It had long since gone completely dark.
The engine was off, and the light from the headlights had vanished too.
Inside the dim car, Jiang Mingxi's hot breath washed over Song Lan.
Jiang Mingxi was direct and ardent in his pursuit, holding none of his feelings back. Whatever he had, he gave it all to Song Lan.
Now, pressing for an answer, he was even more explicit. "When you come pick me up yourself, Teacher Song, I feel like you care about me too. When you use your connections to ask about me, I feel like you care about me quite a lot. Once I start thinking that, I can't help getting greedy. I want you to care about me even more. Teacher Song, feel this. My heart's beating so fast."
He reached out to take Song Lan's hand.
Song Lan remembered perfectly how Jiang Mingxi had taken his hand last night and pressed it against his chest.
The sensation beneath his fingertips was magnified infinitely in that instant.
Now.
As Jiang Mingxi took his hand again and drew it toward his heart, Song Lan's Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.
The air inside the car was so hot.
So hot that lust filled Jiang Mingxi's head.
Seeing that Song Lan showed not the slightest intention of pushing him away, Jiang Mingxi pressed his advantage and leaned closer.
Pressing his chest against Song Lan's palm, utterly wanton, he rubbed lightly against it.
The fabric of his shirt was so thin.
It clung to his skin.
Song Lan looked at Jiang Mingxi's gaze, so intense it threatened to spill over, and felt as though a fire had been lit inside his body.
Their breaths mingled as Jiang Mingxi murmured and offered up his lips. "Teacher Song, I..."
"You're back!"
Zhao Jiayuan let out a delighted shout and raced toward the car.
Before his voice had even faded, he had slapped a hand against the car door.
"Jiang Mingxi!"
That slap against the door nearly made Jiang Mingxi go limp on the spot.
Aaaargh!
That bastard Zhao Jiayuan and I are sworn enemies!
"Huh? Why aren't you getting out? Jiang Mingxi, are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay? Jiang Mingxi! Are you okay?" Zhao Jiayuan tugged at the door. When it wouldn't open, he bellowed from outside.
Very soon.
Chen Chong came out of the courtyard.
Then a whole crowd from the production team came out after him.
Jiang Mingxi's resentment was practically taking physical form.
Song Lan's hand was still against Jiang Mingxi's chest. From this close, watching the vivid expressions on his face, he felt a little like laughing. "You want..."
Before Song Lan could finish.
Jiang Mingxi saw that idiot Zhao Jiayuan cup both hands against the window, about to stick his butt out and lean in to peer inside.
His eyes were sharp and his mouth was quick. He suddenly surged forward a little, pressing his lips straight against Song Lan's. With time running out and his heart pounding, he swept the tip of his tongue across Song Lan's lips.
Mmm~
I really want to slip inside!
After that fleeting sweep, a clamor had already broken out outside.
Jiang Mingxi could only painfully forgo his lust and retreat as soon as he had kissed him.
He yanked the door open-
Bang!
Zhao Jiayuan had been about to stick his butt out and peer inside to see what exactly they were doing. Caught off guard as the door opened, he staggered backward, carried by the door into a backward tumble with his butt still sticking out. "Aah~"
Amid that startled cry, he narrowly avoided landing on his backside.
Chen Chong suddenly stepped forward and caught him around the waist an instant before his butt hit the ground, bending down to haul him back up.
Zhao Jiayuan hopped with rage, pointing at Jiang Mingxi. "Are you sick in the head?! Couldn't you see a whole person standing here when you opened the door?! Couldn't you have opened it a little more gently?"
Jiang Mingxi wanted nothing more than to turn this place into a crime scene.
His eyes blazed with the fury of thwarted lust. "Gently, my ass! If it weren't for you, who knows how well I'd be eating right now!"
Zhao Jiayuan: ...
He opened his mouth to retort, then suddenly looked at Jiang Mingxi, then the car, then the car, then Jiang Mingxi again.
In an utterly absurd flash of inspiration, he understood what Jiang Mingxi meant.
He immediately rushed over to cover Jiang Mingxi's mouth. "For the love of God! We're still livestreaming! What are you saying? Did you get to eat Song Lan?"
All the staff present: ...
Huh?
Their eyes instantly lit up with gossip.
[Hahahahahahaha!]
[Fuck, if you weren't Zhao Jiayuan, I'd suspect you did that on purpose.]
[I didn't understand what he meant by eating well at first, but now that Zhao Jiayuan's said that, I get it. So did he get to eat or not?]
[Are you sick? Song Lan and Jiang Mingxi have only known each other for three days in total, right? Enough with the sexual rumors, okay? Seriously speechless!]
[So Song Lan really went to pick Jiang Mingxi up? With so many people on the production team, why was it Song Lan?]
Inside the car.
Jiang Mingxi had kissed him and fled, committing his crime with the tip of his tongue without the slightest regard for whether Song Lan lived or died.
Song Lan had originally intended to compose himself in the car before getting out.
But seeing Zhao Jiayuan with an arm around Jiang Mingxi's shoulders and a hand over his mouth.
He pushed the door open and got out. "Jiang Mingxi!"
Jiang Mingxi immediately turned back.
Song Lan looked at him, his expression cool. "Come here."
[Huh?]
[What?]
[Hmm?]
[Hiss~ Song Lan really did go pick Jiang Mingxi up. It was just the two of them in the car! Song Lan didn't even deny what Jiang Mingxi just said! And he told him to come over!]
[Song Lan didn't get out earlier. Could they have been interrupted halfway through eating, and he got, you know? Hehehe.]
[Could he be getting out now because Zhao Jiayuan's got his arm around Jiang Mingxi and he's jealous? Hehehe.]
[You know what, you might really be onto something! Hehehe.]
[To that rational commenter shining with righteousness: can I start spreading sexual rumors now? The kind with three thousand words of car play.]
Jiang Mingxi shoved Zhao Jiayuan away and zipped over.
Looking deeply suspicious, Zhao Jiayuan scrutinized the pair and voiced his question. "Did you really get to eat?"
"Eat, my ass!" The director was so furious his vision darkened.
He was terrified that if this topic continued, the livestream would promptly get banned again.
Then he really would go crazy!
Whose show suffered this many blows in three days of filming?!
He raised his hand and smacked Zhao Jiayuan.
Song Lan had already told the director about the case over the phone on the way back, so there was no need to say more. Holding his portable microphone, the director bounced up and said, "Welcome to Survival Challenge! Now that all our guests are here, I have an announcement."
Everyone looked at the director.
The director smiled at Jiang Mingxi, asking like a weasel eyeing a chicken, "You haven't had dinner yet, have you?"
Before Jiang Mingxi could speak, Zhao Jiayuan wailed, "Never mind dinner-we haven't even had breakfast or lunch! At breakfast, we watched Jiang Mingxi and Jiang Ke fight. At lunch, we watched Qianqian's boyfriend go crazy. At dinner, we camped out waiting for Jiang Mingxi to return from the police station!"
[Hahahahahahaha!]
[With the livestream getting banned in between!]
[What an understatement to call it lively!]
[It really lives up to the name Survival Challenge. Other survival shows challenge their guests to endure hardships on the show. This survival show has sent two cases to the police station in three days.]
Amid the laughing comments, the director held up his portable microphone and said, "Then let's begin today's Survival Challenge. In fifteen minutes, people from the county will come to take everyone's photos. You need to sort out dinner within those fifteen minutes.
"Anyone who successfully gets dinner will be considered to have passed.
"Anyone who fails to get dinner will fail the mission, have ten yuan deducted from their living funds, and have their photos taken on an empty stomach."
Jiang Mingxi blurted out, "Does eating Teacher Song count?"