After asking, perhaps knowing she wouldn't get an answer, Ji Mingshu's initial three parts of melancholy expanded to five.
She sighed softly, then turned to lie flat beside Cen Sen, staring at the ceiling as her mind went blank.
Unconsciously, drowsiness swept over her. The fluttering of her eyelids gradually slowed until they drooped shut and didn't open again, her breathing becoming even and steady.
The slightly intoxicated man beside her still had his eyes closed, but he suddenly shifted, placing a hand on her waist and pulling her closer into his embrace.
The winter moonlight was faint, and in the dim, hazy light, the corners of his lips seemed to lift slightly.
A night without dreams. Having rested well the previous day, Ji Mingshu woke up early, a rare occurrence alongside Cen Sen.
Upon waking, Cen Sen lifted his collar to sniff it, then without a word got up to run a bath.
Ji Mingshu followed, stepping barefoot onto the floor. She steadied herself by the bed for a moment before heading into the bathroom as well.
Seeing her enter, Cen Sen turned his head. "Did I wake you? You can sleep a little longer, it's still early." His voice was hoarse, as if roughened by sleep.
From the outer area of the bathroom, Ji Mingshu squeezed toothpaste while wrinkling her nose in disdain. "Not woken, but smelled awake."
She rambled on, "I'll have the housekeeper come up later to change the sheets. The whole bed reeks of alcohol. I really don't know how I managed to fall asleep last night. I can't stand you."
How she fell asleep.
Cen Sen paused briefly, recalling the kiss that had landed on his lips and the soft murmurs by his ear the night before, and suddenly let out a light chuckle.
Ji Mingshu was quite alert. Leaning back, she glanced inside, questioning through her toothbrushing, "Wha' are you laughin' at?"
"Nothing."
Cen Sen replied casually, brushing it off.
Seeing Ji Mingshu still holding her buzzing electric toothbrush and staring at him, he remained unfazed, leisurely beginning to remove his shirt. After taking it off, he even reached downward... Ji Mingshu cursed him inwardly for being shameless and immediately averted her gaze.
The master bedroom's bathroom was spacious, featuring a sauna, an embedded mirror TV, and even a wine-tasting counter. Walking further to the end of the bathroom revealed another world: one side led to the east-facing sunroom, while the other connected to the infinity pool on the west-facing terrace.
In the summer, soaking in the pool while sipping wine and admiring the mountain and lake views felt like a vacation without ever leaving home.
Ji Mingshu had even moved her vanity into the bathroom. After brushing her teeth, she sat at the vanity, following her morning skincare routine while chatting with Cen Sen, who was showering inside.
By the time Cen Sen finished his shower, Ji Mingshu had just applied her face mask. Her hair was tied back with a light pink cat-themed headband, revealing her small, flawless face. At the moment, she was swirling a spray bottle, misting her face.
"What is that?"
After spraying, Ji Mingshu patted her face gently, then used a hexagonal sponge to absorb the excess moisture before beckoning Cen Sen to bend down.
Cen Sen paused for a moment, then actually leaned over, bracing himself on her vanity.
Ji Mingshu grabbed the spray and gave his face a few vigorous spritzes. "Hydrating spray. You're almost thirty; it's time to start hydrating."
"..."
Cen Sen wiped some off and sniffed it—it seemed like just purified water.
But looking down at Ji Mingshu's bare skin, still as smooth and flawless as a peeled egg, with not a single blemish visible even under the row of lights, he found it hard to judge whether these bottles and jars that looked like nothing serious actually had any effect.Ji Mingshu was still applying her skincare, and while doing so, she glanced strangely at Cen Sen. "Why are you staring at me? You've grown stubble—aren't you going to shave it off?"
It was actually just a faint shadow of stubble, barely noticeable unless you looked closely.
Cen Sen casually replied with an "Mm," then got up to grab his razor and clean it off, quite obediently.
By the time he finished, Ji Mingshu had also completed her skincare routine.
Just as she was about to stand up, Cen Sen suddenly pressed her down, leaned in from behind, wrapped his arms around her neck, and nuzzled her cheek with his chin. "Is it clean now?"
Ji Mingshu froze for a moment, her voice involuntarily dropping to a whisper. "C-clean."
The gesture was intimate. In the mirror, Ji Mingshu saw Cen Sen tilting his head slightly, resting his cheek against hers, his features handsome yet slightly lazy.
She breathed in small, shallow breaths, her eyelashes lowered as she absentmindedly continued applying hand cream. She kept muttering complaints to urge him to leave, afraid that any misstep might reveal her little wintertime romantic thoughts.
That morning, the two of them acted like a newlywed couple deeply in love. The woman helped the man fasten his cufflinks and tie his tie, while the man sprayed perfume into the air and had her twirl in it. After getting ready, they went downstairs together for breakfast, discussing their schedules for the day.
When Cen Sen left, Ji Mingshu followed him out, still sipping her milk, and cheerfully greeted Zhou Jiaheng.
Zhou Jiaheng was pleasantly surprised and hurriedly responded, "Good morning, Madam."
Watching the Bentley drive away, Ji Mingshu skipped back inside, sat cross-legged on the sofa hugging a pillow, and giggled to herself for a while.
If only every morning could be like this one. Of course, it would be even better if that dog of a man left a good morning kiss before heading out.
Thinking this, she felt she was being too greedy. She wondered if all girls became this greedy after falling for someone, never satisfied and always wanting more.
She patted her cheeks to snap out of it, then went upstairs to change before heading to Gu Kaiyang’s place to move her luggage.
Because Cen Sen had returned home last night, she hadn’t finished watching the second half of the show. On her way to Gu Kaiyang’s, Ji Mingshu checked Weibo and discovered she had gained twenty thousand followers. Many people sent private messages praising her beauty, and some even asked if she took on interior design projects.
After scrolling for a while without seeing any negative comments, she completely forgot to watch the remaining part of the show.
In reality, the first episode of Designer only aired up to the point where their team divided tasks to shop for home goods at the market. Most of the screen time focused on Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing, while Ji Mingshu’s segments were so brief that a cut of her scenes likely wouldn’t even fill three minutes.
Moreover, the show’s editors probably realized that when Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing stood side by side, Ji Mingshu looked more like a celebrity. As a result, there were very few shots of the two together in the latter half. The entire episode felt very love & peace, even bordering on boring.
For a variety show, being lowbrow or vulgar doesn’t matter, and neither do arguments or drama. But being boring is a serious issue because it directly affects viewership ratings.
Even with support from Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing’s fans, the premiere ratings for Designer were mediocre, and its online viewership was downright dismal.With ratings and online streaming numbers being this dismal, there was no need to even mention discussion buzz. Only right after the broadcast had a few fans started some threads on gossip forums, but later everyone became engrossed in drama and scandals, who had time to care about some home renovation show?
There were indeed a handful of casual viewers who noticed that the designer Ji Mingshu was quite good-looking while watching the show. But when they posted about it on forums asking for opinions, aside from being blindly mocked as paid shills, the replies didn’t even fill one page before the threads sank without a trace.
Everything remained calm, and no one knew—this completely contradicted the production team’s original intentions.
By the next morning after the broadcast, the Designer production team had been holding an emergency overnight meeting in the conference room, discussing new promotional strategies.
No one knew that yesterday’s episode hadn’t actually finished airing!
According to the original plan, the first episode was supposed to end abruptly right when Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing were having a huge blowout over the carpet incident, leaving viewers in suspense.
Paid promotional posts on Weibo and major forums were already prepared, and the show’s subsequent marketing campaigns were set to follow immediately.
A glamorous amateur and a young idol tearing into each other, plus the presence of Pei Xiyan—a popular traffic star who naturally generated buzz—there was no worry about failing to stir up popularity.
But man proposes, God disposes. Last night, the station abruptly inserted important local news: a vicious murder had occurred in Star City’s urban area. Orders came from above, and even the host scheduled to record the evening news was pulled over to record a live broadcast. How could a small production team like theirs possibly object?
The crucial final twenty minutes of Designer’s first episode were unexpectedly cut off mid-air. The producer tried negotiating with the station to continue broadcasting but wasn’t approved, as the station prioritized the prime-time ratings hit drama airing at 10 p.m. afterward. They were perfunctorily told to re-edit it and include it in the next episode.
Broadcast it in the next episode? With the first episode turning out like this, who would even watch the next one??? The producer looked at this plain and unremarkable, utterly discussion-devoid premiere and felt like personally going to curse out that damn murderer.
Just like that, a week passed uneventfully. On the night Designer’s second episode aired, a batch of paid shills suddenly descended upon major forums, flooding discussions about the first episode. Topics included: Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing actually have some CP chemistry, Pei Xiyan is so cold yet萌, Yan Yuexing is so cute, the amateur is quite beautiful but seems to have a bit of a temper...
Although veteran forum users scornfully cursed, telling the shills for the nonsensical show to get lost, such expensive, overwhelming discussions inevitably attracted a tiny bit of attention.
And by 8 p.m. sharp when the show officially aired, this attention began to translate into real conversion rates.
Ji Mingshu knew nothing about all this. Since Cen Sen, who had promised not to travel but ended up on a last-minute business trip, wasn’t home, and both Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun were busy—one with work, the other with romance—she had no choice but to accept an invitation from a few plastic sisters to go watch a musical.
To be honest, none of them were particularly interested in musicals. But partying and fooling around every day wasn’t appropriate either; they had to occasionally showcase their refined taste as socialites.
After the long musical ended, the plastic sisters who had been dozing off beside her finally opened their eyes and secretly let out a long sigh of relief.Ji Mingshu felt a bit like laughing, but out of consideration, she held it back and cooperatively took a selfie with her, letting her post it on her social media.
Vivian: "Watching a musical with Shu Bao today, yay."
Her post was rich in images but brief in text—mainly because it couldn’t be otherwise. This friend had been half-asleep the entire time and probably couldn’t even remember the name of the musical they watched, let alone discuss its content in detail.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ji Mingshu saw her hit "send." Slowly, she took out her phone from her bag, ready to give it a like and leave a "mwah" comment.
But unexpectedly, as soon as she turned off airplane mode, her WeChat exploded with notifications, messages pinging nonstop.
And suddenly, Vivian stammered in surprise, "Xiao... Xiao Shu, my friend says you’re trending on Weibo..."
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