Global Film Emperor

Chapter 61 Happy New Year

"Roar, roar, roar, roar~"

The family raised a total of ten chickens and five geese. Lu Ze carried a basin filled with rice husks and placed it in the pen to call the poultry over to eat the husks. As for pigs and dogs, the family did not keep any.

"Weiguo! Is Weiguo home? Hey? When did Daze return?"

An elderly man, who was still quite robust, pushed open the iron gate, greeted Lu Weiguo, and asked Lu Ze a question with delight.

"I came back last night. My dad is watching TV in the house. What's up, Second Master?"

Lu Ze was all smiles. This was the only remaining grandfather in the Lu family. Other uncles and maternal uncles were not included. The second uncle and Lu Ze's grandfather were from the same mother. As for Lu Ze's grandparents, they had already passed away.

“I won’t call you Dad if you’re home. Come on, come with Second Uncle. Second Uncle’s slaughtering a pig. Come and lend a hand.”

This is a tradition in rural Northeast China. Before the Lunar New Year, families that raise pigs will usually slaughter one to prepare for the holiday. In the past, family members would help out and would also receive a share of the pork to take home. The first meal made with the pork was the famous "pig-slaughtering feast".

"Alright, I'll be right there. Come inside, Second Master, and have some tea with my father."

After changing into a green work coat, Lu Ze went to Second Master's house. Lu Nan wanted to join in the fun, so Lu Ze had no choice but to bring her along.

When Lu Ze returned yesterday, it was lunchtime and there was no one on the road. This morning, there were many more people on the roadside, and they all greeted Lu Ze warmly. Before that disaster, the Lu family's standard of living in the village was actually quite good. Moreover, the Lu family patriarch was highly respected in the village, and almost every family could establish some connection with the Lu family.

Lu Ze's grandmother originally had four children, but unfortunately the eldest and second eldest died young. The third eldest was an aunt who had married and moved to the south. Although they kept in touch frequently, she hadn't seen Lu Weiguo for a long time. Lu Ze had only visited his aunt's house to deliver gifts during holidays.

There were already quite a few people in the courtyard of Second Uncle's house, all of them from Lu Weiguo's cousins' families. Several children were also playing and making a ruckus in the courtyard, occasionally kicking his father when he got angry.

The pig, weighing over 300 jin, was already tied up and lay on the wooden frame, squealing incessantly. After the water boiled, Second Master handed the knife to Lu Ze. It wasn't the first time for Lu Ze to do this; he took the knife and scraped it on the whetstone.

He spat the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out. Then he made a horizontal cut across the pig's neck, and blood gushed out instantly. Lu Nan placed the basin down, and not a single drop of blood fell into it.

The pig began to writhe and squeal wildly. Such a sound would inevitably frighten a child, but Lu Ze's hands did not tremble at all. He continued to cut steadily. With someone holding down the pig's head, it saved a lot of trouble. Lu Ze easily drained the blood from the pig.

So, most of the kids in the village who were of the same generation as Lu Ze and had seen him slaughter pigs were afraid of him. He started slaughtering pigs when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, and he would bleed the pigs with a blank expression. The cuts he made were better than those of the older generation. Who wouldn't be afraid of him?

After that, the stomach was cut open and thrown into the water. The women cleaned the intestines, then began to fill them with blood and steam them. The pork was also cut up, and sauerkraut was added to stew it. Soon the yard was filled with a delicious aroma.

After having a glass of baijiu with a group of elders, Lu Ze turned to look at Lu Nan. The girl was eating happily, showing no signs of the fear she had shown when the pig was being slaughtered earlier.

This girl never learns from her mistakes. When they were little, Lu Ze even suspected that his sister was mentally challenged and suggested that Li Yumei take her to the hospital to have her intelligence checked.

After all, he didn't think any other little girl was as naughty as Lu Nan. She dared to tie firecrackers to a cow's tail, climbed onto the roof and removed tiles all day long, and even stole the old man's pipe to sneak a couple of puffs in the toilet before being caught by Lu Ze. She was beaten by Lu Ze every day, and would cry whenever she was beaten. When she realized that no one was paying attention to her, she would stop crying and continue to cling to the brother who had just beaten her so badly.

After a lot of fighting, there will inevitably be accidental injuries. Only then will Lu Nan feel wronged and ignore Lu Ze. But as soon as she sees that Lu Ze has some good food in his hand, she immediately loses all shame and runs over to apologize to Lu Ze.

Thinking back to that time, Lu Ze smiled and casually touched his sister's long black hair. Lu Nan, sucking on her chopsticks, looked at Lu Ze with a puzzled expression, shook her head, took Lu Ze's hand away, reached out and picked up a piece of pork, stuffed it into her mouth, and then picked up another piece and gave it to her four-year-old nephew. The two of them smiled so much that their eyes narrowed into crescent moons.

"We're sending you the God of Wealth! Take one, it's free, may it bring you good fortune and longevity in the New Year! May you make a fortune!"

After bringing the pork home, a "God of Wealth" arrived. It was actually just a piece of plastic sheet with a picture of the God of Wealth with clasped hands and a New Year's calendar printed on it, which could be stuck on the wall.

Lu Ze took out five yuan and gave it to him. This was the rule: when someone comes to deliver something, you have to give them money. The other party also had to follow the rules. You can't accept money the first time they offer it. You have to say that you can't accept money when you're delivering the God of Wealth. You have to argue a few times before they will accept it. Then you have to say a few nice words to the family before you can turn around and leave.

Lu Ze estimated that a single sheet of paper would only cost a few cents wholesale. By going door to door and visiting every village, he could make a net profit of about 10,000 to 20,000 yuan in just a few days.

Lu Ze had once thought about doing this job to make some money, but Li Yumei scolded him severely, saying it was a shameful business that only outsiders would do, and that locals would starve rather than do it.

"Go and put it on."

He handed it to Lu Nan, who accepted the order and stuck it above the TV, even asking Lu Weiguo if it was stuck straight.

Lu Ze changed into clean clothes, went to the cabinet in the east room, lit incense for his grandparents, kowtowed, and then took Lu Nan to buy New Year's goods. This time was agreed upon; everyone would take a minivan or tractor to town together, and pool their money to pay the driver for gas.

Doing this is definitely against traffic laws, but there's no other way. The roads are difficult to travel on, and the village always needs to buy New Year's goods. This habit has been maintained for more than 20 years, and fortunately, no accidents have ever happened.

They went to town and bought a lot of things, not just for their own family, but also for their relatives and friends. Lu Ze now has nephews and nieces, so they also had to buy a dozen red envelopes. They exchanged the money in town for change and took it home.

In the village, the New Year's money given to children is usually twenty or fifty yuan. Lu Ze didn't plan to be extravagant and give several hundred yuan; fifty yuan per child would be enough.

Twelve dishes, four cold dishes and eight hot dishes. Since childhood, Lu Ze had been looking forward to this hot meal on New Year's Eve. After the New Year, he would look forward to the next year every three hundred days or so.

The lights in the house were all on, and the Spring Festival Gala was playing on the TV. Lu Nan was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) playing on her phone, while Lu Weiguo and Li Yumei were making dumplings. Since Lu Weiguo didn't have two fingers, he could only help roll out the dough.

Lu Ze picked up his phone, walked to the east room, plugged in the charger, and started charging his phone while scrolling through his contacts.

Compared to previous years, Lu Ze's circle has grown much larger this year, and there are many people he needs to contact, such as the company's leaders, Shen Jinghan, Cheng Yuan, Guo Mingde, Song Guiyuan, Zeng Long, Liu Le and his group.

As for the extras and some actors he wasn't very familiar with, Lu Ze simply sent them group text messages.

There were also the directors he met while working on character projects. These directors rarely had contact information, since not every director could chat with each character he worked with for more than a few minutes, let alone exchange contact information. In order to expand his network and become more familiar with them, he called them one by one.

As for
"Remember, you have to be in Tengchong by the eighth day of the new year. Eat less during the New Year, or you'll gain weight in just a few days. That's all, bye."

After hanging up with Guo Mingde, Lu Ze lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) and stretched. Making too many phone calls was tiring, really tiring.

His phone rang again. Lu Ze picked it up, glanced at the screen, paused for a second, and then answered the call hesitantly.

"Lu Ze! Happy New Year! Listen! We set off so many fireworks here, they were so beautiful! It's a pity you can't see them. Have you gone back to Lü Hua yet, Lu Ze? Hello?"

Lu Ze didn't speak; it was as if there was a phlegm stuck in his throat, preventing him from saying a single word.

"Hello? Is this Lu Ze's phone? Are you sure you've got the right number?"

"Huh? Cough, it's me. The signal wasn't very good just now."

"Alright then, Happy New Year!"

"Well, Happy New Year."

"Should I hang up then?"

"it is good."

After I hung up the phone, there was a knock on the door twice.

"Brother, dinner's ready! It's almost midnight!"

"understood."

With a sigh of relief, Lu Ze put on his shoes and went to the west room, sitting down next to Lu Weiguo. It was the time for the Spring Festival Gala bell-ringing segment, and the family of four focused their attention on the television.

Let's count down together! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!

Firecrackers also went off in the village. Lu Ze looked out the window and saw a firework shoot into the sky and explode.
"Dad, Mom, Happy New Year! Dad, let's have a toast!"

I took a sip of wine, and 2017 has arrived. Happy Chinese New Year!
"."

(End of this chapter)