Ming Qi already felt guilty for no reason. When he noticed all their eyes suddenly focusing on him, he stiffened so badly he barely dared to move.
He lowered his gaze, staring at his shoes, silently chanting in his mind:
They can’t see my face. They can’t see my face.
Little did he know, while he was nervous, the employees were even more nervous. Ever since the Yu Qinzhou film set scandal broke, young employees at the Yu Corporation headquarters had eagerly devoured the gossip. Many even formed group chats betting on which celebrity Yu Qinzhou had gone to the film set to see.
That day’s chat had included countless male and female celebrities, but since there were no follow-ups, they eventually let it go.
They never expected a surprise today.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened again. The employees stepped out, then immediately turned back once the doors closed, unable to hold it in anymore.
“Was he really going to the top floor?”
“Even though I couldn’t see his face, he definitely feels like a handsome guy.”
“Xiao Zhang said she saw a man coming out of the private elevator earlier, and not long after, Chairman Yu went out too… I’ll ask if it’s this guy.”
“How are you going to ask?”
One of them proudly lifted her phone. On the screen was a photo of the young man standing in the corner, head lowered. Even though his face and features were covered by his hat and mask, his outfit was clearly recognizable.
“I secretly took it while hiding my phone under the folder. Hehe, waiting for my confirmation.”
She sent the photo to front desk Xiao Zhang and quickly received confirmation.
“Speaking of which, the secretarial office bought a lot of snacks and desserts this morning,” someone added thoughtfully. “When I ran into them at the café next door, they only said the boss was treating them.”
Although Yu Corporation’s benefits were genuinely excellent, and department heads often brought employees milk tea, small cakes, and coffee, the timing today was simply too ambiguous—it was hard not to read into it.
“I don’t think that’s the key point,” one of the employees said, pulling out her phone. “Doesn’t the outfit he’s wearing look like the shirt Chairman Yu wore during his last inspection?”
“!”
The group jolted in unison and quickly leaned in to compare two photos—one was the candid shot of Ming Qi from earlier, and the other was a candid shot of Yu Qinzhou.
The black silk shirt looked plain at first glance, but the gold thread embroidered on the cuffs was extremely refined upon closer inspection. And Yu Qinzhou’s clothes were clearly a bit too large for Ming Qi, hanging loosely on him with an effortless, lazy feel.
The group looked up at each other.
And exchanged a meaningful “ohhh.”
…
After the employees left the elevator, Ming Qi finally let out a deep breath. However, because of that incident, his mood never fully relaxed until he reached the top floor. Stepping out of the elevator, he didn’t see Yu Qinzhou in the office and didn’t think much of it—he just assumed Yu Qinzhou was either in a meeting or busy with something.
So he lay quietly on the sofa scrolling on his phone.
Yu Qinzhou returned about twenty minutes later. Seeing Ming Qi sprawled lazily there, he chuckled.
“Why are you acting like a cat?”
Ming Qi glanced at him and adjusted his position, muttering, “Because I’m a bit tired.”
Both mentally tired and physically tired.
Although he had already learned from Yu Qinzhou what Wen Yulan had done, his mood still carried a faint sense of loss and heaviness.
As for physical fatigue, there was no need to guess whose fault it was.
“Does your waist hurt? Want me to massage it?”
Although it was phrased as a question, Yu Qinzhou very naturally placed his palm on Ming Qi’s lower back. Ming Qi quickly melted into the comfort of the massage, and the thoughts about Wen Yulan were soon pushed to the corner of his mind.
Around four o’clock, Yu Qinzhou took Ming Qi off work early.
They went to eat dinner at Chunqiu Manor, then spent some time at Cheng Yuan’s club before heading home.
Not long after returning, Ming Qi received a Weibo link forwarded by Meng She. The trending topic was:
#MingQiBoyfriendStyleShirt#
Ming Qi: “?”
Before he could even look closely, Meng She called.
“Congratulations. They only captured you—not your husband.”
Ming Qi opened the link and immediately saw his own photo.
He was standing beside a garden bench outside Nanyang Club, under a white streetlamp spilling warm yellow light. A white curly-haired dog had somehow wandered over beside him.
He was standing sideways to the camera, looking down while talking on the phone with the dog.
Ming Qi: “…At the time I got a call from Director Zhou, so I told Yu Qinzhou to go into the private room first.”
He hadn’t expected even that short moment to be photographed.
What good luck.
Meng She had initially been startled when he saw the trending topic rising so fast, but after looking closely, he quickly relaxed. It was obvious even without thinking that Ming Qi had been out with Yu Qinzhou.
“From this angle, it looks like someone in a private room accidentally saw you and took the photo. Maybe even a fan,” Meng She said while scrolling through posts. “Even though Undercover hasn’t aired yet, your popularity is already pretty high.”
That’s a good thing.
Ming Qi laughed softly. “Of course it’s high.”
After all, there had just been that airport incident of him “lunging at Yu Qinzhou,” and then he was announced as the male lead of Director Zhou Xingxiu’s film.
And of course, there was also the credit of Bu Hongfang and Huo Chengtang.
Even now, there were still “Red Sugar” CP fans leaving comments under his Weibo, thanking him for getting Bu Hongfang and Huo Chengtang to appear together again after so many years.
It had gotten to the point where Ming Qi would occasionally browse the Red Sugar CP forum, then go back to his own “ZhouQi CP” forum.
Thinking of this, after ending the call with Meng She, he went back into the Red Sugar CP forum again and indeed saw an account called [Call Me Grandpa] reposting many threads. He casually greeted them in the comments: hi.
The other person replied: Yo, long time no see, sis!
Ming Qi: “……”
This user [Call Me Grandpa] was someone he had accidentally gotten to know. Because the username was so distinctive, Ming Qi noticed him as soon as he appeared in the ZhouQi CP forum.
They both shipped ZhouQi and Red Sugar, followed each other, and chatted privately for a while.
The other person insisted: Sis, trust me—I guarantee the ZhouQi CP is real!
When Ming Qi first saw the word “sis,” he was so embarrassed he almost covered his face. Over time, though, he got used to it, even if it still felt a bit unnatural.
Ming Qi asked Call Me Grandpa: Aren’t you working?
Call Me Grandpa replied: Just finished a project, now on vacation. Otherwise how would I have time to ship CPs?
Fair enough.
Ming Qi nodded.
“What are you doing?”
While he was chatting enthusiastically with Call Me Grandpa, the bathroom door opened. Steam drifted out, carrying the pine scent of body wash.
Ming Qi inhaled lightly and showed his phone to Yu Qinzhou.
“Chatting with ZhouQi CP fans.”
“Oh right, I think the fan group has some event today,” Ming Qi said as he lowered his head and opened the CP fan group chat, which wasn’t very large yet.
Aside from a few early fans who somehow ended up shipping them but clearly had excellent taste, most were people who joined after the airport misunderstanding, mainly drawn in by their looks.
The 500-member group wasn’t even half full yet.
But there were big contributors in the group—every so often they organized events, sent red packets, and gave out gifts. It was always lively.
Yu Qinzhou sat down beside Ming Qi, his gaze landing immediately on two familiar accounts.
Guy Who’s Even Handsomer Than Yu Qinzhou: Today my boss took his partner out for a private date and kicked me away. This poor little lightbulb had no chance to shine. Feeling very sad, sending a few red packets to cheer myself up / wipes tears
Immediately below were large-value red packets.
“Are you going to eat the gossip?” posted:
“Waaahhh, thank you to all the sisters for the fanfiction and little comics. They’re so good to read. I’m sending you all designer bags, sisters keep it up, I love reading them, please write more and draw more / love you / heart hands.”
The corner of Yu Qinzhou’s eye twitched slightly. He tapped on [Guy Who’s Even Handsomer Than Yu Qinzhou] and said calmly, “Xi Yixiu.”
Ming Qi: “?”
Then his finger slid over to [Are You Eating the Gossip?], his tone certain: “Min Zhengyue.”
Ming Qi: “……”
He hadn’t paid much attention to Xi Yixiu’s account before, but the [Are You Eating the Gossip?] account had been running giveaways in the ZhouQi CP forum every day, and the prizes were luxury goods. He had even once wondered which rich fool it was—he hadn’t expected it to be Min Zhengyue.
Rich people really did things in their own wild way.
First they hired paparazzi studios just to eat gossip, and now they were gifting luxury goods just to read fanfiction.
“Let them do whatever they want. It’s just money sitting there anyway if it’s not spent.” Yu Qinzhou took Ming Qi’s phone from his hand and urged him, “Sleep.”
…
In the dead of night, Ming Qi half-awoke and instinctively burrowed back into Yu Qinzhou’s arms, still feeling as though he had overlooked something important.
At that moment—
Employees from a certain department at Yu Corporation were screaming in a private work group chat.
Who understands this?! Who gets it?!
Today they had just discovered that Chairman Yu’s rumored partner had appeared in the Yu Corporation building. While they were busy wide-eyed comparing the young man in the elevator with various male celebrities, a trending topic suddenly popped up:
#MingQiBoyfriendStyleShirt#
Thinking they hadn’t properly confirmed the identity, they clicked in—and what did they see?!
The “boyfriend-style shirt” Ming Qi was wearing was exactly the same shirt Chairman Yu had worn during his inspection in the afternoon?!
What does that mean?
That means everything had just fallen into place!
The employees were moved to tears as they clicked into the ZhouQi CP forum, and then—still tearfully—they grabbed 3,000-yuan red packets and a 40,000-yuan necklace.
Truly, peak life.