Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts
Chapter 57: I Want to Watch a Movie!Although the friendship between the three of them has continued for six years, spending the night together like this is a first. Despite it being a sudden idea, Xia Yuan still made a lot of preparations.
She gathered most of the snacks in their house and brought several sets of pajamas.
“Your parents should only let you stay for one night, why did you bring so many clothes?”
“I brought some for Youxi to wear, it’s none of your business.”
Xia Yuan rolled her eyes at Mei Fang, then pulled Lin You Xi into the inner room. “Shall we sleep in Aunt Mei and Little Ya’s room tonight?”
“Yes. But are you going to change clothes so early? It’s only afternoon.” Lin Youxi asked.
“No. I just want to put my things down.”
Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi stayed in Mei Fang’s mom’s room for a while without coming out. Mei Fang didn’t feel comfortable knocking on the door to ask, so he thought for a moment and went to the study to look at the game he made himself.
Since the winter vacation, he had been working on a game called Flappy Bird from his previous life, also known as Stupid Bird Flies First.
Games of this kind, where you control the height to pass through obstacles, had existed since the era of Symbian phones such as Helicopter.[1]In Mei Fang’s opinion, the earliest inspiration for this type of game came from the side-scrolling shooting games of the Famicom era. In the famous Konami’s Salamander[2], there were levels similar to that, where touching the obstacles would result in death.
In 2008, Unity had just started supporting the Windows platform, still two years away from Android smartphones.
Mei Fang’s plan was to accumulate technical experience by developing complete games first, so that he could get a piece of the cake on the mobile platform as soon as possible.
Now, apart from the art assets, the game’s functionality is almost complete…
But playing on Windows seems no different from playing on the Symbian phone’s Helicopter, except that the graphics are smoother.
If I really wanted to make it big, the experience of tapping on a touch screen’s phone is essential…
“Ah Fang, are you playing games?”
Xia Yuan entered Mei Fang’s study without knocking on the door.
“On such a hot day, why close the door? Let me see…”
Xia Yuan stared at Mei Fang’s monitor for a while. “What is this? Is it the code you’re studying? It’s all rectangles and squares, I don’t understand…”
At this moment, Lin Youxi also walked quickly to Mei Fang’s side.
“Can it run now?”
“Do you want to try it?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Mei Fang gave up his seat for Lin Youxi, and she started operating it seriously. “I kept encountering a bug when I compiled it before. Did you manage to fix it?”
“That bug was hard to find.”
Listening to Mei Fang and Lin Youxi talking about things she couldn’t understand, Xia Yuan felt somewhat left out.”
“Is this the game you guys have been working on recently? It’s all just geometric shapes, it feels a bit dull.”
“This is before implementing the art resources. Once we find the assets and put them in, it will be a bit more interesting.”
Lin Youxi thought for a moment, “But compared to games on the market, it definitely can’t be considered fun.”
“Indeed.” Xia Yuan nodded, “But the fact that the two of you can make a game together is still very impressive!”
Mei Fang had just taken advantage of some free time to check the game, and since Xia Yuan was in such good spirits, he was not one to dampen her mood again. So, after Lin Youxi’s turn, he quickly saved the program and closed it.
“So, what should we do this afternoon?”
“This afternoon…”
Xia Yuan raised her hand with a smile and shared her idea, “I want to rent DVDs and watch a movie together!”
In 2008, the small county of Baimei still did not have a movie theater. For children who didn’t have a computer at home, they still heavily relied on audio and video rental shops if they wanted to watch movies.
Although Mei Fang’s family had a computer, the screen was too small and not in the living room. The viewing experience was always inferior to a television. They couldn’t sit on the couch, eat snacks, and watch at the same time.
“But now all the DVD rental shops on the street have closed down.” Lin Youxi pondered, “Do you know where to find them?”
“Well… let’s go stroll around the street, we’ll definitely find one!”
“So, you don’t even know where to go.”
Mei Fang shook his head, “The small shop next to the store where I bought the FamiCom for Mei Ya last time was a DVD rental shop. I’ll take you guys there.”
“Great!”
Mei Fang and his group walked on the scorching hot road under the summer sun. The sound of cicadas filled the air, and the hot air could even be seen rippling. The three of them continued down the tree-shaded path and happened to come across a convenience store. Xia Yuan grabbed Mei Fang and stopped him from moving forward.
“Ah Fang, let’s buy some ice cream or cold drinks! I’m about to pass out from the heat.”
Xia Yuan stuck out her tongue and waved her hand to fan her face. Sweat glued her hair and cheeks together, and her face was flushed.
“Why do you always make such exaggerated expressions?” Mei Fang couldn’t help but comment.
“Let’s hurry up and buy it.”
The three of them picked out items in the convenience store. Xia Yuan was about to pay when Lin Youxi quickly paid first.
“I’ll treat this time.”
“Then, we won’t use your money to rent DVDs later!”
“No need, treating someone is simply treating someone. Don’t associate it with anything else.”
Seeing Lin Youxi’s confident smile, Xia Yuan nodded.
“Well… alright then! Next time, Ah Fang and I will treat you.”
Lin Youxi’s change came about this winter.
She brought up the idea of earning money to Mei Fang, and Mei Fang pointed her in the direction of account boosting. She has been earning money from Fantasy Westward Journey since then.
Now is the most booming era of Fantasy Westward Journey. Early players like Lin Youxi and Mei Fang, because they invested a lot of energy in the early stages and possessed many limited-edition pets and rare weapons with overflowing attributes, are considered big shots by anyone they meet.
She goes online every weekend to take on account boosting jobs, charging up to 5 yuan per job, and can earn at least 20 or 30 yuan every week.
Lin Youxi’s skills in account boosting and understanding of certain dungeons are now deeper than Mei Fang’s, and she has gradually made a name for herself in the server.
After she started making her own money, Mei Fang could clearly sense that Lin Youxi had become less timid and hesitant. She now had more confidence in everything she did.
He always remembered the scene when he took Lin Youxi to the cemetery to visit her mother, reaching into his wrinkled pocket to take out three coins and timidly asking Mei Fang if it was enough to buy an apple.
Perhaps Lin Youxi’s childhood timidity and compliance weren’t as complicated as he had imagined. It all stemmed from the lack of confidence brought about by poverty.
At least now, she’s visibly improved a lot.
The group of friends sipped on cola and ate ice cream. After passing by a row of closed shops, the scene under the scorching sun suddenly gave Mei Fang a inexplicable sense of desolation.
In Mei Fang’s memory, the small county of Baimei had an interesting side, which was the tendency for similar shops to cluster together.
There was a street for internet cafes, a street for boutique shops, a street for bookstores, a street for barbecue stalls, and a street for convenience stores.
If a street has different services, it’s understandable, such as a food street with different types of food shops.
But not in Baimei County. The street next to it, the next-next street, and even the next-next-next street, the goods they sell were all exactly the same. Perhaps it was because they were worried about their ideas being copied, but everyone doesn’t come up with any new marketing ideas. They just opened shops here, and Mei Fang really didn’t understand the point of this trend.
In the past, the street Mei Fang was passing through now, these shops, were all part of a thriving audio and video rental shop street. But now, they were all caught in a wave of closures. In no time, this place would inevitably become a bustling milk tea street and a bookstore street.
The wheel of time always moves forward, as if nothing can remain eternal and unchanged.
Mei Fang stopped in his tracks, looking at the petite figures of Lin Youxi and Xia Yuan ahead.
After being in a daze for a while, Mei Fang ran and caught up with them as Xia Yuan called out to him.
Translator's Notes:
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