I'm in Wuha, and the whole internet is shipping me and Song Yuqi as a couple.

The campfire had mostly died down, but the embers were still burning underneath, occasionally sending up a spark or two.

Wang Mian put all the folders into a kraft paper envelope, stuffed it under the folding table, and waved to the five people.

"My mission is complete; the rest is none of my business."

Chen He jumped up from his chair and grabbed Wang Mian by the collar.

"You're just leaving like that?"

"You exposed us completely, and then just walked away?"

Wang Mian shrugged.

"I'm just a tool. Go settle accounts with Wu Zheng."

Deng Chao sneered, stood up, walked to Wang Mian, and extended his palm.

"Withdraw what you earned tonight."

Wang Mian took a step back, covering his pockets with both hands.

"What commission? There's no commission in the contract, it's all fixed pay."

"Then hand over your fixed salary."

"Brother Chao, are you even being reasonable?"

Do you think I'm a reasonable person?

Wang Mian looked at Deng Chao's face, which looked particularly threatening in the firelight, and turned to run towards the speedboat.

Chen He took two steps to catch up, but sand got into his slippers, and he almost tripped and fell. He could only stomp his feet and curse a couple of times.

"Traitor! I'll definitely boo you at the next stand-up comedy recording!"

Wang Mian's voice drifted back from afar, broken and intermittent by the sea breeze.

"Brother He—we'll talk about it next time—"

The speedboat's engine roared, and white waves surged up from the shallows before quickly disappearing into the night.

Lu Han remained seated, her hands resting on the armrests, watching the lights on the sea gradually recede into the distance.

"It's good that he left, so he won't reveal any more information about me."

Chen He dragged his slippers through the sand back, plopped down on a chair, and gave Deng Chao a thumbs up.

"Brother Chao, those two steps you took when you chased him just now were really fierce."

Deng Chao touched his nose.

"I can't catch up, mainly because my slippers aren't up to par."

Song Yuqi leaned against the chair next to Jiang Che, her hand still gripping his sleeve, not letting go.

The lingering warmth of the campfire smoldered on her face, making it hard to tell whether it was from the fire or from her own burning.

Seven roses, seven empty seats.

She always thought it was a product placement by a sponsor, and because of those few empty slots, she was mocked by haters for a whole week.

During that time, Su Qing helped her delete comments every day, which exhausted her.

As it turned out, the person who started it all was sitting right next to her, looking completely unconcerned.

Jiang Che.

"Um."

"Where did those flowers go?"

Jiang Che picked up the thermos on the folding table, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip.

"I had it delivered to your company's front desk."

Song Yuqi was stunned.

"front desk?"

She quickly went through her memories from two years ago and suddenly remembered.

The day after the concert ended, she went to the company for a meeting. There were several large cardboard boxes piled up at the front desk, all filled with red roses.

The receptionist spent a long time checking the tracking number but couldn't find the sender's information, so she finally concluded that it was an "anonymous delivery by a crazy fan".

Su Qing even called the security department to ask them to check if it was a stalker.

"Those seven boxes of flowers delivered to the front desk... were they yours?"

"Um."

"Did you know that Sister Su Qing almost called the police?"

"Know."

"Then why aren't you telling me?"

"I said I wouldn't be anonymous anymore."

Song Yuqi loosened his sleeve and pinched his arm.

"You deserve to be mistaken for a stalker."

Hearing the noise, Deng Chao turned his head to look, then quickly turned back.

"He'er, what do you think we are now?"

"Atmosphere team." Chen He said expressionlessly.

"Advanced atmosphere group," Deng Chao corrected.

"We're responsible for creating a super sweet atmosphere, and incidentally, we get betrayed and socially killed."

Lu Han stood up and patted the sand off her pants.

"I'm going back now. I don't know what kind of trouble I'll be going to face tomorrow."

He took two steps, then looked back at Jiang Che and Song Yuqi.

Song Yuqi rested her head on Jiang Che's shoulder, and Jiang Che's hand rested on the armrest of her chair, their fingers intertwined.

Lu Han looked away and quickened her pace.

"Let's go, let's go, if we keep watching, we won't be able to sleep tonight."

The three of them returned to the villa one after another.

Chen He was the first to rush into the living room, pounce on the sofa, and cover his face with a cushion.

Deng Chao took a bottle of ice water, leaned it against the kitchen door frame, and pressed the bottom of the bottle against his forehead to cool down.

Lu Han turned on the TV, hoping to find some noise to drown out the images in her mind, but the TV signal was cut off by the program crew.

The screen displayed only one line of large text: "Your viewing privileges have been frozen by Director Wu."

Lu Han turned off the TV and silently put the remote control back on the coffee table.

Footsteps came from the doorway.

Jiang Che and Song Yuqi walked in, maintaining a normal distance between them, and their expressions returned to normal.

But Song Yuqi's ears were still red.

Chen He peeked out from under the cushion.

"Oh, you're back?"

"I thought you guys were spending the night on the beach."

Deng Chao peeked out from the kitchen doorway.

"Wu Zheng will definitely have more tricks up his sleeve tomorrow."

Chen He turned over and put a pillow under his neck.

"Based on my years of experience judging Wu Zheng, he won't wait until tomorrow."

Jiang Che walked to the sofa, sat down, and picked up the bottled water from the coffee table.

"Go to bed early. You can deal with whatever comes your way, but nothing is more important than getting some sleep."

Chen He propped himself up and slowly got to his feet.

"You make it sound so easy. I need to do some scouting first; Wu Zheng might have already set a trap at the villa."

Deng Chao and Lu Han simultaneously understood the meaning behind those words.

Don't disturb the young couple's sweet moments.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Lu Han winked. "Brother He, let's work together. There's strength in numbers."

"That's right, so I won't be a third wheel here," Deng Chao said playfully, tilting his head as he passed Jiang Che. "Although... I'd love to hear it too..."

The lights in the temporary monitoring room stayed on all night.

Wu Zheng sat in a swivel chair, the computer screen in front of him divided into six sections, each displaying surveillance footage of the villa from different angles.

The assistant director, his eyelids twitching with sleepiness, yawned for the fourth time while standing behind him.

"Director Wu, it's already one in the morning. Let's think of something tomorrow."

Wu Zheng bit the pen cap, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the screen.

"They turned the tables on me today. If I don't come up with a killer strategy, how am I supposed to survive in this industry!"

He pulled the pen cap out of his mouth and tapped it three times on the table.

"Notify the logistics team."

"Turn off their hot water at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

The assistant director took notes and then looked up to wait.

Wu Zheng chuckled and spun his chair halfway around.

"Then, while they were starving and searching for breakfast—"

He picked up a new proposal from the table; the cover had several bold characters printed on it.

"Give them a West Island battle royale."