Save me some face, would you?

Jiang Lan looked at the hand extended toward him, long-fingered, clean, and well-defined at the knuckles, and ground his teeth in hatred.

Once upon a time, that hand had done countless unspeakable things to his body. Now it was held out to him so casually, accompanied by such a distant "I've heard so much about you."

What a sanctimonious bastard, pretending to be respectable.

Since you want to put on an act, Wen Zhiyan, I'll play along to the bitter end, Jiang Lan thought.

He chuckled, reached out to shake Wen Zhiyan's hand, then tilted his head up to look at him, flashing a seemingly utterly natural fake smile.

"I'm a nobody. You flatter me."

Wen Zhiyan's fingertips brushed across Jiang Lan's palm before he released his hand. "You're too modest, Teacher Jiang. Tu Lan has been looking for a new brand ambassador lately. I hope we'll have the honor of working with you."

Tu Lan had no shortage of prospective brand ambassadors.

Especially now that Wen Zhiyan had taken the top seat at the Wen Corporation, Tu Lan's standing had risen along with his. Countless people fought tooth and nail, openly and behind the scenes, to secure an endorsement deal with Tu Lan.

If they could land a Tu Lan endorsement, they would probably be happy to pay out of their own pockets, even without earning a penny.

And for the person in charge of Tu Lan to extend such an undisguised offer to Jiang Lan undoubtedly cemented Jiang Lan's standing in the entertainment industry with a single remark.

Barring any surprises, Jiang Lan would likely be pushed onto the trending searches within two hours because of that one remark from Wen Zhiyan.

But Jiang Lan seemed entirely uninterested. He declined Wen Zhiyan's invitation with joking courtesy.

"Thank you for thinking so highly of me, President Wen, but I'm not capable enough. I'm afraid I couldn't make a partnership mutually beneficial for your company. Tu Lan is far too lofty a branch for me to reach."

Wen Zhiyan wasn't angry at being rejected. He merely gazed quietly into Jiang Lan's eyes and said, seemingly unconcerned,

"I didn't think it through. It was indeed inappropriate to approach you with such an abrupt invitation, Teacher Jiang. I'll have someone draft the documents and send them over later as a show of sincerity."

Jiang Lan was just about to say there was no need when a faint hint of pleading suddenly entered Wen Zhiyan's eyes, and he said somewhat helplessly,

"Teacher Jiang, don't turn me down so heartlessly. Look over the documents first. Consider it saving me some face, would you?"

Wen Zhiyan spoke with extreme earnestness and complete sincerity.

If Jiang Lan rejected him again now, he would seem rather ungracious.

So he replied just as insincerely, "You're really too kind, President Wen. How could I possibly deserve this? I'll be sure to properly thank you for your kindness when I get the chance."

Wen Zhiyan's gaze had never left Jiang Lan. He looked at the slippers on Jiang Lan's feet. "Don't say that, Teacher Jiang. Why wait? How about we... help each other out right now?"

Sensing Wen Zhiyan's gaze, Jiang Lan curled his toes in irritation. "How, for example? You keep staring at my slippers, President Wen. Planning to swap yours for mine?"

He had only meant to remind Wen Zhiyan to stop staring at him.

But unexpectedly, Wen Zhiyan took him seriously. "If you don't mind, I have a new pair."

Jiang Lan gave a dry laugh. "No need. I was joking. I'm sentimental. I don't like new things."

At those words, Wen Zhiyan suddenly fell silent.

Since he said nothing, Jiang Lan naturally wasn't going to keep dragging out the conversation.

The other seven people around them had also sensed a faint whiff of gunpowder during their brief exchange. Lin Ziyou, in particular, was perceptive and intuitively felt that this probably wasn't Jiang Lan and Wen Zhiyan's first meeting.

And that hostility seemed to be coming from Jiang Lan alone, directed at Wen Zhiyan.

Although Jiang Lan had a somewhat unfriendly attitude toward everyone, Lin Ziyou felt that it seemed particularly pronounced when he dealt with Wen Zhiyan.

He guessed that the two might have had some sort of conflict in the past.

As a fellow alpha, Lin Ziyou ventured a bold theory: perhaps Wen Zhiyan had once stolen an omega Jiang Lan liked.

No one spoke again, and the conversation ended there.

The next segment was bedroom assignments.

The production staff explained the arrangements over the speakers at just the right moment.

The first order of business was to hand over their personal phones to their managers for safekeeping.

During their stay in the villa, the guests were not allowed to privately add anyone's contact information or contact anyone privately by any means.

Since the show was livestreamed, the guests' friends and family would generally know what they were doing during this period, so there was no need to check in.

If anything important came up, their managers could also relay the message.

After they handed over their personal phones, a small robot approached from nearby, pushing a rack holding nine new phones.

Aside from making calls, sending texts, and a few designated functions, the new phones could only be used to play games and watch movies. No social apps with private messaging functions could be downloaded.

There was also a small box containing several envelopes.

There were two different types of rooms.

Two triple rooms and three single rooms.

Rooms 1, 2, and 3 were singles; rooms 4 and 5 were triples.

There were no double rooms.

The arrangement was both absurd and reasonable.

On the one hand, the main point was to keep two people from being alone together. On the other, alphas and omegas had special circumstances. If an omega or alpha experienced an abnormal condition, having a third person in the room would make it easier to handle the emergency.

Overall, it was exciting, but not too exciting.

On the first night, rooms would be assigned by drawing lots, regardless of gender.

Starting on the second day, everyone would vote for the person they liked most.

The person with the most votes would earn the right to change rooms.

Naturally, the voting was anonymous.

No one, including the production team, would know who anyone had voted for except the voters themselves.

Those results would all be revealed once the entire show ended.

Having correctly guessed Wen Zhiyan's identity, Jiang Lan earned first choice of rooms and chose a single without hesitation.

The other eight would draw lots.

Everyone took an envelope. Pei Du opened his first, revealing the number 4.

Ye Qiunian opened his envelope: number 2, a single room.

The moment Qiao Xin opened her envelope and saw the number, she tossed it away. "Just my rotten luck."

Xu Can leaned over to look at Qiao Xin's envelope. It said 4.

Pei Du wasn't pleased by her reaction either. "Do you have to make it that obvious? As if anyone wants to room with you!"

Xu Can opened the envelope: number 5.

The same as Yu Nan, the other male omega.

Now only Lin Ziyou, the other beta girl, Tan Duoduo, and Wen Zhiyan had yet to open their envelopes.

Lin Ziyou looked at Tan Duoduo, then at Wen Zhiyan, and stood still.

Tan Duoduo opened hers first. Everyone craned their necks to look: number 3.

The last single room had been assigned.

Now everyone's attention was on Wen Zhiyan and Lin Ziyou.

Given the current situation, they would either end up with the thoroughly unremarkable, disappointing arrangement of three alphas in one room and three omegas in the other,

or the exciting combination of two alphas and one omega, and two omegas and one alpha.

Jiang Lan was already getting annoyed.

He began silently cursing Wen Zhiyan to draw room 4.

Otherwise, with the two omegas Xu Can and Yu Nan, Wen Zhiyan's arrival would be no different from a wolf entering a sheep pen. Lucky bastard.

But on second thought, he felt that putting a pervert like Wen Zhiyan, who screwed alphas, in a room with Pei Du and Qiao Xin hardly seemed like something that would leave him free of worries either.

Holding his envelope, Wen Zhiyan glanced at Jiang Lan, only to meet Jiang Lan's dangerous gaze.

So he delayed no longer. He merely raised an eyebrow at Jiang Lan, then opened the envelope under his gaze.