The cinema had three offices—a general office, a finance office, and a general manager’s office. There was no dedicated reception room. In the original design, the general manager’s office should have served the reception function. However, Cheng Lele had never gotten around to tidying it up, and it was still a dirty mess inside.
Now with a VIP coming on short notice, they could only make do with the general office.
The general office had an irregular polygonal structure. At the only right-angle corner, a single-person cubicle partition half the height of a person had been separated out—Chen An usually sat here when he came. The remaining desks were long boards nailed along the walls. Cheng Lele liked this simple and convenient open space, but for receiving clients it inevitably appeared shabby.
She had someone move the small round table that looked somewhat tasteful from the general manager’s office to the general office. Just as she finished wiping it clean, Chen An came in.
Cheng Lele went to greet him: “Have you eaten lunch?”
Chen An shook his head. Cheng Lele pulled out a cup of yogurt: “I knew you wouldn’t make it in time to eat. Have this for now. I was afraid other food would have too strong a smell.”
“Oh, thank you.” Chen An took it, went to sit in the cubicle, drank a few sips of yogurt, opened his phone, and sent Quan Zirong a message: [Thanks, brother.]
After sending it, he opened a game. Dong Ping had released a new upgraded beta version with several additional storylines and asked him to try it out.
Cheng Lele was adjusting her makeup in front of the full-length mirror. Hearing the sound, she walked over and said: “Little brother, stop playing games. The client is about to arrive. Even if you’re not participating, you should at least be a bit nervous.”
Chen An’s nostrils flared. He’d led teams to finalize investment contracts worth billions without getting nervous, and now Cheng Lele wanted him to put down his phone for a deal worth less than five thousand yuan.
Chen An locked his screen, set his phone on the desk, and said: “Sorry, I’m not wearing formal attire. Is it not serious enough?”
Cheng Lele consoled him: “It’s fine. As long as your face looks good.”
Chen An smiled and said: “Alright, I’ll definitely work hard to be a good vase.”
Just as he finished speaking, the guests arrived.
Contrary to what Cheng Lele had imagined, the visitors weren’t from an enterprise or institution, but rather a couple. The man was on the thin side, wore rimless glasses, but couldn’t hide a pair of beautiful fox-like eyes. The woman was more plump, with a double chin and freckles—not as handsome in appearance as the man. The former was surnamed Zhang, the latter Ma.
When Cheng Lele saw Miss Ma enter holding Mr. Zhang’s arm, she already offered pleasantries like “a perfect match made in heaven.”
Chen An sat peacefully in the cubicle as a decorative flower. Originally listlessly propping up his head with one hand, when he heard Cheng Lele’s words, his hand inadvertently moved up his face.
Cheng Lele’s face was really thick. She spoke off-key words without any psychological burden. Relying on a bright, smiling face, it didn’t seem greasy, but it made the listeners feel embarrassed.
Fortunately, this hypocritical small talk was just going through the motions. After Cheng Lele handed them water and invited them to sit, she quickly got to the point: “Mr. Zhang, Miss Ma, approximately how many people will there be?”
Miss Ma said: “We’re inviting seven or eight people to watch the movie. You can open the remaining seats for ticket sales.”
Cheng Lele hesitated and said: “Miss Ma, you may have misunderstood our definition of theater booking. Theater booking means—”
“Manager Cheng, I will pay for the entire venue. What I mean is, besides our people, whether you sell the remaining seats or let people in for free, I don’t mind. You just need to achieve at least half occupancy.”
Cheng Lele understood: “Miss Ma, you’re saying you need an audience?”
Miss Ma nodded.
Cheng Lele licked her lips: “Are you going to perform? If it involves a performance, we need to file separate reports for that.”
As soon as her words fell, Mr. Zhang, who had been silent the whole time, curved his lips slightly.
Cheng Lele couldn’t help but shift her gaze to him and noticed a strange, mocking expression floating on his face.
Miss Ma said flatly: “It’s a marriage proposal.”
Cheng Lele suddenly understood: “Ah, congratulations! It’s a great honor that Star Cinema can be part of your happy memories.” Then she said confidently, “Miss Ma, rest assured, we’ll try to have as many people as possible witness your happiness. Do you have any requirements regarding timing, number of seats, or equipment?”
“Sunday evening, the largest hall. After the movie, we need to play a video and use the microphone. It’s not complicated.”
The largest hall had nearly three hundred seats—more than double what she’d anticipated. Plus they could still sell the remaining seats. That such a good opportunity would find her—Cheng Lele enthusiastically agreed: “None of that is a problem.”
She noted everything down one by one and asked the gentleman beside her: “Mr. Zhang, do you have anything to add?”
He shook his head.
Everything went smoothly beyond imagination. Cheng Lele was about to stand up and take them to see the hall when Mr. Zhang spoke up faintly: “Since you can invite an audience, can you invite a male lead too?”
Cheng Lele didn’t understand, but Miss Ma’s face suddenly went pale. She grabbed his hand, her voice trembling: “Don’t talk nonsense.”
The man snorted coldly with a sarcastic tone: “Oh, I forgot—my mouth is only suitable for reciting lines.” He pulled out a piece of paper and recited: “My dear darling, this is the 1600th day since I met you. In these long 1600 days, because of you—”
Miss Ma snatched the paper from his hand, carefully folded it, and said coldly: “Just memorize it when you get home.”
Cheng Lele’s gaze kept moving between the two people, as if watching a ping-pong match.
Mr. Zhang didn’t get angry but laughed instead: “If I were proposing, I definitely wouldn’t do it at this shabby cinema. Since you’re spending so lavishly anyway, you wouldn’t mind adding a bit more money. Why don’t you go to Ocean Cinema in the north of the city?”
At the mention of Ocean Cinema, Miss Ma’s pupils suddenly contracted, her chin trembled slightly, and her hands unconsciously clenched.
Cheng Lele of course wouldn’t interpret this as Miss Ma being a fanatic fan of Star Cinema. She didn’t know how to smooth things over in this situation, and Mr. Zhang either didn’t speak or, when he did, said something shocking: “Oh, because the woman I really want to propose to is at Ocean Cinema. You don’t dare go there.”
After hearing this sentence, Miss Ma finally went berserk. With a ferocious expression, she slammed the table and stood up, pushing the plot to its climax: “Then go ahead and get her pregnant too! Make her force you to propose too! Go ahead! See if she even cares about you!”
Cheng Lele’s mouth hung open in a perfect circle. These few sentences contained an astonishing amount of information. Everyone was stunned. For a moment, the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The man was provoked until his eyes turned red. In a fit of anger, he stormed out the door. Meanwhile, after Miss Ma finished her hysterical shouting, she collapsed on the table, crying earth-shatteringly.