Global Film Emperor

Chapter 463

Zhongyang Conservatory of Music.

As night fell, he, wearing a mask and hat, knocked on the concert hall door. Inside, there was not only Zhuang Xue, but also three students. Unfortunately, Zhuang Xue's graduate students were having a small on-campus concert that night, starting at 8:30 pm, and they were doing their final rehearsals.

"Xiaowen, don't stop. Walk through it yourself first. You two listen in. I have something to do here. What are you doing here? Why didn't you just call Lao Song and have him pick you up? Why did you have to come all this way? You might as well have been recognized and blocked by someone."

She pointed to her students, telling them to continue practicing on their own, before turning to look at Lu Ze, who had just put down his chair and was sitting next to her, and gave him a disapproving glare.

"No, I'm not going. If I go, your old Song will conscript me. I need to control my weight. If I have a drink with Old Song, I'll gain at least two pounds. How much sweat will I have to shed to lose it back?"

"What? Going to get busy again?"

"Work makes me happy."

"Hey, what would you like to drink?"

"What else can we order to drink? Are music academies this high-class now?"

"There are vending machines outside. You can order iced tea, Sprite, and Coke yourself. Drink whatever you want. There's a wide variety. So, tell me, why did you come to see me this time?"

Old Lu always maintained a serious demeanor in public, but he still liked to joke around with close friends and family in private. The student played quite well, so Lu Ze turned the volume down as low as it could possibly be, afraid of disturbing the student's current state of mind.

"My two nieces started their winter break today. They told me they had finished eating and were packing their things in their dorm. I took some time to come over and also brought you the things I brought for Xiaoliang. It's almost Chinese New Year, and Xiaoliang is starting junior high this year. As his godfather, I have to buy him something nice to show off."

The item was in his bag—a Richard's note. Lu Ze didn't take it out; after all, the students were still there. Although it wouldn't matter if they saw it, it still wouldn't be good.

"So you've come here to give me a gift? Just because of my child's schooling? If that's the case, don't bother visiting me this year."

"What kind of talk is that, sister-in-law? Xiao Liang is in junior high school now, and I'm the only one among us who didn't think of him. You're just throwing the things I bought for the kid back at me. Aren't you slapping me in the face? What, am I any less than Lao Zheng and the others?"

"Alright, alright, you're not a bad person no matter what. Sigh, this circle of yours is too full of gift-giving. I've been with Lao Song for over ten years and I still haven't gotten used to it."

This is the truth. Zhuang Xue only has one job as a teacher. She occasionally tutors students privately, but only to a limited extent. After all, her financial situation is such that, while she may not be rich, she has enough to live comfortably in her retirement. Her big, chubby son at home is also a source of worry. Nowadays, her life is basically about shuttling between school and home. She even turns down performances whenever possible.

Therefore, there are few opportunities to receive or give gifts. Most of the time, it's for weddings and funerals, where you give a small gift. Usually, the parents of students don't give expensive items; they just give local specialties or food and drinks. In Lu Ze's circle, a single gift can easily cost a million. Even though she's seen the world, she sometimes feels like her heart can't take it.

Just for Xiao Liang's entry into junior high school, he already owes over 600 gifts. And Lu Ze still hasn't opened a blind box. Who could accept this? What's even more terrifying is someone like Lu Ze, who is meticulous in everything he does, yet he doesn't create any opportunities to receive gifts himself. He has no wife, no children, and the Song family doesn't even have a reason to come back.

"Alright, I'll be going then. You go ahead and take care of your students. Is Old Song coming to pick you up tonight?"

"That's the only thing you can't fault about him. For over ten years, every night after nine o'clock, he's always waiting at the door, without fail. By the way, Lu'er, I met those two kids. The teacher said they're quite good, cheerful, smart, get along well with their classmates, and are diligent in their art classes, making rapid progress. It's just that they don't study their academic subjects well. You have to talk to them about it later, so they don't fall behind in their academic subjects even though their art scores are good enough." This seems to be a common problem among many art students. They excel in their art classes but think that since the cutoff score for art students is low, they don't care about their academic subjects. Then, when they have to cram for their academic subjects in their senior year of high school, they're dumbfounded, not expecting that even getting over 200 points would be difficult.

The more you feel you can't learn something, the less you want to learn it. In the end, many promising talents in the arts are held back from going to prestigious universities because of their poor academic performance. There are too many examples of this, so Zhuang Xue had to give Lu Ze a heads-up in advance to prevent the two kids from following the same path as those unfortunate students.

"Okay, I'll talk to you about it later. I'm off."

He declined Zhuang Xue's offer to see him off, walked out of the concert hall, closed the door, and the piano music inside suddenly stopped. As he left the campus, the capital city was brightly lit. It was still rush hour, and the traffic at the school gate was heavily congested, but people were still moving forward in an orderly fashion.

Red lanterns hung from the trees on both sides, entwined with light bulbs, seemingly left unattended after New Year's Day, or perhaps a pre-New Year's greeting. Although universities are now on holiday, some students still linger on campus, waiting for their plane tickets to take them home.

There were quite a few pedestrians on this street, and the number of handsome men and beautiful women was much higher than on ordinary streets. Three girls passing by had exquisite makeup and dressed in slightly mature styles, and their outfits were similar, like best friend outfits.

A trench coat that reached past her hips, paired with sheer tights, and black boots that further elongated her already long thighs, she walked past Lu Ze, chatting and laughing, carrying a luxury brand bag. They exchanged a casual glance, and he overheard them talking about the plot of "Exile."

The more pedestrians he passed, the more he heard discussions. There was a movie theater nearby, and he guessed these people had just come from there.

"Do you think there's a deeper meaning behind the black-backed dog that Leo met on the beach?"

"Of course it does. Every shot in Lu Ze's work is definitely useful. I have to say Lu Ze's acting is really good. I was completely drawn in by just one look or one expression. I didn't even have a sip of water during the two and a half hour movie."

There were three or five young people chatting and smoking cigarettes at the entrance. The cars next to them were running, probably warming up. I saw a boy using a bank card to scrape the frost that had formed on the windshield. Even though he was tap dancing because of the cold, he didn't stop talking and chatted enthusiastically.

Then another wave of people came out, this time from another theater showing "Exile". As the king of screenings this month, it's not surprising that a group of people came out every fifteen minutes. What's surprising is that this group of people surrounded one of the men, listening attentively to his insights. When they walked over to Lu Ze, Lu Ze listened to a few words as well. To be honest, this man understood quite well. The movie did indeed have that meaning, which shows that he has some knowledge of film.

He received a letter from his niece, so he didn't linger any longer. Instead, he overtook the group from before and quickly got into the car.

"Brother Lu, keep going. What do you think the green vest at the end of the movie meant, Brother Lu? Brother Lu?"

The man surrounded by people froze, staring at the back of the figure getting into the car. He felt an unusual familiarity, but the person was already inside. He wasn't sure, and he didn't have the courage to go up and pry open the car door to find out. Was it Lu Ze? He was about 70% sure, as a die-hard fan of Lu Ze.

But in the end, Lu Bo watched the car drive away. When faced with questions from the crowd, he realized what was happening and began to give evasive answers.

"Wait until tomorrow, read my movie review tomorrow. I asked my wife for 6 o'clock off work, and I have to take care of the kids tonight. Sorry, sorry, wait for my reply tomorrow!"

"..."

I fell asleep on the table, I'm so sleepy. I'll write a movie review tomorrow, wait for my reply.



(End of this chapter)