444 Escaping from the Cinema

The Sunshine Cinema, which was first established in 1909, used to be a Jewish circus. It always showed indie films and it was a harbor for independent movies. The white European-style building with the splendid yellow LEDs was a beautiful sight in New York at night.

They walked up to the ticket office and saw that the latest indie movies were on in all the theaters. America was tolerant of underground movies.

"Two for ‘Elephant’. Fourth or fifth row..."

"Six dollars each. Twelve dollars in total."

Considering the average resident income in New York, it was quite cheap.

They walked to Theater No. 2 with their tickets. Two people who were dressed like artists were complaining there. "Wow! It’s not in Theater No.1. Let’s just pray there’s less people."

Why? Why did the theater matter? Qin Guan and Cong Nianwei entered the theater with a sense of foreboding.

They admired the sense of art in cinemas. Unlike ordinary amphitheater cinemas though, the chairs there were placed along the same horizontal line. It was like a traditional Chinese Peking Opera theater or a mini drama hall.

Suddenly, the popcorn in Qin Guan's mouth started to taste bad. Cong Nianwei smiled though. "As long as a two-meter tall man is not sitting in front of us, this will not affect us. There are only 10 minutes left before the film begins and there are few people inside..."

You are so good at comforting others...

Qin Guan sat down on his assigned seat helplessly. There were only 30 to 40 people sitting in the theater, which could hold about 400 people in total.

Qin Guan lost any hope that the movie would get any publicity.

The projector started working. Qin Guan made his debut on the screen. Lights and shadows were meeting in the dark hall. It was silent. Only the sound of people chewing popcorn could be heard occasionally.

When Qin Guan appeared on the screen though, a group of people on their right shouted in surprised low voices.

"That boy is so handsome! I was about to fall asleep, but he woke me up."

"Hey, John, isn’t that boy familiar?" They kept talking as the plot progressed.

"I remember now! He is from our college! I have seen his picture in the newspaper. I bought the product he was advertising!"

"What product?"

"The Armani perfume. Didn’t you see the advertisement?"

"The vampire? Oh my! Stop talking. I want to watch the film carefully."

The small group paused its conversation to watch Qin Guan's performance. Soon, they screamed out again loudly.

"Wow! What a nice figure!"

"Go on! Go on!"

"Ah! The camera turned away!"

This is an indie film, ladies, not a porn video. Okay?

Cong Nianwei was interested in the film at first, but then she was annoyed by the noise. How is such a film so popular?

She was right. The film ended suspensefully in 90 minutes. Fans of indie films had their own opinions. The lamps on the ceiling turned on one by one, indicating that the audience had to leave.

Qin Quan winked at Cong Nianwei and asked her proudly. "Your boyfriend is perfect, right?"

Before she could answer, someone shouted behind them. "Qin Guan!"

They looked back to see some American girls staring at them, holding Coca Cola and popcorn in their hands.

"It's him! Nina, Alice, come here!" Their screams attracted attention from the whole audience.

"What’s happening?"

"The protagonist! He came to watch the film! He’s really good!"

They fixed their eyes on Qin Guan, the only shining point in the theater.

What should I do?

If one encountered a dangerous beast in a wild field, they couldn’t turn around and run. They had to retreat slowly. The girls were human beings though, not beasts. They threw their popcorn away and rushed up to them. It was too late for Qin Guan to escape. Several hands started grabbing his shirt.

"Well done, Qin Guan!"

"We are Columbia students. Stop running!"

Qin Guan tried his best to get rid of their claws. He ran as fast as possible along the corridors between the seats with Cong Nianwei. In a few seconds, they were back in their car, leaving the sad fans behind, beating their chests in sorrow.

Qin Guan’s long legs had saved his life again.

In fact, Qin Guan wanted to talk to the audience, but not to those vigorous girls. He got some feedback soon though, as one of his fans, a girl from Barnard, rushed back to college hurriedly.

She was a contributing reporter of the school newspaper, and she wanted to publish the news on the next issue. Besides, as a senior gossip lover on the entertainment forum, Vivian wanted to share her experience of the thrilling intimate contact she’d had with the star of the film.