In a luxurious and spacious walk-in closet, Ji Mingshu held up her phone, filming as she asked, "What do you think of this outfit? Is it too formal?"
She was trying on a wine-red satin cocktail dress without its pannier, featuring an off-the-shoulder design and a bling-bling waistband made of tiny, sparkling diamonds.
This cocktail dress was extremely demanding of one's figure, but she had a small frame and fair skin. The dress fit her perfectly, neither a single inch too tight nor too loose, and it accentuated her bright eyes and pearly teeth, making her look all the more lovely and pitiable.
Jiang Chun, on the other end of the video call, seemed too captivated by her beauty to look away. She stared without blinking for several seconds, only snapping out of it after Ji Mingshu called her name twice. "Oh, it is a little formal, but it would be fine for a Western restaurant or to see a play or a concert. By the way, where are you two going tonight?"
"That's the thing, I don't know where we're going. He just asked if I was free for a date and said he'd come pick me up after work."
When she said the first half of the sentence, Ji Mingshu's brows furrowed slightly, as if she were genuinely a bit vexed. But as she continued, the corners of her lips curled upward, an irrepressible smile blooming on her face.
Every one of her affected, coy little expressions seemed to be frantically hinting: "That's right, I'm a little golden canary baby immersed in love right now TVT!"
Jiang Chun truly didn't know what she had done wrong to have her mouth pried open and forcibly stuffed with a handful of dog food when she wasn't even fully awake in the middle of the afternoon.
She managed to swallow the dog food, but it didn't feel quite real. She simply couldn't imagine what a cold-faced tycoon like Cen Sen, who acted as if every second he wasted talking to you cost him a hundred million, would look like when asking someone out on a date.
But she didn't need to imagine it, because Ji Mingshu was too eager to show off. After picking out her clothes, she couldn't hold back and insisted on showing her a screenshot of their chat.
Cen Sen: [Baby, do you have time for a date with me tonight?]
Jiang Chun lightly slapped herself.
Yep, that hurt a little. It wasn't a dream.
Jiang Chun: [Is this your husband?]
Ji Mingshu: [Who else?]
Jiang Chun: [Have you called your husband? This looks like his account got hacked.]
Ji Mingshu: [...?]
Ji Mingshu: [Do you know how to talk?]
Jiang Chun: [No, it's just that this message is too surreal. Think about it, does it make sense for Cen Sen to call you 'baby'? Even Tang Zhizhou isn't that cheesy...]
Ji Mingshu: [You've successfully offended three people in one sentence. /smile]
Jiang Chun: [...]
Jiang Chun: [humble.jpg]
Jiang Chun's cold water clearly couldn't extinguish the enthusiastic fire of Ji Mingshu rubbing her hands together in anticipation of her date. After all, she and Cen Sen had been married for nearly four years, and aside from watching a movie and eating hotpot on Christmas Eve, they had never been on a proper date.
She carefully applied her date-night makeup, styled her hair into a look that was both lazily casual and full of subtle ingenuities, and changed into a relatively less formal, dusty-pink off-the-shoulder dress that perfectly revealed her delicate and sexy collarbones.
But after getting dressed, she felt like something was still missing. She remembered a certain bracelet she had left at Baicui Tianhua that would go well with today's outfit. After some thought, she informed Cen Sen and had her driver take her to Baicui Tianhua.
At 4:57 PM, the high-level meeting at Junyi was still at a stalemate. The heads of two key projects were red in the face, arguing over resource allocation.
Normally, they were all leaders who could put on a civilized and amiable front for their superiors and subordinates. But when it came to matters of profit, these leaders were no different from the aunties at the wet market who would squabble with a vendor over a thirty-cent discount.
If one had to find a difference, it was that they were fiercer, more aggressive, taller, and stronger. Judging by their posture, if the conference table hadn't been so wide and their arms so short, they probably would have rolled up their sleeves and settled things in a life-or-death battle right then and there.
The other attendees all adopted a "none of my business" attitude, at most offering a few perfunctory words of appeasement. Mostly, they were waiting for the big boss, Cen Sen, who was seated at the head of the table, to make his stance clear.
But Cen Sen remained unperturbed. His fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop, his gaze placid, revealing none of his true thoughts.
Some people silently concluded that this was the calm before the storm. After all, his usual style was to either say nothing or drop a bombshell when he finally spoke.
After waiting patiently for three minutes, Cen Sen finally showed signs of dropping that bombshell. "Manager Huang, Manager Song."
The argument ceased abruptly.
The room fell silent as everyone's eyes turned to the main seat.
Cen Sen looked up and said coolly, "It's five o'clock. That's all for today. Meeting adjourned."
...?
Meeting adjourned?
All the attendees, including the two managers, Huang and Song, were slow to react.
Although they usually had a time estimate for meetings, was there really such a concept as adjourning on the dot when the big boss was presiding? Back in school, if the principal's speech ran into the morning self-study period, could the homeroom teacher tell him to stop blabbering?
While everyone was still reeling from the sudden shock, Cen Sen had already stood up to straighten his clothes. Zhou Jiaheng also moved forward in tacit understanding to gather his meeting materials.
They just watched as Cen Sen walked out of the conference room at an unhurried pace. Then, their brains began to spin at high speed, wildly speculating about the true meaning behind Cen Sen's inexplicable departure.
The two managers had also snapped back to reality by now. Remembering how disgracefully they had just argued in front of Cen Sen, they broke out in a cold sweat, feeling as if they were about to be summarily executed. They desperately clung to Zhou Jiaheng, their last hope, refusing to let him leave until they got a clear explanation.
Zhou Jiaheng was speechless. It was literally just a meeting being adjourned. Was it necessary to be this terrified? Weren't they all so capable during the meeting just now? The man needed to go appease his wife; who had the time to listen to the two of them battle it out here?
At 5:30 PM, Cen Sen's car stopped punctually downstairs at Baicui Tianhua. He gave Ji Mingshu a call.
Ji Mingshu answered nonchalantly with a "hold on," then peered down from the window with a small pair of binoculars.
Although she had long since run out of things to do and was just waiting for Cen Sen to pick her up, she still had to go through the requisite motions of playing hard to get on a date.
It was just that this act of playing hard to get was making her own heart itch with impatience. In less than five minutes, she couldn't stand it anymore and hurried downstairs.
Seeing her in a little pink dress, pretending to be aloof as she flicked her hair, Cen Sen got out of the car and opened the passenger door for her.
Ji Mingshu glanced at the driver's seat. "You're driving yourself?"
Cen Sen hummed in affirmation, picked up the bouquet of pink and white roses from the passenger seat, and handed it to her. He then looked her up and down and praised, "You look especially beautiful today."
A CEO was a CEO, after all. The word "especially" had clearly been diligently studied, nipping in the bud any possibility of a woman retorting, "So I'm not usually beautiful?"
Ji Mingshu gave him a "you know what's good for you" look and carefully cradled the flowers as she got into the car.
There were only eleven flowers in the bouquet. It wasn't large, but its charm lay in its freshness and delicacy.
Ji Mingshu couldn't put it down, taking dozens of selfies with it on the way. When they stopped at a red light, she even gestured for Cen Sen to turn his head and take a picture with her.
But Cen Sen's angle always looked a bit awkward in the frame, so she ended up just taking a profile shot of him driving.
Ji Mingshu: [On a date with Mr. Cen ~/cute]
She attached two pictures.
The moment she posted it to her Moments, the likes and comments skyrocketed.
Zhao Yang: [You old married couple, you two are disgustingly lovey-dovey.]
Shu Yang: [I think I need to go to the vet.]
Zhao Yang replied to Shu Yang: [No need. You're just stuffed from too much dog food.]
Gu Kaiyang: [Today's dose of Shu Bao's beauty has been absorbed!]
Jiang Chun: [Baby, can you arrange one for me?]
Cen Yingshuang: [A second child, can you arrange one?]
Ji Mingshu replied to them one by one, but before she could finish, Cen Sen parked the car and reminded her, "We're here."
"So soon."
She was a little surprised.
It wasn't actually that fast, considering she had spent nearly forty minutes taking and editing photos.
Cen Sen didn't explain, however, just humming in agreement with her before leaning over to unbuckle her seatbelt.
They had arrived at a French restaurant.
The moment Ji Mingshu thought about eating out with Cen Sen, and a notoriously long French meal at that, her head began to ache out of conditioned reflex.
But it was a date, and a meal was a must. So, she closed her eyes, steeled her heart, and walked right in.
To her great surprise, however, this meal was not the torturous experience of having an exam proctor sit in front of her, rushing her to turn in her paper. Instead, it was very comfortable and pleasant.
Cen Sen ate very slowly and was extremely considerate of her feelings, pouring her water and red wine, and even finding topics to chat with her about.
Moreover, he skillfully modulated the topics of conversation, chatting about serious things for a while, then switching to mindless chatter.
Ji Mingshu found it quite magical. How did he suddenly put on this talkative persona during a meal?
Usually, the only times he talked this much were when he was lecturing her or talking dirty in bed.
Of course, it was undeniable that she loved it when he kept looking at her and talking about this and that. It gave her the feeling that... he was genuinely trying to connect with her.
After dinner, they held hands and strolled aimlessly outside, continuing their heartfelt conversation about their school days that had started in the restaurant.
Everything was perfect and matched Ji Mingshu's idea of a couple's date—if only they hadn't gone to see that 4D movie.
After walking for about half an hour, Ji Mingshu's legs started to feel tired, so Cen Sen suggested they watch a movie.
While buying tickets at the theater, Cen Sen saw there was a 4D screening and asked if she wanted to try it. With her head full of romance, she was of course in a "whatever my husband wants to watch, I'll watch" state of mind. She nodded obediently, and thus began a two-hour nightmare of involuntary disco dancing.
The movie opened with a car chase scene. Ji Mingshu's butt had barely warmed the seat before it started shaking like crazy without any warning, following the camera's movements. The ice cream cone in her hand went straight into her face.
After wiping her face, she was about to take a sip of Coke to calm her nerves, but the back of her chair suddenly punched her in sync with a gunshot in the movie, landing right on her shoulder blade. Half her cup of Coke spilled onto the floor.
The most terrifying part was the cold air and water mist that sprayed at an average interval of less than thirty seconds. It was a real-life version of "cold, icy rain randomly slapping my face." Even wrapped in Cen Sen's jacket, she was shivering from the cold. The only silver lining was probably that her makeup today was light and very waterproof, so she wouldn't be sprayed into looking like a haggard old witch.
By the time the movie ended, she had been beaten half-paralyzed by the chair. Her dress was wrinkled, and her hairstyle, with every curl meticulously designed, was now a complete mess. She looked as disheveled as if Cen Sen had ravaged her eighteen times in the movie theater, her entire being screaming "small, pitiful, and helpless."
Cen Sen had also paid to suffer for two hours, but he maintained a straight face, holding fast to his persona of a cold, domineering CEO who never showed his emotions.
He stood up, straightened his clothes, and extended a hand to Ji Mingshu.
Ji Mingshu took his hand and shakily got to her feet, stumbling half a step into his arms as she stood up.
He caught her in a smooth embrace.
Exhausted, angry, and tired, Ji Mingshu's eyes were bright and moist. She leaned against his chest and whimpered pitifully, "You did this on purpose, didn't you! I'm so mad! I want to divorce you!"
OpenNovel