Extra 3: Cinema (1)
On the Chinese Valentine's Day night when Zhong Jiajing just started working, Xiaobai and Ji Nan got a ride in Ren Jiang's car. She was so happy about her boss's sudden success that she bought a scratch-off ticket on the way home to celebrate.
But just as she was about to scratch it, her mother called and scolded her, so the scratch-off ticket was temporarily stuffed into the compartment of her bag and forgotten about.
A whole week passed before she suddenly remembered the existence of this object, so she started scraping it without stopping when she was about to hand over the night shift at 4 pm.
Ji Nan saw her clasped hands holding her ID card, and she was muttering something.
He felt strange and stopped to ask, "What kind of evil has got you into? If you want to cleanse your soul, I suggest you find a temple. I haven't heard that coffee can atone for sins."
"People say that even jumping into the Yellow River can't wash it out, so it's even more impossible to wash out coffee. I suggest you be more rational."
Xiaobai's ears were shaking when he heard this. He was so angry, but thinking that he hadn't fulfilled his wish yet, he suppressed his anger and treated this poisonous man as just bullshit.
After establishing a connection with the God of Wealth, she solemnly took out her ID card and started scratching the lottery tickets.
The first number she got was 20 yuan, and she couldn't stop smiling.
The second one won 50 yuan.
The third one...
Until the last number is scratched off and you win big!
Xiaobai was so happy holding the scratch-off lottery ticket that won her 800 yuan. "Even though I don't like what you say, after all, I'm the granddaughter of the God of Wealth now. I won't bother with a mere mortal like you."
Ji Nan scoffed at what he heard. "If you say that, then all of us Chinese people call him 'Grandpa'. Doesn't that mean we are all his grandsons?"
Xiao Bai rolled his eyes at him and said, "I know you're envious, but I'm sorry to tell you, it's completely useless. After all, not everyone has the last name Fan, and not everyone can win 800 yuan by scratching."
Yes, Xiaobai’s real name was Fan Anbai, which happened to be the same surname as the God of Wealth and War Fan Li, so she really managed to establish this relationship.
But Ji Nan didn't care about this. He just asked in return: "Without a solid foundation in elementary school math, can you really do the civil service exam?"
"What do you mean?" Xiaobai was very confused.
"To be precise, you only won seven hundred and fifty," Ji Nan pointed to the fifty-dollar mark on her lottery ticket. "If you only consider the income and not the expenditure, I now reasonably suspect that you have caused our mini zoo to lose a lot of income."
noob:"......"
Is it possible that she was just being happy? Xiaobai wanted to turn into a mad bull and kill the blood-spurting dog man in front of him.
Seeing that she looked dissatisfied and resentful, Ji Nan sent her a red envelope of fifty yuan via WeChat to make up the difference.
But this was a moment that tested her ambition. Xiaobai would never bow down to the inferior capitalists, so she expressed her arrogance as the granddaughter of the God of Wealth by refusing to accept the gift.
Xiaobai snorted coldly, "Tsk, who cares."
Ji Nan had a blank expression on his face. "Then who was the one who broke a plate last week and cried so hard because he thought his salary would be docked?"
“…” Doesn’t Xiaobai have a temper?
She held up the lottery ticket and said to the other employees in a haughty manner, "I'm treating everyone to a movie after get off work tonight, but if the boss wants to go, he'll have to pay for it himself."
There were six other employees in the store. They were all fun-loving people, and they cheered when they heard it.
Only Ji Nan had a dull expression on his face. "I said I want to go?"
"Nothing, just a casual remark. Why do you take it so seriously?" Xiaobai smirked. "Besides, whether you go or not is up to you. This cinema isn't owned by my family."
"Okay, I won't talk to you anymore. I have an appointment with Zhong Jiajing and Yu Qiuya first."
As she spoke, she made a call in front of him. From Xiaobai's one-way chat, it was not difficult to hear that Zhong Jiajing had to work overtime tonight, and she would be able to join their movie-watching group after finishing her work.
Xiaobai smiled provocatively after hanging up the phone, but Ji Nan's expression remained unchanged like a Terracotta Warrior, which made her a little discouraged.
Mini Lion King, the only male employee in the store, is an avid movie fan. He knows exactly what new movies are released in each period, so Xiaobai gave the bonus directly to him and prepared to let him be fully responsible for the movie-watching activities.
Although the weather at the end of August was extremely hot, it was a little unusual that Ji Nan still felt stuffy even though he was staying in a room with the air conditioner on full blast.
Five o'clock in the afternoon is usually his time to get off work.
He opened the shop door, hesitated for a moment, then closed it and walked towards the corner where Mini Lion King was frowning and looking at his phone.
There were not many customers in the store at this time. Suddenly, my body was covered by a black shadow. I looked up and found that it was the boss. I was really scared by the 1.8-meter-tall Lion King.
But Ji Nan wasn't here to catch him slacking off. He lifted his eyelids and casually glanced at the A4 paper on his desk that had half a page of writing on it. Then he asked calmly, "Have you decided what to watch tonight?"
Seeing that his tone was normal, Mini Lion King instantly breathed a sigh of relief. "Not yet. These are the only two movies released tonight that I haven't seen. It's really hard to decide. How about giving me some advice, boss?"
Ji Nan nodded and pointed at one at random, "This one."
The movie is called "After Sunset", which sounds like a heartwarming film and there's a high probability that nothing will go wrong.
Mini Lion King's eyes lit up, and his tone was a little excited, "Actually, I want to watch this one more. Then I'll place the order?"
Ji Nan stopped his hand and said, "Wait a moment."
"Any other questions?" Mini Lion King was puzzled.
Ji Nan said calmly, "Let's rent the whole place out tonight. Ask me to reimburse you for any expenses you spend. It'll be considered an employee benefit."
He thought for a moment and added, "Those who don't go will receive an equal subsidy."
Mini Lion King was delighted and was about to ask his boss if he wanted to go, when he saw Ji Nan walk off work gracefully.
The shop assistants who worked the day shift had already gone home, so Xiaobai notified the time and place in the group. As a result, except for the part-time college student who was crying in the group due to the school’s access control, everyone else came.
The movie started at 10:30. A group of more than ten people gathered in the middle three rows ten minutes early, each holding a bucket of popcorn and Coke, and lined up neatly in an oval.
Since everyone is familiar with each other, no one has to worry about whether they will affect others, so everyone chats happily.
Yu Qiuya was absent due to some matters, and Zhong Jiajing, as the only non-staff member, felt a little awkward. She grabbed Xiaobai's hand as he was enjoying the popcorn and said, "How about I pay for it myself? I feel a little embarrassed."
The other employees were all grinning. "Why are you so embarrassed? Aren't you already our designated boss lady? What's wrong with spending a little money?"
Xiaobai also laughed, "Besides, at worst I can use my bonus to support you."
Before Zhong Jiajing could even blush, she saw Ji Nan rushing to the cinema with the last two minutes of the countdown.
Everyone just smiled ambiguously when they saw each other, but no one asked the reason. After all, they were the financial sponsors, so it was better not to provoke them.
When Xiaobai saw someone coming, he immediately picked up the popcorn and was about to leave.
Zhong Jiajing grabbed her, looking suspicious, "Where are you going?"
"This seat is right in the middle, very good. I'll give it to the boss." Xiaobai laughed, shook off Zhong Jiajing's hand and squeezed to the back row.
There were three other girls sitting in their row. Seeing this, they also covered their grinning mouths and ran to the back row.
As for why they didn't go to the front row, they had only one answer - how could watching a movie be as interesting as reading gossip?
Zhong Jiajing didn't dare to sit there any longer. She stuffed the popcorn into Ji Nan's empty hands and followed him to escape.
Ji Nan grabbed her wrist with his free hand and said coldly, "The movie has started, don't move."
As he spoke, the lights dimmed, and the only lighting in the room was the screen in front of him.
Zhong Jiajing had no choice but to sit down obediently, but in fact she had already cursed Xiaobai and others a hundred times in her heart.
The movie has a slow pace, and the first part is filled with trivial daily stories. Zhong Jiajing almost fell asleep while watching it.
In order to avoid falling asleep, she had to eat popcorn like crazy to keep her mind active.
Ji Nan came later, and he didn't have his own popcorn bucket, so Zhong Jiajing had to put hers between the two of them. But Ji Nan didn't seem interested in this kind of thing, and only occasionally pinched a piece into his mouth.
Zhong Jiajing had no idea what the movie was about.
When she reached into the bucket again, she suddenly touched a dry, gentle man's hand.
She was startled and pulled her hand back abruptly.
The time in the video has reached sunset, and the whole room has become darker due to the decrease in light. Zhong Jiajing can't see Ji Nan's face clearly, but she guessed that he must have a sour face at the moment. If it weren't for the inappropriate environment for talking, he would definitely mock her.
But in fact, it didn't happen. Ji Nan's hand in the bucket and his brain stopped for a while, and it took about ten seconds before they became active again.
The movie had only been going on for twenty minutes, but Zhong Jiajing had already eaten all the popcorn. Ji Nan took out the two remaining pieces and stuffed them into Zhong Jiajing's palm.
Zhong Jiajing's face had already turned red. She stammered and whispered thank you. Ji Nan didn't respond. He just reached out and poured half of the popcorn from the mini Lion King behind him into their empty bucket, then stuffed the refilled bucket into Zhong Jiajing's arms.
The originally drowsy crowd instantly became energetic, their eyes like wolves emitting faint green light as they glanced back and forth at the two people in the front row.
The robbed person, Mini Lion King, was completely bewildered, and Zhong Jiajing's butt felt like it was on fire and she couldn't sit still at all, but Ji Nan, the instigator, still looked calm.
No one spoke, and Zhong Jiajing simply remained silent and blended in.
Suddenly, the screen went black and the entire room was dark.
Zhong Jiajing's heart was beating like a drum and her right eyelid was twitching wildly. She always felt that something strange was about to happen.
She held her breath and saw the screen light up again, and a person with a pale face and blood all over his body jumped out.
No, to be more precise, it should be the dead! The living dead! Or ghosts!
The whole audience screamed immediately. Zhong Jiajing didn't even care about the popcorn in her arms. She hurriedly put it on the ground and covered her eyes with her hands.
There was a strange whistling sound in her ears, and Zhong Jiajing had to close her eyes again and hurriedly moved her hands away from her ears to act as soundproofing panels.
The sounds still came into her ears intermittently. Zhong Jiajing could hear her friends' suppressed breathing, but she could no longer hear Ji Nan's voice.
Although she felt terrified, she still secretly opened one eye out of humanitarianism to care about Ji Nan next to her, but she saw him staring at her expressionlessly.
It seems to be saying: That’s it?
Even so, Zhong Jiajing was still quite frightened.
If the person sitting next to her was Xiaobai, she would have run over and held on to him without letting go, without even caring about the difference between men and women.
Even in the summer with a temperature of over 30 degrees Celsius, Zhong Jiajing still felt a little cold, especially when a gust of wind blew across her exposed ankles.
It was a completely autonomous reaction of her body, and she jumped onto Ji Nan.
Ji Nan's face was not good and he was still a little stiff, but Zhong Jiajing didn't care about that anymore. She kept repeating, "Someone just touched my feet!"
Ji Nan didn't argue with her about the truth of what she said, but just let her sit sideways on his thighs, while she tightly wrapped her hands, which were covered with sticky and sweet fragrance, around his neck.
Zhong Jiajing's body was still shaking, and she looked very scared.
The timid ones in the back row were also howling, but most of them were brave and couldn't wait to stick to the two of them to watch the show.
Ji Nan stared into Zhong Jiajing's watery eyes for a long time, and finally sighed and said, "Close your eyes."
As he said this, he covered her small ears with his hands that were placed on both sides.
It was a little cool, different from the temperature in the popcorn bucket just now, but still dry and mild, making people feel instantly at ease.
Zhong Jiajing followed his heartbeat and breathing, and suddenly the fear slowly dissipated, and a new emotion called embarrassment spread over her heart.
Or after a few minutes, the screen was still showing a picture of fear, and the girls' screams could be heard from time to time behind.
This is a complete horror movie, and Ji Nan was completely deceived by its warm name.
Seeing that the terrifying part was still going strong, Ji Nan leaned over to Zhong Jiajing's ear and passed a message through the tiny ear canal entrance raised by his palm, "We don't want to watch anymore. Let's go back."
Zhong Jiajing was overjoyed and quickly stood up to walk out, but almost tripped over a chair.
The room was still dark. Ji Nan grabbed her wrist again and walked out silently with her.
The others no longer had the desire to watch, and they ran out one after another, fearing that something unclean was chasing them.
Standing under the light again, everyone began to attack the mini Lion King.
Mini Lion King quickly thought, "This was actually picked by the boss."
Everyone was silent. Ji Nan looked at him and asked, "How dare you say you don't have any responsibility at all?"
Xiaobai was a brave person, she still smiled, "No matter whether he is responsible or not, you, the boss, have to bear part of the responsibility anyway."
She looked at their intertwined hands and said with a smile, "Since Zhong Jiajing doesn't go our way, I'll punish you by sending her home."
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