MC Bookstore Chapter 155 Premiere: The audience laughed and then cried.
Chapter 155 Premiere: The audience laughed and then cried.
On the big screen, light and shadow intertwine.
When the scene of Supreme Treasure's crotch catching fire and being frantically "put out" the fire with a group of bandits using a sledgehammer appeared, the suffocating silence in the theater was instantly shattered.
"Pfft—cough cough cough!"
The burly, bearded man in the front row, holding a large bucket of popcorn, spat out a mouthful of cola, choking and turning his face red. He coughed as he pointed at the screen, laughing so hard his whole body was shaking.
"Holy crap! What the hell is this? Is this monkey trying to be funny?"
Even the young couple in the corner, who had been whispering and engrossed in their romance, were drawn to the sudden commotion. The boy looked up at the screen, then stared intently at it, muttering to himself:
"This Tang Monk... how come he's even more talkative than my mom? That line, 'Humans are born of human mothers, and demons are born of demon mothers,' is absolutely brilliant!"
Laughter spread like a contagious virus throughout the empty theater.
Although there were only a handful of audience members, less than ten, the density of their laughter gave the illusion that the hall was full.
Su Qingge's tense body finally relaxed slowly. She leaned back in her chair, her palms sweating from the tension. Turning her head, she looked at the man beside her in the dim light.
Lin Zhou remained calm and composed, even taking the time to pull out a mint from his pocket, unwrap it, and pop it into his mouth.
"See? I told you no one can resist absurdity."
He leaned close to Su Qingge's ear, his voice low and resolute.
However, as the plot progresses, that carefree joy begins to slowly recede like the tide.
When Supreme Treasure uses the Moonlight Box again and again to try to save Bai Jingjing, only to find time and again that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot change the ending; when he finally discovers that the person who left a tear in his heart is actually Zixia.
The laughter in the theater decreased.
Instead, a chilling silence descended.
The burly man with a thick beard in the front row stopped grabbing popcorn; he even forgot he was holding a can of cola, his eyes fixed on the big screen, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.
On the big screen, Supreme Treasure kneels in the Water Curtain Cave, holding the cold golden headband in his hand.
Guanyin's voice was both ethereal and cruel:
"Once the golden headband is on, you are no longer an ordinary person, and you can no longer indulge in any worldly desires."
At that moment, sandstorms raged.
Supreme Treasure slowly raised the golden headband, his eyes filled with a desolate look that seemed to see through everything, like an invisible hand that gripped the heart of everyone present.
"There was once a sincere love placed in front of me, but I did not cherish it. When I lost it, I regretted it deeply. There is nothing more painful in the world than this."
This line was edited into sounding like a joke in the trailer.
But when it actually appears in the main film, in such a moment of life and death, it becomes the sharpest knife.
"If you don't wear the golden headband, I can't save you; if you wear the golden headband, I can't love you."
Su Qingge heard a suppressed sob coming from the front row.
It was that burly man with the thick beard.
The man, who looked burly and had tattoos on his arms, was wiping his eyes haphazardly with his sleeve, his shoulders shrugging like a wronged child.
The young couple, the girl had already cried so much her makeup was ruined, and she was curled up in the boy's arms, sobbing uncontrollably: "Why... he clearly loved her so much... why did he let go..."
The story continues, and it's brutally relentless.
The setting sun bleeds like blood atop the city walls.
That was the final farewell.
Supreme Treasure, transformed into Sun Wukong, strode towards the woman who looked exactly like Zixia, using the body of the Sunset Warrior, and kissed her fiercely.
That kiss was given with all its might, as if it were an attempt to make up for all the regrets of this life.
Then he turned around.
Carrying his golden cudgel, to the mournful melody of "A Lifetime of Love," he walked alone, like a monster, towards the end of the endless yellow sand.
On the city wall, Zixia watched the departing figure, her eyes filled with a dazed look.
"That person looks really strange."
The Sunset Warrior glanced at it and gave a faint laugh:
"I saw it too, it looks like a dog."
The moment those words were spoken.
"Wow--"
The burly man with the thick beard finally broke down and let out a heart-wrenching wail. The sound echoed in the empty theater, sounding both jarring and undeniably real.
That sound was like flipping a switch.
The audience, who had been suppressing their emotions, instantly broke down.
No one laughed at the big man's loss of composure, because at that moment, everyone felt as if a water-soaked sponge had been stuffed into their hearts, so heavy that it was hard to breathe.
The lights came on.
The subtitles started scrolling.
Logically, the audience should have gotten up and left at this point.
Strangely, not a single person moved in the huge theater.
Everyone seemed to be nailed to their seats. Some were wiping away tears, some were staring blankly at the black screen, and some were still immersed in the lingering meaning of the phrase "He looks like a dog," unable to come back to their senses for a long time.
Su Qingge put on sunglasses to cover her slightly red eyes.
She turned her head and looked at the audience who lingered, unwilling to leave, and felt an unprecedented shock welling up in her heart.
This is what a movie should be.
This is what Lin Zhou meant when he said it—it makes people laugh and then cry, and cry and then laugh again.
"Let's go."
Lin Zhou took her hand, pulled down the brim of his hat, and spoke with a hint of tenderness that was barely perceptible in his voice.
"Let them sit for a while longer."
The two quietly got up and left through the side door.
Just as they were about to leave the theater, the burly, bearded man with red, swollen eyes from crying suddenly sniffled.
His hands trembled as he pulled his phone from his pocket, his fingers flying across the screen as he muttered through a sob:
"Damn it... Lin Zhou, that liar!"
"Where's the comedy we were promised? Where's the bad movie we were promised?"
"I've never cried so badly in my life! No, I can't be the only one who's blind! I have to lure all these bastards in!"
He snapped a photo of the crumpled movie ticket stub, added a heartfelt caption, and furiously clicked "post" to his WeChat Moments:
"On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I cried my eyes out at the movie theater! 'A Chinese Odyssey' is a masterpiece! Anyone who says it's a bad movie will have to answer to me! You'll regret it for the rest of your life if you don't see it!!"
The moment it was posted on WeChat Moments, it was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.
Although it was just one person, this was only the beginning.
A single spark has already ignited a prairie fire.