My girlfriend is from the future!

At the beginning, He Tianran was full of confidence in dealing with this kind of thing. Although this "writer" had not received systematic film training in an academy like the main character, he still had some professional knowledge about some equipment out of his hobby.

But when he saw the grumpy old man carrying out a film projector, he suddenly lost most of his confidence.

Nowadays, it is not a question of whether a film projector is an antique or not, or whether it is valuable or not. It is just that its structure is two different systems compared to the digital projectors we are familiar with today.

"How about it, young man, can you handle it?"

Grandpa glanced at He Tianran, who was a little dazed, with a joking look.

"This is the Changjiang F16A4 projector, an old domestic projector that uses 16mm film."

……

The man who was struggling with how to start suddenly had this thought in his mind, as if another person was whispering in his mind, so that the next moment, he couldn't help but move his lips and said:

"This is a 16mm film projector...right? What's the problem?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Now it plays the film intermittently, incoherently, and it skips a bit. Sometimes it skips for a few seconds, but in serious cases it skips from one scene to another. There is no regular pattern."

Maybe it was because He Tianran mentioned the specifications of film playback right away, and he didn't sound like an amateur, so grandpa started to explain it seriously.

Skip the film?

He Tianran's thoughts were in a rush at this moment, which reminded him of the chorus he sang with Wen Liang on the balcony a few days ago. The male lead singer who cooperated seamlessly with the band and could sing freely in front of everyone was obviously not the dark and sinister him. That was his other personality.

There is also another self who looks like a teenager. It seems that he has not appeared for some time.

These dreamlike changes made the personality of this "writer" who was born in this phenomenon unpredictable. He experienced this change, but it seemed that something was missing, which made him fall into a state of contemplation.

Fortunately, others thought he was thinking about how to solve the machine problem and did not interrupt the brief silence until Cao Aiqing came forward a moment later and asked softly:

"What's wrong? Is it a serious malfunction?"

He Tianran suddenly came to his senses and shook his head:

"It's not serious. This kind of film skipping is probably a problem with the film, because films of this specification are very delicate. If the temperature is not right, they will easily dry out or get damp. In addition, the air on the island is also relatively humid. Did this problem occur when you came to the island? Otherwise, why don't you take out the film and have a look?"

He Tianran made a guess, and the grandma who was beside Cao Aiqing just now and the grandpa who was still a little dazed looked at each other, and then they silently took out the iron boxes containing the films from the car and placed them on the ground one after another.

The two of them were muttering to each other while moving. It seemed that the grandfather was complaining that the grandmother did not protect the film well, while the grandmother retorted that the man did not check the door of the boat when he went to the island, so the film leaked.

He Tianran looked carefully and found that the films were kept in an iron box with the titles of the films marked on it. There were a total of about ten films, most of which were old films, and the most recent ones were five or six years ago. Most of these movies were about mainstream themes, and of course there were also some commercial films. Cao Aiqing came over curiously, squatted on the ground and asked the old lady questions. The grandfather took out the last box of films from the car with a worried look on his face.

"This is what we played yesterday..."

He Tianran took a look and saw a box of film labeled with "The Warlords". He fiddled with the clip on the iron box, which was obviously loose. Because the lid and the box were connected with a spring, the lid would pop up when the clip was moved for easy access, but now that the clip was loose, the lid could not be closed, leaving a gap the size of a finger. The wind was strong on the sea, and they had come all the way here by boat. If the doors and windows were not closed properly, it would be difficult to avoid problems.

"Looking at all the bags in your car, I think you didn't notice that the lid might have been pressed down after you put them away yesterday. Let's pull the film and see if the problem is serious."

"Well, it's probably useless."

He Tianran's suggestion elicited a sigh from Grandpa. He thought that he should know the problem now, and the result was almost correct.

The work of checking the film is naturally not like transferring a tape when we were children. Whereas we could just pull out the tape directly, because that would damage the film too much and would be difficult to restore afterwards. Grandpa entered the lobby of the guesthouse, pulled out a plug board to connect the projector to the power supply, then put the film into the film wheel and connected one end to the driving wheel. The film in the middle was like a section of track, and it would start to rotate when the switch was pressed.

The old man stood in front of the machine with a frown on his face. He Tianran also walked over and looked down. The traces of moisture on the film were not obvious at first glance, but as the frames of images imprinted on the film flew past his eyes one after another, the fleeting moisture spots that covered the images became clearly visible.

Film is an interesting thing. If handled properly, it can last a long time, but sometimes it is very fragile.

But it is precisely on such permanent yet fragile objects that they often carry some things that are either plain or ups and downs. They can be a single moment, or a whole composed of countless moments, just like a person -

memory.

The film, which had been reeled up for inspection, rushed before He Tianran's eyes. He was overwhelmed by the images and could only roughly distinguish which segments were damaged and which were not, just like his personality at the moment.

"I quite like this movie. It was me who suggested that Grandpa and the others show this movie yesterday. What a pity..."

Cao Aiqing walked over again with her hands behind her back. He Tianran glanced at her profile. The girl stared at the films intently. The regretful look on her face made the man silent.

The movies she likes and the man she loves deeply may not be around for now...

All invisible.

A roll of film was quickly played out, and Grandpa took out another roll of film from the iron box. Cao Aiqing asked:
"Grandpa, how many reels does this kind of film usually have?"

"Not necessarily. Films under 120 minutes will need two rolls of film, while longer ones will need three or four rolls."

The old man replaced the film. The film of a complete movie was divided into upper and lower parts and was originally in a box, but as the newly replaced film began to rotate, the grandfather who had been playing movies for many years soon noticed something was wrong.

He shouted to the old lady who was collecting the other films:
"Ah~! Old woman, you really are, you are pretending wrong, this movie is 'The Volunteer Army', not 'The Warlords'. Look where you put the second volume of 'The Warlords'!"

"Ah...really?"

Upon hearing the sound, the old lady opened the other iron boxes. The old man also walked over in a rage. Even Cao Aiqing squatted on the ground full of iron boxes to help search.

In the sun-drenched backyard, He Tianran was the only one standing quietly in front of the film camera, listening to the subtle rustling sound of the film moving beside his ears, and staring at the passing images.

He seemed to have figured something out... A word of advice awakened him from his dream. Now his body was like this projector. His personality or memory was as incomplete as those damp films, and sometimes it would skip. He could clearly sense that the content being shown on this projector named "He Tianran" should not be his film.

If the movie is wrong, you can change it...

But what if life is misplaced?
"found it!"

The man had a worried brow, his heart was drifting, a clear voice like the sound from the sky brought him back to his senses, he looked slowly and saw Cao Aiqing squatting on the ground, holding high the original reel of the movie in her right hand, her palm was waving slightly, the sunlight was slanting, even the smile she gave him became sparkling.

……

……

Because most of the trunk and back seat of the vehicle were occupied by equipment, the young men and women sitting in the back seat were pressed close together. Fortunately, the journey was not long and the road to Houshan Village was relatively smooth, so the larger He Tianran did not feel cramped sitting there. It was just that his body occasionally touched Cao Aiqing, which made him feel a little unnatural.

The girl, on the other hand, seemed not to care at all and was chatting and laughing with her parents-in-law in the front seat.

"Grandpa, you have so many devices. How many years have you been showing movies like this?"

Recalling the past, the grandpa who was driving started talking:
"Yes, it's been almost 30 years. The road to Houshan Village was not good before, so we rode bicycles to the movies."

"Is that old lady sitting behind you?"

"Can he give me a ride? The only seat in his back seat is the projector, which is precious. But he can't give me a ride without me, after all, I have a generator in the back seat."

"Hahaha……"

There was a burst of laughter in the carriage. After turning the corner of the mountain, a crescent-shaped bay suddenly appeared.

He Tianran looked out of the car window and saw the reefs on the seashore standing among the blue waves, with the waves splashing up foam like broken jade.

On the mudflats after the tide receded, the holes of razor clams were densely covered like a star pattern. The old fisherman was hunched over, and his wooden rake drew long arcs in the mud. The fishing boats moored by the pier rose and fell with the tide, and the fishing nets drying on the masts were dripping with salt crystals, sparkling like tears in the sun.

In the distance, at the junction of the sea and the sky, modern fishing villages built of concrete appear in front of us. In the distance, the white blades of the windmill array slowly rotate, dancing with the shadows of the clouds, adding a bit of modern poetry to this small island fishing village suspended overseas.
He Tianran retracted his gaze and asked, "The facilities and environment here are good, not worse than Shanqian Village, why are they being demolished?"

“Because we have to overhaul and renovate the island in the next few years, the power equipment on the island is naturally not enough. The location of Houshan Village is very suitable for wind and photovoltaic power generation, and the scenery here is also good. After the submarine cable is connected, there will also be some new construction plans, but that should be a few years later.

Oh, grandma, where are we going now?

After Cao Aiqing explained to her boyfriend, she asked casually.

The old lady in front of me turned her head and said, "Sister, our movie will be over tonight and it will probably be late. We will return to Shanqian Village tomorrow morning. Why don't you stay overnight? We will leave together tomorrow."

"Okay~"

He Tianran was just about to say that Cao's father and mother were still in Shanqian Village, and it might not be a good idea to keep them there overnight, but Cao Aiqing beside him agreed without a second thought, so he had to swallow his words.

Ten minutes later, the movie car entered the village and stopped at the door of a fishing house called "Yu Fu". It was called a fishing house, but it was actually an ordinary house. The receptionist was a little girl. When she heard there was a car at the door, she ran out to greet it. She was still wearing a high school uniform. She should be a native of the island and came back to the island to help during the weekend.

"Grandpa and grandma, my dad was just saying that you guys would definitely come over today, so he reserved a room for us. What are you going to put up tonight?"

"You guess~"

"No guess, I won't watch it anyway~"

"Hahahaha, what a clever trick."

The four of them got out of the car. The grandpa and grandma must have known the owner of this fishing house for a long time. The old man teased the little girl for a few words, then pointed at He Tianran and said:

"This handsome couple are tourists from Shanqian Village. Go ask your father if he has any rooms available."

"Okay, both of you please!"

The four of them entered the fishing house. It seemed that all similar places for entertaining tourists in Houshan Village were of this type. There was a yard in front of the door. After entering, there were the living room and kitchen. They had dinner here in the evening. The guests would eat what the host cooked today. If they wanted to eat something else, they could pay to order it, but they were all home-cooked dishes.

The house was less than 200 square meters, with five bedrooms and a living room. The girl explained the purpose of He Tianran and Cao Aiqing's visit to her father who was processing sea cucumbers in the kitchen. The middle-aged man took off the blue sleeves on his arms, wiped his hands and walked out. When he saw the two of them, he said enthusiastically:

"You came just in time. We have a king-size bedroom. I'll show you there."

Upon hearing this, the young couple was stunned.

The middle-aged man took a few steps and saw that there was no movement behind him. He turned around and said,
"Come on, our house has its own bathroom, the best in the village, other places don't have such facilities."

"..."

Looking at Cao Aiqing's red ears, He Tianran coughed lightly and said:
"...Well, Boss, don't you have an extra room? A standard room will do."

The middle-aged man looked at the two of them, and seeing them so close, he couldn't help but say:

"No, this is the only room we have today. Aren't you... a couple?"

"Yes...we are a couple, but..."

"Uncle, please show us the room."

Just as He Tianran was thinking of an excuse to explain, Cao Aiqing walked up to him and made a decision for the two of them. (End of this chapter)