Dark eyes catch his from across the room and Nie Huaisang pauses as Jiang Cheng spreads an arm across the back of the couch he occupies alone, idly swirling his drink in his other hand. The lush fabric of the sofa looks almost magenta in this light and plays beautifully off the deep purple and sharp lines of Jiang Cheng’s suit, making him a splash of vibrancy in a room otherwise dominated by boring blacks and muted tones. The sofa is also the sole piece of furniture in the room, besides the bar and the high tables. The message is unmistakable: this is Jiang territory, and everyone else is a visitor. Receptions are good for seeing and being seen, and Nie Huaisang likes what he sees at this one.

"Do we need to come up with rules?" Jin Ling asks. "What, like a point system? A bunch of categories for touches based on difficulty? A—" "No," Jin Ling starts, raising his voice to interrupt Jingyi, "I meant, are there rewards or punishments if he guesses right or wrong? Or if we fuck up?" "Let's just see how this goes," Sizhui says. "We can adjust later if we want. Alright with you, Zizhen?" "Uh-huh." Zizhen is just thinking about touching, in general. (the other juniors blindfold Zizhen and he has to guess who is touching him)

Song Lan follows Xiao Xingchen's lead on a new and mildly innovative way of dealing with the Xue Yang-shaped problem in their lives.

"You can't be serious," Xiao Zhan says. "Zhan-ge," Yibo cajoles, brandishing his PS4 controller and patting the couch next to him. "Just give me like, two minutes. I promise. I swear. I just gotta be online for this drop."

It's been months since Jiang Cheng has last seen his lovers. To make up for it, he comes to Qinghe bearing a gift.

What's a little breaking and entering, between a person and their absolute object of affection? And who would take a gift horse in the mouth by walking away when the opportunity presents itself so beautifully, so perfectly, so temptingly, so- you get the idea. Or do you?

He didn’t know until this moment just how much he wanted Mingjue to ask for it—for anything—to take the reins Huaisang has been holding out for so long and pull them tight and demand.

Two gremlins, their husbands, and the horrible HOA board. As long as nobody gets arrested for arson or murder, we're gonna call it a win.