Global Film Emperor

Chapter 255 A Meaningful Thing

"Bang, diu~diu~"

"Yes, I didn't agree. I don't want to be distracted by this. I'm not very interested in setting up a studio or anything like that. Yes, let's not talk about it for now. I know he definitely won't be satisfied, but this is a matter of my whole life, so it's better to keep it simple. I'm going up in the elevator now. I'll talk to you later, Aunt Han."

With an earphone tucked behind his ear, Lu Ze carried the bag from the passenger seat and the cripple in his hands. He took out his car keys, locked the car door, hung up Shen Jinghan's call, and took the elevator back to his room.

He let the cripple out, took off his shoes and put them in the shoe cabinet, went to the kitchen to pick up the cat food and checked the expiration date. It had been five months since he had been home, and he wasn't sure if the food had expired. Although the housekeeper cleaned the room, they wouldn't help replace these things. Luckily, it was still half a month away from expiring. He picked up the cripple's food bowl, poured out half a bowl, and then opened the refrigerator to prepare his own dinner.

He had just talked to Shen Jinghan about Li Shanjun. Shen Jinghan could understand Li Shanjun's idea of ​​having Lu Ze set up a studio, but she was a little dissatisfied with this kind of trickery used to deal with Lu Ze.

There's nothing wrong with opening a studio. Although Qian Shijia will be the actual person in charge of the studio, Lu Ze's income will increase significantly. It might not be the case for the first two years, but starting from the third year, the annual dividends will definitely be much more than what Lu Ze earns by just acting now.

In this way, it is a situation that is not entirely equal, but it is mutually beneficial. It's just that if you work a little harder, you will earn a little more.

Moreover, this will also ensure Lu Ze's future resources and connections. Since they are already bound by interests, Qian Shijia will not try to trip Lu Ze up; instead, they will only increase their efforts to help Lu Ze reach a higher position.

However, this was under the condition that Lu Ze agreed, and now that Lu Ze has refused, it's hard to say what will happen in the future.

Of course, even if Qian Shijia is stupid, he would never do something that destroys his own foundation by dismantling his own pillar of power. Therefore, Lu Ze is not worried about his position being threatened at the moment.

He opened a bottle of beer, stir-fried a plate of chili eggs, and stewed a small pot of beef and yam soup. He sat on the sofa, eating and watching the news on TV. He saw a silly driver pushing his car in front of the traffic police while drunk driving. Even Lu Ze, who usually has a high threshold for laughter, was so amused that he spat out his beer and choked on the water.

"Ding dong."

The doorbell suddenly rang. Lu Ze was a little puzzled, wondering who would be knocking on his door today. He grabbed two tissues to wipe the beer dripping from his nose, went over to check the video intercom, and saw a big face at the door. He was a little confused as to why the man had come to Shanghai.

"What are you doing in Shanghai? You didn't even call! Sister-in-law, Xiao Liang, do you recognize me? Call me uncle, give uncle a hug! Wow, you're quite heavy! How did you get up here?"

Lu Ze picked up Song Zhengliang, who was standing on the ground, and bounced him around in his arms a couple of times. The child was fair-skinned and chubby, and had a good appearance. Lu Ze liked him very much and played with him for a while before turning his attention to Song Guiyuan and his wife.

“I took the elevator with your downstairs neighbor and climbed two floors. Do you have water at home? I’m so thirsty, I haven’t had any water all afternoon.”

"I just got home and haven't even boiled my food yet. Why don't you just drink tap water? When did you guys arrive in Shanghai? How did you know I was home?"

Before Lu Ze could even grab the slippers, Song Guiyuan took off his shoes and ran to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of beer, chug down half of it, burped, and sighed contentedly.

“We’ve been in Shanghai for two days now. Didn’t you post on WeChat Moments that your filming wrapped up and you wanted to surprise me? So I didn’t call. I figured you were probably at home by now, so I came over here myself. Hey! You little cripple, here’s a slap for you. We’re even now.”

Song Guiyuan, that old rascal, is still as mischievous as ever. He picked up the cripple and lightly slapped it on the face. This man holds a grudge; he can remember being slapped by a cat for half a year.

"Song Guiyuan, you're still drinking? Have you no shame? What did the doctor say? Are you even embarrassed to tell Lu'er what's wrong with you?"

After becoming a mother, Zhuang Xue seemed to have become much more irritable, losing her former gentle temperament. She put on her slippers and walked over to kick Song Guiyuan.

"What happened? What illness is it? Is it serious?"

"It's nothing, just alcoholic liver disease. You can't control yourself when you get to middle age. The doctor told me to quit smoking and drinking. Do you think I have the nerve to do that?"

Hearing Song Guiyuan say this, Lu Ze breathed a sigh of relief. He was very sensitive to the word "illness" now, especially to those close to him. When Zhuang Xue said that Song Guiyuan was sick, his heart immediately jumped. Fortunately, seeing how energetic Old Song was, he thought it shouldn't be a big problem.

"Now that you're sick, you have to have some shame. I thought we'd have a drink together, but you should just rest this time. Have you eaten, sisters-in-law? This little bit I made is enough for myself. I'll cook a couple more dishes."

"No need for you, let my wife do it. I need to talk to you about something."

Song Guiyuan called out to Zhuang Xue before picking up his son and pushing Lu Ze back onto the sofa. Apparently, this bastard had even stolen a pair of chopsticks from the kitchen without Lu Ze noticing. He held his son on his lap, fed him a piece of egg, then stuffed a piece of beef into his own mouth, giving Lu Ze a thumbs-up. "What's the matter? Was it really necessary to come all this way? Just call me directly, I'll take care of it. I can't do anything anyway."

Lu Ze, amused, turned off the TV, picked up his rice bowl, and shoveled down a mouthful.

"Nonsense, you're really capable of handling this. I came to Shanghai for the same reason. Actually, I've been to more than ten cities. I came to you today because I wanted you to help me put on a charity performance."

"Okay, what kind of performance are we going to do?"

Lu Ze didn't hesitate at all. The "can't do anything" part was just a joke. If it were someone he wasn't close to asking him for a favor, he would really have to think about it. But between his friends, he was too shy to say no. Besides, it was just acting, and that was how he made a living. This wasn't something he couldn't do; it was just a matter of taking a breather.

"Children's play".

"What?"

"A children's play, just a children's drama, the kind performed on stage, only five shows, in Shanghai, what? Even a top actor like Lu looks down on children's plays now?"

Old Song mocked Lu Ze, then put a piece of chili on his son's plate. Seeing Song Zhengliang waving his hands in pain from the spiciness, the father laughed heartily. Lu Ze felt sorry for Xiao Liang; having such a father, he must have been a bandit in his past life, committing countless sins!
“It’s not that I look down on children’s plays, the key is that I’ve never acted in a stage play before. You graduated from an academy and you have a background in stage plays, but I don’t. I’m just a layman, how could I possibly master this stuff?”

Lu Ze was a little flustered when he heard the word "drama". He really hadn't learned any drama performance in the system courses. You know, the performance style of drama and film and television drama is completely different. Besides, Song Guiyuan had already approached him. Could it be a small-scale performance?
"It's nothing, it's just a children's play, the simplest kind. Just act a bit exaggerated. I know you're not familiar with this kind of thing, but it's really easy to act. This is all your sister-in-law's fault. She found me work and took our son running around."

"Song Guiyuan, is it so hard for me to do a little work for you? Do you think you're some kind of empress dowager? You think I can't get you to do this? You bastard, if you feed my son chili peppers again, I'll throw you off the building and kill you, you believe me! What kind of father are you?!"

Zhuang Xue was already unhappy when she heard Lao Song blaming her. She leaned against the kitchen door frame with her rice shovel in hand. When she saw Song Guiyuan putting chili peppers on Xiao Liang's plate again, the child was so scared that he turned his head away and kept hiding. The little chubby hand kept pushing the chopsticks away, but he kept stuffing them into the child's mouth. She was so angry that she almost threw the rice shovel at him.

"No, no, no, sister-in-law, don't be angry. You go about your business. I'll talk to Brother Song. Let him act. Anyway, I don't have anything else to do right now. But you have to tell me, how did you start acting in plays for the kids?"

Upon hearing this, Song Guiyuan sighed, put down his chopsticks, and told Lu Ze the whole story. Gradually, Lu Ze's heart also became somewhat heavy.

This children's play was organized by the Cultural Bureau in conjunction with Huaxia Conservatory of Music, Beijing Academy of Drama, the Department of Literature of Beijing University, and the Red Cross Society. It was a nationwide free performance for children with intellectual disabilities, hoping that they could find their own happiness in a childhood that is much less joyful than that of normal children.

Zhuang Xue teaches at Huaxia Conservatory of Music and is responsible for arranging the piano accompaniment for this performance. She also tours the country with the drama troupe.

Originally, this play could have been easily performed by any performing arts troupe or even senior students from a drama academy. However, considering the publicity and influence, the leaders hoped to involve some celebrities in order to attract more attention and raise public awareness and care for children with intellectual disabilities.

However, celebrities don't really like to come to these charity performances. After all, it's not the Spring Festival Gala, so not many people pay attention to it, and they don't get paid. What's the point of going? Of course, they can't refuse directly, so they politely decline by citing scheduling conflicts.

So the leader started to worry: which celebrity should they hire for the tour? Then they thought, isn't Zhuang Xue's husband a celebrity? There's a ready-made one, so what's there to worry about?

So the leaders started to give Zhuang Xue advice. Zhuang Xue herself was a very loving woman, and having just given birth, her maternal instincts were at their peak. Moreover, it was difficult for her to refuse the leaders' requests. One late night, she whispered something in Song Guiyuan's ear, and Song Guiyuan agreed without really understanding what was going on.

The final decision was that Song Guiyuan would go on a national tour by himself, while using his network to contact some celebrity friends to do local charity performances with him. They would perform a few shows in each locality. Sure enough, after arriving in Shanghai, the first thing he thought of was Lu Ze.

After listening to Song Guiyuan recount the whole story, Lu Ze silently took a sip of beer. He loved children, he truly loved them, and he had immense sympathy for children born with certain defects.

Song Guiyuan came to him this time to ask him to do a few performances for free, but now Lu Ze has to thank Song Guiyuan for letting him participate in such a meaningful thing. This matter is meaningful to him, even more meaningful than making a movie that has received rave reviews.

"Did you bring the script? I want to see it now."

"."

(End of this chapter)