Although countless fans strongly requested that Su Hang livestream the dinner gathering, he only laughed at the idea and didn’t take it seriously.
He wasn’t stupid.
Getting invited to this meal was purely a matter of luck. If he then opened some livestream and made everyone unable to eat in peace, that would be unnecessary.
That evening, he arrived at Spring and Autumn Residence on time.
Nervously, he straightened the casual suit he had specially changed into. Then, led by a server, he took a deep breath and pushed open the private room door.
The private room was enormous.
Only after passing the screen directly opposite the entrance did he see the round dining table.
Three people sat there.
Bu Hongfang lounged carelessly with one leg crossed over the other, playing on his phone. Every now and then, sounds like “Can’t beat that” and “Airplane” came from the device.
Su Hang thought that, if nothing unexpected had happened, Bu Hongfang was probably traumatized by that Fight the Landlord livestream and was now desperately practicing his card skills.
To his right, Ming Qi dressed casually, carrying a relaxed look between his brows.
His body leaned slightly into Yu Qinzhou’s embrace as he pointed at the phone screen and spoke quietly.
The two of them were immersed in their own world and didn’t notice the subtle sound of Su Hang entering.
Instead, Yu Qinzhou raised his face, revealing a strikingly handsome one, and nodded at Su Hang.
“Mr. Su?”
The moment his voice sounded, it instantly drew Ming Qi and Bu Hongfang’s attention.
The two stood up together, smiling as they greeted Su Hang.
“Su Hang, right? Sit, sit, sit. Don’t be polite with Chairman Yu. He’s treating today.”
Bu Hongfang was extremely enthusiastic.
He pressed Su Hang into the seat to his left and, worried Su Hang might feel awkward, kept chatting nonstop.
Even though Su Hang had long known about Bu Hongfang’s outgoing personality, he still found it shocking.
Still—
He had to admit, thanks to Bu Hongfang, Su Hang quickly blended into the dinner gathering.
From initial stiffness, they moved on to chatting about everything under the sun.
He spoke in detail about movies he had watched and actors he admired and respected.
Every couple of sentences he spoke would draw bright, sparkling eyes from Bu Hongfang and Ming Qi.
Su Hang: “……”
There was an illusion that the people across from him weren’t celebrities—
He was.
Still, he hadn’t forgotten those fans crazily checking in under his Weibo.
After getting the other three’s permission, he casually snapped a few photos of the dinner table and uploaded them to Weibo.
Before posting, he was surprised to discover his related topic hanging on the trending list.
Clicking in, he saw the hot discussion read:
Do you people seriously think Yu Qinzhou would skip business worth several hundred million just to eat with a random influencer? Isn’t that a bit ridiculous? 🙂 Yesterday I asked my old high school classmate—he works at a big company overseas now—and he said that during previous collaborations with Nanyi, no matter how upper management invited him, Yu Qinzhou never attended dinner parties. Since when does an influencer have that kind of pull?
After reading it, Su Hang couldn’t help glancing again at the man reclining against his chair, pinching and playing with Ming Qi’s fingers.
Honestly, after seeing the secretly taken hallway photo from the club, he had once thought this dinner was definitely canceled.
But now…
He swiftly uploaded the photos.
Although Yu Qinzhou’s full face did not appear in the pictures, the man’s ring-wearing hand appearing in one corner of the image was already more than enough.
Little Beauty and Little Handsome: Peak of life / goofy grin
[??????]
[Holy crap, you actually went to eat? Yu Qinzhou really had dinner with you?]
[@FloatingCloud Didn’t expect that, huh? Yu Qinzhou really would skip business worth hundreds of millions just to eat with an influencer.]
[Hahahaha no, influencers definitely don’t have that much power—but Ming Qi does hahaha.]
[There’s a huge difference between a boyfriend and a business partner, @FloatingCloud, don’t you think?]
[I don’t want to see food, sob sob. What’s so interesting about dishes? I want to see the two of them!!]
Su Hang thought to himself:
Not showing you guys.
Grinning happily, he set his phone down and rejoined the conversation among Ming Qi and the others.
…
The few photos Su Hang posted once again stirred up discussion related to Ming Qi and Yu Qinzhou.
But Ming Qi didn’t pay much attention to it because Reincarnation had run into a small problem.
After confirming Ming Qi as the male lead, Ning Jiang quickly finalized the remaining main cast.
Just as everything was ready, the villa originally booked—and where set construction had already begun—suddenly encountered an accident.
Unlike other films, Reincarnation’s filming setting was almost completely fixed inside this villa.
So if something happened to the villa, it meant filming had to be delayed—
At least until Ning Jiang found a new villa.
“Ning Jiang said he signed a rental contract with someone,” Meng She explained, “but only yesterday found out—
the villa didn’t even belong to that person.”
In other words, Ning Jiang had been scammed.
Ming Qi: “…That’s pretty rare.”
Meng She thought so too. It was really both tragic and pitiful.
Yu Qinzhou, who was sipping tea and petting the cat nearby, heard the conversation. His gaze flickered slightly, and his tone sounded casual. “Have they found a villa yet? If not, ask him what he thinks of Xijing Bay. If he doesn’t like Xijing Bay and has his eye on another location, I can also help check whether I have any properties there under my name.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Ming Qi and Meng She both turned to stare at him in unison.
Noticing Ming Qi’s look, Yu Qinzhou reached out to pinch his cheek and asked with a smile, “Why are you looking at me like that? Do you find my sudden act of kindness unbelievable?”
Ming Qi narrowed his eyes as he studied him. After a while, he raised a finger and waved it, dragging out his words meaningfully as he replied, “It’s not that your sudden kindness is unbelievable. It’s that your scheming is kind of impressive.”
Their gazes met, and the curve of Yu Qinzhou’s lips lifted.
So his true intentions had been seen through.
Still, he said nothing for the time being and only turned to Meng She. “Give Director Ning a call and ask.”
Meng She had no idea what kind of silent exchange they were having, but upon hearing that, he immediately turned to call Ning Jiang.
Ning Jiang had already been so worried he could barely eat, yet this piece of good news suddenly dropped into his lap. He nearly sprinted downstairs and ran three laps around the block, repeatedly asking in disbelief, “Really? Are you sure? You’re not messing with me?”
The triple questioning received triple confirmation from Meng She.
“I’ve been to Xijing Bay. I think Xijing Bay would work fine. But Mr. Yu and the others live there—wouldn’t that conflict?”
“No problem. There’s an empty villa next door. Just have your crew come over and redo the set dressing.”
“Okay, I’ll head over right away. Please thank Mr. Yu for me first.”
Meng She relayed the message truthfully to Yu Qinzhou.
Resting his chin in his hands, Ming Qi poked Yu Qinzhou in the waist, thinking that this was exactly why Yu Qinzhou was so impressive. By lending out a villa, he not only gained Ning Jiang’s gratitude, but also secured an opportunity to visit the set with just a short walk from home. It was practically too perfect.
But then he thought about how filming would mean he could still sleep at home, eat his favorite meals, and occasionally pet Little Eight.
It was almost too much happiness.
Ning Jiang arrived full of enthusiasm. To thank Yu Qinzhou, he had even brought a small gift. Handing it to Ming Qi, he said with a smile, “You can calculate the rental fee later and I’ll transfer it to you. These are just a small token of appreciation. Hope you don’t mind.”
The gift wasn’t anything expensive—just specialty pastries from Ning Jiang’s hometown. Ming Qi had heard Meng She mention them before, saying they were extremely popular. People would line up at three or four in the morning and still might not manage to buy any.
Ming Qi’s eyes lit up. “Thank you. Meng She said these pastries are really delicious. He was supposed to bring me some back from his trip last time, but he couldn’t get any.”
Seeing that Ming Qi genuinely liked them made Ning Jiang happy too. “I had my dad go buy them early this morning. He drove them over after getting them, so they should still taste pretty fresh. Give them a try. If you like them, I’ll have my dad send more over.”
After some small talk, Ning Jiang went off to supervise the crew as they prepared the villa.
A week later, Ming Qi officially joined the set.
Even though he only had to walk a few steps.
Behind him followed Assistant Min, not wearing a mask.
Seeing this scene, Meng She finally understood the strange expression Ming Qi had worn when Yu Qinzhou first suggested lending the villa. At this moment, he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration—no wonder the man was in business. He really thought of everything.
The other main cast members of Reincarnation weren’t particularly famous, but their acting was solid, and their personalities were good. They got along well with Ming Qi. At first, seeing “Assistant Min” constantly following behind Ming Qi had made them surprised and uncomfortable. But as time passed, it became stranger and more uncomfortable whenever Ming Qi wasn’t followed by “Assistant Min.”
Filming progressed smoothly. Every time Ning Jiang reviewed the footage, he couldn’t help praising himself for having sent the script invitation to Ming Qi back then. Otherwise, there was no guarantee Reincarnation would even have gotten off the ground.
“I heard you got nominated for the Golden Crane Awards? Congratulations.” Ning Jiang had been so immersed in filming lately that he only found out through other people on set. After eagerly checking the news, the moment he saw Ming Qi he gave him a thumbs-up. “From what I can tell, none of the other nominees for Best Supporting Actor can compare to you.”
Ming Qi laughed at his words. “You have that much confidence in me?”
“I’m just making an evaluation based purely on your performances. To be honest, I’ve watched all those films. The only one that can really go head-to-head with Undercover is Director Zhang Cong’s other film, Death Notice.”
The Golden Crane Awards were held every two years, and Zhang Cong’s Death Notice and Undercover just happened to fall within the eligibility period for this year’s awards.
“But Death Notice is a dual male-lead film, so it’s not competing with you.” Ning Jiang saw things clearly. “Though the two of them competing for the Golden Crane Best Actor award… that’ll be pretty interesting.”
Then he thought of something.
Maybe in another two years, it would be Ming Qi competing with them for Golden Crane Best Actor.
That somehow sounded even more interesting.
Hearing those words, Ming Qi’s eyes curved slightly with a smile. “If I win an award, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
“Deal. Let’s just eat next door. Your family’s chef is seriously amazing.”
Ning Jiang was talking about the chef at Xijing Bay. Yu Qinzhou would occasionally have meals sent over to the crew, and after trying the food once, Ning Jiang had been unable to forget it. If not for his lack of money—and if not for Yu Qinzhou’s status—he would have seriously considered poaching the chef.
“Oh, right.” Ning Jiang pulled the topic back to Reincarnation. “I’m planning to post some behind-the-scenes clips on the official account. Is yours okay to release?”
After Reincarnation officially announced Ming Qi as the male lead, many fans and casual viewers were baffled.
In everyone’s mind, Ming Qi had just filmed Undercover and Winter Has Arrived, the latter even being a leading role. No matter how they looked at it, his next movie shouldn’t have been any worse than those two, right?
But then—what the hell was Reincarnation? And who was Director Ning Jiang? Nobody had even heard of him!
Seeing the situation, the antis practically burst out of their coffins, claiming that Ming Qi had angered Yu Qinzhou and already broken up with him, which was why his resources had suddenly become so mediocre.
Meng She’s eye twitched slightly as he read it.
In the past, seeing comments like this would have made him angry. Now he only found them funny. He didn’t even bother arguing with them anymore, just dropped a “idiot” and went off to calm the fans who were being swayed by the narrative. He stated plainly:
“Reincarnation was selected by Ming Qi from dozens of scripts. He really likes it. Everyone can look forward to it—it definitely won’t disappoint you / heart.”
Since then, attention on Reincarnation noticeably increased.
Also, ever since Ming Qi entered the set, his Weibo had basically gone wild with weeds. With nothing to entertain themselves on his account, fans could only wait for behind-the-scenes updates from the Reincarnation official page.
This time, Director Ning Jiang’s prepared behind-the-scenes footage still, as usual, had no Yu Qinzhou—but it did have Little Eight.
During a break, Little Eight swaggered into the villa from outside, followed by several big white geese wearing diapers.
The male second lead stared at the fat geese, eyes practically glowing.
“These geese are great. They’d make excellent soy-braised goose.”
The next second, one of the geese clamped onto his butt and chased him around the set as he screamed. He finally hid behind Ming Qi, and only then did the goose let go and wander off elsewhere.
Male second lead: “…Forget medical expenses, but Ming Qi, you still owe me mental damage compensation. Otherwise I’ll go to the paparazzi tomorrow and expose you—big celebrity with strange tastes, raising geese as pets!”
Ming Qi held back a laugh and raised a finger. “One milk tea.”
The male second lead immediately shook his head. “My agent said I gained weight yesterday. I’ll take coffee—iced Americano.”
Ming Qi agreed.
The video cut off abruptly.
“How is it?” Ning Jiang asked.
Ming Qi hesitated for a second. “I’m fine with it, but I’m not sure about Brother Xuan.”
After all, the one getting his butt pecked by a goose wasn’t him. The embarrassment wouldn’t fall on him either.
Ning Jiang waved a hand dismissively. “He agreed. He’s already on a silly-comedy route anyway—no problem posting it.”
After it was released, the behind-the-scenes clip shot straight into the day’s top ten trending topics.
Half the internet was screaming about Little Eight being adorable; the other half was laughing at Lin Xuan’s stupidity.
Only one account named [My Goose] silently commented:
“These geese look kind of familiar… aren’t they mine?!”
Netizens: ?
The antis once again rose from the grave and quickly formed a trending topic:
#MingQiStoleGeese
Fans: “……”
Ming Qi himself: “……”
Meng She didn’t even bother scolding them. Instead, he posted a list of psychiatric hospital addresses and contact numbers on Weibo, sincerely inviting the antis to move in—and said he’d cover their accommodation fees.
Meanwhile, [My Goose] posted a photo of goose ring-tossing and added:
“Antis are fast. I only posted half my Weibo and it already got reposted. PS: I have to admit, Mr. Yu is really good at ring toss.”
And so, under #MingQiStoleGeese, a new tag appeared:
#YuQinzhouRingTossChampion
Ming Qi: “……”
Seriously, this is getting way too absurd.