Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

Ai Qing was already desensitized to this kind of decoration, so she didn't think much of it. She just looked at the screen in the hall and thought about what movie to watch.

"Is there anything Xiaoyu wants to watch?" Ai Qing pulled her to the trailer video next to them and asked, pointing to the movie on it, "Take a look and see if there's anything that interests you."

"Hmm..." Xiaoyu only watches short videos on Bilibili and has never watched a complete story movie with a beginning, development, climax, and resolution that lasts for one or two hours.

It's actually quite difficult for her to choose from more than a dozen movies in such a short time.

"Little Fish thinks they're all very beautiful. What would you like to see, Brother?" Little Fish had a bit of a problem with making choices, so she passed the question on to Ai Qing.

"How about watching this?" Ai Qing pointed to The Wandering Earth 2 on the screen and turned to ask Xiao Yu for her opinion. "I haven't seen any of the others, but I've seen this one before, and it's pretty good."

"Brother, do you want to watch it again after you've already seen it?" Little Fish asked, puzzled.

"If it's this movie, then I think it's worth watching it again."

After saying those words, Ai Qing regretted it a little.

If Xiaoyu were to watch a sci-fi movie like The Wandering Earth, she would likely be completely confused.

The amount of information is too much, which may not be very friendly to viewers like Xiaoyu.

However, Xiaoyu had already nodded and said impatiently, "Then I want to see it! How about this one?"

"Um... how about..."

"It's okay, brother. You said it looks good, we can come back for other things later."

“That makes sense.” Ai Qing thought about it and agreed. While buying a ticket at the self-service ticket machine next to her, she said, “Then I’ll buy a ticket a little further back. If you have any questions when you see it, just ask me directly, and I can answer you without disturbing others.”

"Mmm-hmm." Little Fish nodded vigorously, then pointed to the seating information displayed above and asked, "Is this the seat?"

"Yes, select the seat above, and you can buy the corresponding ticket."

"Then let's choose this one, the last row is fine, right?" Xiaoyu tapped the couple seats on the screen and turned to look at Aiqing.

Ai Qing looked at the Xiaoyu option and fell silent for a moment: "Hmm... this seat is a bit special and might not be suitable for us."

Chapter 113 Mother and Daughter Reunion

It was a little after six in the evening.

The barbecue restaurant next to the Japanese restaurant.

What are you looking at?

Yao Qiang's friend Jiang Shuixian was grilling meat with tongs in her hand. She picked up a piece and handed it to Yao Qiang's bowl. Yao Qiang looked out the window at the mall corridor with a thoughtful expression.

"It's nothing." Yao Qiang shook her head, looking somewhat dazed.

She wasn't sure if she had misread it.

A couple just passed by outside the glass window. Yao Qiang felt they looked familiar, but when she turned her head, she only caught a glimpse of their backs.

The boy then went into the Japanese restaurant next door.

The girl followed her into the store. Yao Qiang took a second look at her; she was quite pretty, but Yao Qiang didn't really like her dyed hair.

Maybe I was seeing things... The boy's back view just now looked quite like my son.

But he had just treated me to lunch at a Japanese restaurant and then went home.

There's no way he would bring another girl to the same restaurant for dinner in the evening.

Moreover, although the girl had dyed her hair, her face was very beautiful. Yao Qiang was amazed when she only saw her profile.

Not to mention her curvaceous figure accentuated by the halter top and tight jeans.

Even a woman like Yao Qiang would be willing to take a second look at such a pleasing girl.

"Then eat quickly, we still have to go see a movie later, don't be late," Jiang Shuixian said with a smile.

"Hmm." Yao Qiang nodded and asked, "What movie did you watch?"

"The Wandering Earth 2, my son recommended it." Jiang Shuixian shook her head helplessly. "He always brags to me about how invincible it is, how it's the best domestic science fiction, and that if you don't watch it, you're not Chinese."

Yao Qiang smiled and said, "Then you'd better take a good look."

After eating for about an hour, the two chatted for a while before getting up and heading to the movie theater.

……

In the movie theater lobby, Ai Qing looked at the couple's seat ticket in her hand and sighed softly.

Despite Xiaoyu's persistent request, he ultimately couldn't refuse.

It doesn't matter anymore.

Anyway, buying tickets for couple seats doesn't automatically make you a couple.

Some close friends might buy a couple's seat to sit in.

It's perfectly normal for the brother and sister to sit in the couple's seats.

It's just that the seat doesn't have armrests in the middle, so what's the difference between it and a sofa at home?

With that thought, Ai Qing's mind instantly became clear.

"Let's go buy some popcorn."

"Popcorn?"

"It's a snack that's perfect for eating while watching a movie." Ai Qing led Xiao Yu to the front desk and ordered a set meal for two.

Two cups of Coke and a small bucket of popcorn cost a total of 45 yuan.

Ai Qing had a can of cola in one hand and popcorn in the other.

Xiaoyu held a can of cola in one hand and took the movie ticket from Aiqing's hand.

"Look, that's the ticket gate over there." Ai Qingchao gestured diagonally forward. "Generally speaking, we can go over to check our tickets about 10 minutes before the movie starts. We just need to show our tickets to the staff at the entrance over there for inspection, and then we can go in."

"Oh, I see." Xiaoyu suddenly realized, looked down at the start time shown on the movie ticket, and then looked at the current time. "Brother, does that mean we can go in now? There are only 10 minutes left!"

As soon as Xiaoyu finished speaking, the staff member called out to the guests waiting in the lobby: "At 7:45, the audience for The Wandering Earth 2 in Hall 6 can enter!"

"See, this is a reminder." Ai Qing smiled and gestured for Xiao Yu to come forward and show her movie ticket.

After the staff took the tickets, they tore up the ticket stubs, returned the tickets, and then signaled that the two could enter.

Xiaoyu took the movie ticket and followed Ai Qing into the inner passage. While looking for Theater 6, she whispered, "Why did she tear the ticket in half?"

"It's to prevent people from reusing movie tickets," Ai Qing explained. "If you bring in a movie ticket, and then when there are a lot of people and the ticket collector isn't looking, you slip the ticket to someone outside, wouldn't that mean one ticket can get in for two people?"

"But doesn't each movie ticket correspond to a seat?" Xiaoyu asked, a little confused.

“But most of the time, movie theaters are not full, just like our showing today,” Ai Qing said. “This movie has been showing for several months, so there aren’t many people watching it now.”

"Didn't you notice when we were choosing seats? Only a small group of seats in the middle were red, and the rest of the white empty seats were unoccupied."

"So that's how it is." Little Fish learned something new, then pointed ahead, "Brother, look, isn't that Hall Six?"

“Yes, just go in.” Ai Qing led her toward the entrance of Hall Six, and pointed to the end of the passage on the left, “The restrooms are over there. You can go there if you need to use the restroom.”

After saying that, the two entered the entrance passage.

The lights in the movie theater had already dimmed, and the big screen was playing trailers for movies that had already been released or were about to be released.

Xiaoyu followed Aiqing through the passage into the spacious movie theater and was instantly stunned by the enormous screen in front of her.

"I bought a ticket for the giant screen theater, so this screen will appear exceptionally large. There are also regular-sized screens, but they're only about half the size of this one," Ai Qing said with a smile, seeing Xiao Yu's surprised expression.

As Xiaoyu listened to Ai Qing's introduction, her mouth slightly agape, her eyes fixed intently on the screen.

The clear sound of the speakers seemed to surround you, making you feel like you were there. Watching the promotional videos that were either cool, suspenseful, or funny, you were instantly drawn in.

"Come on, it's not too late to look at it once we're seated." Ai Qing took two steps forward, then turned around and found that Xiao Yu was rooted to the spot, unable to move an inch.

"Oh, oh oh..." Little Fish reluctantly looked away and walked towards Ai Qing's direction, but she didn't notice that there were steps and tripped.

Fortunately, she had good balance and stopped herself in time, without spilling the cola in her hand.

"Be careful, are you alright?" Ai Qing asked with concern.

Xiaoyu shook her head repeatedly and followed Ai Qing's steps: "It's okay, it's okay, the screen was a bit too bright, I couldn't see the steps clearly for a moment."

The two entered the movie theater, turned the corner, and continued up the steps to the last row.

Xiaoyu glanced at the movie ticket in her hand, followed the number on it, went to the couple's seats in the middle, looked around, and asked, "Is this the place?"

"Okay." Ai Qing glanced at the seat number, nodded after confirming, "Sit down, this is the seat. You can put the Coke on the armrest next to you."

"Oh, that's so convenient, now it won't tip over." Xiaoyu put the cola down, plopped down in her seat, touched the soft and bouncy cushion, and exclaimed in surprise, "The movie theater is so great!"

"I'm glad you like it." Ai Qing sat down, put the cola down, held the popcorn in her hands, popped one into her mouth, and then picked up another and handed it to Xiao Yu.

The little fish didn't even use its hands to catch it; it just gulped down the popcorn in one go.

Luckily, Ai Qing reacted quickly, otherwise even her fingers would have been sucked by the little fish.

"Take it yourself, take it yourself. You almost licked my hand just now." Ai Qing placed the popcorn between the two of them, which separated them and made it easy for them to take it.

But Xiaoyu glanced at the popcorn in the way and immediately became dissatisfied.

"No, it was just an accident," Little Fish muttered. "And what's wrong with licking Brother's hand? Does Brother dislike Little Fish?"

"I didn't mean that..." Ai Qing couldn't stand her feigned pitifulness any longer. "Alright, alright, let's not talk about this."

"Then I'll feed my brother." Xiaoyu said casually as she picked up the middle popcorn bucket again, placed it on Ai Qing's lap, and then moved closer to him.

Only after squeezing out all the gaps in the middle was Xiaoyu satisfied. She reached out, picked up a popcorn, and held it to Aiqing's lips.

Ai Qing tried to reach out and take it, but Xiao Yu quickly stopped her: "No, no, brother, open your mouth, you can't use your hands."

Looking at the popcorn in front of her and the little fish clinging to her shoulder and arm, Ai Qing took a deep breath and reluctantly opened her mouth to eat it.

"Alright, sit up straight."

"Know it."

The little fish didn't push its luck; it sat up straight and continued to enjoy the promotional video on the big screen.

However, just a few minutes before the movie was about to start, Xiaoyu felt a bit of an urge to urinate and couldn't help but say to Aiqing, "Brother, I need to go to the toilet."

"Then I'll take you there?" Ai Qing glanced at the time; they should be able to make it in time for the movie to start.

"No need, no need, I can go by myself. I remember where the restroom is." Xiaoyu stood up and waved to Aiqing.