Come Back Tonight

The moment she hugged him, Su Yang knew he had been fooled.

But before he could react, her legs wrapped around him too, and her soft lips followed right after.

His mind went blank for a second.

Then he took the initiative, and the two clung to each other in the sea, kissing and letting themselves slowly sink.

If this were a movie, it would be utterly romantic—a man and a woman holding each other, kissing passionately while spinning and descending through the water.

Before they knew it, they had sunk nearly twenty meters. Zhuang Mengli suddenly felt her ears ring. The pressure of the water made her drop the romance, and she quickly hugged Su Yang, trying to swim back up.

Su Yang noticed her condition right away. He kicked his legs vigorously, quickening their ascent to the surface.

A few seconds later, the two burst out of the water with a splash.

Su Yang stared at Zhuang Mengli seriously and said, "Don’t pull stunts like that in the sea! It’s not funny!"

"I saw I couldn’t catch up to you, so I thought I’d get you to come back. But I was afraid you wouldn’t, so I pretended to have a cramp," Zhuang Mengli replied weakly, knowing she had gone too far, her usual bold demeanor gone.

"I’m speechless."

They were still holding each other, very close—an inch forward and their noses would touch.

Zhuang Mengli gazed at Su Yang with affection and said softly, "Wanna go again?"

"Go again with what?"

"A hot kiss~"

"Kiss my foot. This place isn’t safe. Let’s head back."

"Fine, then tonight..."

Su Yang tapped Zhuang Mengli on the head, let go of her, and the two swam slowly toward the shore.

When they were still over ten meters from Tang Ziyun’s spot, Zhuang Mengli suddenly sped up.

Su Yang shook his head with a smile and didn’t bother chasing her.

"Haha, you lost!" Zhuang Mengli returned to Tang Ziyun’s side, pointing at Su Yang and laughing.

"Fine, fine, I lost."

"How about that, Sister Ziyun? I told you he can’t outswim me!" Zhuang Mengli winked triumphantly at Tang Ziyun.

Tang Ziyun didn’t know what had happened but praised her, "Mengmeng, you’re so amazing to beat Su Yang."

"Of course, I told you, very few people are my match when it comes to swimming."

Su Yang walked over and sat down beside them without explaining, "I lost. Dinner’s on me tonight."

"It’s got to be you, hehe!"

They played in the sea for another thirty or forty minutes. When everyone got tired, they headed toward the service area.

"Come on, let’s go for the hot air balloon!" Liu Bo shouted.

"I’m not going!" Su Qingci raised her hand.

Meng Wenzhou turned and asked, "Why aren’t you going?"

"I’m afraid of heights..."

"Afraid of heights? It’s fine, hot air balloons are very safe."

"No, no, I really don’t dare. I’ll just watch you guys."

"Alright, let’s count how many. Anyone else like Little Su who’s afraid of heights?" Meng Wenzhou asked the others.

"Me!" Lu Yun also raised her hand and stepped forward.

Then Jiali, Winnie, and Han So-yeon followed, raising their hands too.

"None of you are going?"

"Nope, they fly too high. You guys go ahead—we’ll rest down here."

"Okay then, if you’re afraid of heights, we won’t force you."

They walked into the service area, took quick showers, and changed clothes. A dozen minutes later, everyone was dressed and heading to the nearby hot air balloon base.

Soon they arrived at the balloon area. Lu Yun and the other four found a place to sit and rest.

Su Yang and Meng Wenzhou led the rest into a lobby a dozen meters away to buy tickets.

The balloons at this base weren’t huge. Each one, including the pilot, could only carry four people.

Besides the five who weren’t riding, the remaining twelve split into four groups of three.

The ticket price was sixteen thousand island dollars per person, roughly eight hundred Chinese yuan, for a thirty-minute ride.

After Su Yang bought the tickets, everyone waited on the beach.

During the wait, the twelve of them formed their groups.

Su Yang teamed up with Pan Ning and Zhuang Mengli.

Meng Wenzhou with Meng Qianyu and Jiang Xiaotang.

Liu Bo with Jin Xiangmei and Betty, while Tang Ziyun, Ren Lingxi, and Mu Xi went together.

Soon several balloons returned to the base. After refueling, the group followed the staff to their assigned balloons.

Su Yang’s group chose a blue balloon. The pilot was a woman in her thirties.

She was pretty—about one sixty-five, with a curvy figure and a looks rating of around seventy-five to eighty.

The three greeted her and quickly climbed into the basket.

Hot air balloon baskets are usually woven from wicker and have at least four fuel canisters inside for heating, using propane gas.

When the air inside the balloon gets heated, its density becomes lower than the cooler outside air, creating upward lift.

Su Yang looked at the pilot and asked, "Hi, miss. What should we call you?"

"Just call me Jieyi."

"Jieyi?" Upon hearing those two characters, a familiar name of a teacher from an island country instantly popped into Su Yang’s mind.

The kind of familiar where just hearing the name conjures up the face.

He chuckled and continued asking, "Alright, Jieyi. I’m Su Yang. How high can this hot air balloon fly?"

"Ours is a small hot air balloon, so the maximum altitude is only around three hundred meters. For a large one, it can reach four to five thousand meters."

"That high?"

"That’s right."

"Is it safe?" Zhuang Mengli followed up.

"Very safe. Hot air balloons are internationally recognized as one of the safest aircraft, with a safety level higher than airplanes," Jieyi said with a smile.

"As long as it’s safe. I’m just afraid something might happen up there..." Before Zhuang Mengli could finish, Su Yang shot her a glare and cut her off. "Hey! Will you stop it? We haven’t even taken off yet, and you’re already jinxing it. Don’t be a bad omen."

"Oh, okay, I’ll shut up, I’ll shut up."

After everyone else had climbed into their respective hot air balloon baskets, Jieyi began operating the controls.

She gripped a switch and pressed it. With a loud whoosh, four long flames shot out from the burners above their heads.

"Holy crap, this thing isn’t going to explode, is it?" Zhuang Mengli was startled by the noise. Despite coming from a wealthy family and having seen plenty of the world, this was her first time riding a hot air balloon.

"Hey? Are you nuts? Explode my ass!" If Pan Ning hadn’t been standing nearby, Su Yang would have been tempted to smack Zhuang Mengli a couple of times.

"Uh... I didn’t mean it. It’s just that the sound is so loud, it feels kind of scary."

"Haha, no worries, pretty lady. We have a lot of tourists riding hot air balloons here every day, and there’s never been a single safety incident."

"Got it, I’ll stop talking."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The flames continuously heated the inside of the balloon envelope. Under Jieyi’s operation, the hot air balloon began to rise slowly.

"We’re going up, we’re going up!" Zhuang Mengli excitedly leaned over the edge of the basket to look down.

Pan Ning pulled her back. "Be careful, don’t fall out."

"I won’t, but I’m a little nervous!"

"What are you nervous about? It’s just a hot air balloon ride," Su Yang said, leaning against one side with a smile.

"I’ve never done this before!"

"Neither have I. Just stay still and don’t move around."

"Got it."

Su Yang then turned to Pan Ning. "When we get up high, let’s take a picture together, the three of us."

"Sounds good."

"Jieyi, could you please take a picture for us later?"

"No problem." Jieyi gave a gentle smile.

With her operation, the hot air balloon’s ascent began to speed up.

Before long, they were already twenty or thirty meters up.

About seventy or eighty meters away, Liu Bo shouted, "Brother Yang!! Brother Lao Yang!!"

Su Yang, having sharp ears, heard the voice and turned his head. He saw Liu Bo in the distance waving at him.

He waved back in response.

A few minutes later, the hot air balloon had risen to an altitude of one hundred meters. Jieyi started steering the balloon slowly toward the sea.

Looking down from above, the long bay stretched out fully before them. In the distance were endless low-rise buildings, and beyond that, some rolling hills. The scenery was quite nice.

As the altitude increased, the wind grew stronger.

Zhuang Mengli asked, "Jieyi, does this wind affect the hot air balloon?"

"No, it won’t. If the wind is too strong, you can’t ride a hot air balloon in the first place."

"But I feel like the wind is already kind of strong."

"This isn’t strong. As long as it doesn’t exceed five meters per second, it’s fine."

"Alright."

The hot air balloon kept rising. After who knew how long, they reached an altitude of two hundred meters.

Jieyi released the pressure on the control switch, letting the balloon float steadily and slowly in the sky.

By now, the balloon was hovering over the sea.

Su Yang pulled out his phone, opened the camera, and handed it to Jieyi with a smile. "Jieyi, this height is perfect. Could you take a couple of pictures for us?"

"Sure, you all stand together facing me." Jieyi took the phone and directed them.

Su Yang walked between Pan Ning and Zhuang Mengli, spreading his arms to rest a hand on each of their shoulders. "Let’s do a peace sign."

"I’m not doing that, it’s too silly." Pan Ning crossed her arms over her chest.

Zhuang Mengli revealed her neat, white teeth and smiled, then gave a thumbs-up.

Click.

Jieyi pressed the shutter button on the phone screen and took seven or eight photos of the trio.

"OK, thanks."

"You’re welcome." Jieyi returned the phone to Su Yang and placed her hand back on the control switch.

Su Yang took his phone and sat down next to Jieyi. He checked the photos and nodded approvingly. "Not bad shots, but the poses aren’t very coordinated."

[Ding, detected that the host is very happy and enjoying his first-ever hot air balloon ride. Reward: 5 million.]

Su Yang leaned back against the basket and looked at Pan Ning and Zhuang Mengli, who were standing directly in front of him.

At the moment, they were both standing slightly sideways at the basket’s edge, gazing at the distant scenery.

Watching their perfect profiles, Su Yang couldn’t help but smile.

But as he kept looking, his eyelid twitched—he suddenly felt a strong sense of familiarity with this scene.

"Hey, why does this scene feel familiar?" Su Yang thought as he watched.

At that moment, the hot air balloon rose another few dozen meters, reaching an altitude of 260 meters. A gust of wind blew, causing Zhuang Mengli's hair to dance in the breeze.

"Pan Pan, do you have a hair tie on you?"

"Yes."

Pan Ning nodded and pulled a hair tie out of her bag, handing it to her. Zhuang Mengli took the hair tie and raised her hands, tying her long hair into a high ponytail.

...