Liu Xue'e and Liu Mingyuan walked to the cinema in silence, both looking unhappy.
Liu's ticket was for "The Little Chef of Shengjing", but Liu Mingyuan wanted to watch "The Best in the World".
This martial arts movie is extremely popular in the city, and everyone who has seen it talks about it with great gusto.
Liu Xue'e's ticket is for "The World's Number One", but she also wants to watch this one.
The sister, who always gave in in everything in the past, mustered up the courage to refuse her brother for the first time.
Liu Xue'e is going to get married at the end of the year, and once she marries into her husband's family, she may never have the chance to go to the cinema again.
This might be her last chance, and she didn't want to have any regrets.
Liu Mingyuan was shocked and very upset.
Along the way, neither the brother nor the sister took the initiative to speak.
They arrived at the entrance of the cinema and the ticket checking for the second screening had just begun. As they stepped through the transparent glass door, they heard Lu Yao talking.
She said that the tickets for the event were reserved for women, and men were not allowed to watch the movie with them.
Liu Mingyuan suddenly stopped in his tracks and his face turned pale.
Liu Xue'e said last night that this ticket was an event ticket and was only for women, but he didn't take it seriously and thought it was an excuse. It turned out that the cinema really pointed it out to him in person.
At the ticket checkpoint, Li's husband's face flushed, and he stiffened his neck and stared at Lu Yao, "How do you know that I didn't buy this ticket?"
Lu Yao looked calm, "Every ticket sold at the cinema has a number. I personally drew the event ticket, so I naturally know the number. The tickets for both screening rooms are numbered 31 to 40. If a man comes to watch a movie with an event ticket, our theater will not recognize it."
Madam Li's husband lowered his head to look at the ticket number. He was illiterate and looked at it for a long time, but still didn't know where the number Lu Yao mentioned was.
The person waiting in line behind him for ticket inspection peeked in and said, "Number 35, it's really the event ticket number the shopkeeper mentioned."
Li's husband stamped his feet in dissatisfaction and shouted, "Why are tickets only given to women? Are men born to be suckers and have to buy tickets to enter your lousy theater?"
This man usually works at the dock. He is a big and strong man. He relies on the fact that the people behind him who are buying tickets and waiting to watch the movie are all men, and he shouts loudly, trying to force the owner to give in.
Lu Yao looked up and saw some women standing at the entrance of the lobby, holding tickets in their hands but tiptoeing and not daring to come forward.
She exhaled slightly, and said in a slightly stern tone, "Who said there are no activities targeting men? The day before the cinema officially opened, there was a preview screening of "The World's Number One", free viewing, and three activities, and all the people who received tickets to participate were men."
Although the preview event did not specify gender, it was indeed attended by men.
This person didn't know that many regular customers came to watch "The Little Chef of Shengjing" today, and many people watched "The Best Under Heaven" for the first time on the preview day.
As soon as Lu Yao mentioned it, they remembered it.
After all, that was their first exposure to something called "movie" and they were deeply impressed.
When the shopkeeper mentioned this, they suddenly realized that apart from the people in the theater, they seemed to have never met any women watching movies in the cinema.
Lu Yao's eyes moved from the group of men waiting in line for ticket inspection to the women watching in the lobby. "The movies shown in the cinema are watched by men and women. But it's strange. My cinema is obviously not a shameful place. Why don't women come? Don't they want to? Don't like it? Or is someone not letting them come? You ask why I only give tickets to women, there is no special reason. As a woman, I think the movie is good and interesting, and I want them to watch it too."
Her purpose was simple: to invite the women of the Dawu Dynasty to watch a movie and try to enjoy this form of entertainment.
After that, she looked at the man holding the event ticket and said, "I also want to ask you something. Since you are a man, why do you want to take the event ticket that is only for women in the theater? If you want to watch a movie, why don't you buy your own ticket?"
The hall was quiet for a while, and the people of the Dawu Dynasty seemed to be frightened, both men and women.
"Any tickets held by men will be invalidated." Lu Yao stopped looking at the man and looked up at the door. "Girls and ladies, come here to check your tickets. The movie is about to start. Popcorn and Coke will be given away if you check your tickets."
The man felt utterly embarrassed being stared at by so many eyes, especially since the group of women at the door were all acquaintances who lived on the same street. In a rage and humiliation, he suddenly jumped up and punched Lu Yao.
Kuba was right behind Lu Yao. He quickly jumped over her and caught the fist with one hand. Then he grabbed the man's wrist with his backhand and pinned him to the ground. "He didn't get any advantage but still wanted to hit someone. This is really embarrassing. Shopkeeper, what should we do with this man?"
Lu Yao: “Kick him out.”
There was some excitement in the crowd, and several men in the long line on Zhu Zhu's side quietly withdrew.
Needless to say, they were all people who had bought tickets for an event held by the female members of their family and wanted to watch a movie for free.
Liu Mingyuan stood at the door with a red face, neither going forward nor backward.
The girls and women all went to Lu Yao to check their tickets. Liu Xue'e looked at Liu Mingyuan and said, "I'm going in."
Liu Mingyuan lowered his head and said nothing.
Liu Xue'e walked out a few steps, then stepped back, pulled out the purse hanging from her waist, counted out thirty copper coins, and handed them to him, "Use this to buy a ticket, and you can still watch the next show. Send that ticket of The Little Cook back quickly, and ask mother to come over."
Liu Mingyuan looked up, stunned: "Where did you get all this money?"
Liu Xue'e: "I saved this money from embroidering handkerchiefs over the past few years. Zhu Zhu told me yesterday that I couldn't give the tickets to others because Shopkeeper Lu wouldn't recognize them."
Zhu Zhu particularly liked Lu Yao and often talked about him with Liu Xue'e.
She also knew a little about Lu Yao's personality, and guessed that there might be no room for maneuver regarding the ticket, so she gritted her teeth and counted out some money before leaving.
Liu Mingyuan's face flushed red, and he could no longer raise his head. "Sister, I was wrong."
Liu Xue'e stuffed the money into his hand and said, "The cinema is so good, I want to come too, let alone you. Let's talk about this when we get home. Go back quickly and ask mom to come. Mom said she has to take care of business, so how could she not want to come?"
Liu Mingyuan turned around and ran away. He was too embarrassed to continue talking to Liu Xue'e. Thinking of Liu, he felt even more embarrassed.
The event ticket issue did not cause much commotion. After the ticket checking, Lu Yao personally guided the women who came to watch the movie into the screening room.
She picked up tickets in a whole row, and after the women entered the screening room, they just sat down according to their ticket numbers.
No one noticed that an extremely luxurious carriage had stopped in front of the cinema entrance at some point.
The maid returned to the carriage and bowed her head respectfully, "Master, I have found out everything."