Chapter 61

Song Liang's Mercedes S500 drove Li Mu all the way to the entrance of the Xiling Coal Mine Community. Originally, Li Mu didn't want to trouble the other party, but Song Liang insisted on taking him home, so Li Mu had to tell the driver the specific address. Before getting out of the car, Li Mu expressed his gratitude to Song Liang again and then said, "Brother Liang, Tianming said you were planning to come back this morning. To wait for me, you delayed your return by a whole day, I'm really sorry about that."

Song Liang smiled slightly, "It's all trivial. I didn't have any urgent matters anyway, and it was a good opportunity to spend a day with Tianming's dad."

Li Mu nodded, preparing to say goodbye and get out of the car. Song Liang didn't forget to remind him, "Hai Zhou is a small place. If anything happens, remember to give your brother a call."

Li Mu knew that this was a promise from Song Liang. If anything happened in Hai Zhou, he would definitely help. Although he didn't need any help at the moment, it was good to have such a powerful connection in Hai Zhou. When he returned home, it was almost 10 PM. His parents were still awake, waiting for him after his two-day absence.

Li Mu's parents didn't know about the Yi Ting project he was preparing. When they asked why he had stayed in Jinling for an extra day, Li Mu said he was meeting with a client who had bought his songs, and there might be similar collaborations in the future. His parents didn't ask any more questions. Li Mu's mother said, "Your father and I discussed it. We're both laid off now, so we decided to start the store together. Therefore, for the training, your father, I, and your aunt will go together."

Li Mu nodded, "Actually, this is the best arrangement."

"Your father and I will go for the training, but I'm worried about how you'll eat while we're away," Li Mu's mother said, her face full of concern and reluctance.

"The training is only for fifteen days, it's not a big deal. Think about it, in a month, I'll be going to university and will be on my own for at least four years. These fifteen days can be a good practice," Li Mu said lightly.

Hearing this, Li Mu's mother thought about her son being away for four years, and her eyes suddenly reddened. She steeled herself and said, "Let your father run the store, and I'll go to Yanjing to accompany you to school. I'll rent a place near your school and cook for you every day."

Li Mu almost fainted, "Mom, who goes to university with their mother cooking for them? I'm a grown man now. If this gets out, I'll be laughed at."

"That's right!" Li Mu's father, seeing his wife's genuine concern, quickly intervened, "University is like a mini-society. Your son needs to learn to be independent like thousands of other students. What kind of thing is it for you to go and cook for him? Besides, what will I eat if I stay home?"

"But..." Li Mu's mother sighed, seemingly giving up her idea but still feeling heartache for her son's upcoming university life.

Li Mu hurried to reassure her, "Mom, I heard the university canteens serve delicious food, and they offer a wide variety to cater to students from all over. Even if you get tired of the canteen, there are countless restaurants outside."

Li Mu was lying. Anyone who has been to university knows how terrible the canteen food can be. In his previous life, the canteen at the second-tier university was privately contracted, and it was both expensive and terrible. But for Li Mu, no matter how bad the canteen food was, he couldn't let his mother accompany him to university.

Li Mu's father also reassured her, "You don't need to worry so much. Your son is paying for us to start the store, which means he's starting to take care of us."

Li Mu's mother nodded, feeling heartache but agreeing. "Then take good care of yourself these days, and don't make me worry."

Although Li Mu was looking forward to being completely free once his parents went for training, he maintained a good-boy demeanor and nodded gently.

The training at the Metersbonwe headquarters was scheduled for four days later. Li Mu gave his parents two travel options: one was to take a sleeper train from Hai Zhou to Wencheng the day after tomorrow, which would take about ten hours, arriving the next morning with a day to rest; the other was to fly directly from Jinling to Wencheng the day after tomorrow, both options arriving on the third day without delaying the fourth day's training.

His parents almost immediately chose the first option. Li Mu's mother thought the plane tickets were too expensive, and his father thought none of them had ever flown before and were unfamiliar with the process, making them feel uneasy.

Li Mu thought it made sense. His parents and aunt had never flown before, and he couldn't accompany them, so he could only take them to the Jinling airport. If anything unfamiliar happened, they might get anxious or embarrassed.

"I'll check the train tickets tomorrow and buy three sleeper tickets for you. You'll arrive after a good night's sleep, which is also nice."

Li Mu's father said, "Don't worry about us. Go to bed early. I'll go to the station myself in the morning."

Li Mu nodded, not saying much, and pretended to remember something. "I have something to do with Kangzi, I'll be back soon."

His parents didn't ask any more questions. Li Mu went out, took a taxi to the train station, and bought three soft sleeper tickets for his parents and aunt. There were few people buying tickets at night, so he only waited about twenty minutes.

Li Mu knew that his parents would choose hard sleepers or even hard seats to save money. They were used to being frugal, so he had to do it for them. After buying the tickets and returning home, his parents had already gone to bed. Li Mu placed the three tickets on the coffee table, took a shower, and went back to his room.

Li Mu, who was used to staying up late, turned on his computer and logged into QQ. Only one person had left him a message: Chen Wan.

Chen Wan's message was from yesterday, and it was simple: "Bad boy, I'm so bored in Shanghai..."

Li Mu shook his head helplessly. Chen Wan seemed to have only two nicknames for him: stinky boy and bad boy. He was a bright and cool young man, so where was he stinky or bad? He couldn't understand. Chen Wan's choice to leave a message rather than send a text or call also showed that she was just venting, not really looking for him. It was quite late, so Li Mu didn't reply.

There was also a friend request from Kong Lingyu. Li Mu accepted it, and soon Kong Lingyu sent a message: "Mr. Li, I contacted one of my junior classmates today. He hasn't graduated yet, but he has a lot of free time, so I thought of assigning some of the development work to him and his classmates to speed up the development. What do you think?"

Li Mu asked, "Do you want to outsource it to them or have them work part-time?"

"Outsourcing, setting the workload, time, and price, would be more reasonable."

Li Mu replied immediately, "No problem, this way we can leverage more resources."

Kong Lingyu replied, "OK, they are students from the provincial science and technology university, and they will be seniors next semester. If they can complete it smoothly, we should be able to finish the front and back-end development by the end of the month."

Li Mu was surprised and asked, "Are you confident you can finish so quickly?"

"Absolutely!" Kong Lingyu replied, "You've already completed about 20%, and the remaining logic is already defined, making the development much easier."

"Keep a close eye on the page design. It must be simple, beautiful, and elegant. Don't clutter it with a bunch of copied and pasted charts and playlists. Make sure the banner ads on the home page are well-designed. Additionally, the home page needs eight prominent recommendation spots with square icons and text, and one hot chart. Remember, only one chart."

Most websites today have no aesthetic sense. Opening any website, the entire page is filled with various, densely packed text, making it visually tiring. The home page alone has over a dozen charts, which is chaotic.

When Li Mu decided to create Yi Ting, he had a clear goal: to create the most user-friendly and practical music website. In a market where everyone provides music listening services, he wanted to lead all competitors by focusing on user experience first.