I've Transmigrated Into This Movie Before

Chapter 19

19: Even-numbered Designated Tickets

The person was an old woman getting on her years, aged and dirty as if she had not showered in years. She had greasy hair, the clothes on her back was also torn.

"It's not playing today either?" She looked at the poster by the door, muttered before turning around and walking away.

"Walt!" Ning Ning hurriedly chased after her. "Excuse me, how much would you sell the ticket you are holding for?"

The Doorman by her side pulled her from the rain back under the roof.

"She won't sell it." He said Indifferently as he looked at the back view slowly hobbling away, "She has already been waiting for one movie for fifteen years, she will wait as long as she still draws breath.."

Just as he finished talking, you could hear a loud screeching from the brake of a car.Ning Ning turned over and looked. She saw a car leaving the scene in a panic, the old woman was laying on her side motionless, even at this state she clutched the movie ticket tightly to her chest.

An hour later at the hospital.

The doctor came out of the operation room, sald a few words to Ning Ning then shook his head."She is running out of time."

He added, "If you have anything to say, say it now."

Ning Ning opened the door, slowly walked towards the dying old woman.

"I cannot die, I cannot die..... her faint voice could only be heard after Ning Ning walked closer, she was encouraging herself, "I have not watched the film, cannot die...."

What film was worth walting fifteen years of a person's life? What film filled a person's thoughts as she was on the verge of death?

"Old lady," Ning Ning asked her, "how can I contact your family?"

The old woman didn't tell her any means to contact her family. She looked at Ning Ning absent-mindedly, finally she was able t focus and sald weakly, "I know you. You are an actress. I saw your movie on another person's phone when I was on a bus. I was chased off the bus before I could finish the movie, they said I stink., cough cough. I, I like your film."

Ning Ning was shocked, to think that she was her fan.

"I heard you calling out to me before." The old woman raised her trembling hand, "You wanted this?

A wrinkled old movie ticket layed on her palm. A ticket that she did not let go even when she was undergoing surgery. It would be too hypocritical to say no now, so Ning Ning nodded calmly.

"I can give you the ticket. But, you, you have to help me. The old woman suddenly reached out and grabbed Ning Ning's wrist, she begged her pitifully, "Help me watch the movie, help me... help me save him."

Ning Ning felt strange. "Save whom?"

"It's, it's in my pocket." The old woman's voice was getting weak.

Ning Ning took out a photo from the old woman's pocket. The photo was a corner cut out of another photo. On it was a boy that was around the age of eight or nine. He looked a little shy, looking down to avoid the camera, similar to a gullible little deer.

"You, you have to watch the movie he is in." The old woman looked at Ning Ning fervently, "You have t think of a way to save him..."

Ning Ning felt that it was absurd. The old woman used fifteen years of her time to walt for a movie, just so she could transmigrate into it and change the fate of a character in the movie? But after some consideration, she felt that this absurdity was excusable. Because if she had a similar chance, she was also willing to return to <<Republic Circus>>, to change Papa's and everyone's fates.

So everyone else could treat this old woman as a joke, but she alone could not.

"Go save him. Go save him. Save him at all costs, even if I have to sacrifice myself... you have to... you have to..." At the end of her frailty, she had a terrifying final spark The old woman suddenly sat up from the hospital bed, her dried up hands forcefully dragged Ning Ning to her front and shouted, "1988!! 1988!! 1988!!!"

After shouting 1988 thrice, it was like she had expended all of her energy. Her throat suddenly gurgled twice, then she fell over silently.

Beep

Ning Ning raised her head to take a look, a straight line was on the display of the ECG.

The matter of the funeral was easy to deal with. As Ning Ning left the room, representatives from two funeral parlours had approached her. They almost came to blows in the midst of fighting over the right of the proceedings: Ning Ning chose one of the companies and paid for the old woman's funeral fees and treated it as payment for the movie ticket. She also had them Identify her in the meantime.

It was easy to handle things when you have money, the Identity of the old woman was revealed very quickly, her name was Wen Xiao Ning.

"You are such a good person." The funeral parlour representative said as he was wiping his sweat, "We called her family and informed them of her death, they immediately hung up. The call had only connected after a dozen attempts, they scolded me a dozen times before telling me they don't know this person."

This should be the reason why the old woman did not tell her any person of contact. She was not married. No husband, no children, no friends, no family. The only person that was contactable was a brother, whom upon hearing about her death, had refused to come over to have one last look at her and was unwilling to fork out a single cent for her funeral.

A lonely old woman that was seemingly abandoned by the world.

Her only inheritance was this old movie ticket.

Besides this, she had nothing else.

After solving this messy affair, another day passed by. At night, Ning Ning held the movie ticket en route to Life Cinema and thought to herself, 'I never promised you anything. You waited fifteen years for the film, there is no way I....'

Her footsteps stopped in front of the cinema.

"Ah, Ning Ning mumbled, "you should have waited for one more day?

In front of her, the poster at the entrance of the cinema had changed again.

<<Scarlet Stage>> that was originally there was gone, another poster had taken its place.

On the poster was a pitch black swamp. The little boy from the old woman's photo was standing in the middle of the swamp. There were a lot of people in the vicinity of the swamp, but they all watched as he sank. He also did not seem to be asking for help, silently allowing himself to sink.

Title: Abandoned Child>>

Starring: Wen Yu

Ning Ning stood in front of the poster for quite a while, before she turned and asked the doorman, "Where is the movie from yesterday?"

"The screening ended." The doorman leaned on the wall, as concise as ever.

"When will it be screened again?" Ning Ning asked.

"Who knows." The doorman answered replied casually..

Ning Ning turned her attention back to the poster in front of her. It was fated, she had no other choice. The day after tomorrow would be the time to get back to Director Chen with an answer, but she still had not found one..

There were two choices in front of her right now. One, to continue waiting and see if the film for tomorrow night will be similar to <<Phantom of the Theater. But the chances of that were small, the odds of that happening were almost the same as her trying to guess the answer of Director Chen's question by luck. Two, to transmigrate into the film in front of her make use of the time difference and carefully think of how to answer the question, how to act as the phantom, how to go about things...

Ning Ning chose what she felt was the most dependable method.

She handed the ticket over to the doorman and sald, "I want to go in."

The doorman's gaze moved from her face to the ticket in her hand. He didn't immediately take It this time, but asked in a deep voice, "Have you decided?"

Ning Ning felt that he was a bit strange, he was not so talkative previously.She answered, "Yes."

The doorman stared at her for some time, as if he didn't want to say it but had to, he asked, "What is the time you want to designate?"

Ning Ning was puzzled. "What time?"

"You are holding an even-numbered designated ticket. The doorman added, "Even-numbered designated tickets allow you to designate the time you enter the movie."

Upon hearing this, Ning Ning hastily looked down at the ticket in her hand.

At first she didn't see any difference, but with his reminder she realised the ticket in her hand was different from the one she had received from her mother. Although it was the same yellow paper with Life Cinema written on it, but this was a ticket for a seat in the front. It was located four rows in front of her previous ticket, fourth row from the front number twelve..

Not only did the word Admission appear on the round stamp on the left, there was a small red word-Designated.

Just as the doorman said, this was a designated ticket.

An even-numbered designated ticket which allowed a designation of time of entrance.