Chapter 152: The Three People Who Understand Fear of the Dark the Best

"Are you really just ordinary classmates? I just guessed the two of you were a couple, otherwise why would everyone else be sitting in a group while the two of you sat alone in the corner?"

Lu Yuanqiu laughed out loud and explained to her, "She's my desk-mate. Her personality is a bit introverted."

Chu Lan tilted her head again. "Mm-hmm, I figured as much. So your name is Lu Yuanqiu, what's her name?"

"My name is Bai Qingxia."

The girl beside him kept her head down, a light and quick voice coming from her lips, as if she wanted to make a small protest against the "introverted" evaluation just given.

Lu Yuanqiu glanced at her with mild surprise.

"Bai Qingxia... Goodness, why are both of your names so poetic?"

*I don't know, but when I first heard your name, I thought you were about to pull out some legendary martial arts techniques...* Lu Yuanqiu thought to himself with amusement.

"Come, come, come over and help carry these!"

Popcorn and cola had been purchased over there, with Wang Ping and Zheng Yifeng each paying half of the bill.

At first, Wang Ping had wanted to cover the whole thing, but after glancing at the price, he directly compromised and split it fifty-fifty with Zheng Yifeng.

Who in their right mind would buy cinema popcorn and cola when they go to see a movie? Everything here is obscenely expensive. Anyway, he had never bought any before, but for a slightly more formal occasion like this, he still had to buy them.

Brother Xu walked up somewhat awkwardly to take the cola and popcorn. He hadn't contributed any money, and the more he thought about it, the more inappropriate it felt, but it was too late now.

Wang Ping had counted everyone's heads: one large bucket of popcorn for every two people, and a cup of cola for each individual. However, there were a total of eleven people on site and six portions of popcorn, which meant one person would inevitably end up eating a portion of popcorn alone—implying that this person would be left out.

Chu Lan stepped forward and took a bucket of popcorn, then looked back at the crowd, seemingly considering who she would share it with later. She was a bit thick-skinned and hadn't counted how many people there were.

"Come, come, everyone don't just stand there, let's pick our seats first."

Wang Ping directed the group.

The eleven people came to the counter, looking at the seating chart on the screen. Liu Wei and Su Miaomiao linked arms like the good girlfriends they were, smiling as they first chose two adjacent seats.

Zheng Yifeng's gaze quickly locked onto the seat next to Su Miaomiao, and with quick hands and sharp eyes, he tapped on it. Zhong Jingcheng also wanted to tap that spot, but he was a step too slow.

The glasses-wearing boy's finger instantly froze in mid-air. Gritting his teeth, he turned his head and smiled at Zheng Yifeng beside him. "Pretty fast on the draw, huh."

Wang Ping also quietly glanced over. He had intended to sit next to Su Miaomiao, but as a male teacher, he naturally had to show courtesy and let everyone else choose first.

Zhong Jingcheng didn't rush to choose this time; he was waiting for Chu Lan to pick first. But Chu Lan knew she had come alone after all, so she held her popcorn and stood at the outer edge of the group, preparing to make her choice last.

After Gao Xiang chose the seat next to Zheng Yifeng, silence fell over the scene once more.

"No way, what are you all being so polite for? Just pick whatever."

Lu Yuanqiu squeezed into the crowd at this moment. Bai Qingxia grabbed the back of his clothes and hurriedly followed him in, then circled around to stand by Lu Yuanqiu's side.

She gently rested her ten fingertips on the edge of the counter, turned her head to secretly glance at the group behind her once more, and then pulled her gaze back. Standing slightly on tiptoe, she turned her head with intense focus to watch Lu Yuanqiu select their seats.

Lu Yuanqiu directly chose the two seats right in the exact middle of the back row.

"Chosen. Your turn."

He smoothly squeezed out of the crowd. Bai Qingxia stretched her neck to look at the screen, not quite understanding the seating chart. Fearing she might get in others' ways, she also quickly squeezed out, chasing after Lu Yuanqiu like a little follower the entire time.

"Gosh, what are you two planning to do sitting in the very back row?"

Zhong Jingcheng turned back to ask.

"I'm afraid of the dark, so I want to be closer to the projection lamp."

Lu Yuanqiu explained with a blank expression. Bai Qingxia sat quietly and obediently beside him, saying nothing like a mute little bride.

"Ghost would believe that," Zhong Jingcheng muttered.

Seeing Lu Yuanqiu make such a choice, Brother Xu's face turned somewhat awkward as he smiled at his blind-date match. "How about... we take the second-to-last row?"

The gentle-looking blind-date match replied, "Whatever is fine."

Brother Xu was here on a blind date; everyone present, except for Chu Lan, was aware of this fact.

Now only Wang Ping, Zhong Jingcheng, and Chu Lan were left.

Chu Lan glanced at the seat next to Lu Yuanqiu. She truly wanted to sit there, because for now, he was the only one she was relatively familiar with.

However, this younger sister was very introverted; if three of them sat together, she would probably feel uncomfortable. Besides, Chu Lan figured Lu Yuanqiu had made this choice precisely because of the younger sister's introverted nature. After thinking it over, Chu Lan chose a single seat in the third row from the back.

Zhong Jingcheng finally found his opportunity and hurriedly reached out to select the seat next to hers, but the moment his finger extended, it was firmly grabbed by Wang Ping.

Zhong Jingcheng looked up to see a muscular man over one hundred eighty centimeters tall looking down at him with a stern expression. "What are you waiting for? Zhong Jingcheng, sit with me. I can't finish all that by myself."

"Teacher, no!"

"What do you mean, no? I'm not going to do anything to you!"

Zhong Jingcheng was on the verge of tears. In the end, as if being forced to sign a contract, his finger was pressed onto the screen, placing him right next to Wang Ping.

Seeing that no one else was left, the staff member spoke up, "You may go in now."

Lu Yuanqiu looked around the desolate cinema, noticing that besides the eleven of them, there didn't seem to be anyone else in sight.

He couldn't help but complain, "No wonder they had to team up with the school for an event. This cinema's business is truly dead quiet."

The staff member behind the counter smiled awkwardly and explained, "It's only nine in the morning..."

*An excuse.*

Lu Yuanqiu replied internally.

He had also looked at the seating chart just now. Eleven people booking the whole house—this theater was probably on the verge of going under, which was why they wanted to team up with No. 7 High School for an event.

Yet they still failed to attract many student customers.

Entering the pitch-black screening hall, Bai Qingxia almost tripped over the steps. She hurriedly grabbed the back of Lu Yuanqiu's clothes, and at that moment, Lu Yuanqiu also silently turned back and took Bai Qingxia's hand.

Actually, he had never really liked going to the cinema to watch movies; the pitch-black environment inside made him instinctively uncomfortable. If it weren't for the prize being movie tickets this time, and considering that Bai Qingxia had never been to a movie house, he wouldn't have come over.

And what the heck kind of terrible movie was this?!

When he first heard the title *My Sassy Girl 2*, he thought it was a sequel to Jun Ji-hyun's movie, but after searching online, it turned out to be a domestic film...

Sigh, the whole purpose of coming this time was purely to bring Bai Qingxia to experience something new.

Because of this, he had put in so much effort. If this girl had any conscience, she should properly compensate him later, Lu Yuanqiu thought to himself.

What surprised him a little, however, was that the moment their hands intertwined, Bai Qingxia didn't pull away. Instead, she proactively squeezed his hand a bit tighter, stood on tiptoe, and whispered a reminder to him: "That cloth screen is going to light up in a second, right? Just keep your eyes on the cloth later."

*So she knew why I was holding her hand...*

*Well, the two best people in the world are both afraid of the dark, so aside from me and Uncle Bai, she probably understands what being afraid of the dark feels like better than anyone else.*