Global Film Emperor

Chapter 438 Political Achievements? Just Do Some Real Work.

The CD player slowly ejected the CD, which Lu Ze gently placed into its case. He then got up and put it on the bookshelf according to the markings. He took out a new CD, placed it on the CD player's drive, and with a gentle push, the CD entered the CD player, slowly playing music.

It was a bright and sunny afternoon with just the right temperature, comfortable and pleasant. Sunlight streamed through the shop window, shimmering with a soft golden glow. A black cat curled up on the bar counter, enjoying the warmth, but not falling asleep, occasionally wagging its tail.

He bought a rocking chair, placed it on the table closest to the bar, held the script, and as he rocked gently, his hands gradually lost strength and fell to his chest. Soon after closing his eyes, he began to snore softly.

Dust danced in the air, accompanied by Franz Schubert's Serenade, sometimes landing on his nose, then being blown up by his breath, searching for its next place to land, then landing on the cat's tail, which he flicked away, and then flew up again, finally drifting towards the shop window, carrying a touch of loneliness, watching people strolling on the street in the bright weather.

Of course, this is just the feeling of a tiny speck of dust, it can't affect others, or even other specks of dust. On this peaceful afternoon, its feelings are buried by the vastness of humanity.

"Da da da……"

Her cane tapped on the pavement. Perhaps it was the gentle breeze that lifted her up, or perhaps it was her cheerful mood. In any case, her steps were light yet firm as she walked skillfully through the streets. Every intersection and every shallow pothole was deeply imprinted in her mind.

She accidentally kicked a plastic bottle, bent down, picked it up, and, following her memory, walked to the nearest trash can and accurately threw it in. At the moment of "scoring a goal," she cheered for herself.

The less you see, the simpler and purer you are; and she is even simpler and purer.

She would be happy for a wildflower given to her by a student who had just learned to speak the previous year. She would wear it on her head, even though the flower was actually quite ugly and smelled cloyingly sweet.

So she wanted to buy some little red flowers, even though she didn't know what they actually looked like, just because a large portion of her sixth-grade students would like them.

She is like dust in the sunlight, breaking free from her cage and escaping the shop window. She has nowhere to hide under the sun's rays, yet she still dances freely. Even though humans are still huge and powerful, and can still bury her, her own happiness is enough.

After leaving the school gate, walk forward thirty meters, turn right, and walk another fifty meters. Without crossing the road, there is a stationery store. She stepped onto the steps, not too high to step, but not low enough to kick, and naturally stepped up. She opened the glass door and heard the familiar bell sound. Her still somewhat nervous heart finally relaxed.

"Teacher Zhang, the flower in your hair is so pretty! What should we buy today?"

The proprietress was somewhat plump, with a lot of fat on her face. In particular, her eyebrows, which were obviously tattooed at a small shop, had been modified over time into two short, sword-like eyebrows, making her look even more fierce. She resembled the shrewish character often portrayed in TV dramas. Everyone in the neighborhood knew that she was not someone to mess with, but in front of her, even her voice was unusually gentle.

The contrast between her voice and appearance can be seen in the radio host of "Sewing Machine Band." Her gentle voice was something even her husband had never heard before. Sometimes, the landlady wondered if, in Mr. Zhang's heart, she might be a beautiful and intellectual older sister.

"Sister Feng, I'd like to buy some little red flowers and ten notebooks."

Her face was slightly flushed. Holding her cane, she stood obediently at the door. Her slender fingers tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ears, which were so white that you could see the fine blue blood vessels. She took out her phone from her small handbag, activated the phone's smart voice system, found the landlady's WeChat, pressed the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, and the transfer was successful.

"Teacher Zhang, you've given too much. Little red flowers aren't worth much money; they only cost a little over ten cents to buy. It's no big deal to give you a few. Just take them, as Sister Feng would say."

The argument between the two didn't last long, and it ended with Teacher Zhang's complete defeat. She put the few coins that Sister Feng had found into her bag, picked up the plastic bag, said goodbye to Sister Feng, and pushed open the door. Suddenly, her ears twitched; it was the sound of piano music.

The business owners she knew didn't usually listen to piano music. Wait, there was one owner who did... could it be...?

She gently lifted her white dress above her knees, slowly walked down the steps, and reached the shop across from two other shops. Then she walked back up the steps, unaware that the steps of this row of shops were actually all level.

Following her memory, she reached out, but instead of touching the roller shutter door, she grasped at air. She didn't go in; instead, she walked to the shop window next to her, turned her head, pressed it against the glass, and quietly listened to the music playing inside.

"There really is someone here..."

She didn't intend to go in and say hello; she just liked the music. She walked a little further to the side and finally touched the wall. She hid behind the wall and gently tapped the rhythm on her leg with her fingers, even though cars often passed by on the road and she couldn't hear it clearly.

"What are you doing?"

The door was suddenly pushed open, and it was that familiar male voice again. Almost a year later, he asked her in a calm tone as she listened to music quietly. Instantly, she blushed, even more so than she had in the stationery store. She stammered and hesitated for a long time before finally giving an answer.

"Let's rest here for a bit. I'm a little tired from walking, so... let's take a break. Mr. Lu, it's been a long time."

God knows why she came up with such an excuse. Her WeChat step count never exceeded two thousand steps. Although he was unaware of this, she knew it was definitely not a good reason.

However, Lu Ze had no reason not to believe her. Seeing that her face was a little red and there were fine beads of sweat on her forehead, which were particularly noticeable under the sunlight, he nodded thoughtfully.

"Would you like to come in and rest for a while? I've turned on the air conditioning. Do you have classes this afternoon?"

"No...that's all, but never mind, I'll head back now, thanks boss."

"Don't you want to come in and listen to some music? I bought a new Rachmaninoff record."

Few of Lu Ze's peers understand piano music, especially in cities like Lü Hua. When Lu Ze thinks about it over and over, it seems that only Teacher Zhang is the only one around him who understands piano music.

She hesitated because of a symphony CD, struggled for a long time, but finally couldn't resist the temptation of the original album and nodded to Lu Ze.

"I'm sorry to bother you..."

……

"Drink some water."

"No, thank you, boss. I'm only delaying your business anyway."

She still vividly remembered the time Lu Ze handed her a glass of juice but said it was water, and it still made her feel a little embarrassed. She absolutely couldn't let the boss spend money on her again today.

"Don't worry, it's really water, you can drink it without worry."

"Well... thank you, boss."

She chose to trust Lu Ze, picked up the glass, and took a sip. Hmm, it was indeed juice. This made her feel like she'd been tricked, and she felt a pang of regret. She should have smelled it before drinking; she'd just drunk it as soon as he handed it to her—it all felt so stupid. Lu Ze had clearly betrayed her trust, but she had no right to accuse him of deceiving her. She could only remain silent, listening to Lu Ze play Rachmaninoff's symphonies. On this point, Lu Ze hadn't lied to her, which made her forget her earlier inner conflict and immerse herself completely in the music. During the performance, the two rarely spoke, only offering each other pointers at particularly exciting parts. She then realized that the owner of this small-town beer shop actually had a very high level of musical literacy, far surpassing her own. If Lu Ze were to say now that he couldn't play any instruments, she wouldn't believe him.

After listening to a piece of music, they took a short break before exchanging their thoughts. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it her learning process. Listening to Lu Ze's insightful comments, she would occasionally open her mouth in surprise. If it weren't for the fact that the course had been so long and she had almost forgotten her music appreciation skills, she could still offer a lot of valuable insights.

Casual chatting is boring, so they had to find something to do. While chatting, they wiped the wine glasses. Before they knew it, their conversation had shifted from music to trivial matters. However, she remained very careful and did not ask Lu Ze what he had been doing for so long. She showed good manners in this regard, which shows that her family education was not bad.

"By the way, have any volunteers who teach sound films come to your school recently?"

"Yes, and they come more often now, basically once every two weeks. The number of volunteers has also increased. From two male and female volunteers reading a movie, to seven or eight volunteers reading a movie now, the number of volunteers is increasing. And there are quite a few celebrities among them, such as TV stations, radio stations, and some celebrities I know. They have all come to the school to read movies. Compared to the amateur volunteers in the past, they have a lot more emotion, and the voices of the characters are much more recognizable. They are really amazing. There are also many movie recordings online, so even if they can't come, we can listen to them online. Speaking of which, we should write a thank-you letter."

"A thank-you note? A thank-you note to the volunteers?"

"We must thank the volunteers; thank them for bringing so many interesting stories to our lives. But it's enough that we thank them when we meet. The school should thank the leader who promoted the sound film volunteer activity. I heard it's a leader from the National Film Association. I don't know what that department is, but it must be a very high-ranking official. The whole country listens to him in promoting the sound film volunteer organization. For such a high-ranking leader to think about us disabled people, he must be a very good person. We will always remember his kindness..."

When the topic of sound movies came up, she became more talkative and less nervous than before, her tone filled with gratitude. It seems that sound movies have truly improved their previously dull and monotonous lives.

First, rinse the wine glasses with hot water infused with baking soda to remove stains. Then, wipe them with a coarse towel, rinse them with cold water, wipe them again with a soft, lint-free towel, and finally put them in a sterilizer to clean them thoroughly.

Lu Ze wiped the first cup that had just been rinsed with cold water, and listened with a smile as she recounted how much sound films had impacted her life during this period. Seeing how happy she was, it wasn't hard to imagine how the other blind people felt.

"Really? Well, that's a good thing."

"Okay, boss, I have to go now. I'm sorry to have troubled you again."

"Okay, you can come over and listen to music during the day if you have time in the future."

"Thank you so much, boss."

"It's okay, the electricity bill is the same whether one person listens or two people listen. I'll get bored listening to it myself after a while."

She hesitated again, but he could see that the scales of victory were tipping in her favor. She finally made up her mind and bowed slightly to Lu Ze to express her gratitude.

"thank you boss."

"It's okay, take your things, don't forget them, watch your step, be careful later..."

If you were to say Lu Ze is being unreasonable, he really is. This time when he came back, while cleaning, he also rearranged the table. This wouldn't be a big deal for an ordinary person, but for her, it wasn't so easy to solve. Although she heard Lu Ze's reminder, it wasn't so easy for her to retract her foot after taking it out; it was as if she had kicked her foot out.

Lu Ze just watched as her foot kicked the leg of the square stool. What's worse, she was wearing flat sandals... the kind that expose her toes... It was obvious that her little toe was the victim, and Lu Ze felt pain just looking at it.

As I watched, her face began to turn red. Two drops of water slowly slid down her cheeks beneath her sunglasses. She clenched her fists, gripping her skirt tightly, but remained silent, her breath trembling.

"Are you okay?"

"It's nothing."

She was barely able to speak, so Lu Ze had no choice but to go over and help her sit down again. Seeing that she was still holding back her tears, he took out a bag of ice and applied it to her feet.

Looking at her feet, Lu Ze noticed that they were very beautiful, white and tender, and not very big, about the size of Lu Ze's palm. Most men have a bit of a foot fetish, but he was relatively mild-mannered, so he didn't look at them any longer. Only when she was able to get up did he take her outside and see her limping away with a cane.

As she left, a gentle breeze blew in from outside, entering the room and stirring up a tiny speck of dust from the shop window, which drifted onto her. Perhaps it was the breeze that lifted her up, or perhaps it was her cheerful mood; even the sorrowful dust was infected by her smile.

"Boss Lu is so tall and imposing, yet he's surprisingly gentle..."

Carrying her notebook and ice, she limped back to school. Her teachers and classmates were worried about her, but seeing her warm smile, they gradually felt at ease.

"Always eating...flowers..."

The child seemed to understand that every step he took was worthy of his teacher's joy, so he bravely took the next step, picked another flower, gave it to her, and tucked it into the other side of her hair.

The difference is that this little yellow flower is very pretty; it's worn on my head and is giving off a faint fragrance...

……

"Hey? Brother Zheng."

He flicked the ash from his cigarette, put it back in his mouth, and, holding the limping man who had been basking in the sun, switched to the next station. Just then, Ge Yunzheng, who was also a newly promoted cadre of the Electric Power Association, called him.

"Hey? Daze, you've done a really good thing! Ever since the sound film volunteer organization started promoting it, we've received a lot of thank-you letters from disabled communities and schools all over the country. This month alone, we've received more than 130! Now everyone in the association knows that you're not far from a promotion."

Perhaps this matter won't lead to his rapid promotion, since he's only been in the association for a few years, and an early promotion could easily cause resentment among others. Perhaps having Old Master Chen as his mentor also won't guarantee his rapid promotion, for the same reasons. But combining these two matters, it's hard to say...

Lu Ze, however, remained indifferent, seemingly unconcerned, yet accepting the situation as if it were expected. For a moment, Ge Yunzheng couldn't fathom his thoughts.

"Let's follow the organization's arrangements. We can't decide this ourselves. By the way, Brother Zheng, I have a favor to ask you."

"Why don't you just say what you want to say?"

"Send me those thank-you notes sometime, I'd like to take a look."

"..."

I'm recommending a book! "The Ordinary Senior Brother" has over 10,000 subscriptions—need I say more? It's amazing! Check it out after you finish reading "The Football Emperor"! You won't be disappointed!
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(End of this chapter)