A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 165 Eyes Full of Determination

After filling out a fieldwork form, Li Mu drove straight out of the office.

In fact, whether you're an intern or a full-time reporter, it's abnormal to stay at the office all the time. After all, the job of a reporter is to go to the front lines of news and dig out news. If you stay in the office all day and don't go out, you might as well do an office job.

So his departure caused no stir. In fact, the Southern Metropolis Daily had one advantage: regarding "meetings," it was much less demanding than other newspapers, such as the morning meetings of various departments and groups, and the evening meetings. Many newspapers required their reporters to attend these meetings unless they had a reporting assignment.

But Southern Metropolis Daily is not.

Or, according to Wu Jun, after Cheng Yizhong, the head of the newspaper, took office in June of this year, reporters were no longer required to attend these meetings.

Cheng Yizhong himself rose through the ranks from a grassroots reporter, so he naturally knows how detrimental these kinds of absurd morning and evening meetings can be.

Even though they still have interview assignments to do, they have to run back like they're taking off their pants to fart, just to show their faces and prove they weren't slacking off, and then go through the hassle of returning to the interview site... Clearly, the boss detests this kind of thing.

Thus, Li Mu caught a lucky break.

As long as he can write articles and publish news, his level of freedom at work is truly exceptional.

Not only him, but others as well.

Therefore, in a sense, the working atmosphere at the Southern Metropolis Daily is quite relaxed.

After returning home, he quickly packed two clothes and headed straight to the airport.

Throughout the journey, he kept thinking about whether he should go and see Brother Bie.

After thinking about it for a while, I still didn't get in touch.

Bie Zhi said he should rest and recuperate, so I shouldn't go near him. Besides, I have a promise with Brother Bie to "wait for your return".

It's not good to arrive early for an appointment.

Lost in thought the whole way, the plane took off. And the moment he arrived in Yanjing around 5 a.m., Fan Bingbing called.

"Hey, you've arrived?"

"Yeah, just landed. Are you sober now?"

"...I'm sorry."

Li Mu originally wanted to ask her if she was feeling well, but instead received a somewhat timid apology in return.

He was somewhat puzzled:

Why apologize?

"I didn't tell you the truth..."

The student, Xiao Fan, on the other end of the phone was incredibly sincere:

"I didn't initially plan to attend any social events; I just wanted to make an appearance. I was supposed to cut a ribbon and draw a prize, and that would be it. But when I got there in the morning, the boss insisted on treating me to lunch. We had already agreed not to eat, but he kept nagging all morning... and I thought he seemed like a pretty kind and successful person, so I figured it wouldn't be too much trouble and agreed. But who would have thought... they drank so heavily."

From his girlfriend's description, he could already figure out what had happened in the morning.

I'm not angry, but I do feel quite sorry for her.

"How much did you drink?"

"Actually, it wasn't much. I just followed his table and toasted everyone, then went back to the main table, and others came over and toasted me too. I only had two of those stemmed glasses at most... But I didn't eat breakfast, and I didn't eat much for lunch either, so I drank it on an empty stomach."

"..."

Li Mu's eye twitched.

"Alright, then wait for me at your place."

"Hehe... um!"

For some reason, my girlfriend's mood suddenly improved after her hangover.

After leaving the airport, Li Mu followed the address sent by his girlfriend and arrived at a place called "SOHO Modern City".

Then I saw Xiaomi waiting at the door.

"Brother Li, let me do it."

When Li Mu got out of the car, Xiao Mi offered to help him with his luggage, but Li Mu waved her hand and refused.

"No need, let's go see her."

"Okay, I just went to buy groceries."

"Um."

Li Mu responded and looked at the promotional sign in the community.

The neighborhood seemed quite new to him, and even the neighboring property appeared to be part of his own, though it was still under construction.

The apartment layouts shown on the promotional sign seem to indicate that this is an upscale development, with the starting unit size being 140 square meters.

"Is this the house your sister bought?"

"No, it's rented. Before my sister joined Sister Hua, my aunt and uncle were her managers. Later, my aunt got pregnant, and since my sister joined Sister Hua, my aunt and uncle took the child back to Shandong Province. Now my sister lives here by herself."

"I see."

Li Mu nodded and followed Xiaomi to his girlfriend's house.

The door opened before he even knocked.

Her beautiful face, seemingly fresh from a shower, was filled with an intense, loving smile.

"Quick, come in, Xiaomi, I won't keep you here."

"Okay, Brother Li, Sister, I'm off then."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work."

Li Mu thanked him, and the next second he was pulled inside through the door.

With a slightly strange look in Xiaomi's eyes, the door closed abruptly, and she vaguely heard a girl's coquettish laughter.

"..."

But she didn't show any expression.

Although she had only been working with her sister for a few months, she had heard about why the previous assistant had been replaced.

Therefore, even if she sees something with her own eyes, she won't say anything or think about it.

He simply turned around and went inside before the elevator went down.

……

After more than a week apart, the girl transformed the deepest longing in her heart into an unusually swift and proactive feeling.

However, this time, her performance was rather poor.

He was lying on Li Mu's body, panting heavily.

"No... I'm dizzy..."

Li Mu rolled his eyes.

I thought to myself, "What a useless thing."

The girl, her cheeks flushed, felt even more dizzy.

However, the dizziness was immediately overwhelmed by an even stronger emotion.

Around six o'clock, Li Mu, still damp from being exposed to moisture, walked out of the bedroom and carefully closed the door.

He didn't know if his girlfriend had fainted or fallen asleep, but anyway, he walked into the kitchen with a smug look on his face.

I saw two bags of vegetables.

But there were no high-end ingredients; they were just some common vegetables from the nearby market.

He also discovered some signs of age in the kitchen.

Whether it's the spice bottles placed together, the rice, noodles, cooking oil in the corner, or the bowls and utensils... they all look very "homey".

It gives the impression that this kitchen must be used frequently.

However, at first glance, the kitchen seemed to be full of smoke, but everything, from the spice bottles to the rest of the items, was covered in a layer of dust.

Clearly, this place used to be frequently used, but now it's basically neglected.

He thought it was normal, after all, he learned from Xiaomi that his girlfriend's family used to live together in this 100-square-meter house.

After carefully examining the items, he threw away anything that looked poor quality or was particularly dirty, such as soy sauce bottles. Finally, he took out his notebook and made a list of everything that was missing or discarded in the kitchen, planning to replenish them in the next couple of days.

Finally, he started rolling up his sleeves and showing his arms, intending to make a simple dinner.

Because of the shortage of ingredients and the simplicity of seasonings, he didn't bother with anything from Fatty's memories this time. Instead, he followed the cooking techniques in his mind and the memories of helping his mother cook by the stove when he was a child, and planned to make a bowl of thick soup noodles that was especially suitable for people with hangovers to eat after sobering up.

The cold of Yanjing, and the lingering discomfort of a hangover, are the perfect complement to this bowl of thick noodle soup.

Especially with the addition of extra pepper and vinegar, you're guaranteed to break a sweat after just one bowl.

While he was busy working, suddenly, someone hugged him from behind.

Li Mu, who was slicing meat, paused for a moment, then smiled and said:

"woke up?"

"Um……"

The girl, barely twenty years old, with flushed cheeks and eyes as moist and hazy as a spring, pressed her face against her boyfriend's back, nuzzling him like a kitten.

I woke up because I was thinking of you.

Are you hungry?

"Um."

"Then let's wait for dinner, it'll be ready in a bit."

"Um……"

Although Fan Bingbing agreed, she still didn't move, maintaining the embracing posture, and closed her eyes again.

"Leaving the day after tomorrow?"

"Hmm. Don't you have any gigs to do on Christmas?"

"Yes, it's for a bar opening. They're paying a lot, 200,000. Hehe~"

"Ha~"

Li Mu chuckled softly and asked:

"How much have you saved up these past few days?"

"After the division, it's 600,000."

"A joke?"

His eyes widened in surprise:

"So many?"

"Yeah~"

Although she couldn't see her boyfriend's expression, she could tell from his voice that he didn't seem to be blaming her, so the girl breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"I haven't done any gigs in a long time. But you know what, maybe it's because they're scarce? The market response has been pretty good. Anyway... I'll just have to keep trying. It's almost the end of the year, there are lots of gigs coming up, and I might even be going to Shanxi province in a few days."

"what?"

"Business is good at the end of the year. If someone has a wedding or funeral, I can go up and sing a song and have a drink. I can make 100,000 or more per event."

Upon hearing this, Li Mu sighed with emotion:

"You guys make money so fast."

"Hehe, actually I still have to thank Zhao Wei and Ruby Lin."

Why?

"If they take the job, I definitely won't get it. One is Little Swallow, the other is Ziwei. If they're doing gigs, what chance do I have? But since they don't take the job, these gigs are a bonus for me."

"...That's true. Zhao Wei's status really doesn't require her to take on these kinds of jobs now."

"Yes, Lin Xinru's career is mainly focused in Hong Kong and Taiwan. She wouldn't be happy to go to a remote mountain village like Shanxi Province."

"...What do you mean by 'mountain ravine'! The way you put it..."

"This isn't what I said, it's what her agent said."

"……you mean?"

"Hey, who knows?"

The girl didn't intend to continue the conversation, but simply hugged her boyfriend, feeling the warmth emanating from his strong back, and murmured as if in a dream:

"If they won't take it, I will. One event is 100,000, ten events are a million. There are at least ten events like this a year. Although I don't know how many more years 'Princess Pearl' will be popular, as long as it's valuable, I'll keep taking it. One hundred events is ten million, one thousand events is a hundred million. Then... only those who regret it will know!"

"..."

Li Mu was speechless for a moment.

The person behind me has unwavering determination in their eyes.