Chapter 88

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Video Hall

“Burp~” I let out a chicken and mushroom noodle flavored burp and rubbed my slightly bulging stomach. “Where should we go next? To the arcade at the intersection?”

“Not… don’t go to that arcade, it’s a coin-swallowing black shop… ah, it’s so hot, wearing a bra is so uncomfortable.”

Perhaps because I had been sitting too long under the air conditioner, the huge temperature difference between the outside and inside the restaurant made even Tan Linhua appear quite lazy. Her thin T-shirt was quickly soaked with sweat, revealing the light pink bra underneath. She tugged at the straps behind her, pulling the T-shirt to create a breeze that carried the scent of sweat. I walked beside her, unsure whether to breathe or not; would taking two breaths make me seem too perverted?

She let go, and the strap snapped against her back with a crisp sound.

Fortunately, the street wasn’t very long. After walking halfway down, Tan Linhua stopped in front of a rather dimly lit store. The entrance was deep within, casting heavy shadows. Just standing at the door, one could feel an eerie atmosphere, making it seem like a haunted house.

“We’re here, let’s go in.”

“Wait, what is this place? It looks a bit ominous!”

“Isn’t it written there? Good Friends Video Hall.”

Because it was so dark, at first glance, it seemed like there was no sign. Tan Linhua pointed, and I saw a white background with black text hanging outside the store. The frame was quite clean, not much dust had accumulated, though the paper was somewhat yellowed from age.

“It’s a video hall. This old street sure has a lot of antiques.”

Choosing such a place for a date seems a bit outdated, even a bit rustic. But today, I’m here to accompany Linhua, so I have no complaints about where we go.

Though I’ve never been to a video hall before, I know what they do. They’re like cheap movie theaters where customers can watch movies on videotapes or rent them to take home. However, with the widespread availability of cinemas and high-speed internet, these stores have almost disappeared.

“Doesn’t look like it’s open?”

“The tapes need to be kept dry and cool, so the lights aren’t on.”

Not only outside, but inside the store was also pitch-black. Linhua pushed the stainless steel door open forcefully. Because the doorframe was deformed, metal scraped against the ground, creating a grating noise that made me uncomfortable.

Cold air poured out from the store, indicating it was indeed open.

“Look, it’s open!” She looked to the right side of the counter and asked, “Is the old man here?”

I surveyed the interior layout.

The store had dozens of heavy wooden bookshelves lined with boxes containing videotapes. Roughly estimating, there were hundreds of them. From documentaries to art films, they were categorized by type and placed on different shelves. The boxes were clean, showing that the owner cared deeply for these tapes. After all, these were rare editions that couldn’t be bought elsewhere.

An elderly man with gray temples was slumped over the counter, wearing an ill-fitting thick coat. He seemed to be sleeping. Linhua approached him gently and woke him up. Perhaps due to lack of sunlight, his face was pale and he didn’t look very healthy.

“Oh oh, sorry sorry, I haven’t had any guests in a while, so I fell asleep. Are you two young people here to rent videotapes?”

“Grandpa, look at who I am?”

“Hmm?” Linhua pointed to her face and leaned forward. The old man fumbled under the counter and pulled out a pair of gold-rimmed reading glasses.

“Oh my, isn’t this Little Linhua? It’s been a while since I last saw you, and you’ve grown more beautiful!”

“Little girl?”

Maomom called me a boy, I thought everyone on this street knew Linhua’s true gender.

Linhua covered her mouth and whispered, “Grandpa has dementia, he forgets many things, like my gender.”

I nodded, understanding. When the old man spoke, his eyes drifted, occasionally glancing at the empty ceiling, looking as if his mind wasn’t quite right.

The old man turned to look at me again. “Ah? Xiao Liuliu hasn’t grown taller since the last time I saw you?”

Xiao Liuliu… Has Linhua influenced this old man?

“No, sir, you got it wrong, I’m not Yan Liuzhuan.”

The old man hesitated, slowly standing up, squinting at me for a moment. “Sorry, young man, I haven’t seen Little Linhua bring anyone else here.”

“It’s okay, I know everyone here. I’m Chang Kai.”

Yan Liuzhuan was over six feet tall, definitely taller than me. In this world, although I was five feet eight inches, which isn’t short, everyone I knew seemed to have grown unusually tall, making me feel shorter.

“Grandpa, where’s Xiao Lin? Why isn’t he here?”

“He went far away for university, won’t be back for summer vacation. Anyway, there aren’t many customers, I can handle it alone.” He sat back down, picking up something that looked like a ledger and scribbling a few notes.

“Are you here to watch a movie with a friend today?”

“Yeah! Is the screening room still usable?”

“Yes, Grandpa will turn it on for you. Pick a tape and bring it over when you’re ready.”

The old man fumbled for his cane, trying to stand up. Linhua hurried around the counter and pressed him back down.

“Grandpa, sit down, you don’t need to turn on the player yourself.”

The old man sat down without further protest, shaking his head and sighing. “It’s been a while since you came, I thought I wouldn’t see you before I closed up shop.”

“What? This video hall is closing down?”

Linhua practically shouted.

“I never intended to close it, what better place for a pile of old tapes than here?” The old man sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. “But the demolition notice has already come… not just this store, the whole street is being demolished.”

“Impossible, we just had lunch at Maomom’s place.”

As a dilapidated street in the city center, this was to be expected. Linhua understood this, but she found it hard to accept.

She called this place a paradise because it held so many memories for her. Choosing it as a date spot meant she felt comfortable here, but these were sentimental feelings. Ultimately, this street was out of touch with the times.

“Maomom doesn’t want you to be sad,” the old man said, pulling out a demolition notice from under the table and slamming it down. Linhua picked it up and looked dazed. “This is real, construction starts early next year.”

“I thought this place would always exist… I’ll go pick a movie.”

She patted her cheeks to dispel her sadness and walked straight to a shelf, carefully selecting a tape, sometimes picking it up and putting it down, seemingly indecisive.

“That girl, something feels different about her,” the old man said, sipping his goji berry tea. “No, maybe she’s returned to how she used to be… Do you know why?”

Returned to how she used to be?

“I don’t know, what was she like before?”

“…Ah, I can’t remember.”

Talking to the old man was so stream-of-consciousness… I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, or maybe he wasn’t thinking anything at all.

At this point, Linhua peeked out from behind the shelf and waved at me. “Kai, what are you doing? Come pick a movie too!”

On closer inspection, the shelf next to Linhua boldly read “Horror Films,” making me instinctively stop and step back.

“Hold on, you don’t want to watch a horror film, do you?”

The atmosphere in this creepy video hall would amplify the psychological pressure of watching ghost films.

“Yeah!”

“You know I can’t stand this kind of thing!”

“So that’s why I’m asking you to pick one too, we can watch two films until evening.”

Linhua had already decided, holding a box up for me to see. The lighting in the store was dim, but I could barely make out the title on the box.

“Cursed Videotape.”

Oh my God, why did it have to be this? Is this really a movie?

Not some genuine relic lost among the people?

—

Insert Page Two: Linhua’s Thoughts (Extra Update)

This video hall had two screening rooms, each seating about ten people. When I was younger, I could still see other customers watching tapes together. Over time, fewer people came, and today it was just me and Kai.

Fortunately, the old videotape player was working again, indicating that Xiao Lin really fixed it.

Last time, this antique broke down, not only jamming the tape but also damaging it. The old man was heartbroken for a while, whether it was the player or the tape. These were his treasures, and they couldn’t be bought anywhere.

Although the player was old, the TV was relatively new. Unfortunately, the quality of the videotape was blurry when projected onto today’s large-screen color TVs.

Not to mention IMAX theaters with big, clear screens, there were also many new private theaters, which were like upgraded versions of video halls. At home, one could download Blu-ray sources, making these old-style video halls relics of the past.

Not just the video hall, but this old street too.

I knew this street would eventually be demolished, but I hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. It left me feeling a bit melancholic.

I waved the “Cursed Videotape” in front of Kai’s hand.

“So, shall we start with the tape I picked?”

Kai nodded from the back row near the door, looking ready to escape at any moment.

I knew he was a coward, certainly not brave enough to watch such a movie. If it were the old days, masked as I was, I might have given up on this tape for his sake… but today, I must follow my own feelings and do what I want!

This was our agreement, yes, an agreement.

It wasn’t because I wanted to see Kai trembling in fear of Miss贞子 (贞子 is a character often associated with Japanese horror, likely referring to Sadako from “The Ring”).

“Why are you sitting so far back?”

“There’s more cold air here.”

“Nonsense, the air conditioner is right next to the TV, move to the front.”

“No!”

The player swallowed the videotape, and a mechanical whirring sound filled the air. It was rewinding quickly, and I knew it was the machine at work.

“Kai, come sit closer!”

During the rewind, I grabbed Kai’s arm and dragged him to the front row.

He was clearly a man, yet his skin was unnaturally smooth and cool to the touch, fitting the phrase “hands like tender shoots, skin like congealed fat.” Without his glasses, he might even be more handsome than I am now.

Life truly isn’t fair. Because he has so many things I don’t, I want to bully him, that’s called jealousy.

“Alright, considering you’re a girl today, I won’t hold it against you.”

Perhaps intimidated by my female identity today, he didn’t struggle much, half-heartedly sitting in the middle of the first row. I sat behind him, pressing down to prevent him from escaping.

Since holding his arm was tiring, I leaned forward, pressing against his chair back, hugging his neck from behind. He shrank slightly but didn’t resist… Being hugged from behind by a girl, he must be secretly pleased?

Holding him like this made my mood soar.

The rewinding finished, and the player began to play the tape at a steady pace. On the TV screen, the blue filter of the opening scene looked very cold, as if a ghost could jump out at any moment, making Kai even more nervous. Through the pulse in his neck, I could feel his heart pounding.

Actually, this film was a parody of a famous horror movie, filled with amateurish elements. The fake tomato blood, the obviously powdered ghost, and the paper-mache well prepared by the props team were laughable.

Yet, I had watched this film countless times. I knew exactly where the scary scenes were, where the continuity errors were, and even the size of the ghost’s chest.

Because the theme of the tape matched its carrier, the first viewing was genuinely terrifying, as if not sharing the tape would bring misfortune.

Despite his repeated protests, I paused the video. Kai pouted pitifully and left the screening room, looking resentful. But he returned after a few seconds.

“Linhua, where’s the bathroom?”

“Turn left at the exit and walk straight, the last door is the bathroom.”

The bathroom wasn’t hard to find, at the end of the hallway. Due to the layout of the video hall, it was somewhat dark, with the only lighting coming from flickering tungsten bulbs on the ceiling, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Kai glanced down the hallway, looking uneasy.

“Linhua, can you come with me?”

“Don’t be silly, are you a high school girl who needs someone to accompany her to the bathroom?”

Stung by my words, he looked like he was constipated as he left, his expression like that of a warrior heading to battle… Unlike Liuliu, teasing Kai was so much fun! This nice guy rarely got angry, and even when he did, he was easy to pacify.

Thinking about it, my feelings for him were far too complex.

Initially, I was just using him. He never noticed I was a boy and treated me as a girl, making me feel like I really was one, gaining a false sense of satisfaction.

But then he confessed to me, hurting me in the process.

Later, I discovered his secret in the bathroom. Honestly, I had never seen someone so beautiful. Liuliu was also infatuated, losing himself to it.

From then on, I started envying him.

Then, he brought the magical stone that could change gender, igniting hope in my otherwise false life. I desperately wanted to seize this hope but ended up doing something drastic and regrettable.

Fortunately, Kai was a good person. He didn’t accept my desperate advances and promised to seek help from the deity.

“Idiot, even if you do all this, it doesn’t benefit you at all, does it?”

Through this incident, I realized I had fallen in love with this idiot.

Even though I also liked Liuliu, if he were to confess again…

I reached into my skirt pocket and pulled out the moon quartz, which was significantly larger than before.

The token of the Goddess of Beautiful Girls. Though Liuliu said these stones weren’t worth much, the milky white glow was beautiful, like the moon in the night sky.

It brought me new life, even if it was just for a day.

According to Kai’s earlier statement, to become a girl permanently, I needed the deity to communicate with the messenger deity and personally bestow a blessing, just like those in the Water World.

Once a street thug, she became an active idol and agent after becoming a girl. Their destinies had been changed for the better. I wanted the same, a different life.

If possible, I hoped the deity would increase my bust size. An A-cup was too tragic…

“Damn, what’s wrong with the light bulbs in this bathroom? So scary!”

Kai returned, looking unwell. It seemed he hadn’t gone to the bathroom but rather to a haunted house.

“Then, let’s continue watching the movie. The second half is the best part.”

“I don’t want to see the exciting part of a ghost movie!”

I wrapped my arms around his neck again, pressing my chest against the back of the chair. I could feel my own heartbeat.

Thump-thump, beating fast. Is this what love feels like?

“It’s okay to be scared, I’ll be here with you.”