A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 288 Massage

"Congratulations, Lao Li!"

Li Mu, who was busy in Yu Feihong's kitchen, looked up, saw Chen, and asked:

"What?"

"Hehe, stop hiding it, everyone saw it in the newspaper. National News First Prize, congratulations!"

"Uh... haha, thank you."

Li Mu smiled and nodded:

"Want to touch my trophy? I'll bring it to you next time."

"Hahaha~"

Chen was amused and burst into laughter, which quickly attracted the attention of Cheng Hao and Yu Feihong, who were chatting in the living room:

"What are you two talking about? You seem to be having so much fun?"

"I'm congratulating Lao Li on winning the first prize of the National News Award."

"?"

The two people in the living room were taken aback.

Yu Feihong curiously craned her neck:

"Old Li, you won an award?"

"right."\

Li Mu's voice came through:

"I got it yesterday."

"The National Press Award? Is that the highest award?"

"right."\

"Wow, that's impressive! Which news article did you write?"

See, the industry barriers have emerged.

The highest award in the media industry should, in theory, be highly prestigious, and last September, Li Mu's name was practically a staple of the news. Yet, surprisingly, even actress Yu Feihong was unaware of it.

They had all read the reports about 9/11, but they were completely unaware that the reporter who covered the story was Li Mu.

Especially after Li Mu answered the "9/11 special report," Yu Feihong paused, then curiously walked to the kitchen doorway:

"9/11? What kind of feature report did you write?"

In the end, Chen answered for him:

"Old Li was a survivor of 9/11. The photos we see in the news on TV and online were all taken by him, right, Old Li?"

"ah?"\

Before Li Mu could respond, Yu Feihong's eyes had already turned completely astonished.

Then, as they chatted amongst themselves at the kitchen door, the three of them finally understood just how amazing "Old Li" really was.

For a moment, the astonishment was beyond words; they even felt that Li Mu's award was only natural.

That was a major event last year; shouldn't they have deserved an award for their firsthand reporting?

Ultimately, it was Cheng Hao who gave the final verdict on this topic.

"So, in other words, Lao Li basically won the Oscar for Best Actor after only acting in movies for a year, right?"

"almost."\

With Li Mu's answer, even the two actors now understood the significance of this award.

……\

On the morning of the 19th, Li Mu made a special trip to Xidan Bookstore and bought three books.

The book is titled *A Message to Garcia*.

It tells the story of how, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, US President McKinley had to immediately contact General Garcia, the leader of the Cuban insurgents.

This book is pretty basic.

This autobiographical book doesn't contain anything particularly profound. However, it reads smoothly, recounting from a soldier's perspective how he single-handedly landed in Cuba and successfully delivered the message.

It has almost no depth. But it's a very interesting read.

This is the book he recommended for this book club meeting.

After preparing the ingredients in advance, the four of them sat around the coffee table, drinking tea and chatting about books, maintaining a pleasant atmosphere.

However, Yu Feihong also mentioned that she would not be organizing book clubs for the next month or two because she would be joining a film crew.

The book club will be organized by someone else; we can communicate with them then.

Chen was similar, and coincidentally, after overhearing their conversation, Cheng Hao also scratched his head:

"Oh? What a coincidence! I definitely won't be able to come next month either. I'm going to Guangzhou on a business trip next week. I'll probably be staying there for a while."

"Are you looking for Old Li? No need, he's right here."

Chen joked with a grin, and Li Mu laughed too, asking curiously:

"You've come to Guangzhou?"

"Yes, to be precise, I'm going to Shenzhen. They're opening a branch there, and I'm a first-phase employee; I'll be staying there until the end of the year."

"Haha, then you can come visit me sometime."

"Hehe, okay."

Cheng Hao readily agreed.

Having a friend in a completely unfamiliar place is definitely better than staying in your dorm all by yourself.

So, the book club inexplicably turned into a "farewell dinner," with everyone eating and chatting until it finally ended a little after 9 p.m.

They went their separate ways.

Then, at noon on the 20th, after Li Mu finished lunch at his girlfriend's house, seeing that it was almost time, he said to his girlfriend:

"Shall we go?"

"Let's go. Dad, Mom, I'm going to see Li Mu off."

"Okay, Xiao Li, be careful on the road."

At Zhang Chuanmei's urging, Li Mu smiled and agreed, then dragged his suitcase downstairs with his girlfriend.

In the car, Fan Bingbing said:

"I've also been trying to finalize things with Hai Ge these past couple of days, before we start filming, to get the garment factory deal sorted out."

"Um."\

"When do you plan to talk to Brother Wei about the investment?"

"No rush, keep an eye on this first..."

Ring ring.

A phone call interrupted him.

Li Mu glanced at his phone and suddenly froze:

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"...Feng Yuan called me."

"who?"\

Fan Bingbing was taken aback.

Then it dawned on me, this person... seems to be from our company.

So he nodded:

"Turn on speakerphone."

"good."\

Li Mu didn't think much of it, turned down the volume on the speaker, and answered the phone:

"Hello, Sister Yuan."

Feng Yuan is three years older than Sui Kuan, and given her relationship with Fatty Sui, calling her "Sister Yuan" isn't a problem.

"Hello, Mr. Li... I hope I didn't disturb your work?"

"Ha, no. I'm not working right now, I'm just walking home. What's up? Did you need something?"

"Uh...yes."

Feng Yuan hesitated for a moment, then first stated that she had something to do, and tentatively asked:

"Is it convenient for you to talk right now, Mr. Li?"

"That's convenient."

Under his girlfriend's somewhat strange "what's she up to?" look, Li Mu responded:

"There's no one around. What's wrong? Tell me, is there something you need?"

"Actually, it's nothing much, I just wanted to... ask about Li Ji and Sui Kuan."

？\

To be honest, Li Mu was stunned.

Asking about Fatty Sui?

Then go ask him, why are you looking for me?

He began to have doubts, but still said:

"Okay, what's wrong, Fatty Sui? Did you make Sister Yuan angry?"

"..."\

He was just being polite, but to his surprise, Feng Yuan fell silent.

Li Mu was a little puzzled, but after two or three seconds, a voice came from the phone:

"Li Ji, I... just wanted to ask, last week... did Sui Kuan... go for a massage?"

"……ah?"\

Now, Li Mu was truly dumbfounded.

Fan Bingbing was also stunned.

What kind of situation is this?

You're asking me/my boyfriend about your boyfriend getting massages?

"Sister Yuan... is there something you need?"

"...Actually, I know it's a bit presumptuous, but I'm just a little unsure if he went last week. No offense intended."

Feng Yuan's words were somewhat ambiguous, but Li Mu felt increasingly uneasy.

That statement is problematic.

It's not a matter of being presumptuous or not. Why don't you just ask Fatty Sui if he's going for a massage?

Why do you have to ask me?

You ask me... what's the reason?

There has to be a cause and effect to this, right? Suddenly a phone call came in, asking if Fatty Sui had gone for a massage. Why is that?

And just then, a sudden inspiration struck him…

Holy crap!

Could it be...?

In an instant, he seemed to understand, from Feng Yuan's tone to her strange question...

Li Mu understood immediately.

Then, his expression turned strange.

Then he said:

"Uh, yes, we went. We went together."

"???"

Fan Bingbing was instantly stunned.

No, buddy!

What?\

But she immediately heard a man's voice on the other end of the phone:

"See, I already told you, it was Li Mu who dragged me there! I don't usually go to places like that! He had no one to spend Qixi Festival with! Do you believe me now? Do you believe me now? Enough already!"

? ? ? ? \

You fatso...

Li Mu's eye began to twitch.

"...Oh, okay, I understand. Mr. Li, I'm sorry to bother you. The thing is... I found a massage card in his wallet, and I thought he'd been going to some shady place behind my back."

"Uh... Sister Yuan, no, we went out for a business dinner. On Qixi Festival, I... was really bored, so I dragged him to get a massage. We just got a massage, nothing more, don't overthink it."

"Um, I'm sorry, Mr. Li, I was being too presumptuous."

"Haha, it's okay, don't overthink it. Even if you don't trust Sui Kuan, you have to trust me, right? We'll just have a proper massage."

"Uh-huh."\

"Is there anything else?"

"That's all, thank you Mr. Li, I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"Haha, don't be so polite. I'll hang up now..."

After exchanging a few pleasantries and hanging up the phone, Li Mu's eyes instantly lit up with greed.

You fatso, you've really ruined your Uncle Li's reputation!!!

Just then, a deathly noise sounded beside him:

"You... went for a massage?"

"..."\

Li Mu's lips twitched, he turned to look at that repulsive face, and rolled his eyes:

"Don't you know whether I went for a massage or not? Don't you know what I did on Qixi Festival?"

"……hey-hey."\

Fan Bingbing grinned.

How could she not know? She attended an engagement party during the day, and that evening, on Valentine's Day, the two of them talked on the phone for over an hour.

"But it's also possible you went there after you hung up the phone!"

"Are you crazy? It's already midnight after you hung up the phone."

"So you went before 10 o'clock!"

"Bullshit, I played basketball until almost nine o'clock."

"Who knows if you're really playing ball?"

"Trying to cause trouble, huh?"

"Hehehe...just kidding, just teasing you. But...you two are pretty in sync, so you're basically taking the blame for Fatty Sui?"

Hearing this, Li Mu gritted his teeth:

"You fat bastard, you've ruined my reputation!"

Just then, Li Mu's phone beeped with a text message.

After glancing at it, Li Mu handed his phone to his girlfriend at a traffic light.

Sender: Sui Kuan