Chapter 13

Shengshi Garden is only four stops away from the nearest cinema.

On Saturday morning, Li Qian still woke up early, then exercised, showered, changed clothes, and ate breakfast. By the time he had packed his bag and was ready to go out, it was 7:55.

Wang Jinglu also had a small bag on her shoulder, waiting at the entrance of the residential area.

She wore a sleeveless apricot-yellow short top and a knee-length pomegranate-colored linen skirt. If any other girl dressed like this, Li Qian would have mocked her to death, but to be honest, Wang Jinglu's slender and tall figure made her look anything but vulgar, and there was even a hint of a literary flair.

Perhaps noticing Li Qian's extra attention to her outfit, Wang Jinglu felt a bit nervous. When he walked over, she asked, "Do I look bad in this?"

Li Qian glanced at her, "Who bought you this skirt? This isn't your style, right?"

"My sister," she answered honestly.

"Figures!" Li Qian smirked.

Wang Jingsnow is a legendary figure. From childhood to now, Li Qian's impression of her can be summed up in four words: cool, beautiful, cold, and ruthless. These four words still hold true for him.

It's easy to imagine that her sense of aesthetics is quite different from the average person.

"Only you two would dare to dress like this!" Li Qian said.

"Really that bad?" she asked timidly.

Li Qian said, "A bit bad, but it will save me a lot of trouble!"

Wang Jinglu pouted slightly.

Last night, she spent two hours picking out this outfit from her small wardrobe. This was the first time she had worn this skirt, and she thought it looked good in the mirror, but it turned out he didn't like it.

Li Qian walked a few steps and noticed she wasn't following. He turned back and couldn't help but smile.

"Are you okay? Didn't you hear me complimenting you?" he said.

"Huh?" Wang Jinglu looked up, a bit confused, "You were complimenting me?"

Li Qian sighed, "How come you seem to be losing IQ lately! Okay... what I meant was, if an ordinary girl dressed like this, it would look bad, but on you, it looks very pretty... Got it now?"

Wang Jinglu smiled, a bit shy and a bit delighted.

"Let's go then!" she said.

...

Since the distance wasn't far, the two decided to walk.

After leaving the residential area, Li Qian took out his headphones from his small bag, put them on, thought for a moment, and then took off the left one, asking, "Do you want to listen?"

Wang Jinglu reached out to take it, and as soon as she put it in her ear, she was startled.

It was a heavy metal song.

"Are you listening to rock?" she asked.

"The Flying Band," he smiled, "Just this part is heavy metal. Their songs aren't very metal."

Wang Jinglu hesitated for a moment and then put it back in her ear.

By the time one song was over, they had just reached a red light. Li Qian took out his Walkman from his bag, removed the tape, and then took out another one from his bag, handing it to Wang Jinglu, "Do you like this?"

"Ah, Zhou Mo, this is good, I like Zhou Mo's songs. I like this album 'Dreamer' the most, and my sister loves it too!" As she spoke, she handed the tape back to Li Qian, "Let's listen to this!"

So they listened to Zhou Mo's 'Dreamer'.

This Walkman was left by the original Li Qian, along with dozens of tapes.

The Walkman was a domestic brand called "Nansheng," with average sound quality. The tapes were a mix of new and old, with about half being genuine and the other half pirated. Among the roughly twenty genuine tapes, most were pop, folk, and light music, but there were also two rock tapes, one Russian album, and one English album—both foreign albums had beautiful women on their covers.

In the days since his rebirth, Li Qian would listen to music for about three hours a day, during his commute to and from school and before bed. In just a few days, he had roughly gone through those dozens of tapes.

It must be said that although the time, history, and people had changed, the trend and direction of social development, music, and art had not.

The songs Li Qian was familiar with from his previous life had not appeared in this timeline, but good music, good musicians, and good singers still existed. Some singers and songs were even worth listening to repeatedly.

For example, the Flying Band.

This was Li Qian's greatest discovery since his rebirth, even one that could be considered a pleasant surprise.

In this timeline, rock music began to flourish in the UK in the early 1970s and soon spread worldwide. By the late 1970s, after nearly a decade of reform and opening up, communication and interaction with the outside world had increased, and rock music smoothly entered the country. By the end of the 1970s, underground rock had developed vigorously, with over a dozen influential and famous bands spread across various regions.

The Flying Band was one of the most powerful.

In 1981, the Flying Band recorded and released their first studio album, "Wang Ermaizi is a Dog," which quickly became a nationwide sensation. For the next decade, they remained the most popular rock band in the country, even earning the title of "King of Chinese Rock."

Unfortunately, the original Li Qian didn't seem to be very interested in rock music, so the Flying Band's tape was only one—their seventh studio album released in 1994, titled "Dream into the Divine Machine."

Later, Li Qian bought two more of their albums from the past few years at a music store, one called "Riding a Pig to the West" and the other "The Son Must Not Speak."

Their albums were really good, truly excellent, with a touch of jazz and punk, but mostly a flavor of pop rock. They were angry but not violent, rebellious but not brutal, and even had two songs that were simply poetic odes to freedom... They had a perfect balance and a powerful impact.

Especially the band's bass, which was both supportive and leading, was so skillful it seemed almost divine!

From Li Qian's perspective, the quality of this album would have been enough to rank it among the top five albums in the most prosperous period of domestic rock music in the 1990s, even rivaling the albums of Cui Daxian and Dou Daxian.

So, almost from the first song, Li Qian fell in love with it.

Of course, there was also Zhou Mo.

Regarding the character "Mo," Li Qian had specifically looked it up in a dictionary: According to legend, 5000 years ago, the Yellow Emperor, to stop tribes from fighting over beautiful women, chose a woman of excellent virtue but ugly appearance to be his fourth wife, setting an example for the world. He said, "Beauty without virtue is not true beauty; a woman with virtue is truly beautiful, regardless of her appearance."—This woman was called Mo Mu.

So, "Mo" means "ugly woman."

Although on the covers of the three tapes in Li Qian's possession, Zhou Mo was always heavily made up with a rebellious look, she was, in fact, extremely beautiful.

Of course, the key was that her voice was really beautiful, especially her unique fine and beautiful vocal line, which immediately reminded Li Qian of the diva from the other timeline.

In fact, Zhou Mo in this timeline was also a diva-level singer.

The three tapes in his possession contained a total of thirty-one songs, most of which were of high quality and very listenable.

And Li Qian's favorite was her album "Dreamer."

Coincidentally, it seemed to be a favorite of many others as well.

...

The two walked while listening to music and arrived at Daming Lake Cinema East Branch. They then started discussing which movie to watch.

Li Qian, who had come specifically to watch movies, naturally didn't plan to watch just one.

Unlike others who came to entertain themselves on the weekend, he wanted to take the opportunity to understand the current domestic film market. So, without much discussion with Wang Jinglu, Li Qian chose three movies. The timing was perfect, allowing them to switch from one theater to another and watch until 1:30 PM!

It was just that six movie tickets... were a bit expensive!

"Hey, why did you buy three sessions? How are we going to eat lunch?" Wang Jinglu asked, puzzled, after receiving the tickets.

"We can eat after we finish watching!" he said.

"Why? Can't we eat first and then watch?"

"Because the morning tickets are half price, and after 2 PM, they're only 80% off! Dumb!"

"Oh... but are you sure we want to watch so many in a row?"

"Of course, I planned to spend the whole Saturday watching movies! Hey, are you regretting coming with me? Should I get a refund for you? Do you know how much three tickets cost? I'm almost heartbroken!"

"Like I'd leave! ...Hey, I actually brought money. I can pay you back later, okay? I didn't dare to pay because I was afraid people would laugh at you."

"Just kidding... forget the money, you can treat me to dinner after we finish watching!"

"Sure, sure, what do you want to eat? I love the rice noodles near here. When I was a kid, my sister would always take me to eat there after watching a movie. Let's go there, okay?"

"You seem really excited today, talking a lot!"

"So, what do you want to eat?"

"I want to eat... Lanzhou noodles."

"But Lanzhou noodles aren't that good! ...Okay, let's eat Lanzhou noodles then. I haven't had them in a long time, so it's not bad to have them again!"

"Hey, just kidding, your IQ is really dropping fast... let's go for the rice noodles, and I'll get a large portion!"

"Sure, sure! I'll treat you!"

...

There were seven movies showing today. The first one Li Qian bought tickets for was "Love Never Loses," which should be... an urban romance? The poster looked like an urban light comedy. Whatever, let's see, Wang Jinglu should like it. Even if she doesn't, it's fine because she doesn't really like watching movies anyway.

The second one was an imported blockbuster, according to the ticket seller, newly imported from the US, and had just finished its run there. The promotional slogan said it grossed over 70 million dollars and was currently the 6th highest-grossing film in North America in 1995... It should be very good.

Yeah, because the film's name translates to "Unbreakable," and the lead actor is... Schwarzenegger!

The third one is a domestic... blockbuster!

At least that's what the ticket seller said.

"The Three Swordsmen in White," from the name, it's a martial arts film.