Global Film Emperor

Chapter 327 Returning Home
"Crunch. Crunch."

Although the weather across the country has been quite abnormal in recent years, the snowfall in the northern mountainous areas is still more than in the city. When you return to the countryside, the snow on the road is about the middle of your shoes. When you step on it, it makes a sound that some people may find unpleasant.

Back in Lühua, the wind was still quite strong, blowing the snowflakes on the top layer of snow like sand. Inevitably, some snow was blown into shoes, melted by the feet, and soaked the socks. This was the state Lu Ze was in right now.

Because of the snow, Lu Ze could only carry his suitcase and move forward slowly. Fortunately, Lu Ze had funded the renovation of this road, otherwise it would still be so bumpy and uneven that walking a few miles would really exhaust a person.

The cripple, having never been to such a freezing place before and exhausted from the journey, appeared somewhat listless. He huddled inside Lu Ze's coat, only peeking out with his head sticking out, seemingly still quite curious about the snow.

I haven't been back to the village for almost five years. The population here is dwindling. It should be lunchtime at noon, but most of the chimneys no longer emit smoke. My mother told me that there are less than two hundred people left in the village. Those who remain are either not very capable and struggling to make ends meet, or they are elderly people who simply can't get used to city life.

As they entered the village, the roads were inevitably icy and slippery. Even Lu Ze slipped and fell on his backside. He got up, brushed the snow off his bottom, and comforted the limping man who had been startled.

Hehehehehe

The laughter mocking Lu Ze came from not far away. The voice was childish and babyish. Lu Ze glanced in the direction of the sound and saw a child who looked to be about five or six years old hiding behind a red brick wall. Only his little head was showing. His fingers, which were gripping the wall, were dirty. He was obviously a free-range child like the ones commonly seen in the village.

"Don't laugh! Whose son are you? Come here, let me teach you a lesson for your father."

Seeing Lu Ze scolding him, the child wasn't afraid at all. To put it nicely, he was resilient; in reality, he just deserved a beating. He kept laughing and then disappeared behind the wall, shouting, "Dad! Someone's going to hit me!"

"If he hits you, then hit him back! You can't afford to lose in a war. Beat him up, and let's see who dares to hit you. Daze? When did you get back? Why didn't anyone come to pick you up with that suitcase?"

A figure in a green military overcoat emerged from behind the wall. Upon seeing Lu Ze, the figure looked particularly surprised. After glancing around to make sure no one was there, the figure quickly came over and picked up the suitcase, but Lu Ze politely declined.

This man is called Lu Fangwei. He is two years younger than Lu Ze and is the grandson of Lu Ze's second grandfather, making him Lu Ze's cousin. He graduated from junior high school and was once a student at Zhao Jiabangzi Middle School with Lu Ze. He was a troublemaker who fought with kids from neighboring villages all the time. He was also a naughty person. Although his grades were originally quite good, he chose to drop out of school. Now, I heard that he is working as a migrant worker in the provincial capital.

"Give it to me, it's alright, give it to me, you haven't had anyone help you carry things for years, are you used to it? Give it to me, you fell just now, didn't you? We're all family, why are you being so polite with me?"

Lu Ze had calluses on his hands and was quite tall, but compared to Lu Fangwei, he was nothing. When their hands touched, Lu Ze felt like he was touching an old man's heel.

Furthermore, a keen-eyed observer noticed that Lu Fangwei's large hands were very shiny, and his fingerprints had been worn away. His hands weren't like this the last time they met, indicating that he had suffered a lot in the past few years.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony with you. Are you working at home now? Not going out? Is this your son? When I came back last time, he was only two months old. He was quite naughty, just like you were when you were little."

“I wasn’t as naughty as him when I was a kid. I still had to go out to work. Now that winter is here, the construction site can’t work, so I’m going home early.”

"I remember you don't do home renovations, right?"

"I stopped doing home renovations a long time ago. It was a 'wait-and-see' job, one day on, one day off. Now I do commercial renovations. I earn less than in home renovations, but it's more stable. I do interior wall construction, but it's too cold to do that now."

Having a child is bound to be much more tiring than being a father. Only after becoming a father can one feel that constant pressure and be considered a truly mature man.

Lu Ze understood and didn't ask who the child was living with. The idea that raising a child means not only raising them to adulthood but also accompanying them as they grow up is true for high-income families, but for people living at the bottom of society, being able to raise a child successfully is already a great achievement.

"Working in commercial decoration is different from working in residential decoration. We need to be more careful than before. Now we have elderly parents to support and young children to raise, so we must pay attention to safety and not be in such a hurry to save money for our son to get married."

In the past few years, Lu Ze's success has not brought any earth-shattering changes to the Lu family. They have not begged Lu Ze to find a decent job. It seems that apart from Lu Ze's presence, which makes them feel more confident, they only have capital to brag about to their friends.

Over the years, Lu Ze hasn't really helped them much, except for repairing a road and funding the construction of a Hope Primary School by the government to improve its teaching facilities. The only other thing Lu Ze did was give 50,000 yuan to his third uncle who had a brain hemorrhage.

The two walked and talked. The children beside them knew this man was his uncle, and they became much quieter. There were many rules in the village, and arguing with elders could get you hung from a tree and beaten. It wasn't until they reached the fishpond that Lu Ze frowned as he looked at the fishpond, which was now overgrown with weeds, and then asked Lu Fangwei about the person he hadn't inquired about for several years.

"Where did Lu Qiang go? Didn't he contract the fishpond? How come it's been abandoned like this and he still doesn't care?"

Lu Fangwei also expressed considerable disgust towards his cousin, but he couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. He took the cigarette Lu Ze offered, glanced at it, and realized it wasn't the same brand he used to smoke. However, for him, it was still a premium cigarette that he might not even be able to afford at banquets. He was a little reluctant to smoke it, so he put it behind his ear and took out a Huang Hongmei cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

"Fishpond? Lu Qiang had honestly raised fish for half a year, but then he went back to his old ways and started gambling again. I heard he cheated and was beaten so badly that he was crippled. Three of his fingers were cut off, and one of his legs was crippled. He also owed more than 200,000 yuan in high-interest loans. They chased him to the village, and the villagers fought with the debt collectors. It was a big fight, and many people from the surrounding villages came to help. There were more than a thousand people in total. They were beaten badly by the debt collectors and had to kneel on the ground and kowtow."

"and after?"

"Later, the police came, and my second uncle asked my aunt for help to settle the matter. The boss knew that my aunt was my second uncle's daughter, so he didn't ask for the principal back and just let it go. Daqiang stayed in the village for three months to recover from his injuries, and then he left. He was gone for several years and never came back."

Lu Ze had no pity for Lu Qiang. If he hadn't been afraid of angering his fourth uncle to death back then, Lu Ze would never have helped him. At the time, he thought that if Lu Qiang could change, he would consider him a relative. After all, everyone makes mistakes. But this time, he was shameless. Whether he lived or died was none of Lu Ze's business. He wouldn't even help collect the body if he died.

As for my aunt, she is the only high-ranking official from their village, working in the provincial public security department. Her husband is in the military and is almost twenty years older than her. I won't go into how powerful he is, but anyway, my aunt's husband isn't close to the Lu family.

"What about Fourth Uncle? How are the old couple doing now?"

"Fourth Uncle is alright. After all, Daqiang has called back a few times, and everyone knows he's still alive. It's good that he's alive. It's just that Fourth Aunt, after Daqiang was crippled, she cried so much that she couldn't see anything last year."

Aside from the fact that he had committed a terrible crime, Lu Ze had no other opinion about Lu Qiang. Back then, his fourth uncle carried Lu Ze's grandfather's coffin up the mountain. The mountain was extremely steep, and it was snowing heavily. After carrying the coffin, the fourth uncle and the others all had to lie on the kang (a heated brick bed) to rest for half a month. Lu Ze remembered this kindness. Li Yumei and Lu Weiguo hadn't told him about Lu Qiang's situation, but now that he knew, he would have to go and see him when he got home.

As he walked to Lu Ze's house, looking at this country mansion, Lu Ze was somewhat relieved, at least the house that his parents also liked very much was kept.

Just as I reached the gate of the courtyard, I saw Li Yumei carrying a basin of steaming dirty water, preparing to pour it outside. Sensing someone at the gate, she turned around and smashed the basin and the remaining dirty water on the ground.

"Daze"

Li Yumei's tears immediately welled up. She quickly walked down the steps and ran towards Lu Ze, wanting to reach out and touch his face. However, because she had just finished cutting pork and hadn't washed her hands, she put her hand down as soon as she reached out, but tears continued to fall.

In Li Yumei's mind, Lu Ze must have suffered a lot of grievances, but he has never told her, his mother, about it. He has been bearing it all by himself all these years. How can she not feel sorry for him?

"Mom, it's okay, why are you crying? Dawei is still here, Dad."

Perhaps hearing the noise, Lu Weiguo also came out leaning on his cane, his hands behind his back. He looked much older than he had during the last New Year. Clearly, he was also upset about Lu Ze's matter. He nodded, did not respond to Lu Ze's words, and slowly walked to the basin, quietly picking it up.

Lu Weiguo didn't want to bring up his son's wounds again, so as not to add unnecessary pressure to Lu Ze. Since the matter was over, let it be over.

Lu Ze took the luggage and put it at home, then invited Lu Fangwei and his child to come in and sit down. However, Lu Fangwei and his son had come out to buy seasonings, and the food at home was already in the pot, so Lu Ze felt it was inappropriate to keep them. In the end, he could only arrange for Lu Fangwei to bring his wife and child over for a meal the next day.

Before leaving, Lu Ze took out his wallet, rummaged through the little cash inside, took out two hundred and stuffed it into the child's hand. Faced with Lu Fangwei's refusal, Lu Ze's attitude was firm this time.

"It's definitely not what it used to be, but I can still come up with two hundred. It's not for you, it's for the kids to buy food. Don't refuse. This is all I can afford right now."

"."

(End of this chapter)