Global Film Emperor

Chapter 282 Year

After leaving the room, Lu Ze peeked at his parents' expressions and, finding nothing amiss, breathed a sigh of relief. He then sat down on the sofa, picked up a pear, and took a bite.

It's 6 PM now. Lu Ze has no idea what happened all day or how many people came out. He doesn't care about that, as long as they don't cause him any trouble.

While his parents were making dumplings, Lu Ze saw that it was still early, so he got up and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. After drying them, he picked up the dough his father had rolled out, scooped a spoonful of chive and egg filling onto the dough, and shaped it.

Where is Xiaonan?

"I heard she has a classmate from Shanghai. Didn't I tell you this afternoon that I was going to visit my classmate?"

"Oh, I forgot, I'll go call her."

Lu Ze was taken aback, realizing he had let something slip. He glanced at his parents, whose expressions were calm, indicating they hadn't noticed anything amiss. He then calmed down, wiped his hands with a damp towel, walked to the landline, remembered Lu Nan's number, and dialed it.

Hello? Who is this?

"Who are you talking to? Where are you now? Hurry up and go home. It's already dark. What are you still wandering around outside for? Which classmate are you looking for? A boy or a girl?"

"Oh, I'm going back right now. It's definitely a girl, like Xiao Yu from our dorm. What are you thinking? Okay, okay, I'll go home right away, alright? By the way, where do we live again?"

Lu Ze's head really hurt. It was normal for this girl not to know where she was last night, but if you come to a strange city and want to go out to play but can't even remember where you live, isn't that just being clueless?

"Jiuzhou Hailan Bay Phase II, hurry up and take a taxi back. The family is busy. You don't do any work and just play around. Take a picture of the license plate when you come back and send it to me."

Lu Nan felt a little wronged and also a little confused. After lunch today, Lu Ze had clearly agreed to let her go out and even gave her some pocket money. His attitude was so good that Lu Nan even doubted whether the person standing in front of her was her own brother. But now he was being mean to her, which made Lu Nan very confused.

"You told me to go out and have fun, and now you're scolding me for not coming home to do chores. You were so nice to me just now."

"Then I'll be even harsher: if you don't come back within an hour, you can sleep in the stairwell tonight."

Hearing the phone call end, Lu Nan pouted, put her phone in her pocket, and dejectedly put her last coin into the claw machine, only to catch nothing.

Lu Nan told her roommate that Lu Ze wanted her to go home, but her roommate teased her, saying that Lu Ze was almost as old as her father. However, Lu Nan didn't refute it. In her heart, Lu Ze was like an older brother, but also like a father.

Finally, carrying the only thing she bought today, a Chanel lipstick, she took a taxi home. Before getting in the car, she still didn't forget to take a picture of the license plate and send it to Lu Ze.

As soon as he hung up the phone, it rang again. To be honest, this is the part of Chinese New Year that Lu Ze hates the most; he can't put his phone down for two or three hours straight.

Before Lu Ze became famous, he would only exchange New Year's greetings with his friends. At that time, Lu Ze liked to call his friends to wish them a happy new year. After all, he lived far away from home, and many of his friends could only contact him at this time. It was a good way for him to connect with his friends and maintain good relationships.

But now, there are fewer and fewer people who can truly be called friends. Some of his former friends even asked to borrow money, which really hurt Lu Ze at the time.

Therefore, what Lu Ze truly loathed was not receiving New Year's blessings from distant friends, but rather the helplessness he felt towards those who he couldn't even remember their faces, yet still feigned friendship and addressed each other as brothers.

Frowning, Lu Ze returned to his room, habitually plugged in his phone charger, connected his Bluetooth headset, leaned against the headboard, and answered the call from his first hotline caller.

"Hey Zhang, Happy New Year! Are you able to spend the New Year with your wife and nephew this year? Yes, I brought my parents over this year. Sigh, it's not easy to celebrate the New Year these days."

The phone kept ringing, and Lu Ze was now like a customer service representative. He poured himself a glass of warm water, sat in front of the computer, and played a 2D billiards game on QQ while talking non-stop.

After losing from the pool hall rogue to the billiards tycoon, Lu Ze flipped through his contacts. He realized that most of the people who were supposed to call had already called, and now it was some of his more important people calling.

"Mom, where's my brother?"

After Li Yumei opened the door, Lu Nan peeked out and looked around the living room before quietly asking Li Yumei where Lu Ze was, clearly afraid of getting a beating.

She thought Lu Ze was in a good mood that morning, which was why he was so gentle with her. Maybe someone had offended him in the afternoon, and he had reverted to his old ways. However, Lu Nan felt that she preferred the kind of life where she was always on edge and getting beaten up. Lu Ze's gentleness made her feel very uncomfortable.

"You were on the phone inside, and it's been going on for a long time. Didn't I tell you to be back within an hour? It's been almost two hours. What have you been doing?"

"I can't help it, there was a traffic jam on the road. I spent over two hundred yuan on a taxi. Hurry up, I need to get inside. Dad, I'll roll out some dumpling wrappers. My brother will ask me when I got back, so you two can cover for me." Lu Nan quickly washed her hands and immediately started working, seemingly wanting to make up for all the dumplings she had missed in the past hour so as not to be blamed by Lu Ze.

Only after Li Yumei finished all her work and started cooking did Lu Ze leisurely come out of the bedroom, go into the kitchen, rummage through the cabinets for a while, take out a can of black tea, help Lu Weiguo to the living room, and make tea for Lu Weiguo.

"Dad, I don't drink much of this tea, and it's hard to buy. You have a cold stomach, so don't drink green tea anymore. Give away the tea at home if you can. Drinking too much is not good for you, and don't drink strong tea. Brewing it in a teacup is really bad for your health."

The tea was brewed exquisitely, clearly showing that Lu Ze had some training, while Lu Weiguo was just a genuine farmer who knew nothing about tea. He could only afford to drink good tea because his son had made his fortune, but he didn't know exactly how good it was. Hearing his son say this, he didn't say anything, just nodded.

The Spring Festival Gala is getting bigger and bigger, but the festive atmosphere is getting worse. Even the festive programs feel bland. Of the four people in the family, only Lu Nan is the talkative one. He laughed so hard at the skit. It's not good for the elderly to drink too much tea at night. Half an hour later, Lu Ze helped Lu Weiguo lie down on the sofa, while he knelt in front of the sofa and gently massaged his father's legs, which were almost crippled.

"Dad, does it hurt when I press this spot?"

"is acceptable."

Lu Ze didn't say anything, but he felt a little sad. Although "Lu Ze" bought a lot of medicine for Lu Weiguo, including external and internal medicines, he tried all kinds of medicines, but his legs still couldn't withstand the aging brought by time. Even if Lu Ze massaged the acupoints with greater force, he couldn't feel any pain. He estimated that in a few more years, he would really have to use a wheelchair.

But Lu Weiguo still felt comfortable. After Lu Ze gently massaged his legs, he seemed to feel sleepy and lay down on the sofa, gently snoring.

"Brother, look."

Lu Nan nervously approached Lu Ze, took out two boxes of firecrackers from her pocket, but before she could take them all out, with only half of them showing, she put them back in her pocket and gave Lu Ze a silly, mischievous grin.

Where did you buy it?

"There's a firework stall right next to the mall I went to, wanna come?"

"Let's go."

It had been a long time since he had touched his sister's hair, but it was still so soft. Lu Ze quietly took Lu Nan downstairs and into the neighborhood. He took out his phone and started taking pictures of Lu Nan striking various poses, rolling her arms around several times, and then throwing firecrackers on the ground in a silly way.

Shanghai bans firecrackers, even sparklers and snap pops are prohibited within the inner ring road. But playing with these things in the neighborhood is fine, and no one would be so cheeky as to report someone for using snap pops. As long as Lu Nan likes it, the feeling of secretly doing a little mischief is quite nice.

"Brother, here you go!"

Taking the small ball wrapped in white paper, Lu Ze threw it against the wall with a soft "thud." The sound wasn't loud, but it still sounded quite festive today.

"Do you remember when you were a kid, you got angry and threw firecrackers at me? They even cracked my forehead."

"Is that so? You'd kill me then! How could I dare? Ha!"

Suddenly realizing that this had never happened to Lu Nan before, Lu Ze smiled, then shook his head helplessly.

"Let's go home and have dinner."

When I got home, the food was already on the table. The ban on fireworks and firecrackers meant there was no sound outside, but the family was all gathered together, which made it lively.

"Brother, this is the first time I've seen you wash your hands so carefully, like a doctor."

Lu Ze didn't say anything. After rinsing the foam off his hands, he led Lu Nan to sit down, warmed some wine for his father, added a dumpling, dipped it in soy sauce, and put it in his mouth. The taste was not much different from what Lu Ze remembered.

After dinner, Lu Ze returned to his bedroom, closed his eyes, and felt quite satisfied. At least he had met them once, something many people in the city didn't have the chance to do.

After regaining control of his body and standing up, Lu Ze yawned. He didn't know why, but after switching people back and forth like this, he felt particularly listless. He glanced at the clock; it was almost midnight. He went to the living room, and when the Spring Festival Gala host announced the arrival of the New Year, Lu Ze pulled Lu Nan down to kneel and kowtow to the elderly couple.

Happy Chinese New Year, Mom and Dad.

"."

(End of this chapter)