Jiang Lan, I missed you so much

Jiang Lan's Adam's apple bobbed. Several times, he wanted to speak, but with other people around, he could only shut his mouth.

Only after the staff had fitted them with their gear and moved away from them

did Jiang Lan finally lose patience and mutter breathily into Wen Zhiyan's ear:

"Wen Zhiyan, what are you doing?!"

Wen Zhiyan lowered his eyes and spoke just as quietly:

"Lan-ge, I'm a normal alpha. With you pressed against me like this, it's hard not to react."

Jiang Lan's hands hung awkwardly at his sides, with nowhere to go. He gritted his teeth and demanded unreasonably:

"Make it go down."

Wen Zhiyan hadn't originally intended to call Jiang Lan out.

But with Jiang Lan making such an impossible demand, Wen Zhiyan had no choice. His lips curved as he whispered into Jiang Lan's ear:

"Why make things difficult for me, Teacher Jiang? How about this... you make yours go down, and I'll do the same."

Jiang Lan swore under his breath, then raised his hands from his sides and pinched Wen Zhiyan's waist.

He tightened his grip, about to warn Wen Zhiyan that they hadn't made up yet and that he needed to rein it in.

Unfortunately, before he could get the words out, Wen Zhiyan saw the staff member nod.

He raised his arms, held the completely unprepared Jiang Lan tight against him, and tipped backward over the edge of the platform.

The sudden weightlessness nearly sent Jiang Lan's heart flying out of his throat.

He instinctively dug his fingers into Wen Zhiyan's waist with all his might, his mind going blank.

With every ounce of strength he had, he let out a roar that pierced the clouds:

"Wen Zhiyan! Fuck you and your whole damn family!!!!"

Jiang Lan's voice made Wen Zhiyan's eardrums ache. Holding him, Wen Zhiyan let out a low chuckle.

Through the rushing wind, Jiang Lan heard Wen Zhiyan remind him:

"Lan-ge, it's embarrassing for an alpha to scream like that."

Jiang Lan didn't know why Wen Zhiyan wasn't scared.

He couldn't think about that now. To keep himself from letting out another embarrassing scream, Jiang Lan could only open his mouth and bite Wen Zhiyan's shoulder.

A dull pain spread from his shoulder. Not only did Wen Zhiyan not cry out, he even released one hand and pressed it against the back of Jiang Lan's head, as though encouraging him to bite harder.

His laughter grew increasingly delighted and unrestrained.

Resting his chin on Jiang Lan's shoulder, he spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Jiang Lan, I missed you so much."

Jiang Lan didn't know when his heart had returned to his chest and started beating again.

Nor did he know how he had put on the ascent gear and returned to the top of the cliff.

Much less how everyone else had completed the activity after him.

All he knew was that from the moment the bungee jump ended until they returned to the villa, that one sentence from Wen Zhiyan kept echoing endlessly through his mind:

"Jiang Lan, I missed you so much."

[Qiao Xin's in heaven again. Seriously, I think she and Yu Nan are almost a thing. Ever since Yu Nan came back up from the bottom of the cliff, he's been clutching the hem of her clothes.]

[That's normal. Adrenaline surging, dopamine going wild. Thrilling games like this are the easiest way to spark a little romance.]

[Not necessarily. Did you hear Lan-ge scream?]

[The audio the camera picked up was a little faint, so I couldn't make it out, but the instant Jiang Lan yelled, everyone else cracked up.]

[Did anyone hear what Lan-ge shouted? I'm sure he called President Wen's name.]

[Seriously? Isn't that when you're supposed to shout the name of the person you love most? Like, "So-and-so, I love you!" How romantic.]

[Cut the crap. Shipping everything will only hurt you. Jiang Lan did shout President Wen's name, but he was just cursing out his family.]

[lmao, I knew Teacher Jiang couldn't have anything nice coming out of that mouth. He definitely wasn't saying anything sweet.]

[The funniest part is that before they jumped off the cliff, Teacher Jiang was talking so much smack to President Wen.]

[Hahahahaha, don't worry~ I'll show you~ what~ a real~ alpha~ looks like~]

[There's nothing~ in this world~ that can~ scare me~]

[Fuck, I'm laughing so hard I could puke. I'm clipping that part and making it into a meme.]

At that moment, Jiang Lan had no idea that he would soon be turned into a meme, forwarded and spread across countless people's phones.

Ever since returning from outside, he had been sitting on the sofa, playing Tetris on the phone provided by the production team.

He behaved normally enough, and no one else noticed anything wrong.

Only Wen Zhiyan noticed that Jiang Lan seemed distracted.

True, the moment they jumped off the cliff, Jiang Lan had been frightened because he was completely unprepared.

But he wasn't that timid. Once it was over, it was over; it shouldn't have left him dazed even now.

So, in front of everyone, Wen Zhiyan extended an invitation to Jiang Lan:

"Teacher Jiang, could you help me with something?"

Jiang Lan looked up. "What?"

Wen Zhiyan said, "Help me carry some things. We're switching rooms tonight."

Jiang Lan knew Wen Zhiyan wouldn't trouble him over something as trivial as carrying things.

He probably had something he wanted to discuss with him alone.

Jiang Lan also had something he wanted to ask Wen Zhiyan. At that, he nodded, put away the phone, rose from the sofa, and followed Wen Zhiyan upstairs.

They stayed silent the whole way, each packing his luggage in the room he had stayed in the night before, then carrying it upstairs.

Once inside room five, Wen Zhiyan shut the door behind him, set his luggage beside the bed, and raised a hand to cover his arm.

"It hurts a little here. I don't know if I knocked it during the bungee jump. Could you take a look, Teacher Jiang?"

Jiang Lan looked at the spot Wen Zhiyan was covering, then pointed at the camera and suggested:

"Do you mind that, President Wen? If you do, let's go into the bathroom."

Wen Zhiyan nodded, and with an unspoken understanding, he and Jiang Lan entered the bathroom together.

In the enormous villa, this was the only place free from any surveillance before nightfall.

Jiang Lan closed the bathroom door behind him.

Then he raised a hand and pulled Wen Zhiyan's collar aside. At the sight of the teeth marks on his shoulder, already beginning to turn purple, his fingertips curled.

"Sorry."

Wen Zhiyan took Jiang Lan's wrist and moved his hand away from his collar. "No need to apologize. I really like it."

Jiang Lan raised an eyebrow. "You like it?"

Wen Zhiyan hummed in agreement. "If circumstances allowed, I'd even want to have it tattooed."

Jiang Lan clicked his tongue and said with feigned ease, "After all these years apart, I never expected you to have become even more of a pervert."

Wen Zhiyan neither agreed nor disagreed with Jiang Lan's assessment.

He took an unopened pack of cigarettes from his pocket, opened it in front of Jiang Lan, pulled one out, and placed it between Jiang Lan's lips.

Then he took a lighter from his pocket and lit it for him.

Afterward, he changed the subject and asked Jiang Lan:

"Lan-ge, what are you thinking about?"

Jiang Lan pinched the cigarette by the filter and took it from his mouth, looking at Wen Zhiyan:

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"Wen Zhiyan, did you really think about me during these seven years?"