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

The shouts from the balcony were washed away by the night waves.

Song Yuqi shrugged, her hands still resting on Jiang Che's shoulders, her heels having moved back half an inch.

She looked up at the railing on the second floor, which was lit up.

"Is Director Wu really out of his mind?"

Jiang Che didn't look upstairs. He put his arm around her waist and tucked the long hair that had been blown to her lips by the wind behind her ear.

"When is he not crazy?"

"Let's go back to our room and sleep."

Song Yuqi smiled with her lips pursed, her fingers interlacing with his again as she followed him across the damp sand.

In the villa's living room, the television signal was still being cut off by the program crew.

Chen He and Deng Chao were playing Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) online on their phones, while Lu Han was sitting cross-legged on a single sofa, crunching potato chips loudly.

The moment the door opened, the game of Dou Dizhu stopped, the potato chips fell silent, and all three people stared at their clasped hands.

Chen He tossed down a King card, and his mouth kept moving.

"Oh, you two are back from your patrol of the beach?"

"Does the sea breeze feel nice? Are your lips dry?"

Deng Chao slammed Shunzi onto the coffee table.

"He'er, why are you worrying about this?"

"They're so affectionate, what's a little cold wind?"

Song Yuqi pulled her hand back, took a few steps to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of ice water, and pressed it against her face.

"Brother Chao, you played the wrong cards."

"Four twos with two kings, that's a foul."

Deng Chao looked down, exclaimed "Ouch!" and shoved the cards back into place.

Lu Han handed the bag of potato chips to Song Yuqi.

"Yuqi, ignore them."

"Director Wu just shouted from the second floor that the difficulty of tomorrow's mission will double, so you'd better keep a close eye on the budget."

Jiang Che took the ice water from her face and handed her a carton of room-temperature milk.

"It's too cold, don't drink it."

Song Yuqi glanced at him, didn't argue, and lowered her head to insert the straw.

Chen He shrugged and simply threw the cards away.

"It's unplayable!"

"Do I have to feed the dog food just to play cards?"

"Let's leave, time to sleep!"

Everyone dispersed.

In the latter half of the night, no one made any more noise, and outside the window, only the tide kept pushing onto the beach.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the alarm bells suddenly rang throughout the entire villa.

"Waaah...waaah..."

The red light on the ceiling of the corridor kept turning, and the alarm blared through the cracks in the door into the room.

Chen He, wearing only shorts, stumbled out of the guest room with his eyes closed, one of his slippers missing.

"Is it an earthquake or a fire?"

Deng Chao opened the door with messy hair, still holding half a cucumber left over from last night.

"Wu Zheng! What's wrong with you now?!"

The master bedroom door then opened.

Jiang Che had already changed into a black quick-drying shirt. Song Yuqi rubbed her eyes and peeked out from behind him. The loose neckline of her T-shirt was askew, revealing a section of her collarbone.

Jiang Che reached out and straightened her collar.

"You'll get used to it; it's one of Wu Zheng's traditional skills."

The loudspeaker at the end of the corridor crackled twice, and Wu Zheng's voice came through.

Good morning, everyone!

"The West Island Couple's Side Story: The Ultimate Showdown Officially Begins!"

"All guests are requested to arrive at the villa's front yard within three minutes. A penalty of 100 yuan will be deducted for every second of delay!"

Upon hearing that her pay would be deducted, Song Yuqi immediately opened her eyes.

"Quick, grab your bag!"

She turned and rushed back into the room, grabbed her crossbody bag, and pulled Jiang Che's wrist as they ran downstairs.

Deng Chao and Chen He didn't even bother to take off their shoes, and chased after them in their slippers, while Lu Han ran at the back carrying her coat.

In the front yard of the villa, Wu Zheng was wearing camouflage clothing, with sunglasses covering half of his face, and five iron cages were placed beside him.

The assistant director stopped the stopwatch.

"Two minutes and fifty-eight seconds, you're on time."

Chen He steadied his knees and took a couple of breaths before raising his hand and pointing at Wu Zheng.

"Old Wu, what are you wearing this for so early in the morning... What, are you taking us to a desert island for survival?"

Wu Zheng pushed his sunglasses down a bit.

"Surviving on a desert island is too easy for you guys."

Today's challenge is called "High-Altitude Heartbeat Matching Game!"

He raised his hand and pointed to the back of West Island.

The aerial cableway built along the mountain spans two sea cliffs, with a drop of more than fifty meters below, and white waves churning between the rocks.

Song Yuqi followed his hand and looked over, her shoe tip quietly moving behind Jiang Che.

Deng Chao stopped chewing the cucumber in his mouth.

"Old Wu, are you serious?"

"If this thing falls down, it'll get stuck in the stone."

Wu Zheng patted the iron cage beside him.

"The rules are simple."

"The five guests need to use a zipline to reach the opposite sea cliff platform."

"During the ride, there are thirty signs hanging on both sides of the cable car."

"You need to memorize the words on the signs while gliding at high speed, and after reaching the finish line, spell out the correct lyrics to the love song."

"A reward of 1,000 yuan will be given for each correct spelling."

"If you misspell it or don't remember it completely, you'll be charged 1,500 yuan!"

Chen He sat down on the grass.

"I'm not going."

"I'm afraid of heights. Once I'm up there, I can't even remember my own name, let alone song lyrics!"

Wu Zheng raised his chin towards the iron cage.

"Those who abstain will be locked in a repentance cage, forbidden to eat all day, and fined another two thousand yuan."

Chen He pushed himself up from the grass, his movements becoming much more agile.

"It's just a zipline, I'll fly over."

Lu Han ignored him and turned to ask Jiang Che.

Jiang Che looked down at Song Yuqi.

Are you scared?

Song Yuqi swallowed hard, her hand gripping his clothes tightly for a long time.

"A little..."

Are you in front of me or behind me?

"I'll be with you."

Wu Zheng barged in, holding a loudspeaker.

"Two-person ziplining must be done back-to-back!"

"The two people are seeing the characters in opposite directions; they must cooperate to spell out the complete sentence!"

Deng Chao glanced at him sideways.

"Old Wu, that's a pretty underhanded move of yours. Trying to break them up?"

Song Yuqi turned the small bag behind her back and raised her chin.

"Back to back, fine, back to back, who's afraid of who?"

Jiang Che gently patted her hand that was clutching the hem of his clothes.

"Ambitious."

Half an hour later, the sightseeing bus stopped at the starting point of the cable car on the back mountain.

The mountain wind swept across the platform, and the waves crashed against the rocks below, scattering white foam in clumps.

Staff members approached with safety harnesses and checked the buckles one by one.

Two wide nylon straps were wrapped around Jiang Che and Song Yuqi's waists and backs, binding the two tightly together.

With her back pressed against his, Song Yuqi's erratic breathing finally calmed down.

Jiang Che turned his head away, letting his words escape the wind.

"The left side is yours, the right side is mine."

"Read the words carefully and then read them aloud."

Song Yuqi nodded.

"good!"

Chen He, who was behind him, was still gripping the railing, and even after shifting his grip twice, he refused to let go.

"Brother Chao, if the rope breaks later, remember to tell my mom that I've never let her down in my life."

Deng Chao kicked his shin.

"Shut up."

"If it were to break, it would be because you were too heavy and caused it to break."

After the operator confirms the latch, they pull down the start gate.

"Three, two, one, go!"

The latch popped open.

With their feet no longer supporting them, the sound of steel cables scraping against each other immediately filled their ears, and the two rushed off the platform along the cableway.

"Jiang Che!"

Before Song Yuqi could even exclaim, the straps tightened, and the two of them were firmly clasped together from back to back.

"I am here."

The three words were carried to her ears by the wind.

"Look to the left!"

Song Yuqi forced herself to open her eyes and turned to chase after the red wooden sign on the side of the cliff.

One after another, they were left behind in the blink of an eye.

"You're the first one!"

"The second one, Wei!"

"The third one...laughs!"

Jiang Che turned his shoulder using the straps of his dress, his gaze following the green license plates that flashed past on his right.

"The fourth one from the right, time."

"The fifth one."

"The sixth one, the eye."

Song Yuqi realized what was happening and immediately shouted out.

"It's 'A Little Sweet'!"

"Your eyes when you smile!"

The zipline was still accelerating, and the sea was rapidly approaching, filling the view below.

"Jiang Che, what is the seventh one?"

"bend!"

"Next comes Cheng, and then Yue!"

The sound of the wind constantly cut off their shouts, but not a single word was missed.

As the finish line platform drew closer, staff members stood outside the buffer zone waving red flags.

The deceleration device begins to reel in the rope.

Jiang Che first placed his feet on the wooden platform, then lowered his knees and took two steps back to dissipate the inertia from the suspenders.

Song Yuqi landed, but her legs didn't catch the weight, and she leaned back against his back.

The staff quickly supported the harness and unfastened the safety buckle between the two people.

As soon as the restraints loosened, Song Yuqi's knees bent down again.

Jiang Che turned around and grabbed her waist, holding her firmly in his arms.

"Can you stand up?"

Song Yuqi grabbed his arm and took several breaths before lifting her face.

"stable!"

"That was so exciting!"

She stepped out of Jiang Che's arms and went straight to the spelling board next to her, grabbing the scattered word blocks and pressing them into the slots.

"Your eyes curve into crescent moons when you smile!"

The last plank fell into the trough.

The referee immediately blew his whistle.

"Perfectly correct! 45 seconds!"

There was a burst of static on the walkie-talkie, followed by Wu Zheng's questioning.

"How could it be so fast?"

"They didn't even make a draft?"

The assistant director paused for two seconds before answering.

"Director Wu... that song was written by Jiang Che."

"He can recite it even with his eyes closed."

There was no response from the mountaintop, only the dull thud of a walkie-talkie hitting a table.

Song Yuqi couldn't help but laugh, turned around and threw herself into Jiang Che's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"We won another thousand dollars!"

Jiang Che supported her back and didn't urge her to get down.

"Yes, Manager Song has done a great job."

Suddenly, a series of howls came from above the cable car.

"Help...Mommy!"

Chen He slid straight down the cable car, his eyes tightly closed, only his mouth still howling desperately.

Deng Chao, who was tied to his back, turned his head with difficulty. He had just caught a glimpse of the wooden sign when Chen He shook him and made him deviate from his direction.

"Chen He, stop howling!"

"You're blocking my view!"

"I don't care!"

"I want to land! I want to go back to land!"

The shouts echoed along the bay.

Song Yuqi buried her face in Jiang Che's shoulder, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

Jiang Che pressed down on her wind-blown hair, and when she looked up again, Chen He had already missed the third wooden plaque.

I'm afraid I won't be able to keep that 1,500.