A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Without saying anything more, Zhou Long hung up the phone.

Not bad, quite decisive.

Li Mu originally wanted to say a few polite words, such as giving himself a reason, like, "This news is really important, Director, I'm a bit overwhelmed," or "Director, after understanding the ins and outs of Zhao Wei's case, I feel it involves nationalistic sentiments," or something else entirely.

But it was clearly not used.

This saved him a lot of trouble.

However, it's clear that nobody's stupid.

Whatever kind of underhanded dealings or threats might have been involved, they all vanished the moment Li Mu refused.

From a work perspective, even a high-ranking director can't command a single formal reporter.

If a leader doesn't discipline their employees, how can they gain the respect of others?

And secretly... only heaven knows what price Zhao Jian paid to get Zhou Long involved.

But Zhou Long hasn't managed to get things done... let's not even discuss whether he can actually get the benefits out of his mouth.

He was the one who suffered the most.

He was originally the perfect candidate, single-handedly propelling Zhao Wei to the throne of the Four Little Actresses. Now, by clarifying things and with awards in hand, the impact will surely be minimized.

But if I don't do it now... since he's accepted the benefits, he definitely has to do it.

If you don't do it, you'll have to give up the benefits, or find someone else to do it.

But if others do it, the results will definitely be much worse than if you did it yourself. That's for sure.

So the question is, who can Zhou Long turn to?

Surely we wouldn't go looking for Sui Kuan... huh?

Suddenly, Li Mu was taken aback.

His brows furrowed immediately.

Putting everything else aside, just take the Arts and Sports Department... Li Mu genuinely felt it was a deep and murky place.

For example, there's Ji Jingjing, who even Brother Bie didn't hear the news about, yet Director Zhang announced her transfer...

For example, Wu Jun, who can be considered a veteran of three dynasties and has seen all kinds of storms in his life.

For example, there's Tang Yuanpeng, who always receives a travel allowance and is either in the English Premier League or La Liga, and didn't even come back for the company's annual party...

Even Li Mu knew that Zhao Wei's matter was a sensitive issue, let alone these older employees. And if the director were to approach them… whether they could even be persuaded was one thing. Whether they were willing to take the blame was another. Therefore, the best solution was to find a newcomer to take the fall.

Besides myself, the only other newcomer in the Arts and Sports Department was Sui Kuan.

Could it be...?

Is Brother Bie protecting Fatty Sui?

After thinking for a moment, Li Mu dialed Bie Yan's number directly:

"Hey, Brother Bie, Zhao Jian and Director Zhou just called me..."

After repeating the original words, Bieyan's response was calm:

"Okay, you should focus on your work first. Besides, the hype surrounding Zhao Wei will eventually die down, so don't worry about it too much."

"I think so too."

Li Mu responded, but instead of saying anything like "What will happen if we offend Zhou Long?", he smiled and said:

"Luckily, Brother Bie, you let me call Sui Kuan over, otherwise this job might have fallen to him."

"Okay, alright, I have something to do, I'm hanging up."

"Um, Brother Bie, shouldn't we tell Sui Kuan about this?"

"Just say I told you to shout it."

"...Okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Li Mu wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Tsk..."

I'm still too young, while Brother Bie and his ilk... their methods are too cunning.

……\

Brother Bie's meaning was actually quite simple. Firstly, this business trip was to protect Fatty Sui, preventing him from becoming Zhou Long's scapegoat and writing that article that was destined to draw criticism and even backfire on him. Secondly… because it was Brother Bie who invited him on the trip, although this might make Zhou Long think they were in cahoots, compared to the advantages and disadvantages of the first point, the priorities were obvious.

As for why Li Mu told Fatty Sui that it was he who had called him over… in Li Mu's understanding, it was also a form of "protection." He wanted Sui Kuan to know that this wasn't Li Mu's intention, or to put it more bluntly: that Li Mu hadn't deliberately dragged him into this mess and placed him on the opposite side of Zhou Long.

To put it bluntly, this fat guy was dragged into opposing sides of Zhou Long by Brother Bie without knowing anything about the situation.

The human heart is indeed a complex and unknowable thing.

Even Li Mu wasn't sure if Fatty would be grateful to him and Brother Bie or resentful after learning all this...

It's too complicated.

But regardless, at least for now, this matter is temporarily settled.

Li Mu finally left the area near the window and sat down on a somewhat rusty chair in the waiting room.

Then, at 3 PM, I boarded the train on time and immediately asked the conductor to change my hard sleeper to a soft sleeper.

There were two other guests in the sleeper compartment. They weren't familiar with each other, so Li Mu politely greeted them, then lay down on the comfortable sleeper and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

……\

At around 4 PM on the 8th, Li Mu arrived in Yanjing after a 25-hour drive.

He then went directly to the Beijing office of the Southern Metropolis Daily.

This is a cluster of detached buildings next to the Xuanwu Police Station, exuding a strong sense of age. It's far inferior to the Guangzhou headquarters of the *Southern Metropolis Daily*. But considering how expensive land is in Beijing, it's understandable.

Because they had given advance notice, one person from the reception office stayed on duty until Li Mu arrived, at which point they gave him the key to the temporary dormitory.

Carrying his luggage, Li Mu arrived at the Liangjiayuan Community Dormitory, a two-bedroom apartment with six beds, in the still chilly air of Yanjing.

The accommodations weren't great, but at least we had a place to stay.

Meanwhile, Sui Kuan

They've boarded the train over there too, and will arrive in Yanjing at 10:30 PM tomorrow.

Li Mu wasn't in a hurry; instead, he took out his laptop.

One good thing about the temporary dormitories is that they have internet access. This makes it easy for reporters to send news back to headquarters as soon as they get it.

After connecting his computer to the internet, he began browsing the news from the past two days.

Upon logging onto Tianya, he noticed that topics related to the military flag uniform were still consistently among the most popular.

Clearly, this matter is not over yet.

After browsing Tianya for a while, he went to all the portal sites, including Sina and NetEase.

As expected, this topic remained highly popular in the "Entertainment" section. Various "experts" seemingly appearing out of nowhere were condemning it, but no apologies or clarifications were seen.

After watching the lively discussion for a while, he turned off the computer and planned to go out for a quick bite to eat.

But just then, the phone rang.

An unfamiliar number.

Li Mu thought for a moment, then didn't answer.

Just pretend you didn't hear it.

But the call was surprisingly persistent, lasting for two consecutive calls before finally stopping.

Immediately afterwards, Sui Kuan called:

"Feed?"

"Why didn't you answer the phone? Feng Yuan knows you've arrived and wants to treat you to dinner."

"...Was that her who called me just now?"

"right."\

"Um...tell her to stop hitting me. I'm not hungry, I'm a little tired from the car ride, and I want to rest."

"Well... okay."

"Okay, I'm hanging up."

After hanging up the phone and saving the number as "Feng Yuan," he went straight out and downstairs, intending to find a restaurant at random.

Li Mu wasn't familiar with the location or history of Liangjiayuan community. But judging from the age of the apartment buildings, they were clearly at least ten or twenty years old.

Therefore, the community facilities in this neighborhood are quite complete, with many small restaurants selling food.

After looking around, he chose a noodle shop with a queue.

When I read Lao She's books before, I was always curious about things like "rotten meat noodles" and "noodles with soybean paste." I especially remember the scene in *Rickshaw Boy* where Xiangzi eats noodles with soybean paste.

So I want to try it.

This place is always crowded with people queuing, so the food must be pretty good.

As he stood in the crowd, observing the diners who were either carrying their noodles or finding a spot to eat, intending to imitate how people in Yanjing (Beijing) eat zha jiang mian (noodles with soybean paste), he heard a voice behind him:

"Damn it, Mom, I told you there would be a queue."

"What should we do then? Not eat?"

"No, I just got back... I've been craving this! I'm so hungry for it!"

"Sigh, I told you to have them prepare it in advance, but you insisted on eating it by the pot."

"If you make it in advance, it'll definitely clump together."

"Won't it get soggy when you take it to your dad later?"

"My dad isn't particular."

"Hey, you little brat~"

Li Mu subconsciously turned his head away.

He vaguely felt that the childish voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Also... I must admit, the Beijing accent of the two people behind them was quite interesting.

It would be better if I didn't turn my head.

He turned his head... and suddenly froze.

The girl in front of me... isn't she Yang Mi, the one I had dinner with?

What a coincidence!

He was somewhat surprised.

Because of the queue, the mother and daughter behind him noticed him when he turned around.

Instinctively, both of them looked at Li Mu.

Yang Chunling was alright; she just thought the young man was good-looking, clean and handsome.

But Yang Mi suddenly froze...

? ? ? \

Why does this person look so familiar?

？\

Why does he look so familiar?!

Where have I seen this before? I'm sure I've seen it before... I think... where was it again?

She was stunned.

Li Mu was also surprised.

So the two of them stared at each other, frozen in that eye contact.

"???"

Just as Yang Chunling was feeling puzzled, she suddenly heard her daughter's tentative words:

"Brother Li...?"

"...Ha, Mimi, hello there. What a coincidence, what are you doing here?"

Hearing the girl's address, Li Mu smiled and greeted her.

I thought to myself, "In such a big city as Yanjing, it's incredible that we could bump into each other at a noodle shop like this."

It's true what they say, life is full of unexpected encounters.