Global Film Emperor

Chapter 359 The story of the boy who cried wolf
It's human nature to like joining in the fun. Unless one is truly indifferent to a certain degree, no country or person can escape this. Lu Ze was no exception, and his attention was drawn to the scene.

However, he didn't keep pushing forward to see everything clearly. Instead, he stood on the outermost edge and, using his height advantage, saw the scene inside through the elderly people and a group of kids.

The blind girl, still leaning on her old cane, kept apologizing to the policeman who questioned her, like a frightened caterpillar, yet she didn't forget to tightly hug the girl hiding behind her with a somewhat dazed look in her eyes.

Directly in front of her, an old woman sat on the ground, clutching her leg and groaning in pain. An old bicycle lay overturned by the roadside, as if it had been in an accident, but anyone who knew the old woman would know what had happened.

Lu Ze had met this old lady once before. She was a con artist who staged accidents for money. He had seen her hit a driver of a Mercedes-Benz at an intersection not far from here. She didn't ask for much, just two or three hundred yuan a time to make a living. Unlike other con artists who would ask for exorbitant sums, most people didn't want to waste time, so they would just haggle and pay her off. Therefore, nothing serious had ever happened to her.

But today, police cars arrived, and the situation clearly escalated, causing quite a stir. Lu Ze learned the gist of the matter from the other elderly people watching. This time, she was trying to extort money from a child with intellectual disabilities.

This situation is very difficult to handle. The child cannot speak clearly, but the old lady said that the road was slippery due to snow and the child bumped into her, and she is asking for medical expenses.

There are cameras on the roadside, but the one that could have captured the incident was broken and no one had bothered to fix it. It's probably because there are cameras five meters away from here, and similar cameras in front of nearby shops and businesses, so no one pays attention to this blind spot of four or five meters. But today, this incident just happened here.

Logically speaking, when needed, shop owners would naturally show the video recordings to the police. But as the saying goes, "a good seedling cannot grow without a good root." The old lady has a son who is a notorious thug in the area. He was imprisoned for three and a half years during the crackdown in early 2019 and has only recently been released. He still doesn't go astray.

Although they might not commit any heinous crimes like murder or arson, these ordinary shop owners would really be in trouble if they were to do something dirty. So, they'd rather avoid trouble altogether. All the businesses either claimed that their cameras were never turned on and were just meant to scare people, or they simply denied having cameras at all. This lack of cooperation from the shop owners made the situation even more complicated.

The police seemed to recognize the old woman and knew she was a professional at causing trouble. Instead of calling an ambulance, they urged her to get up quickly so she wouldn't get too cold and that it wasn't worth it for a few hundred yuan. This conciliatory approach only made the old woman more aggressive, and her cries of pain grew louder, drawing constant pointing and whispering from the onlookers.

As the crowd grew larger, the police looked helplessly at the blind teacher and her students, then at the elderly woman sitting on the ground, and addressed both sides.

"You can come back to the station with me first and we can investigate slowly. You're already blocking the normal passage of cars. Ma'am, please get up and come with us. It's so cold, aren't you afraid of getting sick from the cold? Don't sit on the ground."

Ms. Zhang seemed a little nervous, shaking her head repeatedly while holding the child. The girl was indeed timid, perhaps because she had never been to a police station before and was really frightened. She just wouldn't leave, or perhaps because she was blind, she was wary of anything that could harm her.

"You'd better not let this old lady get up yet. She probably really fell. You'd better call an ambulance first. Don't delay too long, or you won't be able to take responsibility if something happens."

Everyone was a neighbor and knew the old lady very well. Perhaps because of her son, they couldn't openly criticize her, but they still dared to point and whisper. Their words were all directed at the old lady. Suddenly, a sentence that spoke up for the old lady instantly attracted everyone's attention.

Lu Ze didn't intend to exonerate either side, but seeing the old woman's pained expression, which didn't seem feigned, he worried that she might have injured her joints in the cold weather, and that the well-behaved policeman might also suffer as a result. Although he wasn't a great philanthropist, he wouldn't hesitate to offer a few words of help if possible.

All eyes turned to him. Lu Ze, his expression unchanged, repeated a sentence to the police. It was clear that the police recognized Lu Ze, but the old lady had done this kind of thing too many times, so no one believed her now.

"Mr. Lu, are you sure?"

"After acting for so many years, I'm not so bad at not being able to tell whether an old lady is faking pain or really in pain. Call an ambulance, but with the internet so powerful these days, if it goes viral, you'll lose your job."

Whether a person's words are persuasive is closely related to their status or personal charisma. Although the police had only had a short contact with Lu Ze and could not feel his personal charisma, given his status and to avoid getting into trouble, the police still decisively called an ambulance. Lu Ze turned around and squatted down next to the old lady. Without Dr. Lu leading the scene, he did not dare to move rashly, but just sighed as he looked at the old lady's painful expression.

“Auntie, you’re so old, you know more about things than us younger generation. Even three or four-year-olds have heard the story of the boy who cried wolf, and now it’s happened to you. I don’t know how you feel about it. Don’t do this again. If someone catches you doing it next time, even if you’re in the right, you won’t be able to explain yourself. A person’s character is always determined by public opinion.”

"If I don't do this, I won't have a house or land. How am I supposed to live?"

“There are tons of old ladies in their eighties and nineties selling hair ties and hair clips at the train station entrance. They’re still alive, aren’t they? I’ve never seen anyone starve to death because they can’t sell any hair ties today. There are many ways to live. At this age, at least leave yourself some self-respect.”

Lu Ze didn't believe the old lady was any better. You could tell from what she said that. He didn't believe she could change her ways just because of his advice. In fact, the old lady's occasional staged accidents might not earn her as much as setting up a street stall or doing some small business. Doing this kind of thing was inseparable from being idle.

He just noticed that the old lady wasn't much older than his mother, and he couldn't resist offering a word of advice. Whether she listened or not was her business. Whether she would be surrounded by children and grandchildren or end up alone in her old age was none of his concern, and he, Lu Ze, had no intention of doing so. No one would pay for the mess she made. There were plenty of people in the world worse off than her, and he had seen plenty of them.

"My security camera is on. If you want to check it, come to my place. I'm leaving now."

He nodded politely to the police, the commotion no longer affecting him. The sirens of the ambulance drifted from afar. Only the girl, leaning on her crutches, remained quietly lost in thought, listening to where Lu Ze was speaking…

I checked the surveillance footage when I got back. The old lady's fall really had nothing to do with the child. It was just that the road was slippery because of the snow. Although the child's intellectual development is not complete, he has a kind heart, and the old lady took advantage of that. I gave the video to the police, and this mess that had nothing to do with him is now completely over. As for whether her son will cause trouble... well, whoever deals with him can handle it.

……

Business wasn't good on a snowy day; no one came into the shop all morning. It wasn't until noon that Dahai came by. He wasn't there to drink; he just happened to be passing by and brought Lu Ze a cup of still-warm bubble tea.

"Beep beep..."

"Hello? What's wrong?"

Amidst the cat's mournful cries, Lu Ze answered the phone, his hands, tucked between his shoulder and cheek, relentlessly scrubbing the cripple's body, producing large amounts of foam. His calm expression made him look like a murderer in the rain.

"Are you killing cats over there? That's so jarring. Anyway, I have some good news for you. It's already entered into the competition in Berlin, and it might have a two-week theatrical run at the end of February. That would be the first time 'The Effect' is on the big screen. Are you coming?"

"Me? I probably can't go. It's not even the end of February yet, and it's still before the Lantern Festival. I want to spend time with my parents. Can I go if I'm selected?"

"No way! I absolutely have to see you this time. There's something else I want to tell you, something very important! Here's the deal: come to Liverpool to see me on February 20th, and then we'll go to Germany together. Don't refuse, it's really something very important, and I also want to give you a surprise. It's settled then, bye!"

Lu Ze casually tossed the phone aside and exchanged glances with the cripple. After all, the cat was already a big cat when they brought it home, and bathing it had always been something it resisted. Anyone could understand the expression in its eyes at this moment.

Is it okay if I don't wash it?

Lu Ze saw that look in its eyes every time he bathed it, so playing the victim wouldn't work. He just rubbed its head vigorously with his big hand until it was done, looking like a dead cat. "Ring ring..."

"Hello, what can I do for you?"

The bell at the door rang. Lu Ze picked up a small towel and covered the cripple with it. He lifted the curtain and went into the shop. He saw the girl standing quietly at the door. He didn't ask about what happened that morning. Instead, he turned around and went back to the bar to sit down.

The girl and Lu Ze weren't exactly close, but they weren't strangers either. She wasn't as apprehensive as she was when she first entered the store. She just bowed to Lu Ze somewhat reservedly. Perhaps because her sunglasses were old and the temples were a bit loose, the glasses fell to the ground as she bowed.

"oops……"

She hurriedly squatted down and searched for her sunglasses on the ground. Luckily, she had good hearing and listened to where they had fallen. She quickly picked them up and put on the oversized sunglasses that covered half of her face. She calmly patted herself with both hands, but Lu Ze saw that her face instantly turned rosy.

She was always afraid of the shop owner. Although she knew he was a kind-hearted person, Lu Ze spoke to her in the same tone, without any emotional fluctuation. In addition, although she couldn't see him, she could vaguely sense how burly Lu Ze was, which inevitably made her feel that the owner was a difficult person to get along with.

Their hands were intertwined, their nervousness expressed directly through their physical reactions. Lu Ze found it somewhat amusing, but he didn't laugh out loud, allowing the atmosphere to remain awkward.

"Thank you, boss. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult to explain things clearly today. Thank you so much."

"It's nothing, just a few words. Is there anything else?"

Lu Ze's cold words made the atmosphere even more tense, but they also made her notice the music playing in the bar. The unique retro feel of the old-fashioned record player gave the music a strong sense of the era, but the sound quality was very good, which directly captivated her ears. As a music teacher who can play the piano, she instantly recognized that it was Mozart's "Fantasy in D minor".

She was momentarily distracted and forgot to answer Lu Ze's question. She stood there, her ears twitching, but this was definitely not the time to listen to music. Seeing her lost in thought, Lu Ze tapped on the bar counter.

"Oh...I'd like to buy a few bottles of beer, the better kind."

"Do you drink? If it's just to thank me for patronizing my business, then there's no need. Go home early."

"I came to buy some wine for my dad, not to thank you, really."

She stared at Lu Ze, her small face behind sunglasses looking somewhat comical. Lu Ze scrutinized her for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Are you an adult?"

"I...I...I'm a teacher, how could I not be an adult? I'm twenty-three years old..."

Lu Ze's question was indeed a bit silly, but according to Lu Ze's standards for judging age by appearance, she did look younger than her actual age. Although she didn't have a baby face like Wang Zixuan, who looked like a junior high school student, she wasn't much better. She had fair skin, an oval face, a simple ponytail, and her figure wasn't particularly curvy. She really looked about the same as a high school student.

"Excuse me, does your father have a strong palate?"

"It's alright, his taste is relatively mild."

"For something better... how about this, Polish Valkyrie? It tastes great, with a good balance of acidity and bitterness, and it's easy to drink."

"Then let's drink this. How much?"

"Fifteen yuan a bottle, how many do you want?"

The little hand that was about to take money out of its pocket suddenly trembled, and a piece of orange-flavored Big Big bubble gum fell out instead.

Fifteen yuan a bottle of beer was beyond her expectations. In her mind, a bottle of beer was only about two and a half or three yuan, and even if you went to a restaurant, it would only cost six yuan. Her expectation for this beer was around eight yuan, but now the price was double what she expected. She originally wanted to buy a case, but at this price, with her monthly income of two thousand one, she really needed to think about it carefully.

"Then I'll take six bottles..."

With a heavy heart, she handed Lu Ze the banknotes she had been clutching, which were covered in sweat, and gave him ten yuan in change. Lu Ze glanced at them; this time, she had given him real money. He recalled that the two fifty-yuan notes she had given him last time had been washed and were old bills, so they would probably be hard to tell from. Lu Ze didn't mention it again. It was really despicable of the person who gave her change after lying to a blind girl.

The wine was packed up, and the quantity was decent, but it was still a bit difficult for the thin girl to carry it. In addition, she was blind and needed to use a cane. Lu Ze glanced at the time, went out with her, locked the door, told her to wait a moment, and then went to the shop next door that sold Infinitus products.

"Old Liu, can I borrow your electric scooter for a while?"

The neighbors got along very well. They knew Lu Ze and were very respectful, smiling and agreeing as they tossed him the keys. Lu Ze then left, placing the wine on the footrest. He turned to look at the girl and said something.

"boarding."

"I... I'll just walk behind, I walk very fast..."

"The shop can't be empty all the time, I have to go and come back quickly."

The girl was a little flustered, but finally nodded. She reached out and patted the air first, then bent down as if to pull the car door open, only to pull on nothing. Her expression was completely blank; clearly, she thought Lu Ze was driving…

Seeing her clumsy movements, Lu Ze's face darkened. He rode his electric bike to her side, grabbed her cotton-padded coat, pressed her onto the back seat, and reminded her to sit firmly. The bike slowly moved towards the Golden Hope School for the Disabled.

"..."

(End of this chapter)