Chapter 501: I Am the Protagonist
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Binhai Golden Cinema was the most upscale and luxurious movie theater in the city, and of course, its movie tickets were the most expensive. To be honest, Zhang Zian had never been there, which had nothing to do with the price of the movie tickets and had everything to do with the fact that he didn’t have a girlfriend!
It’s a very sad thing, an adult man going to the movies alone, with only his right hand to hold his left hand.
Since it was rush hour, the buses would be overcrowded and slow. To get to the theater on time, Zhang Zian chose a taxi. Rush hour also meant that there would be very few moviegoers in the theater at this time.
The taxi arrived at the theater, which was near the downtown area of the city. Zhang Zian got out the car and saw the magnificent theater in front of him. A large TV screen overhead was displayed the screening information about the movies that had been released.
When he went into the lobby, apart from the staff, there were only a few people here, many were young couples. If they were watching movies at 8 o’clock in the morning on a weekday, these couples were probably college students.
After presenting his ID card to the employee at the front desk, Zhang Zian was taken to VIP Theater 1.
In a VIP theater, the audience could customize the movies they wanted to screen, and even bring their own movies. Theoretically, even pornography could be watched in a VIP theater, but Zhang Zian wasn’t going to tell Richard that.
At the moment, the movie queued to be watched in VIP Theater 1 was the rough cut of Dog Warrior.
There was another staff member waiting for Zhang Zian in the theater. When he saw Zhang Zian, he pointed out several important issues and asked Zhang Zian to sign a confidentiality agreement. After that, the staff left the room, and hung a sign that read, Do Not Disturb, on the outside door handle.
The movie hadn’t started yet, and the theater lights were still on. Zhang Zian took the time to look at the furniture, amazed by the layout of the room.
There was total of two rows and five seats in the theater, two seats in the front row and three in the back row. Unlike the seats in the general screening rooms, the VIP seats were made of high-end leather sofas that formed to the body of humans.
Sitting on the sofa, Zhang Zian could easily grab the snacks and beverages from the coffee table next to him. The snacks, which included popcorn, were gifts from the theater. However, the snacks contained too much sugar, salt and calories to be suitable for pets. In fact, even people shouldn’t eat too many of these snacks.
He locked the door to the theater to ensure that no one would disturb them. He looked around and found no surveillance cameras, so he took out his cell phone and released the elves, one by one.
“Quack?” Without a warning for leaving the cellphone, Richard dropped like a rock. Fortunately, it flapped its wings and flew upwards just as its head nearly hit the ground. It swiftly circled the theater.
“This is the movie theater? It’s so small!” Richard exclaimed with dissatisfaction. “Where is everybody? Why only you are here?”
“I told you. this is the VIP room. It’s very expensive, the tickets probably costs hundreds of Yuan,” Zhang Zian explained. A five-seat room was a medium-sized VIP room, so the price certainly couldn’t have been cheap.
Fina looked around and bounced on one of the sofas. It stepped back and forth between the cushions, and then lied down on its stomach as if it was satisfied with the seat.
Zhang Zian nervously looked at Fina, in fear that it would request to replace its princess bed with a leather sofa.
“This is a soft seat, but not as comfortable as my bed.” Fina narrowed its eyes and yawned. “Why hasn’t the movie started yet?”
Snowy Lionet leapt to the same sofa, squeezed itself next to Fina, and smiled cheekily. “Your Majesty, my body is softer than the sofa. Would you like to sit on my back? I’m more than happy to be your cushion.”
Zhang Zian hoped that he’d meet a girl as infatuated with him as Snowy Lionet was with Fina.
Old Time Tea went to the other sofa, pressing on the sofa with its paw. It laughed. “This chair is soft, but not very warm.”
“Because the sofa isn’t heated.” Zhang Zian put the flask filled with hot tea on the coffee table in front of Old Time Tea, so that it could drink tea at any time.
Whenever it came to a new place, Galaxy was always excited and curious to explore the environment in preparation playing hide and seek. It ran around the theater and said suddenly, just like Columbus had discovered the New World, “Meow! Zian, there’s a bathroom here!”
“Is there?” Zhang Zian followed it and found that there was a hidden door in the theater that led to a bathroom. Without leaving the theater, the audience would be able to solve their bladder problems here.
The bathroom was compact, but there was a toilet, sink, hand dryer, and a bathtub!
“Galaxy, sit back. The movie is about to begin,” Zhang Zian said, looking at the time.
Galaxy obediently sat back on the sofa.
Fina, Snowy Lionet and Old Time Tea sat in the two seats in the front row; Galaxy and Zhang Zian sat in the sofas in the back row, with Richard standing on the back of the sofa where Zhang Zian sat. Everyone purposely left the seat in the middle empty.
Famous shook its head blankly, trying to find its spot. Though it had seen the vacant spot, it didn’t think that seat belong to it.
Famous was the last elf to arrive at the pet shop. It felt inferior to the other elves in terms of strength or popularity—Galaxy was adorable, Snowy Lionet was beautiful, Fina could make money, Old Time Tea was an excellent Wing Chun Master, and even Richard was quite noticeable. But, what about itself? What did Famous have?
Famous wanted to lie down in a corner and quietly watch the movie.
Zhang Zian patted the empty sofa next to him and laughed. “Famous, what are you waiting for? Come here to sit down, you’re the star of today. How can the film start when the star hasn’t sat down?”
Star?
Famous was shocked. I’m the star of today?
Indeed, Famous was the star of the movie, but it had never considered itself a star in real life. Whenever it acted, Famous would forget itself and tried its best to bring the character to life.
Ever since Famous met Babe, a German Shepherd who performed the dangerous stunts for the protagonist of a movie, it felt very uncomfortable.
Inexplicably, Famous felt annoyed by the use of stunt doubles. Why did the other dog deserve to be the protagonist if it just let the stunt double take the risks for it? Every time Famous thought of stunt doubles, its head would ache painfully, as if it had vaguely touched upon a memory that it didn’t want to recall.
No! No! I have nothing to do with stunt doubles! I’ve never asked for stunt doubles, and I’ve never let any other dog take risks for me!
Famous shook its head, not willing to continue thinking about such issues, as if something sad might happen to it if it didn’t stop thinking.
They were at the movies to have fun. Famous didn’t want to be a buzzkill.
Famous walked to the middle seat in the back row. It hesitated a moment and jumped onto the sofa. The stretchiness of the leather seat made Famous feel like it was lying on a cloud.
Zhang Zian prepared snacks for everyone. As it had wished for, Snowy Lionet got to share a snack bucket, which contained dried fish and raw beef brisket, with Fina.
When everything was ready, the movie started to play.
The overhead lights gradually dimmed, but did not turn off completely. The lights looked like stars in the night sky.
A large title, Dog Warrior, appeared on the screen.
“Wow!”
The elves exclaimed one after another. Even Old Time Tea, who was usually calm and composed, opened its mouth in astonishment. Fina, who had always been pretentious, seemed frightened.
It was the elves’s first time seeing a big screen. They really felt like they were entering the world on the screen.
Although this movie was just a rough cut without special effects, what mattered most to the elves and Zhang Zian was that the protagonist of the film was Famous, an elfin they were familiar with.
At the beginning of the film, the protagonist, Lightning, was born. The main storyline unfolded as Lightning grew up, trained, and went on missions. The movie portrayed the companionship between Lightning and its owner, and its friendship with other police dogs. In the end, Lightning was dispatched to the Western border to carry out the important task to track down foreign criminals.
During the movie, the elves looked at Famous from time to time with incredulous looks on their faces. Were these thrilling and fascinating scenes really performed by the quiet Famous?
Every day, Famous and Zhang Zian left the pet shop very early and came back very late at night. No matter how tired it was when it came back, Famous had never complained. Everyone thought it starred in an art film or a film suitable to watch by the whole family. They thought all it needed to do was to look around and look cute. However, it turned out Famous was the protagonist of an exciting and intense commercial blockbuster!
Zhang Zian also felt incredible. He obviously had seen these shots while making the movie, but after Feng Xuan edited them, the intense storyline left him breathless.
Zhang Zian and the elves paid close attention to the screen whenever Famous appeared. Feng Xuan had trusted him to take notes if he found something wrong with the movie. Famous showed its joy when it was happy, it whimpered when it was serious, it roared when it was angry, and displayed its attachment to its owner upon separation. In other words, Famous’s performance was perfect and had a strong connection to the audience, making them worry for the protagonist.
The best proof of how wonderful the plot was that the elves had forgotten to eat their snacks. At the climax of the movie, their eyes never left the screen because they didn’t want to miss a detail.
Since the movie was a long rough cut, it was divided into two sets.
At intermission, the lights on the ceiling turned back on, and everyone was relieved from the tension of the film.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” said Famous, jumping out of its seat.
