Chapter 10: Sprinkled with Reverse Fans

Xu Weisheng sat opposite Jian Zhen, listening to her talk about Lin Sheng's story. It was as if he was separated by a TV screen; every word entered his ears, but he couldn't hear clearly. He only noticed her lips moving. Strangely, when Jian Zhen stopped talking, he was still able to join in the conversation.

"It's nothing special, I didn't think it was that impressive..." He loosely clenched his fist near his mouth, coughed lightly, and his ears turned slightly red.

Jian Zhen was taken aback, then looked at him with dissatisfaction and asked, "If this isn't good, then what do you think would be?"

"Hayao Miyazaki is good."

"Not bad... That's easy to say." Jian Zhen fell silent. Since this guy had brought up Miyazaki Hayao and Lin Sheng for comparison, she couldn't say anything more in defense of her idol. Moreover, in order not to make her aesthetic sense seem inferior to the other party, she reluctantly said, "The quality of Lin Sheng's works has indeed declined in the past two years."

Xu Weisheng's deliberately flattened lips regained their natural curve, his eyes were unfocused on a certain point in the air, and he let out a muffled groan in response.

Jian Zhen paused, then said with a look of exasperation, "It's clear that those who create art are most afraid of becoming famous. Once you become famous, all sorts of sugar-coated bullets will come your way, and you'll fall into the vortex of fame and fortune and never be able to climb out. Where will your original aspirations be?"

Xu Weisheng nodded subconsciously, then suddenly realized what she meant. Her ears turned bright red, and she stared at Jian Zhen with wide eyes, saying, "No, you can't be so absolute!"

Jian Zhen looked unconvinced: "Did I say something wrong?"

"Didn't you just say he was your idol?"

"If the landslide continues at this rate, it won't be like that for long."

"Then why did you go to Qili for him?"

Jian Zhen rolled her eyes: "To be honest, if I saw him in Qili, I would definitely grab his ear and ask him what he's been doing for the past two years, drawing a bunch of garbage."

Xu Weisheng felt a pang of pain in her ears and rubbed them, surprised that she had such a strict fan. Luckily, she hadn't revealed her true identity in front of her.

The meal was rather ambiguous. By the time the two stepped out of the restaurant, it was almost dark. The sunset had faded, and the whole world seemed to be shrouded in a semi-transparent, deep blue glass, beautifully vast and serene.

Jian Zhen tilted her head back and chugged her mineral water. Xu Weisheng asked her what she thought of the store. She wanted to tell the truth and say it was a bit salty, but then she thought that even a family heir like Young Master Xu, who was dressed in white dragon fish clothes, didn't complain about it being salty. If she said she had a bland palate, it would seem pretentious. So she simply nodded and said, "It's fine."

She's not picky about food, no wonder she always gave me high praise for my little tinkering projects.

Xu Weisheng looked at her with a smile in his eyes. Jian Zhen glanced at him nervously, thinking that she had been caught lying. But Xu Weisheng was embarrassed by her gaze, scratched his ear and turned his face away. Jian Zhen was even more confused, and glanced at him again. Just then, Xu Weisheng's eyes were also secretly glancing in their direction. The two of them couldn't help but burst out laughing at the same time.

It's time to say goodbye.

Xu Weisheng asked, "How are you getting back? By bus?"

"Hmm." Jian Zhen joked, "Are you going to take me to the bus stop?"

"No need to see me out." Xu Weisheng's mood had been fluctuating wildly during the few hours he spent with her. Overall, he was grateful for Jian Zhen's appearance, but he also hoped that this uninvited guest would only appear once. As an idol who kept his identity a secret, he felt a lot of pressure dealing with radical career fans.

"Heh, I don't care either." Jian Zhen tossed her noble head and walked away with her tail wagging. For the first few steps, she had to use all her strength to resist the urge to turn back. Later, she became relaxed and began to indulge in self-reflection—why did she even make this trip in the first place?

On the surface, she wanted to thank Xu Weisheng for returning her phone, but at the core, it seemed that this person was too shrouded in mystery, and her first impression of him was so peculiar that she could never shake off the suspicion that he was a gold digger. Seeing a respectable woman go astray, Jian Zhen really couldn't stand idly by. If this were ancient times, she might have been a master at saving prostitutes...

The more she thought about it, the further her mind wandered, and she even laughed at herself. Luckily, there weren't many people on the bus, otherwise, some people would have thought that this young girl was suffering from hysteria and laughing to herself.

The bus returned along the same route, passing through the quiet suburbs and merging into the city's neon lights. Jian Zhen swiped her card and jumped out of the back door, pouting—what's wrong with this person? He has absolutely no interest in her.

When they parted ways at the entrance of the Northeastern restaurant, Xu Weisheng said "I won't see you off" so decisively, as if he had no intention of ever seeing her again.

Could he be gay?

Even if he's gay, it shouldn't be like this... He should be quite popular even among women.

Jian Zhen couldn't understand it. The more she thought about it, the more unwilling she felt. Was this person just too thin-skinned or ungrateful? It was really necessary to figure it out.

Of course, she also has dignity, and she wouldn't come knocking on his door again without a reason.

Fortunately, her reason came soon enough: on June 19, Pixar's animated feature film "Brave" was officially released in mainland China.

At that time, the main way to buy movie tickets in China was through counters, with online sales accounting for less than 20%. Jian Zhen, a trendsetter, originally planned to buy tickets online, but after searching for the movie theater, she found that Xu Weisheng's workplace was too remote and had not yet opened online ticketing channels.

She could only purse her lips in disgust and decide to travel a long way to buy tickets on the spot. Unfortunately, this way, she wouldn't know the availability of tickets beforehand. What if she arrived to find that the tickets were gone? Wouldn't that be a wasted trip?

Jian Zhen stared at her computer for a long time, then finally snapped the laptop lid shut. Never mind, she'd go do it first.

Meanwhile, Xu Weisheng asked his colleague at the counter to book him a movie ticket for "Brave," after his shift ended. His colleague laughed at him for being childish: "You're so old, why are you still watching cartoons?"

With a smile, Hsu Wei-sheng gently retorted, "Who says adults can't watch cartoons?"

"Do you watch Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf? My son loves it," my colleague asked with a laugh.

Xu Weisheng didn't want to get caught up in pointless arguments, so he leaned against the counter, lowered his eyes, and said calmly, "Pixar's works are still worth watching. Have you heard of Monsters, Inc."

Seeing his colleague's confused look, Xu Weisheng was a little incredulous and asked again, "What about Finding Nemo?"

Still no response.

Xu Weisheng hissed softly, "You know Toy Story, right?"

"Okay, okay, it's just one ticket, right?" His colleague quickly changed the subject, afraid that he would ask any more questions.

Xu Weisheng turned around, leaning against the counter. The LCD screen hanging in the cinema was scrolling through the screening schedule for this week. June 19th. Primary and secondary school students still had a week before their summer vacation. Perhaps taking this into consideration, the screening rate for animated films was very low. Even a film like "Brave," which came from a prestigious background, only had two screenings a day.

It seems that most people still think that cartoons are not suitable for adults. Very few people are as interested in cartoons on the big screen as he is. Several people flashed through Xu Weisheng's mind, including Jian Zhen. Although it was just a fleeting thought, her features and expression were as clear as if they were right in front of him.

"Hello, two tickets for 'Brave' at 3:40 PM." With less than five minutes left before the movie started, Jian Zhen rushed to the counter, her forehead already beaded with sweat.

The cashier had seen her before and remembered her face well. She glanced behind her and, finding no one else there, guessed that she was looking for Xu Weisheng again. So she teased, "Inviting someone to the movies?"

“Yes.” Jian Zhen glanced at the ticket gate but didn’t see Xu Weisheng. She turned around to ask where he was when the cashier reminded her, “VIP ticket gate.”

As he spoke, he handed her the change and two movie tickets, and winked at her, saying, "You two really have similar tastes."

Jian Zhen didn't have time to ponder the meaning of those words. She took the movie ticket and headed straight for the VIP ticket gate. Xu Weisheng was indeed there. The movie in the VIP screening room had already started for half an hour, and there was no one else at the ticket gate except for him.

Jian Zhen walked over quickly and saw Xu Weisheng fiddling with his phone on the ticket counter with his head down. She thought he hadn't noticed anyone coming, but when she got close, Xu Weisheng suddenly stretched out a hand without looking up and said lazily, "Ticket."

Two movie tickets were handed to him, and just as he was about to take them, the ticket stubs slipped from his fingers, as if the other person had deliberately slapped his hand with the movie tickets.

Who's so bored?

Xu Weisheng frowned and looked up, meeting Jian Zhen's eyes.

She had rushed over and was still a little out of breath as she spoke: "I'll treat you to a movie."

Xu Weisheng couldn't figure out what she was up to. Putting aside why the two of them wanted to watch a movie together, did this young lady not have the words "absconding" in her dictionary?

He had been bending over with one leg bent and one hand supporting him on the counter, but now he straightened up involuntarily, let out a deep sigh, and said, "I'm at work..."

In Jian Zhen's opinion, this was not a reason. She took it upon herself to pull out the retractable barrier rope next to her with a whoosh, grabbed Xu Weisheng's sleeve with one hand and pulled him out, and then neatly fastened the cord with the other hand, saying without any nonsense: "Brave, Hall 3, if you keep babbling, you will miss the opening."

Xu Weisheng didn't even understand how he had compromised. This woman—he no longer wanted to see Jian Zhen as a simple junior sister—was really a bit domineering.

But she was right about one thing: it would be a real shame to miss the beginning of this movie.

Xu Weisheng reluctantly allowed her to pull him into screening room number 3. There weren't many viewers in the room, but the lights were already off. Jian Zhen eagerly pulled him upstairs, carefully comparing the number on the steps with the seat number in her hand.

At this moment, the dragon logo lit up on the big screen. Jian Zhen turned her head back for a moment, and Xu Weisheng read a kind of anxiety on her face. All the thoughts in his heart calmed down and were replaced by an unexpected joy.

How should I put it? Gold is easy to come by, but a true friend is hard to find.

Xu Weisheng lowered his head and chuckled softly—drifting like duckweed in the sea of ​​people, he and his junior sister were fortunate enough to meet in this life.