During National Day, Chen Tao spent a large sum of money in the provincial capital to hire a specialized Mathematical Olympiad competition tutor to give Chen An one-on-one in-person coaching during the holiday. Before leaving, Chen An bought Cheng Lele a new phone. Last time, the video Cheng Lele filmed on the rooftop had borrowed Godmother’s phone, and the resolution wasn’t high. He regretted not buying one earlier—he hadn’t bought one because he worried she would get distracted playing with her phone. This time, thinking that if Cheng Lele had any new moves, the equipment had to keep up, Chen An bought an iPhone 4, saved his own phone number in it, set the news broadcast airtime interface as the wallpaper, and gave it to Cheng Lele.
Cheng Lele was delighted beyond measure, holding the phone and unable to put it down. Without any reservations, she said: “Big Brother, I’m now like a trained dog. As soon as the news broadcast music starts, my hand reflexively reaches for the phone. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely call you on time. Wow, this phone’s selfie is so clear. Big Brother, take one.” The two leaned close to the camera, and with a click, captured a memento.
The first thing Cheng Lele did after getting her new phone was call Chen Xiaomu to show off.
Chen Xiaomu was late to eating this melon. Before answering the phone, she had just scrolled through Cheng Lele’s sensational feat from a while back on the forum. She felt no surprise at all about this, because the siblings’ relationship had always been this good. Actually, the simple word “good” wasn’t sufficient to describe how clingy the two were.
Speaking of the new phone, Cheng Lele had originally been using a Nokia phone her parents had discarded. Chen Xiaomu suspected that was the Chen An hotline. When the two of them went out shopping, Cheng Lele would call Chen An because she couldn’t decide which thing she liked more. She wouldn’t even send photos, but would describe over the phone for ages about how item A was good here and bad there, and what advantages and disadvantages item B had, then dawdle and dither for half an hour analyzing. Chen Xiaomu suspected Chen An just put it on mute, because normal people wouldn’t talk about such boring trivial matters for so long. However, Chen An seemed able to answer almost every question, not appearing to respond perfunctorily at all.
Chen Xiaomu felt Chen An wasn’t like a big brother, but more like a mother who tolerated a child’s unreasonable behavior. For instance, when they got lost in some alley, Cheng Lele’s first thought wasn’t to ask passersby for directions, but to call Chen An, saying: “Big Brother, I’m lost.” Chen An asked what was nearby. Cheng Lele said: “There’s a door nearby.”
Chen Xiaomu thought that Cheng Lele might grow up to be mentally challenged in the future, while Chen An might become a care specialist.
Now hearing that Chen An had given her a valuable new phone, Chen Xiaomu couldn’t help but say: “You and your big brother are too strange.”
“Strange how?”
“Are you two really not a couple? Isn’t this really just you two force-feeding dog food to me, a single dog?” Chen Xiaomu had earth-shatteringly proposed the forbidden love theory back then and still maintained the same level of suspicion now.
But Chen Xiaomu’s emphasis was on “forbidden,” while Cheng Lele’s emphasis was on “love,” because in Cheng Lele’s eyes, truly dating Chen An would indeed be equivalent to forbidden.
Cheng Lele said directly on the other end of the phone: “Of course not. My big brother and I are like twisted dough sticks—we’ve been inseparable since birth, so of course our relationship is good.”
Chen Xiaomu temporarily didn’t worry about Cheng Lele’s emotional tendencies becoming distorted, but as a good friend, Chen Xiaomu still routinely brainwashed Cheng Lele, wanting her to become an independent, self-reliant young woman of the new era. After previously hearing that Cheng Lele’s aspiration was to open a movie theater, Chen Xiaomu had also frankly stated that her ideal was to become an awesome makeup artist. On this point, Chen Xiaomu especially liked Cheng Lele. Because generally speaking, their peers either had no dreams or had overly fantastical ones.
Before hanging up, the two finally agreed to find time to go watch a movie. The renovation of Taixi Theater had dragged on intermittently for a whole year. Even if it were the Cave of Silk-Spinning Spiders, it should be finished by now. Now it, along with the commercial street, was about to have a grand opening event. The local TV station bombarded opening advertisements in rotation, and promotional flyers were stuffed right at their doorsteps. When Chen Xiaomu brought it up, Cheng Lele agreed without a second word.
However, the opening event was postponed again and again. By the time it was truly confirmed, it was nearly New Year’s.
The two arranged to meet at the entrance of Taixi Theater. Now Taixi Theater had been renamed “Star Cinema,” and the huge logo could be seen from far away. Near the cinema was the newly built tallest building in the entire county. On the roof was a fashionable revolving restaurant. Through the 360-degree surrounding floor-to-ceiling glass windows, one could take in the entire urban landscape. On the other side of the cinema was the dazzling Women’s Street. Behind Women’s Street was Food Street, providing snacks from all over the country. Today was the first day of trial operations for the entire commercial district, and all the people of the county had come to join the excitement. Before Cheng Lele even reached the cinema, she had already been squeezed into a meat pancake by the jostling crowds.
Finally making it to the cinema entrance with difficulty, Chen Xiaomu waved and called to her: “Over here, over here.”
The two finally met face to face, and Chen Xiaomu naturally hooked her arm and walked inside. Once they entered—wow, it was truly magnificent inside. Previously, Taixi Theater had only installed a kiosk-like window at the entrance for selling tickets. Now replacing its function was a high-low counter running through the entire lobby, equipped with about ten IBM cash registers inside. Half sold tickets, the other half sold snacks. In front of the counter, a serpentine queue formed about seven or eight loops, with the tail end extending outside the lobby.
Cheng Lele was astounded: “So many people.”
“They’re all here to see Avatar. Now we also have a 3D theater here, so everyone’s come to see for themselves.”
Cheng Lele had read reports about Avatar online, saying the filming effects were extremely realistic, the feedback was very enthusiastic, and after word-of-mouth fermentation, many small places had insufficient 3D theater supply, leading to difficulty getting tickets. Some drove hundreds of kilometers to big cities to watch the movie, while others went to line up at cinema entrances at dawn to buy tickets. Truly eye-opening.
Cheng Lele looked at the long snake in front of her and said: “Will there still be tickets by the time we get there?”
Chen Xiaomu blinked, looked around, and waved in a certain direction: “Brother Zhong!”
Cheng Lele looked in the direction of the voice to see a young man with a mohawk walking toward them. As he approached, Cheng Lele saw that his ear had a string of earrings densely fastened like staples, and his exposed arm had a tattoo with complex patterns.
Cheng Lele judged by appearance and felt this person in front of her was probably a problem youth.
When Cheng Lele was young at her dad’s police station, she had also seen thugs dressed like this—petty thieves, none of them up to any good. Chen An had also educated her since childhood to stay away from such people. Cheng Lele’s worldview was basically shaped by these two men, and both of these men happened to be traditional and conservative types, so Cheng Lele was also very conservative.
Cheng Lele imperceptibly stepped back a bit, maintaining an obviously distant distance from this person.
Chen Xiaomu introduced: “This is my friend’s upperclassman Zhong Ming. He’s a sophomore, a top student from Z University.”
Cheng Lele went “Huh?” in her heart. Z University was a century-old school in the province. Although there was no authoritative ranking for the several universities after Tsinghua and Peking University, no matter how you ranked them, Z University was definitely among them.
You can’t judge a book by its cover. Who would have thought that dressed like this, he could still be a top student. In comparison, Big Brother was a good boy.
Zhong Ming seemed to guess what Cheng Lele was thinking and pointed at his tattoo, saying: “I have a little hobby. Once I got to university with no one to control me, I got it tattooed. Did I scare you?”
Cheng Lele saw that his manner of speaking didn’t have the domineering tone she had imagined at all. On the contrary, he was quite considerate. She temporarily put aside her previous stereotypical impression, shook her head and said: “No. I respect personal hobbies. Hello, I’m Cheng Lele.”
Chen Xiaomu asked Zhong Ming: “Did you get the tickets?”
Zhong Ming pulled out three from his pocket: “Here.”
Cheng Lele asked in surprise: “How did you buy them?”
Zhong Ming said: “My dad is the projectionist here.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.” Cheng Lele wasn’t flattering. From the first time she entered a theater to watch a movie, she had been full of curiosity about the mysterious projection room, and along with it developed reverence for projectionists.
Chen Xiaomu pointed at Cheng Lele and said with amusement: “Brother Zhong, Lele’s dream is to open a movie theater in the future. For your dad’s sake, better curry favor with our Lele.”
Zhong Ming laughed. He had very deep European-style double eyelids and large eyes. This smile was like ripples on a lake: “All right then, other people’s sons rely on their dads; my dad will rely on his son.”
Cheng Lele entreated: “Then can you ask your dad if I can visit the projection room?”
“Not today. Next time—I’ll call you after I arrange a time with my dad.”
“Really? You’re not just being polite, right?” Cheng Lele asked seriously.
Zhong Ming said: “You’re really fun. I’m not lying to you. Let’s go, it’s time for us to enter for this showing.”