A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 275: Extermination

All reporter fieldwork assignments are handled by the administrative office.

The motto of *Southern Metropolis Daily* is flat management and news priority. Therefore, when going out on fieldwork, most people's habit is to go to the scene first, gather the news, and then return to the administrative office to complete a fieldwork form.

Putting aside other matters, this was basically what he did before he left Guangzhou.

But today, when Li Mu heard from Sister Wang that his absence counted as half a day, he was truly stunned.

Seeing Li Mu's bewildered expression, Sister Wang, who had known him for over a year, answered calmly. She first glanced at the tea leaves in her water glass, picked it up as if to go wash it, and then said to Li Mu:

"Xiao Li, that's true. If you're going on fieldwork, you need to fill out a form to report it. You didn't clock in this morning, nor did you call to explain, so nobody knows what's going on. We can only follow the rules."

"..."\

Li Mu remained silent.

Because... indeed, according to regulations, you definitely have to clock in every day.

Check in before 9 AM, then go do whatever you need to do.

If we're really going to be strict, even for fieldwork, you should first talk to the editor-in-chief or higher-level manager, communicate with them, get their permission, then get a fieldwork order from administration, and then go to conduct the interview.

But if we actually did that, the opportunity would be wasted.

And now...

He frowned, while Sister Wang walked out on her own.

The rest of the office, however, remained indifferent, not wanting to get involved.

He seemed completely indifferent.

Li Mu hesitated for a few seconds, then said nothing more and walked out.

But as soon as he stepped outside, he saw Sister Wang holding a teacup, staring at him in the corridor. Upon seeing him come out, she pointed to the end of the stairwell.

Li Mu was taken aback, then followed.

At the end of the hallway was a storage room where the cleaners kept their mops and buckets; the door was open, but no one was there.

After all, there are still about ten minutes before work starts.

After Sister Wang went inside, Li Mu followed her in. At that moment, he heard the woman lower her voice and say:

"Xiao Li, have you offended someone?"

Holding her teacup, the older woman's voice was only audible to Li Mu:

"This morning, your department suddenly had a meeting. It wasn't long, only about twenty minutes. You weren't there, but I heard from Xue Qiang that... your director called your name twice during the meeting, asking where you were, whether you were doing an interview or something. Nobody knew, and then Xue Qiang said your director marked you absent without leave. He spoke directly to our leader. I had no choice; when the leader says something, I have to do it."

Li Mu knew perfectly well what was going on, so he nodded and said:

"I'm so sorry, Sister Wang, I've caused you trouble."

"I'm fine. Just be careful yourself. The procedures are there; nobody used to take them seriously, but now it's obvious people are starting to follow the rules. Just be careful."

"Okay, got it."

After he agreed, Sister Wang didn't say anything more. She left the storage room and went straight to the bathroom to wash the cups.

Li Mu also went outside and stood in front of the time clock.

He knew that once his card was swiped, it would be tantamount to "admitting" that he had been absent from work.

But if you don't clock in, the terms for half a day of absence and a full day of absence are quite different.

After standing there stunned for a few seconds, he suddenly laughed:

"ha."\

Then, without hesitation, I swiped the card.

Then he walked out of the building and picked up the phone.

He needed to ask Sui Kuan what was going on and why he hadn't been informed.

"Beep beep... Hello, what's up?"

"Where is it?"

"Mount Luofu."

"where?"\

"Mount Luofu... damn it, climbing it is exhausting!"

"What did you go to Mount Luofu for?"

"I came here with Brother Bin for an interview. There's some kind of Buddhist ceremony being held at Luofu Mountain today, supposedly for Taoist people from the Northeast to exchange ideas. Brother Bin asked me to come and cover it. Hey, let me tell you, the scenery here is really beautiful."

"You didn't come to work this morning either?"

"No. What's wrong?"

"...It's nothing, I just haven't seen you around. We're almost late, and I was worried you'd get caught doing something wrong."

"Haha, don't worry, I'm keeping a low profile."

"OK, I'm hanging up."

"Um."\

After hanging up the phone, Li Mu pursed his lips.

Just then, a Santana pulled up in front of the building.

Li Mu didn't think much of it and walked straight into the building, but someone called out from behind:

"Hey, Li, perfect timing...come help me out."

Li Mu turned his head and saw that it was Sister Yan from HR. He immediately nodded and went to the car.

"Sister Yan, what's wrong?"

"Could you help me move this?"

As Sister Yan and another HR colleague who was driving talked, they silently opened the trunk.

Li Mu glanced at them and saw stacks of file folders:

"This is?"\

"Resume."

Li Mu was taken aback and asked:

"So many? Are they all recent college graduates?"

"right."\

"...Sister Yan, how many people do we need to hire for the editorial department?"

"There aren't many editors/reporters; about five or six are reaching retirement age this year. They gave us fifteen internship positions, but I estimate only six or seven will stay at most. But management needs more staff. Especially the GG department; they gave us twenty internship sales representatives alone. And look, they're all here."

Li Mu picked up a bundle of documents and sighed:

"Wow, that's really heavy! How many people are in this?"

"This is already a batch that's been eliminated. Even salespeople are now required to have a degree. If this continues, it's possible that in the future, any job might require a master's or doctoral degree."

Sister Yan made an absurd joke, and the three of them walked together into the personnel department.

It took two trips to finish moving the goods, and the driver shouted:

"Sister Yan, I'm going to continue."

Li Mu let out a strange cry:

"besides?"\

"About one-third."

As Sister Yan spoke, she pointed to the water dispenser:

"Have some water."

"No need, Sister Yan, I'm going to work."

"What's the rush?"

After stopping Li Mu, Sister Yan closed the door behind her.

"Xiao Li, have you offended Zhou Long?"

"...?"

Li Mu was taken aback, looked at the older woman for a moment, then smiled and said:

"No, Director Zhou treats me very well. How could an ordinary reporter like me possibly offend a leader?"

"ha."\

Sister Yan didn't mind this answer and continued:

"Zhou Long is no simple man. He, and our former editor-in-chief, they're all on the same side, you know? Including the general manager who'll be transferred in a couple of days… they're all in cahoots. I know you're ambitious, but… Xiao Li, you've won a provincial-level news award at such a young age, your future is bright, so don't be stubborn right now, understand? Don't give the leaders the impression that you're a troublemaker. Keep a low profile for now, at worst… you can back down a bit. Understand?"

"...Sister Yan, do you mean we need to transfer another general manager over?"

Li Mu astutely grasped the message hidden in those words:

"Didn't we just get a deputy general manager at the beginning of the year? Why is there another manager? What are we going to do, Mr. Liu?"

"I don't know about that. Anyway, I've told you everything I know. Be careful. It's better to suffer a little than to be a troublemaker. You've won the award, you're shining brightly right now, you can't give the company the impression that you're arrogant, understand?"

"...Understood, thank you, Sister Yan!"

"Okay, go ahead, it's time to go to work."

"No rush, I'll wait a bit. Once the documents arrive, I won't trouble Sister Yan to carry them."

"Haha, no need, everyone'll be at work soon. Go on with your work!"

"Okay."

Li Mu walked out of the personnel department, but his brows were completely furrowed.

Sister Yan is a veteran in the HR department. Besides, when there's a new employee joining the company or a job transfer, their personnel file goes through HR, so it's only natural that she would know about this.

But... another general manager has been transferred in?

That means Liu Xiaofeng will definitely be transferred.

Why does this feel so strange?

After thinking about it, he decided to tell Bie Ge the information he had received.

So he went straight back to his office, ignoring the new computers on everyone else's desks, and went to the corner table where paperwork was kept, taking out a business trip application form.

Once bitten, twice shy; I'll have to follow the rules from now on.

After filling out the form explaining his business trip to Hong Kong on the 12th to attend the "Hero" press conference, he returned to his workstation and handed it to Lin Naichen when he arrived.

Lin Naichen glanced at it and said:

"Okay, let's leave it here for now."

？\

Li Mu was taken aback.

Shouldn't we approve it quickly?

Should I put it here first?

He thought for a moment and said:

"Editor-in-chief, Zhang Yimou's film is quite impressive. I've been busy with that all morning. I talked to people from their company, and this film... might be nominated for an Oscar. This is their first press conference; only invited journalists can attend. It starts on the morning of the 12th, so I probably have to get there on the 11th."

The implication is that they are quite anxious.

But Lin Naichen's response to this was:

"You have to wait for the director's signature. If he doesn't sign it, you can't go even if you want to."

"..."\

Li Mu was speechless for a moment.

Lin Naichen's words were a subtle reminder to Li Mu:

"He might not agree to you going."

This time, Li Mu was truly enraged.

I can tolerate being given the cold shoulder, but to not let me go out in this kind of news—are you really trying to ruin my career?

But his response was also very simple.

"Okay, I'll put it here for now."

After saying that, he walked straight out of the main office and headed straight for Brother Bie's room.