Chapter 39.1: Spicy Eyes! (T/N: eyes burn/it stings)
Chapter 39 Part 1
Xi Jia had recently started shooting suspense criminal movies. Before, they were all ghost movies.
The movie they’re watching today was called Three Chimes at Midnight, which narrated a story of the things that happened in a small tube-shaped apartment building during the Republic of China period.1 The background of the movie was set in Shanghai in the early 1920’s. The Bund played music every night, and foreign cars were pushing and shoving through the rented areas. The song and dance of Shanghai had become a silhouette of that era, but Shanghai’s tube-shaped apartments were a memory of the era.
The male lead was a young author who came from a different city and rented a tiny tube-shaped apartment. There were also four other guests in the tube-shaped apartments. These people were all mysterious and odd. Starting from when the male lead had entered the room, the movie had already built up a strange atmosphere.
With this strange and terrifying atmosphere, the male protagonist slowly found something strange about the tube-shaped apartments. Once it hit midnight everyday, the pendulum clock on the first floor of the tube-shaped apartments would ring three times. Then, three sounds could be heard from each tenants’ rooms in succession. On the first day, it was the room that was the closest to the pendulum clock that ran three times. On the second day, the second room also joined in with the sounds.
In order by the fourth day, besides the male lead who was living in the attic, three weird sounds had rang through all the other tenants’ rooms.
Finally, it was naturally the male protagonist’s turn.
It seemed like a pretty good movie from the sound of it. At least it was like many of the domestic ghost movies that would only know how to shoot a big group of handsome men and beautiful women courting disaster in the wilderness. Everyone died in succession until it was only the protagonist left. Finally, the truth was uncovered: there was no ghost, it was a certain person who had a mental disorder or deliberately wanted to kill people.
However, domestic ghost movies had never “disappointed” the audience before.
Xi Jia also admitted that this Three Chimes at Midnight was the best of all the domestic ghost movies he had filmed in the past two years. But, the plot being good was one thing, and if the movie was good was another thing. The lead of this movie was a male star who had become famous last year at a certain talent show. He had debuted for a year, and he was only handsome. Even Xi Jia couldn’t bear to look straight at his bad acting.
Everyone’s acting was unusually bad, and the director’s basic skills weren’t that much either. Even the best script couldn’t save this combo, just like the highest level couldn’t carry a team of bronzes in Kings of Glory.2
Xi Jia and Ye Jingzhi entered the auditorium and sat in the best seats in the middle.
The two each carried a large bucket of popcorn and bought two cups of coke. When entering the auditorium, Xi Jia slightly reminded Ye Jingzhi that the numbers on the floor represented the row number and the numbers on the chair represented the seat number. After they sat in their seats, Ye Jingzhi sat obediently and properly in his seat with his back perfectly straight like a child on their first day of kindergarten.
Xi Jia was unable to restrain a laugh, “Master Ye, you can relax. It’s a showing at 3 in the morning. Also……En, we’re also watching this movie. I’m afraid there’s only us in this movie theatre. You can relax a bit. There’s no need to be this nervous. No one will see anyways.”
Ye Jingzhi was promptly startled. His face was slightly red as he gently nodded. He slightly relaxed to lean back against the cushioned chair.
Not long after, the movie started.
Xi Jia ate a large mouthful of popcorn. Ye Jingzhi watched him eat, and he also started to eat popcorn.
The crunching sounds of popcorn sounded in the movie theatre in the middle of the night. At this time, the movie hadn’t shown, and all sorts of large opening clips of large investors were on the big screen. Ye Jingzhi picked up a popcorn and put it in his mouth while he couldn’t help but secretly look at Xi Jia.
In the pitch-dark environment, the light on the screen shined on the black-haired young man’s face. Following the changes on the screen, the colors continuously fluctuated. Xi Jia’s eyes were very bright. When this pair of eyes smiled, they curved like crescent moons and looked very warm.
Ye Jingzhi quietly watched. Unknowingly, the movie officially started.
Xi Jia sensed his gaze and turned to look at him. He faintly smiled, “Master Ye, why aren’t you watching the movie? Is the popcorn not good? Your bucket seems to be slightly burnt? I’ll change buckets with you.” Saying this, Xi Jia looked down and swapped their popcorn while smiling.
Ye Jingzhi immediately said, “No, it’s quite tasty……”
Xi Jia held his smile, “It’s fine. Anyways, I don’t really like to eat popcorn. Just watching the movie is fine. I remember that I have quite a lot of scenes in this movie. I played the ghost. In it, there’s a total of three……Cough, I won’t spoil it for you. I should probably appear in the middle.”
Ye Jingzhi nodded his head and turned to watch the movie. Out of the corner of his eyes, he still stole glances at Xi Jia. His hand picked up a few popcorn and placed them in his mouth……
How come he felt that this bucket of popcorn was even more delicious?
Wife was so good to him!
——Today’s Master Ye was completely satisfied and off-the-charts happy.
Xi Jia really wanted to properly finish watching a movie with Ye Jingzhi. Since Master Ye had actually never watched one at the movies, he must accompany Master Ye and finish watching. However, Xi Jia had forgotten that the movie he chose was called a domestic ghost film. Furthermore, it was a domestic ghost film that he had already known the plot of.
After watching for five minutes, Xi Jia’s movements of grabbing the popcorn started to slow.
At ten minutes, Xi Jia was fighting with his eyelids. He listlessly watched the movie screen. He didn’t even react much even if there was an ear-piercing scream that suddenly sounded through the speakers.
At twenty minutes, Xi Jia slowly closed his eyes. His head unhurriedly nodded down. When he suddenly slipped forward, Xi Jia was abruptly startled awake. Ye Jingzhi looked at him in concern. Xi Jia waved his hands in a hurry and smiled, “I’m fine. Master Ye, it’s almost 4 o’clock, I’m a bit sleepy……”
After thirty minutes had past, Xi Jia completely fell asleep. A large bucket of popcorn was in his arms, and his body involuntarily leaned towards the side. At this moment, it was the male lead’s first time hearing the three clock chimes. This kind of domestic ghost movie had no appeal for modern people; however, this was Hell King Ye’s first time going to the movies.
Since Ye Jingzhi was small, he had seen plenty of malicious ghosts. Malicious ghosts with horrible appearances of death, malicious ghosts that had killed countless people, and even if it were the hundred thousands of evil ghosts when the Hell Gate of Fengdu opened, Hell King Ye didn’t even crease his brows a bit. However, the appeal of horror movies consisted of using images and sound to stir up your imagination. Perhaps seeing a real crime scene might even be less frightening than seeing a horror movie.
So when he was watching the first horror scene of the entire movie in HD for the first time, Ye Jingzhi held his breath and also didn’t eat the popcorn anymore, concentrating on watching. He heard the first chime of the clock ring, then the second and the third……
When the strange noises sounded in the first tenant’s room, bang!
Ye Jingzhi’s whole body jumped. Xi Jia’s head that had just slid onto his shoulder was knocked into, and he woke up in a daze.
Master Ye was instantly stunned and quickly put down his popcorn. Not watching the movie anymore, he also wasn’t afraid of this domestic ghost movie anymore. He asked carefully, “Does it hurt? Did you get hit? It’s my fault, I didn’t pay attention just now……”
Xi Jia mumbled an “en” before he couldn’t help but fall asleep again.
However, because he was jolted by him, Ye Jingzhi could no longer watch the movie.
His attention was completely focused on the young man beside him.
Wife fell asleep. Wife seems to be very tired.
Ah, wife’s popcorn is about to fall……En, I caught it. Put to the side.
Wife really fell asleep and even with his mouth open……so cute……
Xi Jia slept like the dead. 4 o’clock in the middle of the night, watching this kind of ghost movie was even more effective than taking a sleeping pill. His head slowly nodded. With each nod, Ye Jingzhi nervously took a look, afraid that Xi Jia would fall to the ground.
Slowly, Xi Jia’s body leaned to the side. He unconsciously leaned his head towards the right. With the head suddenly finding a fulcrum, he comfortably rubbed a couple times before deeply sleeping.
Ye Jingzhi who was sitting to the left, “……”
Xi Jia leaned against the back of the seat to the right and slept, but for some reason Ye Jingzhi couldn’t sit still. He also didn’t know why, but he felt uncomfortable overall. At first, he looked up to watch the movie, but very quickly he turned to look at Xi Jia. Just like this, he continuously looked for ten minutes. Really, the more he looked, the more unwell he felt. The more he looked, the more upset he felt.
Finally, Ye Jingzhi couldn’t help but stretch out his hand.
At this moment in the monitoring room of Poyang Movie City.
A young security guard over 20 years old yawned and idly talked to the on-duty colleague beside him. Using his hand to prop up his chin, he watched the centermost surveillance monitor with a foul mood. He said, “It’s the middle of the night and there’s actually people not sleeping and coming out to watch a movie. Just what is the world becoming to.”
His colleague echoed, “Exactly. People nowadays don’t properly sleep and watch movies instead.”
“It’s these two brats in theatre two. If it weren’t for them, I would’ve gone to sleep already. Really annoying.”
His colleague suddenly cried out in alarm, “Eh, you take a look. What’re they doing? Just what is going on?”
The security guard who yawned heard his colleague’s voice and was suddenly startled awake, shouting, “What happened? What happened?” As soon as he clearly looked at the screen and carefully looked at the two people sitting in the auditorium, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he speechlessly said, “It’s actually two comrades, nauseating.”3
“Yeah, no wonder two grown men would come to watch a ghost movie in the middle of the night.”
The two security guards mutually glanced at each other and simultaneously shivered, “It’s so gay.”
In the second theatre in Poyang Movie City, Master Ye couldn’t hold back and reached out. He gently pulled Xi Jia towards his side and put the other’s head on his shoulder.
Suddenly changing sleeping position, Xi Jia who still somewhat hadn’t adapted rubbed a couple times randomly. Master Ye immediately held his breath. He didn’t dare to breath as he looked down at Xi Jia. After waiting with great difficulty for Xi Jia to get adjusted, his stiff body gradually relaxed.
On his shoulder, the warm temperature passed through his light clothes for spring and transmitted to Ye Jingzhi’s heart.
Ye Jingzhi lowered his head and earnestly gazed at the person leaning against him and quietly sleeping. Time became very light, and the air also became very light. He seemed to sense Xi Jia’s warm breaths spilling on his clothes. Everything was calm and beautiful in the movie theatre with only the two of them. No one was capable of disturbing such a fine moment.
After a long time, Ye Jingzhi looked up at the big screen again. He suddenly felt that the film was especially good, especially warm, especially especially like the movie about first love that Fellow Daoist Measurement had once mentioned, one where it could make you feel very good after watching. Perhaps this movie was Crazy Little Thing Called XX that Fellow Daoist Du had said?
Measurement: This poor daoist clearly said Crazy Little Thing Called Love!!!
Pink bubbles started to explosively pop in front of Master Ye’s eyes.
On the movie screen, the male lead ran through a corridor of the tube-shaped apartments, but he couldn’t run out of this corridor no matter what.
The screaming and scary soundtrack flowed out from the speakers together. Ye Jingzhi was unable to restrain his emotions and started to smile. He adjusted the position of his shoulder to let Xi Jia sleep a bit more comfortably. Then, as he looked at the male protagonist’s horrified look, he was deeply moved in his heart: This movie is so good ah.
A horror movie had been forcibly regarded as a pure love movie by Ye Jingzhi.
When Xi Jia’s face appeared on the movie screen, Master Ye widened his eyes into circles and watched intently, unwilling to miss a single frame. However, Xi Jia’s scenes were too few. After waiting for twenty minutes and not seeing Xi Jia again, Ye Jingzhi pursed his lips in disappointment and was very unhappy.
When the movie was coming to an end, the male protagonist was on the verge of being eaten by the last savage evil ghost and began to loudly shriek.
With this scream, it caused Xi Jia to wake up.
Xi Jia suddenly sat up straight and looked around in a daze. Only after a long time of recovering did he remember that he was watching a movie. He turned to look at Ye Jingzhi and said with some guilt, “Master Ye, sorry, I fell asleep. How is it, is the movie good?”
Ye Jingzhi nodded his head with full satisfaction, “Very good, especially good.”
Xi Jia, “……En, it’s good that you like it.” There’s indeed a problem with Master Ye’s taste. Regardless of whether it’s a preference for food or a choice of a movie, they were all……unique.
After watching some of the movie, Xi Jia suddenly realized that he seemed to have slept on Master Ye’s shoulder. He rushed to glance at his phone and suddenly realized that he had slept for more than an hour! Then, wouldn’t that mean that he had rested on Master Ye’s shoulder for more than an hour?
Xi Jia felt guilty, “Master Ye, are your shoulders sore?”
Ye Jingzhi was slightly dumbfounded, “?”
Xi Jia said, “I’ve been resting my head on you this whole time. I’m sorry, I’ll help you massage them.”
Ye Jingzhi, “Ah?”
Without thinking too much, Xi Jia immediately raised his hands and helped Ye Jingzhi knead his shoulders. While he massaged, he smiled and told Ye Jingzhi about an interesting thing that happened while filming this movie. Ye Jingzhi originally wanted to say, “My shoulder is completely fine, I don’t feel it,” but somehow, he actually closed his mouth and didn’t say anything.
Inside the movies’ security room.
The young security guard covered his face, “My eyes, my eyes, this pair of gays really burns my eyes. What’re they doing in the middle of the night at the movies.”
The other security guard also covered his face, “Exactly, they couldn’t be thinking that there wouldn’t be anyone that would see them in the movie theatre, right? It really stings.”4
However, the hands covering the faces of these two security guards simultaneously exposed a crack at their eyes. Watching the surveillance video for another minute, the two of them sighed in disappointment, “It’s really just kneading the shoulders? I thought it was a massage, boring!”5
Of course Xi Jia didn’t know about these things. After the movie finished, he and Ye Jingzhi left the theatre together.
When they reached the movie theatre’s entrance, there were two young men wearing security guard uniforms and standing straight at the entrance. They stared at them inexplicably. Xi Jia was baffled, pulling Ye Jingzhi to leave, “These two people don’t seem quite right. Master Ye, let’s hurry and go.”
Ye Jingzhi, “En.”
When it was time to eat the next day, Xi Jia asked Ye Jingzhi what he thought about last night’s movie.
Ye Jingzhi thought for a moment and said, “Very happy, very warm. It’s a wonderful movie.”
Xi Jia who had suddenly recalled that the male protagonist was eaten by the malicious ghost at the end, “……Happy? Warm? Wonderful?”
Ye Jingzhi nodded hard.
Xi Jia, “……” You’re kidding, Master Ye’s taste definitely has a problem!
The Author has something to say:
Mirror: The movie wife is in is so good, feelings of first love ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ I strongly recommend to you!
C+: ……What do you say, is there a problem with Master Ye’s taste?!!!
Translator’s Notes:
1 筒子楼 Tube-shaped Apartments: Not too sure, but I’m getting results like the building in Kungfu Hustle. Baidu page doesn’t have a picture. They’re sorta like dormitories. There’s no bathroom in each room, but a communal washroom on each floor and communal living/kitchen/bathroom on the 1st floor. ↵
2 荣耀王者 Kings of Glory – A mobile MOBA game like LoL. International version is called Arena of Valor. Bronze is the lowest tier. (The game name was swapped around in the raws.) ↵
3 同志 comrade – slang for homosexual. ↵
4 辣眼睛 My eyes/It burns/It stings – Literal translation would be “spicy eyes.” It means that someone/something is too blinding/eyesore/hard on the eyes. ↵
5 马杀鸡 massage – There’s a Chinese term for massage, but this massage is written and pronounced like an English loanword. The literal translation would be “horse kills chicken.” ↵