Chapter Seven: Huang Xiaoming's Fourth Son

  The movie for tonight's 8 o'clock show at Xinhua Cinema is "Juvenile Offender".

  This is the first domestic film to describe the life of juvenile delinquents in prison, and it uses eighteen juvenile delinquents as actors, making the film extremely realistic and touching.

  Entertainment life is not rich now, movie theaters are crowded with people, many of them are young couples.

  Wei Xiangxiu was still worried for the first time going to the movies alone with a male companion, afraid of running into acquaintances. It wasn't until the bell rang and the lights in the theater went out that she felt relieved. A beam of light shot from the projection room onto the screen, as the projector was being adjusted. The scene inside the theater became blurry, and Wei Xiangxiu finally let out a sigh of relief.

  She didn't know how she ended up agreeing to watch a movie with Lu Zhen, perhaps deep down, she still had some fear and guilt towards him.

  Sitting beside Lu Zhong, she felt a little restless and uneasy, as if there was a kind of clandestine affair that made her feel embarrassed.

  Wei Xiangxiu knew that she was destined not to divorce again, otherwise everything she had now would turn into nothing.

  Lu Zhong didn't have many thoughts, came to watch a movie, naturally it was relaxing, and even after a while, he forgot about Wei Xiangxiu by his side, fully immersing himself in the plot of the movie.

  Just as he was getting into the zone, his sleeve was pulled by someone. Lu Zhen didn't think much of it and continued to play. After a few more times, Lu Zhen suddenly remembered that there was still a lady sitting next to him. He turned his head to see Wei Xiangshu looking at him with a helpless expression.

  "What's wrong?" Lu Zhong asked.

  Wei Xiang's delicate face leaned in this direction, bringing a particularly fragrant and refreshing scent that made people want to inhale deeply and couldn't get enough of it.

  "That person next to me has been staring at me all along, no wonder I felt uncomfortable."

  Lu Zhong glanced at Wei Xiangxiu's neighbor and thought he looked like a young man.

  "It's pretty to look at, what's the fear?" Lu Zhong thought that women are really troublesome. This is the first time he watched a movie with a woman. He had known before that it was troublesome to go shopping with women, but now he found out that watching movies together is even more troublesome. From now on, he should reduce this kind of activity.

  Ke Xiangxiu looked like she was in a bit of distress, biting her lip. Lu Zhong nodded: "Then let's switch seats."

  Wei Xiangxiu was overjoyed as if she had been granted a great amnesty, and hastily swapped seats with Lu Zhong. Just as Lu Zhong sat down, his shoulder was slapped by someone, "Dude, what's wrong, you think I'm a thug?"

  Lu Zhong turned his head and saw that it was the young man sitting next to him, patting himself on the shoulder, who was the one Wei Xiangshu said had been staring at her all along.

  The young man had a avant-garde long hair, thin face, triangular eyes, giving people a gloomy feeling. His strength was also great, and he patted Lu Zhong's shoulder, making it ache slightly. Needless to say, he used force, and it was intentional.

  "Take your hands off!" Lu Zhong frowned.

  "Hey, you're quite bold! I like that about you, buddy," said the young man, as he pinched Lu Zhen's shoulder with some force.

  The girl, dressed in a flashy outfit with a big afro and bright red lips, who had been snuggling up to the young man's side, suddenly chimed in: "What's going on? Are you trying to hit on my girlfriend?"

  In front and behind, there were several young men laughing haha, it seems they are all in cahoots.

  Lu Zhong stretched out his hand to shake off his arm, but he grabbed it again. Lu Zhong suddenly became angry and couldn't bear it anymore. He quickly reached out and pinched his neck, swift as lightning, just like pinching a small chicken, and lifted him up from the seat. In the midst of the flower girl's shrill cry, the long-haired youth had already been thrown to the ground.

  Then Lu Zhong kicked him in the face and shouted "Run!" as he pulled Wei Xiangxiu's hand.

  Lu Zhong had already observed the surroundings, Wei Xiangxiu's seat was very close to the left aisle, and after squeezing through several seats, they rushed into the aisle and ran out of the cinema.

  It happened suddenly, in the chaos, the long-haired young man coughed and almost couldn't breathe, his face covered in blood as he stood up. His companions only reacted then, shouting and pushing to chase after him, but when they got out of the theater, there was no sign of him anywhere.

  In the sedan, Lu Zhong had already let go of Wei Xiangxiu's hand, but that weak and boneless slippery feeling seemed to still linger in his palm.

  Wei Xiang's pretty face was slightly red, staring blankly at her own hand, speechless.

  "There are too many people and things have gotten out of hand, it's not good for either of us, so we had to run. Is your foot okay?" Lu Zhong asked, turning his head.

  Just now in the chaos, Wei Xiangxiu, who was wearing high heels, seemed to have twisted her foot.

  Wei Xiangxiu suddenly snapped back to reality and said, "Nothing's wrong." Looking at Lu Zhong, he didn't know why, but he suddenly felt a pang of sadness. If it were in the past, who would dare to come after Huo Tu Gang? A few small-time hooligans, with just one phone call, would be sent to the police station. But now, they were being chased by these miscellaneous thugs and forced to flee in disarray. Although Huo Tu Gang was a true tough guy, never revealing his emotions, but at this moment, who knew how bitter he felt inside?

  "Are you all right?" Wei Xiangxiu asked softly.

  It seemed like he didn't know what she was asking, Lu Zhong shrugged indifferently and swung his arm, "What could I possibly have? One punch and it's all over!" He chuckled as he said this.

  Wei Xiangxiu's heart tightened even more.

  "I'll go take a look at your home," Wei Xiangxiu said suddenly.

  Lu Zhong was taken aback for a moment and nodded slightly.

  Wei Xiangxiu originally wanted to help Lu Zhong clean up his room, but unexpectedly, Lu Zhong lived alone, and the house, including the kitchen, was tidy and organized, it could even be said that not a speck of dust was out of place.

  Not at all like a bachelor's pad.

  He walked over with two cups of hot coffee, and immediately saw the envelope Wei Xiangxiu had placed on the tea table. Lu Zhong was taken aback and said, "Don't tell me, it's an old man's ticket."

  Wei Xiangxiu looked a bit embarrassed: "I know you're not short of money, but the clothes you bought for me, I sold them all..." In fact, there was also a bonus inside, and she came to find Lu Zhong today, thinking about whether she could help with anything. She didn't expect that Lu Zhong's living conditions were even better than before. This sum of money, Wei Xiangxiu thought for a long time, still took it out, after all, it was owed to Lu Zhong.

  Lu Zhong smiled and said: "Is that so? From now on, let's just cut off all ties and owe each other nothing?"

  "No! I didn't mean that! If I have time, I'll come visit you!" Up to this point, Wei Xiangxiu was stunned for a moment, and then hastily got up and said: "It's too late, I'm leaving first. No need to see me off, I'll take a taxi."

  Watching her lovely figure leave the door, Lu Zhong shook his head and looked at the envelope on the tea table. Why do all the women he knows like to stuff money into him? Does it look like a little white face?

  ……

  Lu Zhong arrived at the foot of Huang Lao's building early on Monday morning and waited.

  Huang Lao's family lives in the municipal party committee's residential compound. Only since last year has this neighborhood had a gate guard, but the inspection is not very strict. Lu Zhong drove in and passed through without any obstruction, with no one asking questions.

  Lu Zhong stopped the car at the entrance of the building. Next to the stairs, you could see Huang Lao's old and worn-out bicycle.

  But who knows, time flies by the minute and second, it's almost 7:30 now, but Mr. Huang still hasn't come down. To be honest, in the past, every day at 7:30 sharp, Mr. Huang would arrive at the office on time, rain or shine.

  Lu Zhong thought for a moment and then got out of the car and went upstairs. Huang Lao was a widower, and there was only a small nanny in the house, but something unexpected happened.

  As soon as I entered the corridor, I heard a fierce quarrel coming from the second floor, and Huang Lao's voice was very excited and angry, with an extremely high tone.

  Lu Zhong was startled and quickly ran upstairs, just hearing Old Huang scolding: "Get out! Don't come back again!"

  "I'm not leaving, you're my dad, I should be back!" A man's lazy voice, somewhat familiar.

  Lu Zhong had just arrived at the second floor when the door of Huang's house swung open. Suddenly, a loud "bang" was heard as something fell to the ground. Then, a young man with long hair rushed out of Huang's house, covering his forehead and shouting back into the room: "You hit me! You hit me! If you have the guts, kill me!"

  Lu Zhong was stunned for a moment, wasn't this guy the one who had been tripped up by himself at the movie theater yesterday?

  The long-haired young man covered his forehead with blood seeping from between his fingers, shouting as he brushed past Lu Zhen, seemingly unaware of Lu Zhen.

  "Still not leaving?!" Huang Lao angrily shouted inside the house.

  Lu Zhong stepped quickly into the house, but saw at the door, there were shattered porcelain pieces, blue and white porcelain, smashed to pieces, presumably just used by Old Huang to throw at that young man.

  "You still..." Huang Lao roared back, but saw Lu Zhong entering the house, paused for a moment, and slowly lowered his pointing hand.

  "Huang Lao, I'm here to pick you up." Lu Zhong didn't want to encounter this kind of scene and felt slightly embarrassed.

  Huang Lao's face gradually calmed down, but he was still panting violently, waving his hand. "I won't go today, tell Xiao Pei to reschedule my itinerary."

  "Huang Lao, are you alright?" Lu Zhong asked with some concern, walking over and helping Huang Lao sit down on the sofa.

  The little nanny who was hiding aside just now ran out to sweep the messy things on the ground and said something to Huang Lao in Sichuan dialect.

  "I'm fine, you go." Huang Lao pulled his arm out of Lu Zhong's hand.

  Lu Zhong also knew that staying too long at this time was not good, so he stood up and said: "Then, if you have something to do, just call the office phone, I'll be there all day."

  Huang Lao nodded slightly and suddenly said as Lu Zhong was about to leave, "You accompany Xiao Si'er to the hospital to take a look at his injury."

  Lu Zhong responded with a "yes" and quickly went downstairs.