Jiang Chun had sent a long string of exaggerated words with exclamation marks afterward, but Ji Mingshu didn’t take them in.
She stared at the chat interface, eyes unblinking, her thoughts caught in a repeating cycle of confirmation and doubt, followed by more confirmation and doubt.
Seeing her lost in thought, looking at her phone, Gu Kaiyang waved her hand in front of Ji Mingshu’s eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”
Ji Mingshu looked up, stared at her for three seconds, then suddenly blurted out, “Cen Sen hospitalized someone for badmouthing me.”
“Cough! Cough cough cough!”
Gu Kaiyang hadn’t fully swallowed her porridge and choked badly on Ji Mingshu’s words.
Seeing such a fantastical reaction, Ji Mingshu also sobered up a bit.
Hmm… there must be some misunderstanding. Perhaps that little fatty had also insulted Cen Sen. How could someone like Cen Sen, who barely bothered to open his mouth, suddenly resort to violence, especially for her sake?
Despite making these excuses in her mind, throughout the entire morning, Ji Mingshu shamefully indulged in a subtle sense of delight.
The young ladies and madams of the socialite circle had the most efficient information network and were most adept at adapting to changing winds.
In the past few days, aside from normal PR brand invitations, Ji Mingshu had received no invitations to any social activities in the circle, large or small. Even if there were any, they were filled with malice, hiding intentions to watch her make a fool of herself.
But this morning, the “sisters'” warm greetings and social invitations hadn’t stopped.
[Darling, tomorrow my store is having a new product showcase. Haven’t seen you in ages! Do you have time? I can send someone to pick you up, okay?]
—This message came from Fiona, the daughter of the chairman of Gande Group, a company that had started in mineral mining.
Fiona had studied jewelry design abroad for two years and created her namesake jewelry brand upon returning home. Unfortunately, with limited talent, her designs always featured classic elements from Tiffany, Cartier, VCA, and other major brands, yet with very high prices.
However, her flattery was quite effective. Ji Mingshu had bought a few decent pieces of jewelry from her store to save face, but had never worn them, either giving them away or letting them gather dust in her cabinet.
[Shushu, my concert tour’s final stop is back in the capital! This Saturday evening at the Sports Center. I’ve reserved a VIP seat for you. You must come if you have time. I miss you so much!]
—This message was from Echo, the youngest daughter of the Bai Family, a musical household.
Echo’s parents were proper and orthodox, both national-level singers who had performed at state banquets when they were young. As they aged, their political careers also progressed smoothly.
Echo’s older brothers and sisters had all followed the same prestigious path their parents had taken. Yet somehow, she had styled herself as a pianist. Although her playing wasn’t particularly good, she relied on her family’s influence to pave the way and create hype, launching a world piano concert tour.
…
There were many similar messages, but Ji Mingshu didn’t need to read them all to know their content.
After all, out of ten socialites, five were independent fashion designers, and the other five were either jewelry designers, musicians, exhibition painters, or nominal charity foundation heads. Whether they were proficient or passionate about their fields was debatable—the main point was that these titles sounded respectable.
Normally, Ji Mingshu looked down on these socialites who constantly talked about art and design while being superficial like goldfish with half-empty brains. Today, however, she suddenly rested her chin in her hand and reflected: no matter how mediocre they might be, at least they were seriously managing their careers, which was better than her high standards, but lack of skill, doing nothing.
Thinking of something, she suddenly put down her phone, sat at the computer, and began typing earnestly.
Around six in the evening, just as Ji Mingshu was about to get up from the computer to get some yogurt from the refrigerator, there was suddenly a sound of a key in the lock at the door.
She looked up and saw it was Gu Kaiyang.
“You’re off work so early today?”
Ji Mingshu was somewhat surprised.
For fashion magazines like “Zero Degrees,” overtime was routine. She had never seen Gu Kaiyang leave work at a normal time before.
Gu Kaiyang didn’t respond, acting mysteriously. She changed her shoes at the door and quickly slid over to Ji Mingshu’s side, then abruptly asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m just organizing some design work I did before,” she looked Gu Kaiyang up and down, feeling something was odd. “What’s wrong with you?”
Gu Kaiyang looked at her, unable to hide her smile. The hand behind her back suddenly produced an exquisite blue swan velvet jewelry box, which she waved around.
Ji Mingshu paused.
Gu Kaiyang reverently placed the jewelry box on the table, solemnly opened it, then stood up, hands properly folded over her abdomen, imitating Zhou Jiaheng’s tone: “Miss Gu, Mr. Cen recently acquired a pink diamond ring. It’s the fancy pink diamond that Madam was quite fond of last year. After being recut, its color grade has been upgraded to fancy vivid pink, and it has been adjusted to fit Madam’s size. I kindly ask you to pass it on to her.”
Ji Mingshu stared at the oval-shaped diamond ring on the table, with its exquisite facets emitting a pink glow, unable to come to her senses.
After imitating Zhou Jiaheng’s speech, Gu Kaiyang excitedly sat down beside Ji Mingshu and rattled on: “You have no idea how nervous I was coming back with this ring! Fortunately, your husband’s assistant sent a car and bodyguards to escort me part of the way! God, I just quietly checked—this ring sold for 32 million! In US dollars! Your husband is showing so much sincerity with this gesture!”
Ji Mingshu: “…”
She stared at the ring, not moving her eyes for a long while.
Who knows what Gu Kaiyang had experienced during her work hours, but upon returning, her attitude had undergone a 180-degree change. She was frantically praising “Cen Sen is good, Cen Sen is wonderful, Cen Sen is amazing” in Ji Mingshu’s ear, just short of helping her pack up to send her back to Mingshui Mansion with two condoms thrown in.
In truth, when Ji Mingshu received Jiang Chun’s intelligence report this morning, she had already weakened for a second, despite herself.
Now, staring at the pink diamond, she shamefully wavered again for three seconds.
She took the ring out of the box and tried it on.
The evening sunlight only had a shallow beam left, with a hint of fading drowsiness, but the pink diamond’s brilliance was dazzling. Each facet was clear and bright, and the small circle of pavé diamonds surrounding it reflected eye-catching brilliance as her finger joints slightly bent and extended.
Wuwuwu, it’s so beautiful!
This is exactly the kind of ring a princess should have!
As stunning as her beauty, making it hard to breathe!!!
Ji Mingshu was so absorbed in her love for the ring that she completely ignored Gu Kaiyang’s endless chatter, only catching the last question, “When are you going back?” She suddenly sobered up as if she had drunk a sobering soup.
—Does the ring mean going back?
“Who said I’m going back?”