Yang Ruoqian had never authorized a festival.
This fact was important.
He had authorized morning screenings, but only because they looked empty. He had authorized old films, but only because they were commercially weak. He had authorized no stars, no posters, no benefits, no speeches, no red carpet, no membership, and no proper event name.
Somehow, after removing everything that made a festival look like a festival, the neighborhood supplied the festival itself.
Yang Ruoqian opened the morning report and saw the evidence arranged like a crime scene.
The breakfast shop had shifted steamed buns half an hour earlier. The dessert shop was offering warm water to older customers waiting for relatives. The small bookstore had placed a handwritten note beside its window: today's morning film is at 9:30. A flower shop owner had put two chairs outside, claiming they were "just spare chairs."
Spare chairs.
Yang Ruoqian now feared spare chairs.
"Who coordinated this?" he asked.
