"Holy shit! Isn't that Jiang Chun's fiancé?! Yan, right? Damn, that woman—come a bit closer so I can get a better look!"
"It really is! She's the supporting actress from that period drama that blew up recently! Damn, Yan is such a scumbag, cheating right after getting engaged! Wait, should this be called cheating or an affair???"
Even after two sleepless nights, she could still dive headfirst into gossip with such fervor. Ji Mingshu sincerely believed that Gu Kaiyang was born to fight on the front lines of the paparazzi brigade.
She turned down the volume on her earphones, barely enduring Gu Kaiyang's relentless bombardment.
After listening to Gu Kaiyang rattle off thirty seconds of the dark history of the girl beside Yan without taking a breath—and showing no signs of stopping—Ji Mingshu pushed up her sunglasses and lowered her voice to cut her off in time. "Enough already. You know the life story of this D-list actress in such detail—are you planning to write her biography?"
She focused intently on the camera, watching Yan and the D-list actress walk arm-in-arm, intimately, into the elevator, not blinking once. Just as the two turned to face the camera, she precisely captured a screenshot.
Gu Kaiyang couldn't help but remind her, "Follow them! See where they're staying."
"Are you crazy? It's not my husband cheating."
Besides, given her status, why would she do something so sleazy?
Ji Mingshu tilted her head slightly, adjusted her sunglasses, and went out shopping as if nothing had happened.
Shopping alone was rather dull. She only bought three bags, a pair of shoes, and a trench coat before heading over to Gu Kaiyang's place to visit her on set and have lunch together.
At noon, she returned to the hotel to rest, waiting for the brand to send someone to pick her up in the afternoon for a fitting at the haute couture atelier.
After her nap, thinking about her new dress, Ji Mingshu was in a great mood. As she left the hotel, her mind was already hosting a silent concert.
But before she could even step out of the hotel, someone called from behind, "Ji Mingshu?"
The voice was very familiar. She turned around and saw Jiang Chun standing in the lounge area, wearing a pink Chanel-style suit and a beret, looking fresh and lively. A hotel attendant was helping with her luggage nearby.
Ji Mingshu paused for a moment before slowly removing her sunglasses.
Jiang Chun was quite satisfied with Ji Mingshu's reaction. Although she disliked Ji Mingshu, she had to admit that Ji Mingshu's taste, honed from a childhood of luxury, was genuinely refined. If Ji Mingshu was left speechless, then her outfit today must be pretty good, right? She suddenly felt a bit smug.
"What are you doing here?" Ji Mingshu asked.
Thinking Ji Mingshu wanted to mock her for not being invited by the brand, Jiang Chun instinctively replied, "It's not like you own the hotel."
After saying this, Jiang Chun fell silent for three seconds.
She suddenly remembered that this hotel had been acquired by Junyi last year—it really was owned by Ji Mingshu's family.
Fortunately, she reacted quickly and added, "Paris isn't your backyard either. Isn't Miss Ji being a bit too nosy? Yan is on a business trip in Paris recently. I came to surprise him. Is that not allowed?"
Mentioning her fiancé Yan, she straightened her back a little.
"...Surprise?"
For a moment, Ji Mingshu didn't know what expression to wear.
"That's right. At least our Yan has an address when he's on a business trip, unlike your CEO Cen, who disappears for the whole year when he's busy."
Seeing Jiang Chun's childish smugness, Ji Mingshu was left speechless and even felt a tiny flicker of pity for her.Actually, Jiang Chun wasn't originally part of this circle, but her father was quite capable. Starting as a nouveau riche from a fishing village in Shencheng that got demolished, he managed to climb his way up to become a major player in the catering industry, amassing buckets of real gold and silver.
Moreover, her father was very ambitious. A few years ago, he moved the entire family from Shencheng to the capital, using his immense wealth to knock on the doors of Beijing's prestigious families. He even arranged a marriage alliance with the Yan family.
The Yan family was also once a prominent and influential household, but each generation grew less accomplished than the last. Coupled with poor judgment and lack of luck, they had long been in decline.
The marriage alliance between the two families was a typical case of new money and old money leveraging each other's strengths for mutual benefit.
Originally, infidelity in such arranged marriages wasn't particularly noteworthy—it was common for each party to go their own way. If Ji Mingshu happened to witness something, she would simply pretend she hadn't and wouldn't utter a word in front of those involved. At most, she might gossip about it with friends over tea or after a meal.
But the key point was—Jiang Chun was too genuine. She had fallen head over heels for Yan at first sight and couldn't extricate herself.
The Jiang family had plenty of options. If it weren't for Jiang Chun's feelings, there would have been no need to choose a declining family like the Yan's, which showed no signs of resurgence.
Ji Mingshu's uncharacteristic silence and her faintly pitying gaze made Jiang Chun feel a bit uneasy. She slowly walked toward the front desk, glancing back at Ji Mingshu as she went.
Ji Mingshu was hesitating whether to meddle and offer a warning when she heard Jiang Chun exclaim in disbelief from ahead, "Yan!"
Okay.
No need for her to say anything.
Not far away, Yan was walking out of the elevator with that thirty-eighth-tier celebrity, clinging to each other like conjoined twins. Both were wearing different clothes from what they had on earlier in the morning.
Ji Mingshu was no innocent virgin either. Seeing their demeanor, she guessed they must have had a quick round before heading out.
In truth, Jiang Chun wasn't bad-looking, but her taste was truly questionable. No matter what luxury brands she piled on, they always looked like cheap knockoffs from Taobao's 88-yuan free shipping section. Add to that her current state of love-crazed hysteria and attempts to make a scene, and she naturally paled in comparison to the delicate and pitiful Little White Flower standing beside Yan, who looked freshly nurtured.
Sure enough, after just a couple of heated exchanges, Yan shielded Little White Flower behind him and impatiently pushed Jiang Chun away.
"Are you done yet? Is it fun making a scene here? Look at yourself—aren't you embarrassed?"
"I'm embarrassed?"
Jiang Chun's eyes reddened, and tears as big as beans rolled down her cheeks.
During the scuffle, her hat had tilted slightly, and her curly hair and clothes were somewhat disheveled, making her look truly wretched.
Little White Flower, as if rehearsed, had stealthily put on a mask and sunglasses and was now timidly hiding behind Yan, whispering, "Ah... I can't be photographed."
Yan patted her hand, then turned back with a frown, unwilling to spare Jiang Chun another glance. His tone was utterly exasperated. "We'll talk about this when we get back to the country. If you want to embarrass yourself here, go ahead and keep making a scene, but don't drag me into it."
Jiang Chun stood there in a daze, seemingly unable to believe that her once gentle and caring fiancé could turn on her so abruptly, as easily as flipping a page.
Yan escorted Little White Flower out, and whether intentionally or not, Little White Flower bumped into Jiang Chun's shoulder as they passed.
Ji Mingshu had seen enough. Standing not far away, she suddenly let out a light chuckle. "How interesting. The scumbag and the mistress aren't embarrassed about being caught red-handed, yet they blame the legitimate fiancée for being embarrassing." Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone present could hear it clearly.Yan finally noticed Ji Mingshu. His expression darkened, and he wanted to tell her not to meddle, but remembering the relationship between the Cen and Ji families, he swallowed his words.
“Weren’t you worried about losing face? Since our foreign friends here don’t understand Chinese, would you like me to translate for you so you can lose face completely?”
Spotting the Reine de Naples watch on Yan’s wrist, Ji Mingshu sneered again, “All your fancy accessories were gifts from your legitimate fiancée, yet you still have the nerve to act so righteous.”
Yan: “You!”
Yan was utterly embarrassed, but the Little White Flower was quick-witted. She immediately put on a brave face, as if ready to take full responsibility, and stepped forward with a trembling bow. “Miss Jiang, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. Can we find a place to talk privately? Not here…”
She even tried to reach out and pull Jiang Chun, but Ji Mingshu blocked her and coldly interrupted, “Who do you think you are? Step aside.” Her gaze shifted back to Yan.
Her meaning was clear: apologize.
Yan was seething with anger but couldn’t let it out. He rubbed his forehead, licked his back teeth, and finally nodded helplessly. “Fine, it’s my fault, I’ve embarrassed myself. I’ll personally visit Uncle Jiang to explain when we return to the country. I have some matters to attend to now, so I’ll take my leave.”
Ji Mingshu didn’t stop him.
If he still wasn’t willing to comfort Jiang Chun first even after all this, stopping him wouldn’t make much difference.
She turned and walked back to Jiang Chun’s side.
Before she could say anything, Jiang Chun sobbed angrily, “I don’t need your fake sympathy! Are you happy watching me make a fool of myself?! Do you think your husband is any better? They’re all the same!”
“...”
“Whether my husband is any good or not is none of your concern.”
Ji Mingshu had no patience for people with persecution complexes. She had originally planned to offer a few words of comfort out of courtesy, but now she could skip it altogether.
Coolly putting on her sunglasses, she strode away in her high heels with an air of indifference.
Jiang Chun’s words didn’t affect Ji Mingshu’s mood as she tried on her new dress.
She had already tried on the initial sample of this nude pink lace chiffon dress earlier. After wearing it, the tailor had made further adjustments based on her figure.
Now that the custom work was complete, she was quite satisfied with how it looked on her.
She had someone help her film a short video and sent a copy to Gu Kaiyang.
Gu Kaiyang was probably busy and hadn’t seen it, as there was no reply for a while.
On a whim, she added a fresh, artistic filter and sent a copy to Cen Sen as well.
Ji Mingshu: [What do you think? My newly tailored dress.]
By the time Ji Mingshu sent the message, night had already fallen in the imperial capital. Layers of gray-blue curtains shrouded the sky, and the neon lights along the streets gradually flickered to life.
Cen Sen had just finished a meeting. Taking the phone handed to him by Zhou Jiaheng, he glanced at it briefly.
There were many unread messages—first, several notifications from his charge card about recent expenditures, followed by a WeChat message from Ji Mingshu.
He and Ji Mingshu rarely communicated, and when they did, it was usually through direct phone calls. For her to take the initiative and send him a WeChat message was unusual.
He loosened his tie and opened the video.
The video was short, only about ten seconds long. It showed Ji Mingshu holding up her dress and twirling twice before turning back with a wink.
He watched it once, then replayed it, and then replayed it a third time.
Zhou Jiaheng, walking beside Cen Sen, noticed that he kept replaying the same video. Though curious, he didn’t dare to look too closely.
It wasn’t until they returned to the office that Cen Sen finally stopped playing the video.The chat interface still showed Ji Mingshu’s earlier question. Whether he genuinely meant it or was just casually brushing her off, he simply replied: “Looks good.”
Seeing that Cen Sen had, for once, refrained from exercising his talent for “leveraging a single point to argue the entire world into submission,” Ji Mingshu was in a rather pleasant mood. She graciously engaged him in further discussion: “Does it have that vibe people talk about online—a little fresh and breezy amidst the wildness, a touch of high-end sophistication within the bitchiness?”
Cen Sen let out a silent scoff, flipped through the bill, and corrected her: “I don’t think this qualifies as ‘a touch of high-end.’”
An 180,000-euro dress being called “a touch of high-end”—she really had the nerve to say it.
Cen Sen looked up and asked Zhou Jiaheng, “When did Madam arrive in Paris?”
Zhou Jiaheng paused briefly. “Five this morning.”
He then proceeded to voluntarily report Ji Mingshu’s itinerary for the next few days, which mainly consisted of fashion show appointments and lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea invitations from high-level executives.
It was unclear whether Cen Sen had listened carefully, but after the report, he commented flatly, “She’s quite busy.”
Zhou Jiaheng kept his eyes down and wisely refrained from adding anything.
Meanwhile, Ji Mingshu was in an exceptionally cheerful mood.
With a healthy dose of narcissism, she interpreted Cen Sen’s remark, “I don’t think this qualifies as ‘a touch of high-end,’” as a compliment and decided to buy him a tie clip as a reward.
Just then, her WeChat notification chimed repeatedly.
As expected, Editor Gu’s flattery might be late, but it never failed to arrive.
Gu Kaiyang: 【Wuwuwu, what kind of celestial fairy has descended to the mortal realm?!】
Gu Kaiyang: 【The dress isn’t haute couture—you are!】
Gu Kaiyang: 【Our little golden canary is absolutely mesmerizing when she flaunts her beauty and spends money!!!】
Gu Kaiyang: 【How much money does Mom have to earn to snatch you away from that dog of a man?!】
Without comparison, there’s no sense of disparity.
Ji Mingshu took a screenshot and sent it to Cen Sen, hoping he’d learn the proper way to give compliments.
When Cen Sen received the image, his gaze lingered on the last line’s “dog of a man.”
So this was how she referred to him in private with her close friends.
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