blazing.
She went downstairs and casually checked her phone to glance at her bills. She was surprised to find that the skincare and household items she had casually purchased yesterday had already cost nearly a hundred thousand yuan.
She skimmed through the messages from the producer of the Designer show. She hadn’t noticed before, but it turned out the payment for participating in the show had already been settled.
The problem was, back then, she had looked down on such a small amount of money. The card she had casually filled out wasn’t with her, nor was it linked to her phone, and she had no idea where it was tucked away.So now, she only had the last hundred thousand yuan that Jiang Chun had given her.
She sat quietly for a while, then picked up her key card, changed her shoes, and went out.
The magazine where Gu Kaiyang worked wasn’t far from Xinggang International. Ji Mingshu bought some afternoon tea from a nearby teahouse and headed straight for Zero Degree.
Today was the finalization day, and the magazine office was extremely busy. Everyone was rushing around with their work and had no time to pay her any attention.
Spotting a familiar assistant, she stopped her and asked, "Where’s your deputy editor?"
The assistant knew Ji Mingshu was Gu Kaiyang’s close friend. Pushing up her glasses, she hesitantly said, "Sister Gu… she’s in the editor-in-chief’s office right now, probably getting scolded."
She said the last part very softly, almost in a whisper.
Ji Mingshu: "Why is she being scolded?"
The assistant cautiously replied, "Sister Gu took sudden leave yesterday, and the handover wasn’t done properly. There was a small issue, and today during finalization, it became a big problem. The whole layout had to be rushed and changed, so…"
Ji Mingshu was taken aback.
The assistant added, "Miss Ji, if you’re looking for Sister Gu, maybe you should wait in her office."
"No need," Ji Mingshu suddenly handed the afternoon tea snacks to the assistant. "You all have them. Don’t say I brought them, and don’t tell your deputy editor I was here."
"Huh?"
The assistant watched Ji Mingshu’s retreating figure, completely bewildered.
In the autumn and winter of the capital, dawn came late, but darkness fell early. By six o’clock, the sunset was already gone.
On the way from the horse track to the club, Zhou Jiaheng reported to Cen Sen on the progress of the follow-up work in Star City.
Cen Sen leaned back in his seat, eyes closed as if resting, and didn’t respond.
After finishing his report, Zhou Jiaheng paused briefly, his tone unchanged as he shifted topics. "Madam left home at 2:30 p.m. today, bought some snacks from a teahouse, arrived at Zero Degree magazine at 3 p.m., and left at 3:10. She walked along Huainan Third Road all the way to the intersection of Huainan Second Road and Dongjing Street, where she bought a bag of groceries at the Rosen’s supermarket. She walked back to Xinggang International at 4:30 and hasn’t left since."
Cen Sen still didn’t respond, only adjusting the way his hands were folded.
The Bentley drove all the way to Heyong Club. Jiang Che had returned to the capital today to meet a professor from a chip research team and had arranged to meet Cen Sen here as well.
Jiang Che was in the midst of a passionate romance lately, feeling quite pleased with himself and somewhat inclined to give advice.
Seeing Cen Sen, who rarely drank during private meetings, order a bottle of whiskey as soon as he arrived, Jiang Che suddenly said, "Have you noticed you have a problem?"
Cen Sen glanced up slightly.
Jiang Che stretched his arm over the back of the sofa, tilting his head slightly in a casual, lazy manner.
The cigarette between his fingers glowed with a faint red ember, the smoke curling lazily, making his voice sound low and husky. "You’re particularly bad at handling things that involve emotional factors. You don’t know how to face the An family, and you don’t know what to do with your wife either."
Cen Sen lowered his gaze again. He usually never touched cigarettes, but today he lit one with Jiang Che’s lighter, holding it low between his fingers, letting it burn and fade.
"Do you remember when you first moved to Nanqiao Hutong as a kid? Ji Mingshu really liked you back then. She’d bring snacks every day to play with you."
"Did she?"
All he remembered was that Ji Mingshu was particularly spoiled and childish, and she seemed to have rallied a few other kids to ostracize him."How could there not be? Back then, Shu Yang used to laugh at her every day for trying so hard to win you over despite your indifference. He even said she’d forgotten Cen Yang so quickly, calling her heartless."
When Jiang Che mentioned Cen Yang, Cen Sen finally recalled something.
Because Shu Yang and Cen Yang shared a homophonic character in their names, they had always been close. For that reason, Shu Yang hadn’t been fond of Cen Sen at first. It was only later that their group of childhood friends started hanging out together.
Jiang Che flicked the ash from his cigarette. "Let me be objective here—I actually quite admire Ji Mingshu’s personality. She’s relatively simple and straightforward..."
Cen Sen shot him a look.
"I don’t mean anything by it. I’m just saying that when dealing with someone like your wife, you should be direct. Li Wenyin’s little mess managed to stir up such a storm, and you should take a large part of the responsibility for that."
Neither Shu Yang nor Zhao Yang understood Cen Sen as well as Jiang Che did. Jiang Che had witnessed the entire relationship between Cen Sen and Li Wenyin.
If anyone thought Cen Sen would disregard the friendship between the Cen and Ji families for Li Wenyin’s sake, insisting on divorce and remarriage, Jiang Che would be the first to disagree. First of all, Cen Sen wasn’t the type to lose his head over love, and secondly, Li Wenyin simply didn’t have that kind of influence.
Suddenly recalling something, Jiang Che lazily teased, "And let me say something I probably shouldn’t—do you realize that the way you rush back whenever something happens to Ji Mingshu, drown your sorrows in alcohol, and smoke when things go wrong… it’s exactly what I do when Zhou You and I fight."
Cen Sen paused briefly, stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray, his voice indifferent. "If you shouldn’t say it, then shut up."
Jiang Che chuckled lightly.
Their meeting wasn’t meant for idle chatter, and Jiang Che wasn’t the type to meddle in others’ love lives. After just a few words, the conversation quickly shifted back to business matters regarding their collaborative project.
At nine in the evening, the night sky dotted with stars enveloped the city of indulgence and extravagance.
While Cen Sen and Jiang Che conversed quietly in a private room at the Heyong Club, Gu Kaiyang finally finished her overtime work and hurried back to Xinggang International.
Worried that Ji Mingshu hadn’t eaten properly, she returned home to find Ji Mingshu squatting in front of the coffee table, rummaging through the first-aid kit with a bleeding finger.
"Ji Mingshu, what did you do? What happened to your hand?!" Gu Kaiyang rushed forward without even changing her shoes, her eyes fixed on the blood beading from Ji Mingshu’s finger. "Does it hurt?"
"Of course it hurts!" Ji Mingshu replied pitifully, her face scrunched up. Seeing Gu Kaiyang fully focused on helping her apply the bandage, she held back a little and forced herself to sound nonchalant. "But it’s not too bad. It’s just a small cut. It’ll stop hurting soon."
Gu Kaiyang’s anxiety eased slightly, but she continued pressing, "How did this happen? What did you touch? Were you trying to scare me to death?"
"I was just thinking about how hard you work and wanted to cook a few dishes for you."
"...?" Gu Kaiyang’s face was a picture of confusion. "You? Cooking?"
She glanced back at the kitchen and noticed that the pots, pans, and utensils had indeed been moved. "So where are the dishes?"
"You’re so annoying."
Ji Mingshu swatted her hand away in annoyance, standing up on her own and sitting down on the sofa. With a mix of confidence and a hint of guilt, she declared, "Isn’t this just a lack of practical experience? We’re still exploring the path of socialist construction."Gu Kaiyang had expected the cooking attempt to fail. What truly shocked her was that Ji Mingshu—a pampered young lady who had never lifted a finger—had suddenly taken an interest in cooking.
Ji Mingshu wanted to move past this embarrassing episode, so she straightened up and spoke to Gu Kaiyang with utmost seriousness. "Yangyang, I've given it serious thought today, and I think you're right. I can't keep relying on others to support me forever. Jiang Chun specifically dug up some insider news for me today—she said Junyi withdrew its investment from Li Wenyin's film just a couple of days ago."
Gu Kaiyang struggled to follow her train of thought. "Well, isn't that good news? I told you there must have been a misunderstanding between you and Cen Sen. Wait, but why does that suddenly make you think you can't rely on others…"
"Whether he handled it as a business matter and made Li Wenyin go through the proper channels, or whether he simply didn't know the content of the film, the fact remains that he never considered my feelings from the start and showed me no respect."
"He doesn't respect me because he sees me as nothing more than a golden canary he keeps—someone unworthy of respect. In the end, it's my own fault. I want both money and respect—that's asking for too much. And my Second Uncle and the others, aren't they just convinced I can't survive without Cen Sen?"
Gu Kaiyang was taken aback by Ji Mingshu's grave expression and hesitated before asking, "Are you about to transform into the formidable Niohuru Shushu?"
"Be serious, I'm being genuine here. Everyone is working hard to live their lives, aren't they? Although Cen Sen is… well, a complicated person, his work ethic is commendable. I heard from his assistant that once, to negotiate a merger case, he slept only three hours a day for half a month straight. And you—working so hard every day, so diligently, and even getting scolded by the editor-in-chief because of me, a burden. I should also…"
Gu Kaiyang interrupted, "Wait, how do you know I got scolded by the editor-in-chief?"
Ji Mingshu paused, then skillfully turned the tables. "How could you? You interrupted my train of thought, and now I've forgotten what I was going to say."
She glanced at the time. "It's almost ten o'clock. Aren't you going to bed? Gu Kaiyang, do you have work tomorrow or not?"
Gu Kaiyang suddenly understood something, recalling the box of pastries she loved that her assistant had delivered that afternoon.
That night, both Ji Mingshu and Gu Kaiyang went to bed early. With her eyes closed, Ji Mingshu thought back to the words she had overheard at the magazine office that afternoon and the street vendors she had passed on her way back, feeling lost and dejected. She pulled the blanket tighter.
In this world, everyone is working hard to rely on themselves. Why couldn't Ji Mingshu do the same?
She had to admit that when she received Jiang Chun's message earlier, she had felt a tiny flicker of joy. But if she went back without any backbone, Cen Sen would look down on her for the rest of her life, wouldn't he?
She was so greedy. Now, she not only wanted Cen Sen's money but also his respect, his affection, and his heart.
While Ji Mingshu and Gu Kaiyang were already fast asleep, the nightlife in the capital was just beginning.
Cen Sen was usually a restrained person. Aside from business engagements, he rarely participated in entertainment activities and never stepped into nightclubs.
But today, Jiang Che had come over, and Shu Yang kept calling them both, insisting they go to a pub. He claimed he wanted to buy drinks to make amends, so the two of them eventually relented.This pub was the very one where Ji Mingshu had once stood up for Jiang Chun. Thanks to the publicity from Second Young Master Zhang's birthday party, it had become the new favorite entertainment spot for partygoers in the capital, and the regulars here often crossed paths.
When Cen Sen and Jiang Che arrived, the night scene was at its peak. The dance floor was filled with swaying men and women, bathed in a kaleidoscope of colorful lights.
As the two made their way past the booths, amidst the blaring music and clamor, Cen Sen suddenly overheard someone nearby mention "Ji Mingshu." He turned slightly, following the sound.
"She's just a Yangzhou shouma—I really don’t know what she’s so arrogant about all day. And now she wants to divorce her husband? I’m dying of laughter. If she actually goes through with it, I’ll write my name backward!"
"Writing your name backward is nothing. I’ll even take her surname, hahahaha!"
"Can’t blame her for wanting a divorce, though. Her husband is investing in his first love’s movie. Damn, I’ve never seen such a fresh and creative way to slap someone in the face. Her husband is really something else."
"I heard the movie is meant to commemorate their relationship? If Ji Mingshu can tolerate that, I’ll eat my hat. Have you seen how high and mighty she usually acts?"
"Hey, don’t get me wrong—Ji Mingshu is really beautiful. If she actually gets divorced, it wouldn’t be so bad. I’d have a go at her too, see what this princess is like—"
Before the man could finish his vulgar remarks, a flash of white light suddenly struck him, and he felt a warm liquid slowly trickling down his temple.
"Ah—!"
The girls in the booth screamed in panic, scrambling to their feet to avoid the shards of glass from the shattered bottle.
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