Song Lan had mentally prepared himself from the moment the game began.
Given the way Jiang Mingxi played his little tricks around him every day, he was bound to claim he was tired, couldn't climb anymore, or had weak knees while climbing the mountain... and lean against him!
Song Lan had even thought up dozens of ways to refuse him in advance.
But then!
Right up until they reached the finish, Jiang Mingxi hadn't leaned against him once!
Not once!
In fact, the things he said to him most were-
"There are no difficult steps, only a brave Teacher Song!"
"Go, Teacher Song!"
"We can do it!"
Song Lan even suspected Jiang Mingxi was treating him like a dog!
He had also vaguely heard a "good boy~"
After taking the final step, Jiang Mingxi wiped the sweat from his forehead and eagerly bent down to untie the black ribbon around his leg.
As soon as the ribbon loosened, Song Lan felt as if something had lodged in his chest.
Was he that eager to untie it?!
Didn't he love rubbing up against me?!
And now he wasn't going to?
Song Lan lowered his cold gaze slightly to look at Jiang Mingxi.
Jiang Mingxi straightened up and casually stuffed the ribbon into his trouser pocket.
He didn't look at Song Lan.
He turned toward the director, jumped up, and shouted, "Sweet gift package! Gift package! Gift package! Gift package!"
Song Lan: ...
[Why do I feel like Song Lan isn't very happy?]
[Like I said before, Song Lan hates people riding his coattails and tying themselves to him to promote a CP. Jiang Mingxi keeps throwing himself at him and blatantly doing just that. Of course he's unhappy. He's just well-mannered and respects the show, so he hasn't blown up.]
[Don't tell me my CP is getting a BE before it's even started. Then what does that make the five hundred words of food I wrote?]
[It makes you a god! Sis, give it to me. I'll eat it!]
Just as Jiang Mingxi started jumping and shouting, Zhao Jiayuan eagerly rushed up behind him.
"Under eight minutes! Tell me that wasn't badass! Wasn't that badass?! Wasn't that badass?!"
The two of them.
One jumped up as the other came down; one came down as the other jumped up.
They practically created DIY 3D surround sound for the director.
The two bouncing men only stopped when the staff brought over the sweet gift package and the ten yuan each of them had earned.
"Teacher Song, could you give us a hand?"
Jiang Mingxi had only just taken the sweet gift package into his arms when he heard the voice behind him.
He turned around.
Qianqian and her boyfriend were making their way up, panting.
Qianqian was running out of strength, her whole body leaning against her boyfriend. Her face was deathly pale, without a trace of color, and she looked as though she was about to die.
Her boyfriend held Qianqian with one arm and reached toward Song Lan with the other.
A gentle, refined smile graced his face.
Jiang Mingxi: ...
Hey!
Only I get to hold my idol's hand!
He darted over in a flash.
He grabbed the man's outstretched hand.
A moment earlier, the man's eyes had been full of warmth as he looked at Song Lan. Now, facing Jiang Mingxi, his expression didn't change drastically, but the warmth in his eyes faded.
"There are stools over there. Take a break."
Jiang Mingxi pulled them up and pointed at the stools to the side.
Then, looking thoroughly pleased, he pushed the sweet gift package in his arms into Qianqian's hands. "This is for you!"
Although Qianqian's face still looked haggard and weak, her eyes instantly lit up with happiness when she received the gift package, a happiness filled with delighted satisfaction. She smiled at Jiang Mingxi. "Thank you!"
Her boyfriend glanced at her and said in an even voice, "Didn't you say you couldn't walk anymore? Go get some rest."
The smile on Qianqian's face vanished at once. She pressed her lips together, held the gift package in one arm, and smoothed the loose hair by her ear with her other hand before lowering her head and going over to sit on a stool.
[It's not just me overthinking this. There's really something weird about this couple! Qianqian seems scared of her boyfriend.]
[So now it's wrong for her boyfriend to care about her? She climbed until she couldn't even walk, and her boyfriend practically carried her the whole way up. Now that they're finally here, shouldn't she sit down and rest first instead of making polite conversation with Jiang Mingxi?]
[And Jiang Mingxi, too. She's already that exhausted. Did he have to give her the gift package right then? Now that he's whitewashed his reputation, he seizes every chance to show off. He's so annoying.]
Before that bullet comment had even drifted past, Manman and her boyfriend came up too.
Both of them were panting.
Her boyfriend bent down to untie the ribbon around their legs.
Manman looked toward Qianqian, panting hard with her hands on her hips as she chatted. "Qianqian, you two climbed so fast! We were chasing you the whole way. My god, you'd disappear in the blink of an eye.
"You've got such great stamina. Sure enough, college students have the worst stamina in the country."
[Hahahahaha, the reputation of college students has been confirmed.]
[As a college student, I can't argue. I went hiking last week, and even a sixty-year-old lady climbed faster than me! She practically flew up the mountain while I was panting like an ox!]
[Wait! Wait! I still think something's off! Does anyone really climb so fast they don't care whether they live or die? Qianqian was practically breathing her last just now!]
[The livestream hasn't shown the tourists much, but the few times the camera panned over, Qianqian's team was indeed always ahead of Manman's. Manman even called out once for Qianqian to wait for them, but they didn't.]
As soon as Manman finished speaking, Qianqian's expression stiffened, and she looked at her boyfriend, a little at a loss.
Her boyfriend shifted his gaze away from Manman's face and smiled warmly. "Qianqian likes Teacher Song Lan so much that she kept wanting to catch up with him, so we climbed a little faster."
Jiang Mingxi put his brain to work.
He tried hard to recall the plot of The Overbearing CEO Dotes Every Night.
No matter how he looked at it, he felt there was something a little off about this couple.
But all that effort to remember got him nowhere.
He didn't remember this part of the plot at all.
As they spoke, the director came forward, cradling his beloved pig's head in one arm and holding up a portable voice amplifier in the other.
"All four guests have completed the first task, earning a sweet gift package and a reward of ten yuan each.
"Now we'll begin our second game."
Jiang Mingxi shot his hand up. "But Qianqian's still a little tired."
Qianqian's boyfriend immediately smiled. "It's fine. She'll be all right after a little rest. She just looks worse than she is. She's actually not that tired."
With that said.
He turned back to Qianqian. "Right?"
Holding the sweet gift package, Qianqian rose a little unsteadily from the stool and smiled at everyone. "I'm really fine."
Jiang Mingxi glanced at her.
No matter how he looked at her, she didn't seem fine.
Holding up his voice amplifier, the director smiled. "Our second game won't require much physical exertion. It's very simple. It's-
"Hahahahaha!
"Truth or dare!
"The teams will stay the same as before. Both sides will take turns drawing cards and having the other side answer a question or perform a dare.
"Refuse to answer a question, and you'll lose ten yuan.
"Refuse to complete a dare, and you'll lose ten yuan."
Having said that.
The director hugged the pig's head and added with a mischievous look, "Our cards are designed especially for couples~"
Jiang Mingxi's little brain, which had been trying to recall the plot, was instantly dragged back to reality. He jumped up and asked, "How especially?"