The Cinematic Evasion

“What would you like to drink, Xiang Qing? I’ll go get it,” Shen Lanzhi offered solicitously.

“I’ll get it, I’ll get it!” Xiang Qing interjected, seizing the opportunity. “Sister Lanzhi, just sit and wait for me! I can handle it!”

‘Are you kidding? If she went, what if they got too close in the crowded queue?’

‘This was a high-risk maneuver!’

‘Any potential for physical contact had to be absolutely averted!’

Xiang Qing darted to the counter, her finger haphazardly jabbing at the menu.

“A cola, a cup of popcorn—no, make that a large bucket of popcorn—and a milk tea, full sugar, with ice!”

“Alright, beautiful.”

The young man behind the counter was quite handsome, clad in a crisp uniform, with charming dimples that appeared when he smiled and a pleasant voice.

As he operated the machine, he struck up a conversation with Xiang Qing. “Are you seeing a movie alone, beautiful?”

“No, with a friend,” Xiang Qing replied offhandedly.

“Oh…” The young man drew out the word, then, as he pushed the finished milk tea towards her, he added, “Well, you could always ask me out next time. We cinema staff get discounted internal tickets.”

Before Xiang Qing could respond, a low, ethereal voice drifted from directly behind her.

“I’m afraid she won’t be free next time, either.”

Unbeknownst to Xiang Qing, Shen Lanzhi had approached, now standing just behind her, her face adorned with a gentle smile that, strikingly, failed to reach her eyes.

Reaching out, she naturally took the milk tea from Xiang Qing’s grasp, then turned to the young man, her smile polite yet distinctly aloof.

“Her time, from this moment forward, is entirely reserved for me.”

As she spoke, she even gave Xiang Qing’s back an affectionate pat.

Xiang Qing: “!!!”

‘Damn it!’

‘Sister, please don’t pat me!’

‘CEO Gu’s watchful eyes could be lurking in any corner!’

The young man, clearly intimidated by Shen Lanzhi’s powerful aura, offered an awkward smile and refrained from speaking further.

Hugging the bucket of popcorn, which was larger than her own face, Xiang Qing felt like a tiny, pathetic, helpless shrimp caught between two formidable predators.

‘What a mess this was!’

The movie began shortly thereafter.

It was an annual tear-jerking romance blockbuster, depicting a fervent love between the protagonists that, tragically, ended in separation due to a cascade of misunderstandings and melodramatic family issues.

In the darkened cinema, Xiang Qing sat rigidly upright, clutching her popcorn bucket, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on the large screen.

Her mind, however, was far from the film; it was entirely absorbed in strategic calculations.

Shen Lanzhi, seated to her left, had already begun to extract tissues.

‘Here it comes! Here it comes!’

‘The plot has entered its tear-inducing phase!’

Based on her extensive experience accompanying girls to movies, the next move would be to seek comfort—specifically, to hold hands!

Xiang Qing immediately shifted into high alert, her peripheral vision rigidly locked onto Shen Lanzhi’s right hand.

True to her prediction, as the film depicted the protagonists’ tearful farewell in the rain, Shen Lanzhi’s shoulders began to tremble subtly.

Wiping away her tears with a tissue, she simultaneously extended her hand, seemingly intending to grasp Xiang Qing’s.

‘In a flash!’

‘Alarm bells blared in Xiang Qing’s mind!’

With lightning speed, she plunged her entire right hand into the popcorn bucket!

“Crunch, crunch!”

Feigning intense focus on digging for popcorn, the sounds she produced resonated exceptionally loudly in the hushed theater.

Shen Lanzhi’s hand, half-extended, froze awkwardly in mid-air.

Glancing at Xiang Qing, who was “battling” with her head buried deep in the popcorn bucket, she quietly retracted her hand.

‘First round: successfully navigated!’

‘Xiang Qing gave herself a mental high-five.’

Yet, she dared not lower her guard.

She was convinced that Gu Wei, that perverse woman, had surely set up an 8x scope in some hidden corner, meticulously observing her—perhaps even with infrared night vision!

‘She could even imagine Gu Wei’s internal monologue:’

[19:45: Shen Lanzhi attempted to make physical contact with the target. The target successfully evaded by feigning a search for popcorn. One point awarded.]

[20:15: Shen Lanzhi again attempted to close in. The target feigned tying shoelaces, successfully evading once more. One point awarded.]

[20:30: Shen Lanzhi…]

‘Help! When would this movie finally end?’

Xiang Qing spent the entire latter half of the movie on tenterhooks.

Shen Lanzhi wept profusely, her face streaked with tears, attempting to lean on Xiang Qing’s shoulder several times.

Xiang Qing would either suddenly exclaim “Ouch!” claiming her neck was stiff and needed stretching.

Or she would feign choking on her cola, erupting into a dramatic, earth-shattering cough that successfully shifted Shen Lanzhi’s attention to patting her back.

Naturally, even the back-patting was deftly evaded.

By the time the movie concluded, Xiang Qing felt more exhausted than if she had run an 800-meter race.

As the end credits rolled and the lights flickered on, Xiang Qing saw Shen Lanzhi’s eyes, red and swollen from crying, and a pang of guilt unexpectedly pierced her heart.

Here was a girl so heartbroken, and not only had she offered no comfort, but she had also dodged her as if she were the plague itself.

‘Oh, Xiang Qing, you truly are heartless!’

“Xiang Qing…” Shen Lanzhi’s voice was soft and tear-choked. “Tell me, why can’t people who love each other truly be together?”

‘It’s here! The deadly question has arrived!’

Xiang Qing’s mind raced, swiftly organizing her thoughts.

She needed to formulate a response that would both soothe Shen Lanzhi, convey a strong sense of affection, and yet contain absolutely no concrete promises!

“Sister Lanzhi,” Xiang Qing began, fixing her with the most sincere, most empathetic expression she could muster. “Movies are all illusions! You are such a wonderful person; someone will surely cross mountains and oceans just to love you!”

‘What a burst of positive energy! And utterly watertight!’

Shen Lanzhi, as expected, found comfort in her words. She sniffled, her eyes still red-rimmed as she gazed at Xiang Qing.

“Then… will that person be you?”

Xiang Qing’s heart plummeted.

‘Damn it! She’d dug her own grave!’

This deadly question was proving more challenging than the toughest math problem on her college entrance exam all those years ago.

‘Say yes?’

‘Gu Wei would descend from the heavens and tear her limb from limb!’

‘Say no?’

‘Then all her painstaking acting would have been for naught! She dared not contemplate the consequences of a failed mission!’

In a flash of insight, Xiang Qing’s survival instinct completely overshadowed all other considerations.

Gazing into Shen Lanzhi’s tear-filled, expectant eyes, she forcibly contorted her face into an expression more intricate than a mere cry—half aching sympathy, half profound affection, and a subtle hint of bewilderment.

“Sister Lanzhi…”

Her voice, too, became hoarse, as if both the film’s plot and the beautiful woman before her had struck the tenderest chord in her heart. “No one can truly predict the future, can they?”

She paused, and seeing the light in Shen Lanzhi’s eyes begin to dim, she quickly administered a potent antidote.

“But to have met you at this precise moment, I feel… I’ve already exhausted all the luck I’ll ever have in this lifetime.”

‘Now that’s sophisticated rhetoric!’

It offered no concrete promises while simultaneously amplifying the ambiguous tension to its absolute peak.

‘Translated, it meant: Sister, you’re wonderful, but I’m unsure, yet I like you so much, so if you just push a little harder, maybe I’ll succumb?’

‘PUA… ah no, the very essence of emotional manipulation—or rather, emotional push-and-pull—lay precisely in such a Schrödinger’s answer!’

Shen Lanzhi, predictably, fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

The disappointment on her face instantly gave way to a more intricate blend of emotions: shyness, delight, and an undeniable glint of determined resolve.

Biting her lip, she nodded, as if already picturing ten thousand words of subsequent plot unfolding in her mind.

Xiang Qing let out a long, silent breath, feeling as though she had just danced her way back from the very brink of hell.

Just then, a jarring, utterly discordant sound abruptly pierced the fragile pink bubble that had painstakingly formed between them.

“Waaah—! I want to go out! I don’t want to stay here! Waaah—!”

Xiang Qing and Shen Lanzhi simultaneously furrowed their brows, turning to locate the source of the noise.

Two rows ahead, a young mother was struggling to restrain a small boy, who appeared to be four or five years old.

The child thrashed wildly in her arms, kicking his legs haphazardly and letting out piercing wails.

Disapproving glances were already being cast from surrounding patrons, yet out of a sense of decorum, no one spoke aloud.

“Be a good boy, sweetie, the movie isn’t over yet. Look, the people on the big screen are flying,” the mother pleaded, her voice a mix of weary exasperation and palpable embarrassment.

“I don’t want to see flying! I want to go out and play! Waaah—!” The boy’s cries escalated in volume.

Xiang Qing’s heart sank.

‘This was it.’

She recalled Shen Lanzhi’s impeccably minimalist home, so pristine that not a single stray hair could be found.

She remembered the fleeting flicker of disgust that had crossed Shen Lanzhi’s face when the topic of unruly children had previously arisen.

‘Shen Lanzhi detested children.’

Sure enough, the once gentle, placid expression on Shen Lanzhi’s face had begun to harden into ice.