"How about we go see this movie?"
Leaving the grilled fish restaurant, Wu Jun asked Chen Lin.
'He'd never even been to a movie theater before. The money was already spent, so it'd be a waste not to go.'
"Yeah, otherwise we'd have wasted the money." Chen Lin smiled, readily agreeing.
That little boy from earlier was her nephew.
When she'd gone home earlier to change and put on makeup, her sister-in-law had cornered her, asking where she was going and if it was a date.
Chen Lin was already twenty-six this year, an age when she should have been thinking about marriage. She wasn't bad-looking, yet she still didn't have a significant other.
Her sister-in-law was getting anxious on her behalf, eager to marry her off so there would be more room in the house.
Having lived together for a few years, Chen Lin was well aware of what her sister-in-law was thinking. She decided to just go with the flow and admit she was having dinner with a guy she felt pretty good about.
Her sister-in-law was thrilled and asked how things were progressing. When she learned they had already eaten together twice without even seeing a movie, she declared that such slow progress simply wouldn't do.
While her sister-in-law grumbled that the guy was too shy, she also offered to help move things along. And that led to the scene with the little boy selling movie tickets.
Wu Jun was 1.82 meters tall. While he didn't have a six-pack, he still had a great build.
He had large eyes with double eyelids, a high-bridged nose, and thin lips. His features were well-defined. Though not the pretty-boy "fresh meat" type at first glance, he had an enduring kind of handsomeness.
Since he spent his years running the supermarket, away from the wind and sun, his skin was also very good, fair and clear.
As for personality, Chen Lin felt they were a good match.
Based on their recent interactions, Chen Lin had a good impression of Wu Jun and didn't mind their relationship progressing further.
Faced with her sister-in-law's enthusiastic meddling, refusing was pointless, so she'd had no choice but to agree.
Wu Jun glanced at his watch. The movie was starting in less than ten minutes. "It's about to start," he suggested to Chen Lin. "Should we head on up?"
"Okay." Chen Lin nodded again. This was her first time seeing a movie alone with a guy.
The two of them went up to the fifth floor, had their tickets checked, and entered the cinema. After finding their seats, the movie quickly began, and the theater was plunged into darkness.
Every few minutes, Wu Jun would turn his head and scan his surroundings. That feeling of being watched had returned.
Wu Jun's behavior made Chen Lin nervous. He kept fidgeting and looking around, like someone about to do something wrong and making sure no one was watching.
'She'd thought he would take the opportunity to say something to her, or… maybe even boldly take her hand.'
However, more than an hour went by, and as the movie neared its end, Wu Jun was still just fidgeting in his seat, with no next move in sight…
Chen Lin wasn't nervous anymore. She had already mentally prepared herself. Seeing how timid Wu Jun was acting, she was tempted to take the initiative and grab his hand herself.
But in the end, her girlish reserve won out, and she dismissed the idea.
When the movie ended and the audience began to file out, nothing had happened. Chen Lin felt a pang of disappointment.
Wu Jun and Chen Lin went downstairs together, walking shoulder to shoulder out of the mall.
"Wu Jun, you must be tired after a long day. You should head home and get some rest," Chen Lin said, bidding him farewell when she saw he seemed out of sorts.
'Maybe I'm just being paranoid,' Wu Jun thought.
'I'm not a celebrity or some tycoon, and I'm not cheating on a wife. Who would be bored enough to follow me around?'
"Maybe I am a little tired. You should get home and rest, too." Wu Jun hailed a cab for Chen Lin, saw her into the car, and watched as she left.
Just as he sent Chen Lin off, the feeling of being tailed returned.
Moreover, this time the feeling was unusually strong—as if the person was right beside him!
"Hey! Stop staring, she's long gone!" Someone tapped Wu Jun on the shoulder a few times, and a woman's voice sounded by his ear.
Wu Jun jumped. He whipped his head around to see a woman about his height wearing a gray baseball cap and a matching sweatsuit. She was tall and slender, with a killer figure.
"Ma Simai! Don't you know you can scare people to death that way?!" Wu Jun clutched his chest and said irritably after getting a clear look at her face.
"Please call me Ma Siyu. No, wait, call me Auntie. You little brat, you looking for a beating, huh?" As she spoke, the woman stepped forward, hooked her elbow around the back of Wu Jun's neck, locked his head under her arm, and gave him a vigorous noogie.
"A gentleman uses his words, not his fists! Let go, let go!" Wu Jun squirmed and broke free from her headlock.
There was nothing Wu Jun could do about this woman who always got physical the moment they met. He'd protested countless times, to no avail.
The woman's name was Ma Siyu, formerly Ma Simai.
She was a radio host who dreamed of being an actress and was a total drama queen in her daily life.
She hosted an 8 o'clock comedy talk show on Shimen City's traffic radio station. She was always giggling and goofing around on air; in Wu Jun's words, the show was made for idiots.
Ma Siyu was the other single adult in the family who, like Wu Jun, was expected to take some of the heat. All their cousins of similar age were already married with kids, leaving just the two of them single.
Ma Simai was the biological younger sister of Wu Jun's mother, Ma Dongmei. However, she was born on the exact same day as Wu Jun.
Back then, his mom and his maternal grandmother going into the delivery room together had caused quite a stir and became the butt of many jokes in the village.
Back then, his grandmother couldn't produce any milk. The family was poor, and to make matters worse, his grandfather had died from a sudden stroke during her pregnancy. She was also left to care for a ten-year-old son—Wu Jun's youngest uncle, Ma Chaoyun.
So, when Ma Simai was born, there were no celebrations. A pall of gloom hung over the Ma Family.