Soon, the sound of running water came from the bathroom. Ji Mingshu lay back in bed and thought carefully.
Having been married to Cen Sen for so long, they had a certain degree of understanding of each other.
Cen Sen was the kind of man who was full of ambition and desire for his career but had little patience for women and emotions.
She thought that he might engage in casual encounters to satisfy his needs, but probably wouldn’t go so far as to keep a mistress. After all, maintaining an improper relationship would be too energy-consuming for him.
Thinking of this, she let out a self-mocking snort, recalling Gu Kaiyang’s criticism before the wedding—
“Your only requirement for your husband is that he doesn’t keep mistresses, or if he does, he doesn’t embarrass you?! As a beautiful, rich white girl, do you need to be so humble???”
Thinking about it carefully, it was quite humble.
The Ji family from North Beijing was a genuine prestigious family. Born into such a family, she had seen too much from a young age and knew well that the wealthier the place, the more filth it could hide. Truly harmonious marriages and families were too rare in this social class. For arranged marriages like hers and Cen Sen’s, being able to appear loving in public was already quite an achievement.
She was generally satisfied with Cen Sen—handsome, good in bed, not clingy, and generous with money.
Before sleeping, she thought: It’s fine just like this. No need to lecture each other for the rest of our lives. Just muddle through like this.
Soon, the annual Paris Fall/Winter Haute Couture Week arrived, and Ji Mingshu received invitations from various major brands early on.
She had been attending fashion shows since she was eight years old, developing an extraordinary taste amidst luxury. In the Beijing and Shanghai socialite circles, she was considered a trendsetter at the forefront of fashion.
Before departing for Paris, Ji Mingshu made a series of whirlwind preparations at home.
She needed to match her outfit with whichever brand’s show she was attending. She wasn’t a celebrity, so airport looks for photo ops could be skipped, but afternoon tea looks, dinner party looks, and her favorite high jewelry exhibition looks couldn’t be omitted.
In two or three days, Ji Mingshu had packed seven suitcases.
For her, this was traveling light. She also had custom-made dresses at the haute couture atelier that she could wear directly to the shows when she arrived in Paris.
About to go out and splurge again, Ji Mingshu was in a great mood and had been all smiles even when seeing Cen Sen these days.
Cen Sen didn’t quite understand this pleasure unique to decorative vases. He only knew that whenever Ji Mingshu went abroad to watch fashion shows with a radiant face, the number of her luggage would certainly double upon her return.
And during this period, his credit card would constantly update with new transactions, seemingly reminding him that this high-end canary he had married was probably unrivaled in the art of squandering money.
When Cen Sen graduated from university, Old Mr. Cen gave him a Gulfstream aircraft as a graduation gift. He seldom used it, but after marrying Ji Mingshu, she certainly made good use of it.
Taking the private jet to Paris late at night, Ji Mingshu slept for a full eleven hours on the plane. When she woke up, dawn was just breaking in Paris.
A private car was waiting at the airport. By the time she reached the hotel, the suite butler had already prepared coffee and various breakfast options for her. Invitations and gifts from major brands were arranged in a heart shape.
The room had been selected in advance by the butler, completely fulfilling all her pre-specified requirements, and even included a small surprise—the room number matched her birthday, and her English name was embroidered in subtle patterns on the bedding corners.
After breakfast at the hotel, Ji Mingshu changed clothes to go shopping.
As she went downstairs, she remembered Gu Kaiyang and casually made a video call to check in.
As the deputy editor of a fashion magazine, Gu Kaiyang was naturally a fixture at Fashion Week. However, they traveled as a team and had arrived two days earlier.
When Gu Kaiyang received Ji Mingshu’s video call, she was personally inspecting the details of more than a dozen gowns for a photoshoot.
She had been so busy these past two days that she was dizzy from exhaustion. Seeing Ji Mingshu on the screen wearing sunglasses and looking radiant, with leisure time to walk down stairs to burn calories, she chattered away: “I swear I’ll never criticize arranged marriages like yours again. It’s too blessed! Do you know that this manual laborer hasn’t closed her eyes for two whole days! Truly, you can’t imagine how stingy our group is! Strangely enough, before I became deputy editor, the group was quite generous. When it was the previous deputy editors’ turn, they all got suites. How come when it’s my turn, I get a standard room?! Clothes piled up all over, not even space to step! If they get any stingier, they might as well arrange for us to sleep under the overpass!”
“I’m serious, I don’t want to work hard anymore! Being a beard wife or marrying a memorial tablet isn’t even an issue!”
Ji Mingshu: “Wait, who’s being a beard wife or marrying a memorial tablet?”
Gu Kaiyang: “Aren’t those your own words? Don’t blame me.”
Ji Mingshu was about to refute something when, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a familiar figure.
On the other end, Gu Kaiyang was still chattering away endlessly. Ji Mingshu’s steps slightly hesitated, and she inconspicuously switched to the rear camera, pointing it at a couple checking in at the hotel lobby.
Simultaneously, as she had expected, Gu Kaiyang’s prairie dog-like scream came through her earphones.