Mr. Wen, did you enjoy your date?

Lin Ziyou sipped his full-sugar milk tea, his mouth full of artificial flavoring, shivering at the cold as he began mentally calculating how much weight he might gain from drinking this one cup.

Wen Zhiyan stood beside him drinking bland lemon water, his gaze on the drop tower they had just ridden, looking somewhat distracted.

At six in the evening, everyone began returning to the villa.

Jiang Lan and Ye Qiunian were the second pair back.

The moment they walked through the front door, they saw Pei Du and Tan Duoduo sitting at opposite ends of the sofa, with an entire galaxy between them.

"What did you two do?"

Jiang Lan set the gift bag he was carrying on the coffee table and sat right between Pei Du and Tan Duoduo without ceremony.

Pei Du's gaze fell on Ye Qiunian.

"Watched a movie. What about you?"

Ye Qiunian pointed to the gift bag Jiang Lan had put on the table and sat down too.

"Crafts."

He looked at Tan Duoduo, who sat to Jiang Lan's left with her head lowered, examining her exquisite manicure.

"What's going on here?"

Pei Du said nothing.

"Nothing," Tan Duoduo said. "Teacher Pei is good at acting in movies, but I suppose the person watching the movie wasn't to his liking. He slept all afternoon."

Pei Du scratched his head and said somewhat awkwardly:

"Sorry. Qiao Xin snored last night, so I didn't sleep well."

Sitting between them, Jiang Lan hissed and patted Pei Du's shoulder.

"Whose movie was it? That boring?"

Pei Du fell silent again.

Tan Duoduo gave a dry laugh. "His own."

Just as she finished speaking, the villa's front door opened again. Yu Nan walked in holding a bouquet of white roses, his cheeks flushed and looking very happy.

Qiao Xin followed behind him, carrying a paper bag. Judging by the packaging, it probably contained desserts or something similar.

She set the paper bag on the coffee table.

"Yu Nan is an incredible baker. We brought some back for you to try."

Yu Nan and Qiao Xin sat down one after the other. Soon, Xu Can, who had slept all afternoon, heard the noise and came running downstairs too.

Now only Wen Zhiyan and Lin Ziyou had yet to return.

"I thought Ziyou seemed a little interested in President Wen. They're still not back—maybe something's happening."

Qiao Xin took several little boxes out of the paper bag, opened one, and picked up a cookie from inside, popping it into her mouth.

Jiang Lan sounded displeased. "What gave you that idea? Besides, it's broad daylight. What could possibly happen?"

While chatting with Yu Nan that afternoon, Qiao Xin had merely heard him mention that Lin Ziyou had asked him and Xu Can last night whether they knew anything about Wen Zhiyan.

She had only made an offhand comment, but Jiang Lan's reaction was unexpectedly rather interesting.

She regarded Jiang Lan thoughtfully and said deliberately:

"President Wen and Ziyou are both so gorgeous, and Lin Ziyou looks like someone destined to marry into money."

"I think they're a great match. Don't you?"

Jiang Lan didn't know whether Lin Ziyou and Wen Zhiyan were a good match.

He only knew that, if they weren't livestreaming right now, he would want nothing more than to gouge out Qiao Xin's damned eyes and give them a thorough wash in disinfectant.

So she could see clearly who was actually a better match for whom.

But with countless people beyond the cameras watching his every move, Jiang Lan could only settle for the next best thing and tell Qiao Xin:

"You've put on weight, Qiao Xin. Right here..."

Jiang Lan pointed at Qiao Xin's chin. "Two layers. Really obvious."

Alarmed, Qiao Xin immediately put the remaining half of her cookie back in the box and raised a hand to feel her chin.

Jiang Lan actually couldn't tell whether Qiao Xin had gained weight at all. All he cared about now was why Wen Zhiyan still wasn't back.

If Wen Zhiyan really had made some inexplicable progress with Lin Ziyou...

The more Jiang Lan thought about it, the darker his expression grew.

Just as he was imagining catching Wen Zhiyan and Lin Ziyou kissing in their room, then grabbing Wen Zhiyan by the collar, ready to pin him to the floor and give him a beating.

The villa's front door finally opened again.

Wen Zhiyan walked in, actually carrying a bag too.

He immediately picked out Jiang Lan's location and walked toward the center of the living room.

Lin Ziyou followed Wen Zhiyan inside, smiling and seemingly in a pretty good mood.

Sitting in the middle of the sofa, Jiang Lan watched Wen Zhiyan approach and asked with a beaming smile:

"President Wen, did you enjoy your date?"

The sight of Jiang Lan's smile with a knife hidden behind it sent a chill down Wen Zhiyan's back.

But under everyone's eyes, he merely pressed his lips together and selectively skipped over the question of whether he had enjoyed himself.

He simply reached into the bag, took out several small boxes, and handed them around.

"Little gifts."

At this, the others all reached for them and thanked Wen Zhiyan.

Only Jiang Lan remained still.

After distributing everyone else's gifts, Wen Zhiyan took something that looked no different from the others out of the very bottom of the bag. He placed it in Jiang Lan's hands himself and looked into his eyes.

"Open it when you're back in your room tonight."

Those words were meant for Jiang Lan.

But the others didn't know that.

Xu Can was the first to open the box. Looking at the little pink fox figurine inside, Xu Can said happily:

"I've already opened mine. It's so cute. Thank you, President Wen."

Jiang Lan looked at the heavy figurine box in his hands and felt certain there was more than just a figurine inside his.

He looked at Wen Zhiyan.

"Bought them at the amusement park gift shop?"

Wen Zhiyan murmured an assent, then quietly said something that no one present except Jiang Lan could understand.

He said:

"Turns out it wasn't 49.9 yuan. It was 499.9."

Jiang Lan paused at that, then gave a soft laugh.

"Yeah. Enough to cover more than half a month of my living expenses."

No one could make out what cryptic exchange Wen Zhiyan and Jiang Lan were having.

They were discussing dinner.

Apart from Wen Zhiyan and Ye Qiunian, everyone present needed to appear on camera and watch their figures.

The omegas therefore declined dinner, planning to go back to their rooms and freshen up first.

Because of Jiang Lan's remark, Qiao Xin also gave up dinner and followed right behind the omegas upstairs.

Ye Qiunian found some fruit in the refrigerator, planning to make a yogurt salad to fill his stomach.

Pei Du shamelessly asked to share.

Tan Duoduo picked up a box of Yu Nan's little pastries and returned to her room too.

A few minutes later, only Wen Zhiyan and Jiang Lan remained in the spacious living room.

Wen Zhiyan looked at Jiang Lan, his gaze gentle.

"What would you like to eat?"

Holding the figurine box against his chest, Jiang Lan looked into Wen Zhiyan's eyes.

"Cook me a bowl of noodles."

He thought for a moment, then lowered his head and continued:

"With a boiled egg."

Just as he finished speaking, a knock came from outside. A staff member poked their head in, looking at the two men in the living room, and said to Jiang Lan:

"Teacher Jiang, please come outside for a moment. Your package has arrived."