Ming Qi hadn’t expected Little Eight to cause trouble and quickly picked it up onto his lap. At first, he didn’t pay much attention to the interruption—until his eyes returned to the livestream chat and saw among the flood of question marks a comment:
[Isn’t this Ying Qianzhou’s “little crown prince”?!]
Seeing that familiar name and nickname, Ming Qi’s expression stiffened.
At the same time, his phone on the table vibrated. He stiffly reached for it and opened WeChat, immediately seeing a message from Meng She:
“What the hell?! How did Little Eight suddenly run into the livestream?!”
Ming Qi: ……this is bad.
Using his extreme reaction speed and expression control, he pretended to stay calm, turned off his mic, and said to the camera, “The cat is causing trouble, I’ll take it out first.”
Then he bolted out of the study carrying Little Eight.
As soon as he stepped out, he saw Cen Jin frowning at him. When his gaze landed on the cat, he visibly relaxed. “I just took it to the flower room—turned around and it was gone. Did it run into the study?”
Ming Qi fell silent for a moment. “…It went into the livestream.”
Cen Jin: “?”
Ming Qi handed Little Eight back to him, but the cat clearly refused, clinging to his clothes and meowing nonstop. The soft sound almost made Ming Qi’s heart melt, but thinking about the livestream again gave him a headache. He poked the cat’s nose and said fiercely, “Stay with Uncle Cen Jin for a bit. Come back later to deal with you.”
Ignoring the cat’s protest, he returned to the study and locked the door this time.
The click of the lock made him pause. It almost felt unnecessary—after all, it had already happened once, so a second or third time didn’t make much difference. Unless what appeared on camera next time was Ying Qianzhou himself.
Ming Qi returned to the livestream. The chat was still going wild, but he pretended not to see it and only answered a few simple questions: “Yes, it’s my own cat. Very cute.”
Then he abruptly changed the topic: “Today is the Undercover cast joint livestream, so we won’t talk about other things.”
He turned the mic back on and rejoined the seniors’ conversation.
After an hour, the slightly chaotic livestream finally ended. The moment Ming Qi clicked “end stream,” his hands were shaking slightly. Exhausted, he rested his forehead on the table and took a deep breath, replying to messages from Bu Hongfang and Wen Manyun.
The audience, unable to get answers from Ming Qi, refused to give up and turned to Bu Hongfang and Wen Manyun instead. But both were seasoned veterans; with reminders from their agents and assistants, they simply ignored it or brushed it off with “I also have a cat.”
Bu Senior: “So it got exposed like this?”
77.: “We didn’t lock the door. Little Eight can open it on its own.”
For a cat, opening doors was far too easy—Little Eight only needed to hook the handle and swing the door open slightly before slipping in.
And he hadn’t heard it because he was wearing headphones.
Bu Senior: “Just reveal it then. At your level right now, it doesn’t matter much.”
Ming Qi also knew that, so when viewers asked about Little Eight, he didn’t deny its identity or the expensive gemstone on its neck. Otherwise, he could have simply brushed it off as a cosplay “little crown prince.”
Rubbing his slightly sore brow, Ming Qi exited Bu Hongfang’s chat box, exchanged a couple of messages with Meng She, and then opened Weibo.
The top two trending searches both contained Ming Qi’s name.
#Ming Qi Little Crown Prince#
#Ming Qi Ying Qianzhou#
Ming Qi: “……”
So this was what it meant to say Little Eight was more popular than him—he had basically ridden Little Eight’s popularity all the way to the number one trending spot.
He took comfort in misfortune and clicked into one of the topics.
Not Sweet Little One: That cat is the little crown prince! That is Ying Qianzhou’s cat! If not, I’ll livestream eating a ton.
[Is this sister trying to make things hard for herself? I’ll donate a ton.]
[Compared Ming Qi’s cat and the crown prince—it’s exactly the same!]
[I counted the “smart fur” on both cats’ screenshots, not a single difference. They’re the same cat. Case closed, everyone. Ming Qi’s boyfriend is Ying Qianzhou.]
[Aside from the crown prince, whose cat can afford such expensive jewelry?]
Ming Qi refreshed again. The top post had changed:
Everyone, I went to check the account of the “crown prince’s caretaker.” I can responsibly tell you—it’s not Ming Qi’s account.
Ming Qi nodded slightly at that.
But the next line was:
It’s Ming Qi’s agent Meng She’s account. Does this hat and outfit look familiar? I found the same outfit in Ming Qi’s fan page photos. Meng She was standing right next to Ming Qi wearing it.
Ming Qi: “……”
Ying Qianzhou pushed open the study door and saw Ming Qi still in the same posture with his forehead pressed against the desk. He walked over and lifted him into his arms, asking in a low voice, “That troubling?”
Ming Qi came back to his senses and quickly understood what he meant.
He touched his nose. “You already know?”
Ying Qianzhou gave a faint “mm.” “The PR manager of Ying Corporation called me after seeing the news.”
So that was it.
Ming Qi glanced at him and muttered softly, “It’s not really trouble, I just didn’t expect it to get this ridiculous. And today was supposed to be a group promotional livestream for the crew—it turned into this instead.”
In the end, every livestream chat was focused on Little Eight. It really affected the broadcast.
Ying Qianzhou stroked his head, fingers brushing down his soft hair. “Then go beat Little Eight up.”
He turned Ming Qi slightly, and Little Eight—the troublemaker—was completely unaware of what it had done. It still walked over with its tail high and arrogant, and when it reached Ying Qianzhou’s leg it meowed loudly, then glanced at Ming Qi, looking like it was filing a complaint.
It was telling Ying Qianzhou that its Ming Qi daddy had been very cruel today and dumped it on Cen Jin uncle.
Ming Qi felt like he might actually have parenting instincts for a troublemaking child. Looking at it like that, he couldn’t bring himself to hit it and just poked its head.
“What are you complaining about? It was your fish daddy who told me to beat you.”
Little Eight: “Meow!”
Ming Qi: “…You really are asking for a beating.”
But the moment he said it, the cat softened and rubbed against him.
Ming Qi: “…Fine, you’re still well-behaved.”
Ying Qianzhou was thoroughly amused by the two of them. He ruffled Ming Qi and then the cat, lifted Little Eight in one hand and took Ming Qi’s hand in the other, leading them out.
“It’s getting late. Time to wash up and rest.”
Ming Qi followed behind him like a little tail, then pressed his forehead against the man’s back shoulder. Though he said nothing, Ying Qianzhou clearly knew what was troubling him. He turned around, and the shoulder became a chest instead. Ming Qi could clearly hear the strong heartbeat and the vibration of his voice.
“Let it take its course.”
…
When Ming Qi told Meng She about their decision, Meng She was currently fighting black fans on Weibo.
[I was wrong. I thought Ming Qi had finally stopped clout-chasing, so he officially announced a boyfriend—but turns out he was building up something big. After all these years, Ming Qi is still the same attention-seeker. I’ll call this consistency.]
Meng She replied: So angry. Ying Qianzhou still hasn’t banned him.
[Is Ming Qi chasing clout to the point of insanity? Even the cat is being used now?]
Meng She replied: If you add more traffic, he’ll be even happier.
[What did Ying Qianzhou’s cat do wrong to be dragged into this?]
Meng She replied: Being born a cat, Little Eight apologizes.
Ming Qi heard faint tapping sounds and couldn’t help asking, “What are you doing?”
Meng She: “Arguing with your black fans. Honestly, no damage at all. Your brother is wiping the floor with them.”
Then he paused: “So, called me at this time—you’ve decided?”
Ming Qi nodded and told him the words “let it take its course,” then quietly added, “Director Zhang messaged me today. He said Undercover has been submitted for the Golden Crane Awards.”
Meng She, who had already grown used to Ming Qi’s situation, didn’t get angry this time. Instead he smiled and teased, “Then I’ll congratulate you in advance on a double harvest of love, career, and reputation?”
Ming Qi felt a little embarrassed. “That… works too.”
After syncing with Meng She, Ming Qi stopped paying attention to online chatter. Their calm, passive response only made netizens’ imaginations run wilder.
Octopus Six Legs: A reasonable discussion—why did the follow-up to Ming Qi and Ying Qianzhou disappear? I have a theory. Is it possible that the crown prince isn’t Ying Qianzhou’s cat at all, but actually belongs to his so-called friend? After all, only Ying Qianzhou was photographed—not him personally confirming the cat is his.
[Sounds reasonable, but I’m a Cycle CP fan.]
[Do you mean Ying Qianzhou didn’t clarify because of his friend and let Ming Qi ride the hype? Not impossible—but I’m a CP fan now, their looks together are too strong.]
[Everything you said makes sense, but I’m a Cycle CP fan.]
[I don’t care whose cat it is, I’m just a Cycle CP fan.]
[Upstairs sisters are cracking me up lol hahaha PS: I’m also a CP fan]
…
At the party celebrating the 4-billion box office of Undercover, Bo Hongfang was sitting on the sofa, reading out netizens’ comments to Ming Qi in a rising-and-falling tone, then gave his own thoughts:
“Netizens’ brains really do turn fast, but why are your CP fans with Yu Qinzhou already this many?”
Ming Qi had been following the CP’s Super Topic, so he was very clear about the recent changes inside it.
“It’s a bit exaggerated. All thanks to Ayue and Xi Zong.”
“Who?”
“Yu Qinzhou’s cousin and the CEO of the Yu Group. They’ve been doing giveaways in the Super Topic every day, giving out gifts.”
Bo Hongfang: “?”
There’s such a good thing?
Without another word, he opened the CP Super Topic, scanned a few pinned giveaway posts, followed the account, and reposted them.
So, all of Bo Hongfang’s followers suddenly received a notification:
The blogger you follow has posted!
Excited, the fans clicked in, only to see the post:
Repost and like this Weibo post. I’ll pick 20 CP fans of Zhouqi CP, each gets 100,000 RMB. Alipay and WeChat transfer supported.
Fans: “?”