Global Film Emperor

Chapter 334 Be a human being
March 15th, late at night the night before the beer shop opened.

"Clang clang clang clang. Thump."

With a pair of worn-out work gloves and a can of beer in his hand, he carefully climbed the ladder and placed the beer in a prominent position on the top shelf. There was always a hint of apprehension in his movements. After all, this can of feverish, four-times cloudy IPA was worth several thousand yuan. In this store with only 700,000 yuan worth of stock, it could be considered the store's prized possession.

The room was well heated, and the temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius. Lu Ze had been working for a long time wearing short sleeves and was covered in sweat, which reflected a little light under the dim wall lamp.

After descending the ladder, I took two steps back and looked at the wine rack that reached the ceiling, filled with a dazzling array of drinks. I felt a sense of accomplishment and took out my phone from my jeans pocket to take a picture.

He went into the small bar and took out the custom-made photo frame. To be honest, the quality wasn't very good; there were still some wood chips and scraps on the glass, which Lu Ze had to clean himself.

It's worth mentioning that Lao Song came a few days ago, but due to time constraints, he only stayed for one day before leaving. However, he did bring some gifts for Lu Ze.

He lit a cigarette, put it in his mouth, took out a large brown paper bag from the cabinet, untied the rope binding his back, and inside were many photos, all brought over by his friends through Lao Song. They were all group photos of Lu Ze with these friends.

Besides individual photos, there were also many group photos of the entire crew. Holding the photos in my hand, I looked at them for a while under the dim yellow light, smiled, and carefully placed them in the frames. They were then properly hung in the locations that had been decided upon. There were so many photos that the entire wall was covered with them.

Just as he was about to throw away the brown paper bag, he felt a slight ridge at the bottom. Clearly, besides the photos, there were some things Lu Ze hadn't noticed before. He opened the bag and emptied it, and several folded small pieces of paper fell out.

He flicked away the ash from his half-burnt cigarette, returned to his seat, and opened the papers.

"I believe this is not easy for anyone, but you are Lu Ze, so you are not a loser. The light shining on you will never be extinguished. Sending you my blessings from the capital: Your friend Zhuang Yu."

"We will meet again, I firmly believe, not in real life, but on the screen. I look forward to reuniting with you, old friends. If I cry, please don't laugh at me, Wang Zhen."

"I just drank quite a bit and I'm feeling dizzy now. When I picked up the pen, my mind was filled with images, but I didn't know what to say. We've known each other for eight years, and my first impression of you is still that of you with your buzz cut, looking a little green. I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep now. I wish you a happy life, my good brother, Zheng Yi."

There were twelve slips of paper in total, with only a few hundred words in total. Lu Ze read them for a long time, then pinched the corner of his eye, revealed a smile, took a bottle of beer from the liquor shelf behind him, opened it, and drank it all in one go.

Why all the emotional stuff?

After looking around, he finally took out a box of tea, put the tea leaves aside, carefully placed the note inside, put it in the drawer, and gently locked it.

I turned on the small colored lights hanging on the French windows, and the colorful breathing lights began to flash. My fingers traced across the eight large refrigerators before I finally walked to the door and gently pressed the wall lamp switch, plunging the room into darkness.

After taking a shower, I put on a white tank top and shorts, slipped on my slippers, and went back to the small bedroom that had been converted from the coffee shop staff changing room. I lay on the bed, turned on the bedside lamp, took out a black leather diary from the bedside table drawer, and twirled a ballpoint pen in my hand a few times.

He couldn't remember when he started keeping a diary. He didn't write every day, but only when he was in a good mood would he record something memorable, like today.

"March 15th, tomorrow is the opening day. I have mixed feelings. After all, I have invested almost all of my money. If the business is not good, I may really have to find a job to make a living. I don't know if my gamble was right. To be honest, I am a little anxious."

"Today I hung up photos of everyone on the wall, and suddenly, I felt incredibly nostalgic for the past. I miss the friends I made on the road, even though it's only been three months since I left. I really miss them. I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to appear in front of them like before."

"A lot has really changed in three months. Zixuan is wearing her construction helmet again. She looks pretty silly in the photos. She doesn't even know to alter her oversized work clothes. Brother Liu and his wife opened a small restaurant. I wonder how the food is. I really want to try it. I wonder which country Aunt Han went to to relax."

"It must be hard to return to an ordinary life. I hope all those I have let down are doing well. Good night."

I closed the diary, stubbed out the cigarette, waved away the smoke that was clearly visible under the light, put the diary back in the bottom drawer, leaned against the headboard, and closed my eyes to rest.

A black figure silently jumped onto the bed and sat beside Lu Ze, quietly watching him. For a moment, there was a lamp, a person, and a cat, creating an unusually tranquil and harmonious atmosphere. It wasn't until the cat gently nibbled on Lu Ze's finger that Lu Ze, who was lost in thought, was awakened. A pair of large hands covered the cat's head and gently rubbed its forehead wrinkles.

"Want to sleep together? Okay, time for bed."

He cuddled it into bed, pulled the light cord, and rubbed his face against its soft fur, which felt incredibly comfortable. Then, a mechanical voice suddenly echoed in his mind, surprising Lu Ze. Since he withdrew from the filming of "Yinhuang," the system hadn't thought of him again. It had been almost four months.

Lu Ze thought that if he never acted again in his life, the system would never run again, but unexpectedly, less than four months later, he heard that stiff and rigid voice again.

"Host detected to be in rest mode, preparing to enter teaching mode."

The next second, Lu Ze fell asleep. The lame dog, its eyes wide open, waited until it was sure Lu Ze was asleep before quietly crawling out of Lu Ze's arms and into its own little bed. Lu Ze snored in his sleep, and it couldn't sleep lying next to him. "Detected that the host has not accepted any new script invitations for one hundred days. Forced practical review. Please choose a script yourself. After the review, external script memories will be retained, and the system will generate a new script. The plot will be hidden, leaving only the characters' performance memories. 95 points is passing, 97 points is good, and 98 points is excellent. The score will be determined by the system. Failure will result in a penalty."

Forced practical review. Lu Ze was not surprised at all. Having lived with the system for so many years, he knew the system's nature well. In other words, he knew exactly what the system was up to. It just saw that Lu Ze was so idle these days that even farting made him feel bad, so it had to find something for Lu Ze to do.

He didn't mind studying at all. After all, acting had become a part of his life. It would be impossible for Lu Ze not to feel bored after not filming for so many days. He had never had a 100-day vacation before. When he was busy, he was fine, but when he was idle, he felt uneasy and always felt like something was missing.

People are really just like that. When he was filming, he was busy and tired every day. During his lazy period, Lu Ze wished he could eat the script. But being busy eventually became a habit. Not filming can really make you sick.

Lu Ze was having a bit of a headache looking at the scoring criteria. He couldn't act in every script unless he was made of clay. No, in the system space, he really was made of clay.

In short, we also need to consider whether the character image fits Lu Ze. Otherwise, if we force Lu Ze to play the role, it won't taste right. It's like a plate of spicy chicken that's sweet. How can you not feel disgusted eating it?
Furthermore, Lu Ze wanted to ask, who considers 95 points a passing grade? Even the most difficult driving test only gets 90! Is that a number that anyone can determine?

It's estimated that beatings will become commonplace in the coming days. What kind of life is it for a man in his thirties to be beaten every day? Just thinking about it makes Lu Ze feel bitter. Right now, all he can think about is what position he should lie in so that the beatings will be less severe.

The image of the system has now taken shape in Lu Ze's mind: a burly man over two meters tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, all muscle, grabbing Lu Ze by the neck, slapping the script on Lu Ze's face, and saying, "Act for me."

Wait, why does the image that flashes through my mind is that of a black and white husky with its front paws raised, mouth agape, eyes wide open, and leash around its neck, scared by other dogs?
I don't want to think about all that nonsense anymore. Luckily, I can choose my own script, which reduces the difficulty a lot. The system has done its job.

"Loading complete. Preparing to enter the script library. Course 321 begins."

In the white system space, the huge red numbers above began to jump, and the space darkened as usual until it was pitch black, and then the light came back.

He stood in front of a sofa, the flames of the fireplace leaping and sending out the warmth of the wood turning to ash. There were some snacks on the coffee table, and the carpet felt so real, as if it were really worth tens of thousands of yuan per square meter.

This scene is very similar to a common shot in European and American movies, where two trees are used for Christmas. But here there are no trees, no turkeys, and no children opening presents. Santa Claus would probably be burned alive if he crawled into the fireplace.

However, the scene was still heartwarming and looked very comfortable, until Lu Ze turned around, his pupils dilated slightly, and he gave the system a friendly greeting.

"I'll fuck your mother."

Two enormous bookshelves, each at least five meters high and seven or eight meters long, stood against the wall, neatly arranged, leaving only a passageway about two meters wide, facing Lu Ze and displaying him an overwhelming number of scripts.

Behind these two bookshelves were two more bookshelves of the same size, and then two more bookshelves. Because there was no light inside, Lu Ze couldn't judge how long the aisle was, but he was certain it was much longer than he had imagined. Why? Because next to him was a brand-new Emma electric scooter.
He walked up to the bookshelf, picked up a book at random, and discovered that the script had already been made into a movie. This meant that the script already existed, but it was a terrible film. This proved that not all scripts here were of high quality. Whether they were good or bad, Lu Ze had to choose for himself.

However, the sharp-eyed Lu Ze spotted a movie script that he was very interested in and had read many times. He pushed the large ladder in front of the bookshelf over, jammed the bottom rollers, climbed to the top, and pulled out the script.

Each script here is made of cardboard, like high-end books. When you open it, the paper is of very high quality, feels great to the touch, and you can even smell the ink when you take a deep breath.

Lu Ze stopped looking and decided on this one. He decided to start with some existing scripts and begin with the simpler ones to avoid getting beaten up on the first day of review.

The sofa wasn't as soft as I'd imagined; it only sank in halfway down my buttocks. Then I could feel a supportive force that protected my lower back well, so even if I sat for a long time, I wouldn't get too tired or my buttocks would go numb.

He reached out and picked up the kettle on the coffee table. There was liquid inside. He took out a cup and poured out the light green water. He picked it up and smelled it to confirm that it was tea, not water that had been sitting for too long and had grown mold. Then the temperature passed through the cup into Lu Ze's palm. He took a sip and found that the taste was good and the temperature was just right.

Lu Ze covered his knees with a dark green blanket with a monogram pattern, picked up the various colored markers from the coffee table, and officially opened the script of the classic inspirational movie that had moved him countless times: Forrest Gump.

"Should we choose 'Forrest Gump'?"

The system's voice sounded, and Lu Ze flipped through the script, giving a soft "hmm" to express his decision.

"The script is finalized. Forrest Gump will be filmed in 120 hours. The countdown has begun."

"Have some decency!!!"

"."

(End of this chapter)