Looking at the screen of the phone, Jiang Baiwan couldn’t believe it——Ji Chen actually agreed to her and even said that he would pick her up to go to the cinema on Saturday.
……How come she hadn’t notice that Ji Chen was so approachable before?
Jiang Baiwan put down the phone and didn’t come back to her senses for a while. But since they already have an appointment, the movie tickets won’t go to waste.
On Saturday, Ji Chen arrived at Jiang Baiwan’s house as agreed. When Jiang Baiwan came down and saw him, she was surprised by Ji Chen’s appearance—— Today, Ji Chen was wearing a dark blue casual suit and his hair was softly falling on his head. He didn’t have his usual cold aura. And when Jiang Baiwan sat in the car, she even smelled a hint of men’s perfume.
“Ji Chen, the way you dressed up today……” Jiang Baiwan tried to find a suitable adjective from her stock of words. “Is quite classy.”
For a moment Ji Chen was not sure whether Jiang Baiwan was complimenting him, so he could only nod, pretending to be unperturbed. “If I have an appointment with a friend, I can’t be rude. This is my basic principle.”
With a friend……
Jiang Baiwan felt a little lost for no reason. She bit her lip and quickly changed the subject. “What perfume are you wearing today? It smells nice.” As she spoke, she wrinkled her nose. “The cool scent is very similar to you.”
“Do you like this scent?” Ji Chen’s eyebrows were soft and his deep voice echoed in the car, easily able to make people let down their guard.
Jiang Baiwan nodded. “En, I like it.”
Ji Chen immediately decided that he must wear this perfume the next time he came out to meet her again.
As the car drove along, Ji Chen secretly peeked at Jiang Baiwan from the rearview mirror. Coincidentally, Jiang Baiwan was peeking at him too. The two people’s eyes collided and as if they had been electrocuted, they both moved their gazes away. After being silent for a while, Ji Chen randomly picked up a topic to break the awkwardness. “Why did you want to go to the movies with me?”
“Ah? Oh…… It’s like this,” Jiang Baiwan hurriedly explained, “Mr. Li, Li Huacheng, came to my shop for Malatang the other day and he gave me two tickets, saying that his new movie is coming out and to go check it.”
“I originally planned to go alone.” Jiang Baiwan unknowingly told the truth. “But then the other ticket would have been wasted. I asked Tan Mi first but she’s not available, so I came to ask you.”
When Ji Chen heard this, he didn’t know whether he should be happy or not—— He had thought that Jiang Baiwan was asking him to watch a movie, but it turned out she just purely wanted to find a movie companion. And he wasn’t even Jiang Baiwan’s first choice. It was only when Tan Mi was unavailable that Jiang Baiwan had chosen him.
“If you want to watch a movie in the future, just ask me directly.” Ji Chen endured the humiliation and when the words came to his lips, it became like this. “What is Li Huacheng’s new movie? I didn’t pay attention to it. Is it still an action movie?”
Jiang Baiwan got excited at the mention of this. She took out two movie tickets from her pocket and held them in front of Ji Chen like offering treasures. “No! It’s a horror movie!”
When talking about horror movies, the excitement on Jiang Baiwan’s face was beyond words. Ji Chen, on the other hand, instantly stiffened up. He stole a glance at Jiang Baiwan and found that she was really happy. She was still talking, “I’ve already seen the trailer. It’s about the female lead that goes around chasing the male lead and also reflects a lot of social issues. The trailer looks intense and exciting, so I reckon the film won’t be too bad.”
“Mm.” Ji Chen responded in a low voice. “I actually…… rarely watch horror movies.”
Jiang Baiwan didn’t understand Ji Chen’s implication. She said with a smile, “It’s okay, I rarely watch horror movies myself, let alone in the cinema. Let me teach you a way, if you feel really scared, just put on earphones.”
Ji Chen didn’t follow. “Wear earphones? To block out the sound of the movie?”
“Sort of.” Jiang Baiwan said, “It’s best to turn on Phoenix Legend[1] so you won’t be scared anymore.”
Ji Chen: “……”
the two of them made small talks until finally, Ji Chen parked the car in the underground garage. They took the elevator to the cinema together.
Although it was Saturday, there weren’t many people because of the cold weather. When Jiang Baiwan and Ji Chen entered, there were only audiences in twos and threes scattered in the huge cinema hall.
“Our place is in the middle of the fifth row.” Jiang Baiwan spoke to Ji Chen. “Come, come.”
At this moment, Ji Chen remembered what Assistant Xu had said before. He paused and then said to Jiang Baiwan nonchalantly. “Sit down first, I’ll go buy something.”
After saying that, Ji Chen turned around and went out. Jiang Baiwan paid it no mind, but after waiting for a while, Jiang Baiwan suddenly smelled the aroma of popcorn.
The smell of caramel got closer and soon lingered around her. At that moment, Jiang Baiwan felt the seat next to her jolt slightly. She turned her head to look and saw Ji Chen holding two drinks with the lids being rounded bowls filled with popcorn.
“Here.” Ji Chen stuffed one of them into Jiang Baiwan’s hands. “Eat it while watching the movie.”
Jiang Baiwan took the popcorn-drink set in a daze, held back for a while, and finally said with a sigh, “So you have this kind of interest……”
The lights in the theater had dimmed so Jiang Baiwan couldn’t see clearly that Ji Chen’s ears were red. Ji Chen silently stared at the popcorn in his hand, for a while he was a little unsure whether to tell Jiang Baiwan that this was actually for her.
Just when Ji Chen was hesitating, the movie started. The two of them immediately closed their mouths and began to concentrate on watching the movie.
Li Huacheng was really not boasting. This horror movie was really well shot and the use of sound effects and background music could be said to be perfect. Coupled with the richness of the story, the viewers were almost immersed in it.
Jiang Baiwan watched the female lead played the victim of school violence on the big screen, secretly sowing dissension, using tricks to make all those who had bullied her kill each other, and felt that it was very thrilling. In particular, the director of this movie seems to have a special preference for cults and he also added a lot of blood in his movie, which looks disgusting and upfront.
As for Ji Chen, who was sitting next to Jiang Baiwan, he had been frozen in place five minutes just after the opening scene. His lips were pursed and there was no expression on his face, only his tightly clenched fists revealed his innermost feelings. When he saw one of the supporting actors slashing another with a knife, Ji Chen’s breathing stopped for a while before it came back.
“Holy cow…… the blood looks extremely real as well as the intestines that flowed out.” Jiang Baiwan exclaimed as she subconsciously poked Ji Chen. “Hey, did you see that?”
Ji Chen responded vaguely, making no concrete answer to Jiang Baiwan’s words. Jiang Baiwan was a little puzzled. She turned her head and observed Ji Chen in the dark for a while, then gently poked his fist with her hand. It dawned on her. “……Ji Chen, if you’re afraid, put earphones on.”
Ji Chen didn’t reply. In fact he was a little scared. The male lead played by Li Huacheng was now exploring the house of the female lead. The old house looks eerie and terrifying, as if it was a mouth wide open in the darkness, just waiting someone to devour.
Just when Ji Chen was getting very nervous, Jiang Baiwan who was next to him suddenly patted the back of his hand lightly. Ji Chen turned towards her, and Jiang Baiwan handed him something in her hand —— It was a pair of earphones.
Ji Chen froze and he subconsciously looked at Jiang Baiwan. In the darkness, Jiang Baiwan made a gesture of putting on the earphones to him. Ji Chen pursed his lips and finally put them on.
As soon as he had the earphones on, the sound of the movie was considerably weakened. Even though the images in front of him were still terrifying, Ji Chen’s inner fear was indeed reduced.
He exhaled gently and was about to whisper his thanks to Jiang Baiwan, but at that moment, lively music sounded from the earphones. He could only listen to a powerful female voice singing passionately, “My love is as vast as the heavens. Flowers blossom beneath the rolling green hills[2]……”
Ji Chen: “???”
Jiang Baiwan held the phone and played Ji Chen a list of songs, feeling that she was simply too clever. She also adjusted the brightness of the phone’s screen to the lowest, typed a line and passed it to Ji Chen. Ji Chen looked down and saw what it says on the screen: Don’t worry, if Phoenix Legend doesn’t work, I still have Jiuyue Miracle[3] here.
Ji Chen: “……”
At this point, the male lead on the big screen has already tracked down the clues and was following them to find the female lead. It was obviously a very exciting scene, but with the “Let’s learn how to meow like a cat[4]” in his ears, Ji Chen suddenly lost his fear of horror movies.
After realizing that Jiang Baiwan’s method was really useful, Ji Chen had to sit in his seat with a stiff face, watching the life-and-death struggle of the male and female lead, while the earphones played songs on a loop. When the male and female lead died together and both fell into the cliff, Tengger’s[5] version of 《Invisible Wings》[6] was playing.
When the lights in the theater came on, Jiang Baiwan smiled and took off the earphones from Ji Chen’s ears. She asked, “How is it? Is my method very effective?”
Ji Chen didn’t answer right away, but paused suspiciously—— He couldn’t decide for a while whether the movie was scarier or the song 《My Skate Shoes[7]》 played in the earphones for a long time.
However, facing Jiang Baiwan’s gaze, Ji Chen didn’t have the courage to tell the truth. He smiled. “En, it works. Thank you.”
“It’s all right.” Jiang Baiwan patted him on the shoulder generously. “I’m relieved that you haven’t been frightened like a little bird.”
Ji Chen: “……”
References
| ↑1 | Phoenix Legend is a Chinese popular music duo, consisting of female vocalist Yangwei Linghua and male vocalist Zeng Yi. Their music blends folk music with rap and hip hop elements |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | 《Most Dazzling Folk Style》 by Phoenix Legend |
| ↑3 | also another Chinese music duo, consisting of female vocalist Wang Xiaowei and male vocalist Wang Xiaohai |
| ↑4 | 《Learn to Meow》 by Xiao Panpan and Xiao Fengfeng |
| ↑5 | Mongolian singer |
| ↑6 | by Angela Zhang |
| ↑7 | by Pang Mingtao |
Looking at the screen of the phone, Jiang Baiwan couldn’t believe it——Ji Chen actually agreed to her and even said that he would pick her up to go to the cinema on Saturday.
……How come she hadn’t notice that Ji Chen was so approachable before?
Jiang Baiwan put down the phone and didn’t come back to her senses for a while. But since they already have an appointment, the movie tickets won’t go to waste.
On Saturday, Ji Chen arrived at Jiang Baiwan’s house as agreed. When Jiang Baiwan came down and saw him, she was surprised by Ji Chen’s appearance—— Today, Ji Chen was wearing a dark blue casual suit and his hair was softly falling on his head. He didn’t have his usual cold aura. And when Jiang Baiwan sat in the car, she even smelled a hint of men’s perfume.
“Ji Chen, the way you dressed up today……” Jiang Baiwan tried to find a suitable adjective from her stock of words. “Is quite classy.”
For a moment Ji Chen was not sure whether Jiang Baiwan was complimenting him, so he could only nod, pretending to be unperturbed. “If I have an appointment with a friend, I can’t be rude. This is my basic principle.”
With a friend……
Jiang Baiwan felt a little lost for no reason. She bit her lip and quickly changed the subject. “What perfume are you wearing today? It smells nice.” As she spoke, she wrinkled her nose. “The cool scent is very similar to you.”
“Do you like this scent?” Ji Chen’s eyebrows were soft and his deep voice echoed in the car, easily able to make people let down their guard.
Jiang Baiwan nodded. “En, I like it.”
Ji Chen immediately decided that he must wear this perfume the next time he came out to meet her again.
As the car drove along, Ji Chen secretly peeked at Jiang Baiwan from the rearview mirror. Coincidentally, Jiang Baiwan was peeking at him too. The two people’s eyes collided and as if they had been electrocuted, they both moved their gazes away. After being silent for a while, Ji Chen randomly picked up a topic to break the awkwardness. “Why did you want to go to the movies with me?”
“Ah? Oh…… It’s like this,” Jiang Baiwan hurriedly explained, “Mr. Li, Li Huacheng, came to my shop for Malatang the other day and he gave me two tickets, saying that his new movie is coming out and to go check it.”
“I originally planned to go alone.” Jiang Baiwan unknowingly told the truth. “But then the other ticket would have been wasted. I asked Tan Mi first but she’s not available, so I came to ask you.”
When Ji Chen heard this, he didn’t know whether he should be happy or not—— He had thought that Jiang Baiwan was asking him to watch a movie, but it turned out she just purely wanted to find a movie companion. And he wasn’t even Jiang Baiwan’s first choice. It was only when Tan Mi was unavailable that Jiang Baiwan had chosen him.
“If you want to watch a movie in the future, just ask me directly.” Ji Chen endured the humiliation and when the words came to his lips, it became like this. “What is Li Huacheng’s new movie? I didn’t pay attention to it. Is it still an action movie?”
Jiang Baiwan got excited at the mention of this. She took out two movie tickets from her pocket and held them in front of Ji Chen like offering treasures. “No! It’s a horror movie!”
When talking about horror movies, the excitement on Jiang Baiwan’s face was beyond words. Ji Chen, on the other hand, instantly stiffened up. He stole a glance at Jiang Baiwan and found that she was really happy. She was still talking, “I’ve already seen the trailer. It’s about the female lead that goes around chasing the male lead and also reflects a lot of social issues. The trailer looks intense and exciting, so I reckon the film won’t be too bad.”
“Mm.” Ji Chen responded in a low voice. “I actually…… rarely watch horror movies.”
Jiang Baiwan didn’t understand Ji Chen’s implication. She said with a smile, “It’s okay, I rarely watch horror movies myself, let alone in the cinema. Let me teach you a way, if you feel really scared, just put on earphones.”
Ji Chen didn’t follow. “Wear earphones? To block out the sound of the movie?”
“Sort of.” Jiang Baiwan said, “It’s best to turn on Phoenix Legend[1] so you won’t be scared anymore.”
Ji Chen: “……”
the two of them made small talks until finally, Ji Chen parked the car in the underground garage. They took the elevator to the cinema together.
Although it was Saturday, there weren’t many people because of the cold weather. When Jiang Baiwan and Ji Chen entered, there were only audiences in twos and threes scattered in the huge cinema hall.
“Our place is in the middle of the fifth row.” Jiang Baiwan spoke to Ji Chen. “Come, come.”
At this moment, Ji Chen remembered what Assistant Xu had said before. He paused and then said to Jiang Baiwan nonchalantly. “Sit down first, I’ll go buy something.”
After saying that, Ji Chen turned around and went out. Jiang Baiwan paid it no mind, but after waiting for a while, Jiang Baiwan suddenly smelled the aroma of popcorn.
The smell of caramel got closer and soon lingered around her. At that moment, Jiang Baiwan felt the seat next to her jolt slightly. She turned her head to look and saw Ji Chen holding two drinks with the lids being rounded bowls filled with popcorn.
“Here.” Ji Chen stuffed one of them into Jiang Baiwan’s hands. “Eat it while watching the movie.”
Jiang Baiwan took the popcorn-drink set in a daze, held back for a while, and finally said with a sigh, “So you have this kind of interest……”
The lights in the theater had dimmed so Jiang Baiwan couldn’t see clearly that Ji Chen’s ears were red. Ji Chen silently stared at the popcorn in his hand, for a while he was a little unsure whether to tell Jiang Baiwan that this was actually for her.
Just when Ji Chen was hesitating, the movie started. The two of them immediately closed their mouths and began to concentrate on watching the movie.
Li Huacheng was really not boasting. This horror movie was really well shot and the use of sound effects and background music could be said to be perfect. Coupled with the richness of the story, the viewers were almost immersed in it.
Jiang Baiwan watched the female lead played the victim of school violence on the big screen, secretly sowing dissension, using tricks to make all those who had bullied her kill each other, and felt that it was very thrilling. In particular, the director of this movie seems to have a special preference for cults and he also added a lot of blood in his movie, which looks disgusting and upfront.
As for Ji Chen, who was sitting next to Jiang Baiwan, he had been frozen in place five minutes just after the opening scene. His lips were pursed and there was no expression on his face, only his tightly clenched fists revealed his innermost feelings. When he saw one of the supporting actors slashing another with a knife, Ji Chen’s breathing stopped for a while before it came back.
“Holy cow…… the blood looks extremely real as well as the intestines that flowed out.” Jiang Baiwan exclaimed as she subconsciously poked Ji Chen. “Hey, did you see that?”
Ji Chen responded vaguely, making no concrete answer to Jiang Baiwan’s words. Jiang Baiwan was a little puzzled. She turned her head and observed Ji Chen in the dark for a while, then gently poked his fist with her hand. It dawned on her. “……Ji Chen, if you’re afraid, put earphones on.”
Ji Chen didn’t reply. In fact he was a little scared. The male lead played by Li Huacheng was now exploring the house of the female lead. The old house looks eerie and terrifying, as if it was a mouth wide open in the darkness, just waiting someone to devour.
Just when Ji Chen was getting very nervous, Jiang Baiwan who was next to him suddenly patted the back of his hand lightly. Ji Chen turned towards her, and Jiang Baiwan handed him something in her hand —— It was a pair of earphones.
Ji Chen froze and he subconsciously looked at Jiang Baiwan. In the darkness, Jiang Baiwan made a gesture of putting on the earphones to him. Ji Chen pursed his lips and finally put them on.
As soon as he had the earphones on, the sound of the movie was considerably weakened. Even though the images in front of him were still terrifying, Ji Chen’s inner fear was indeed reduced.
He exhaled gently and was about to whisper his thanks to Jiang Baiwan, but at that moment, lively music sounded from the earphones. He could only listen to a powerful female voice singing passionately, “My love is as vast as the heavens. Flowers blossom beneath the rolling green hills[2]……”
Ji Chen: “???”
Jiang Baiwan held the phone and played Ji Chen a list of songs, feeling that she was simply too clever. She also adjusted the brightness of the phone’s screen to the lowest, typed a line and passed it to Ji Chen. Ji Chen looked down and saw what it says on the screen: Don’t worry, if Phoenix Legend doesn’t work, I still have Jiuyue Miracle[3] here.
Ji Chen: “……”
At this point, the male lead on the big screen has already tracked down the clues and was following them to find the female lead. It was obviously a very exciting scene, but with the “Let’s learn how to meow like a cat[4]” in his ears, Ji Chen suddenly lost his fear of horror movies.
After realizing that Jiang Baiwan’s method was really useful, Ji Chen had to sit in his seat with a stiff face, watching the life-and-death struggle of the male and female lead, while the earphones played songs on a loop. When the male and female lead died together and both fell into the cliff, Tengger’s[5] version of 《Invisible Wings》[6] was playing.
When the lights in the theater came on, Jiang Baiwan smiled and took off the earphones from Ji Chen’s ears. She asked, “How is it? Is my method very effective?”
Ji Chen didn’t answer right away, but paused suspiciously—— He couldn’t decide for a while whether the movie was scarier or the song 《My Skate Shoes[7]》 played in the earphones for a long time.
However, facing Jiang Baiwan’s gaze, Ji Chen didn’t have the courage to tell the truth. He smiled. “En, it works. Thank you.”
“It’s all right.” Jiang Baiwan patted him on the shoulder generously. “I’m relieved that you haven’t been frightened like a little bird.”
Ji Chen: “……”
References
| ↑1 | Phoenix Legend is a Chinese popular music duo, consisting of female vocalist Yangwei Linghua and male vocalist Zeng Yi. Their music blends folk music with rap and hip hop elements |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | 《Most Dazzling Folk Style》 by Phoenix Legend |
| ↑3 | also another Chinese music duo, consisting of female vocalist Wang Xiaowei and male vocalist Wang Xiaohai |
| ↑4 | 《Learn to Meow》 by Xiao Panpan and Xiao Fengfeng |
| ↑5 | Mongolian singer |
| ↑6 | by Angela Zhang |
| ↑7 | by Pang Mingtao |
