Global Film Emperor

Chapter 338 A Feeling Only Four People Understand
"The G6 intercity train from Fengtian North to Beijing South has arrived at the platform. Passengers, please cooperate by returning your tray tables and seat backs to their original positions and placing your magazines in the seat back mesh pockets. Please disembark in an orderly manner upon arrival. When disembarking, please be mindful of the gap between the train and the platform to avoid slipping and falling."

The girl in the next seat kept staring at Lu Ze's masked face until the train pulled into the station. Lu Ze then adjusted his mask slightly, got up, took his backpack off the luggage rack, and slung it over his shoulder, waiting for the passengers in front of him to leave. He remained oblivious to the whispers behind him and the filming on his phone.

He lightly tapped his hat twice on his leg, put it on his head, lowered his head slightly, left the carriage, and followed the crowd into the station, disappearing from the sight of the girls.

The station was still packed with people, speaking fluent Mandarin or various regional dialects. Those who couldn't get a chair sat on snakeskin bags, and Lu Ze had to remind them before they numbly pulled their feet back from blocking the way.

I followed the crowd to the underground elevator, stood at the end of the long queue, waited for twenty minutes, bought a subway ticket for Line 2, and after a few crisp clinking sounds, reached into the coin dispenser, casually stuffed the change into my pocket, and turned to leave.

"Hello, please show me your ID card."

Holding the detector to his chest, he glanced at the young policeman, said nothing, took out his wallet from his bag, handed his ID card to the policeman, and opened his arms to wait for the security check.

"Please take off your mask. Thank you for your cooperation."

Upon seeing the familiar face, the police officer pursed his lips, his eyes filled with a mix of emotions. He returned Lu Ze's ID card without conducting a baggage check, saluted, and made way for Lu Ze, his gaze fixed on Lu Ze's departing figure until a young man covered in tattoos walked past him.

Standing at the very back of the subway, I pressed my body against the glass door and held onto the handrail. The carriage was very quiet, and conversations were minimal, until the train departed after several stops.

I hailed a taxi for 41 yuan and arrived at the east gate of a residential area. After registering my identity, I entered the area, which consisted entirely of villas. After walking for five minutes, I stood at the door of villa A-8 and gently pressed the doorbell.

"Who?"

"it's me."

The door opened, and Wang Zhen stood in the doorway. The two looked at each other, and she bit her lip lightly, tilted her head back slightly, and exhaled. Her bangs fluttered playfully before falling back onto her forehead. After a while, she smiled, opened her arms, and hugged Lu Ze.

"Long time no see. Come in quickly, Lao Zhuang! Look who's here. Give me your bag, and I'll find you some slippers later."

The room was crowded. The moment Lu Ze walked in, the lively atmosphere quieted down, and all eyes were on him. Only one chubby boy took advantage of the moment to secretly grab a piece of candy from the table and put it in his mouth, making a smacking sound.

"What? Don't you recognize me?"

Taking off his hat and tossing it onto the sofa, Lu Ze waved his hand, smiled at everyone, walked to the table, picked up the chubby little boy who had been stealing candy, and gently bounced him around.

"Xiao Liang, how did you get so fat? Have you been eating well at home all the time? How much do you weigh now? This big fat boy is so heavy, it's hard to even hold him. Come here, call me Dad."

Xiao Liang was a little timid, but he was still sucking on the candy in his mouth. His mouth was shiny with saliva. He looked back at his own parents and weakly pushed the uncle, whose identity he had forgotten, with his chubby little hands.

"Get lost! Don't you dare take advantage of my son. You're just a godfather, Xiao Liang. Have you forgotten who used to buy you toys when you were a kid? Why didn't you say hello? You have no manners. Call me Uncle."

Xiao Liang greeted Lu Ze in a childish voice, and Lu Ze was satisfied before putting him down. He walked to Song Guiyuan's side, nudged Song Guiyuan's thigh with his foot to make room for him, sat down with a thud, picked up the scattered balloons on the table, blew them up, skillfully tied them, and handed them to Zhuang Xue to tie to a string.

Actually, nothing particularly touching happened. The atmosphere became lively again, just like before. However, there was an extra man in the crowd who was seriously blowing up balloons, his mouth bulging out. He was occasionally teasing a chubby little boy, and the two of them, one big and one small, seemed to be having a good time.

Zhuang Yu leaned against the door frame with a smile on his face, his gaze sweeping over the large group of people before finally settling on Lu Ze. Wang Zhen was in his arms, his large hand stroking her shoulder and then patting her back.

"You seem to have gained some weight too, your face is rounder. Have you been holed up in the tavern drinking all day and not exercising anymore? Your belly is almost as big as mine. You're not as youthful as you used to be. By the way, Lu'er, I heard you have a girlfriend?"

Old Song truly lived up to his reputation as a key member of the gossip team. He was always eager to hear about such things, and whenever there was any good news, he would always try to find out. Sometimes Lu Ze found him quite annoying. When he brought up this question, everyone's ears perked up, and their work slowed down. He didn't avoid the topic and nodded somewhat speechlessly.

"Do you have any photos? Let me see them, and I'll give you my opinion, sister-in-law."

Others refrained from approaching due to the distance between them, but Zhuang Xue was different. She eagerly craned her neck, eager to see what Lu Ze's girlfriend looked like. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Zhuang Xue, a well-bred lady from a scholarly family and an excellent piano teacher at the National Conservatory of Music, had also picked up the habit of gossip, becoming no different from any other middle-aged woman who was just a chattering gossip.

"Alright, sister-in-law, I still have work to do, so please don't make things difficult for me. I'm easily embarrassed. You can check it out for me after everything is finalized, okay?"

"You're thin-skinned? Who would believe you? Thanks to Lu Ze for his Oscar-worthy performance. Go ahead and pretend. It's real anyway. Whether it's acting or not, we won't be able to tell."

Old Song made a sarcastic remark, which earned him an elbow strike from Lu Ze. However, the matter ended there, and no one brought it up again. Everyone continued to busy themselves with decorating the wedding room. It must be said that many hands make light work. The men put up "double happiness" characters and hung balloons on the walls, while the women arranged the decorations. Soon, the 500-square-meter newlywed villa was completed. It was not appropriate to cook in the wedding room, so the group got into the car in a lively atmosphere and headed to the hotel that Zhuang Yu had booked. After they were seated, the food and drinks were served quickly, but no one touched their chopsticks first. It wasn't until Zhuang Yu quietly poured himself a glass of white wine, stood up, looked around at everyone, pursed his lips, and slowly spoke.

"Everyone here is either our family or our closest friends, so I won't waste any more words. Thank you all for coming to help my wife and me prepare our wedding home. Please forgive me if there's anything I haven't done well in terms of hospitality. As a man who is almost thirty-seven years old when I get married, I'm still very nervous under these circumstances. Cheers!"

After downing two ounces of baijiu, a flush immediately rose on his face. He wasn't a heavy drinker, but he was going all out from the start today, which naturally drew applause from everyone. Only Lu Ze noticed that Wang Zhen had taken his hand and gently pinched the back of it. Sure enough, in this situation, only a wife truly cared for her husband.

Everyone chimed in, raising their glasses and saying auspicious words, making the soon-to-be-married couple smile broadly. The atmosphere was incredibly lively. Amidst the cheers, the two drank the nuptial wine, which was recorded by Wang Zhen's family.

Lu Ze smiled and took a sip of baijiu, quietly watching the two constantly showing affection, until a big, fat arm wrapped around his shoulder, and a question with a faint smell of alcohol came to his ear.

"Look, my brother-in-law has already settled down, aren't you worried at all? When will I get to drink your wedding wine?"

“Me? I’m not in a hurry. There are plenty of people in their thirties who aren’t married. I’m not as old as you guys. You got married at thirty-four, right? Old Zhuang was almost forty before he settled down. How can I, a young man, compare to you?”

"You really deserve a beating. So Zhuang Yu and I are both older men, right? I thought the same thing as you back then. Even after I got married, I still thought I was a young man. When your sister-in-law was pregnant with Xiao Liang, I was dumbfounded. I thought to myself, I'm still a child, how could I have a child? After Xiao Liang was born, I realized, hey, I've become an old man. Oops, I misspoke, I was wrong, wife."

Ignoring this 37-year-old, 200-pound "kid," since his wife would handle his drunken ramblings anyway, Lu Ze, upon hearing this, actually thought of Gao Peiling, who was far away in Lühua. He had indeed been dating Gao Peiling with the intention of marriage, not just to be a scoundrel. Imagining their future life together, Lu Ze also had some aspirations. With a smile on his face, he picked up a piece of food and raised his wine glass again.

After a few rounds of drinks, everyone was a little tipsy and started chatting. Lu Ze spoke very little and mostly listened until he noticed someone staring at him. He turned his head and met the eyes of a girl who was there for some reason.

Uncle Lu

The person staring at Lu Ze was none other than Guo Mingde's niece, Pei Yuanhui, who participated in the filming of "Yinhuang". She had a good relationship with Lu Ze in the crew before, but this time when they met, they barely communicated. This was the first time she had formally greeted Lu Ze today. Lu Ze nodded and didn't say much. Instead, Zhuang Yu picked up his wine glass, walked to Lu Ze's side, put his arm around Lu Ze's shoulder and smiled.

"Everyone's busy, I forgot to tell you, you definitely know Lao Guo's niece, she's here to be Zhenzi's bridesmaid, and she's also the second female lead in my new movie."

"Old Zhuang, you've had too much to drink."

Lu Ze interrupted Zhuang Yu, simply patting the hand on his shoulder. Lu Ze wasn't interested in how Pei Huiyuan, a newbie who had only acted in one drama, had joined Zhuang Yu's crew; it was nothing more than an exchange of interests. Zhuang Yu wasn't a free man either, so such things were unavoidable.

Moreover, Pei Yuanhui is in the same company as Zhuang Yu. If the company wants to promote her, it would be difficult for Zhuang Yu to refuse. However, Lu Ze believed that Zhuang Yu, a man with an extreme possessiveness towards his own work, would definitely not arrange for her to play an important role.

What he really meant by interrupting Zhuang Yu was to stop him from continuing the script, not because he was afraid of spoilers, but because he was no longer fit to listen to these things.

Zhuang Yu swayed, looking like he was almost drunk and unconscious. He chuckled, patted Lu Ze on the shoulder, and turned back to his seat. No one noticed that his gaze dimmed the moment he turned, then returned to calm. He was drunk, he could feel it himself, but as for his work, if he didn't want to talk about it, even if you poured two pounds of rat poison down his throat, he wouldn't say a word.

He just wanted Lu Ze to give him some serious feedback, offer some professional advice on his work, and have a conversation with him. He wanted to use the alcohol as an excuse to act like he used to.

Of this large group of people, only three understood him: Lu Ze, Wang Zhen, and Song Guiyuan. Apart from these three, even his own sister wouldn't understand his current emotions. Everyone continued eating and drinking as usual, except for these three who remained somewhat silent. As for Zhuang Yu, he held up his wine glass and begged for more wine from his family members, who had stopped giving him any.

The dinner didn't finally come to a complete end until 9 p.m. The ladies were tidying up their bags and checking if anything had been left behind on the table, while the men were already rubbing their hands together, ready for the men's revelry to begin.

"Lu'er, keep an eye on Lao Zhuang. He's already drunk too much. Don't let him drink any more."

"Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on him. You guys go back and take care of yourselves, get some rest, and dress up nicely for tomorrow. We won't stay out too long; we'll play a little longer and then head back."

Lu Ze helped Zhuang Yu up and comforted Wang Zhen, whose eyes were filled with obvious worry. The men began to howl like wolves, preparing to head towards a location that Lu Ze did not know. However, he heard Wang Zhen's next words.

"Lu'er, actually, you should listen to what Lao Zhuang says. It will make him feel better. Tomorrow is the day we get married. I'm asking you for help."

Lu Ze and Wang Zhen exchanged a glance. Seeing tears welling up in her eyes, he paused for a moment, then took a deep drag on the cigarette he was holding, threw it on the ground, stubbed it out with his toe, and nodded to Wang Zhen with a smile.

"Hey."

"."

(End of this chapter)