Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Qiao Lian understood that Sun Tzi was troublesome to deal with.
But how on earth had Shen Liangchuan managed to shake him off?
Qiao Lian wanted to ask Shen Liangchuan about it, but seeing that he did not intend to speak much about it, she held back the questions.
She lowered her head and ate quietly.
After they had eaten, Shen Liangchuan stood up and looked at the time. It was already three in the afternoon.
“Are you returning to work?” he asked Qiao Lian.
“… No,” she answered.
It would take an hour to get to the office and by that time, there would be only another hour of work before it was time to go home.
She stood up and followed Shen Liangchuan to the car. As he drove off, she asked, “Are we going home now?”
“No, not going home.”
Shen Liangchuan continued, “Let’s go watch a movie.”
Qiao Lian was stunned to hear that.
Watch a movie.
In her memory, she couldn’t recall a time when she had gone out for a movie date.
Suddenly, a few memories from eight years ago came rushing back.
Actually, it had been quite common to date back then, in senior high school.
She had been considerably popular in school and had received love letters from a number of admirers.
She recalled the time she had been in the middle of a game with Zi Chuan and her cell phone had started ringing.
The call was from a boy who had been trying to ask her on a date. “Qiao Lian, would you like to go for a movie with me this Saturday?”
She couldn’t remember who this boy was.
But at that time, she had been curious.
She had only been to the movies with family, but not friends.
She thought for a moment and replied, “Let me think about it and give you an answer tomorrow. What time were you planning on going?”
“Twelve noon.”
After she hung up, Zi Chuan’s voice went through her headphones, “Who was that asking you out for a movie?”
“A boy of course,” she teased him.
“You’re not allowed to go.”
“Why?”
“We have a competition match tomorrow.”
“… But the competition starts at six in the evening. I’ll be done at the movies by four in the afternoon,” Qiao Lian replied.
“Don’t we need to warm up?”
Qiao Lian retorted, “Do we need four hours to warm up?”
Zi Chuan’s tone was icy. In his awkward adolescent breaking voice he said, “You’re not allowed to go!”
Qiao Lian paused and suddenly laughed. “Zi Chuan, are you jealous?”
There was a silence on the other end of the line.
After a while, he answered, “Yes. You’re not allowed to go to the movies with other boys.”
“But I’ve never been to the movies with friends.”
“I’ll take you to the movies in the future.”
I’ll take you to the movies in the future.
But there was no ‘future’ for them.
Her heart sank as she thought about this.
Her emotions were in downward spiral, and so did her expression as she looked out of the window.
She suddenly turned around and looked at Shen Liangchuan. “Have you ever been to the movies with other people?”
Shen Liangchuan glanced at her briefly and looked away in silence. “Yes, I’ve been.”
Qiao Lian fell into silence.
As Shen Liangchuan drove on, he got a little distracted.
That was the truth.
At that time, because of his disapproval, Xiao Qiao had not gone to the movies with that boy. Eventually, since neither of them had been happy with the outcome, they had ended up going for a movie “together.”
They bought two tickets each, leaving the other seat empty, and connecting to each other through their cell phones, they watched the same movie at the same time, in different cities.