Chapter 63

The two chatted for an entire afternoon. In the middle, Su Yinxue called Li Mu to confirm the dinner plans for the evening.

Li Mu naturally agreed wholeheartedly. This dinner had been delayed for quite a while. He hadn’t expected to return to his hometown and then go to Wencheng and Jinling.

Zhao Kang knew that Li Mu had a secret dinner date with Su Yinxue in the evening, so he decided to go home for dinner, pretending to be a good boy.

Before leaving, Zhao Kang mysteriously pulled on Li Mu’s sleeve and whispered, "High school for three years, Su Yinxue always seemed cold and proud, but I feel that in front of you, she’s no different from a normal girl. I think she has a good impression of you. You two are going to the same university, so the future is bright!"

Li Mu was speechless. Seeing Zhao Kang’s confident face, he sighed inwardly. He was in his thirties, having experienced the harsh realities and hardships of life. After being reborn, his mind seemed to be focused entirely on how to make money, how to change his own fate, his parents’, and his friends’. As for relationships, he hadn’t really thought much about them. Su Yinxue was a distant dream from his youth, and now, his feelings for her were more of a lingering sentiment.

As for whether he had a chance to date this dream girl from his youth, Li Mu felt that this question was no longer important.

Zhao Kang left, and Li Mu was still waiting for Su Yinxue’s call when Chen Wan called.

"Hey, bad boy, have you almost forgotten about me?"

Chen Wan’s tone was a bit angry, and Li Mu could almost picture her pouting on the other end of the phone, which he found incredibly cute.

If Chen Wan knew that an 18-year-old boy had always considered her the cutest woman he had ever seen, she would be surprised.

"I wouldn’t dare!" Li Mu quickly responded, still picturing the scene in his mind.

"Then why didn’t you reply to me on QQ for several days? You, who’s always fiddling with computers, don’t tell me you haven’t been on QQ these two days!" Chen Wan’s tone was a mix of scolding and coquettishness.

Li Mu had to explain, "Sis, when I saw your message, it was already very late. I thought you wouldn’t be online, and I was busy with other things at the time, so I forgot to reply. It was my mistake, and I’ll definitely be more proactive in the future."

Li Mu’s attitude of admitting his mistake and promising to improve immediately made Chen Wan’s dissatisfaction disappear. She said, "That’s better, I forgive you."

Actually, Li Mu felt a bit guilty. He hadn’t been concerned about his "sister" who was interning in Shanghai, asking how she was doing, how her work and life were.

So, Li Mu asked, "Sis, how’s it going in Shanghai?"

"You’re finally showing some concern." Chen Wan’s tone wasn’t teasing but surprised, "I’ve been in Shanghai for a few years, and life is fine, but this is my first job. Being an intern isn’t easy. I’m running around all day with the director."

Li Mu asked curiously, "You’re with the director? What kind of show’s director?"

"Local news, and my position is an intern assistant director."

"Okay, is it tiring?"

"It’s quite tiring." Chen Wan sighed, "Every day is just running around, and the schedule is unpredictable. There are often breaking news stories, and when the director says to go out, I have to follow."

Li Mu sighed, "If it’s too tiring, don’t do it. Your goal is to be a host, and you don’t plan to work for Shanghai TV. This month of being an intern assistant director won’t help much on your resume."

"You’re the smart one, always seeing things clearly." Chen Wan giggled, "But even though it’s not very useful and tiring, I’m still very interested. Besides, my dad’s friend did me a favor. If I can’t handle this, it would be embarrassing."

"If you find it useful, that’s good, but don’t overdo it. Your health is important."

"Okay, I got your concern!" Chen Wan laughed a few times and then got to the point of her call, "Tomorrow evening, my brother and his team are in the semi-finals. I’m planning to go to Jinling to cheer them on. Do you want to come?"

"I can’t make it." Li Mu’s tone was somewhat helpless, "There’s just too much going on lately. I’m swamped with things tomorrow."

After saying that, Li Mu asked, "Aren’t you very busy? How can you get away?"

Chen Wan explained, "I talked to the director today and got a half-day off tomorrow afternoon. I’ll take the afternoon train to Jinling, watch their performance, and then take the evening train back..."

"Quite a hassle!"

"I don’t want to miss their crucial match, and besides, they’re singing your songs!"

Chen Wan, excited, continued, "Do you know, I put your 'Zebra, Zebra' and 'When You Are Old' in my MP3 and listen to them whenever I have time. My colleagues all said they were great and asked me for copies. I told them these songs are unpublished and can’t be copied, so I refused them."

Li Mu laughed, "If they really want them, you can copy them for them. It’s just for fun, as long as you don’t reveal the original singer."

"No way!" Chen Wan immediately said, "Aren’t you making a music website? If these great songs are leaked and spread to other websites, that would be a big loss!"

Li Mu’s eyes lit up, "I didn’t think of that. Sis, you’re really smart!"

Li Mu indeed hadn’t thought of that.

He had always planned to use a few good songs to make Simple Plan famous through this competition. Of course, it wasn’t Li Mu himself who would make them famous; he didn’t have that kind of power. He could only create momentum and let the public make them famous.

After making Simple Plan famous, Li Mu’s plan was to record all their competition songs in a studio, then use internet trolls to promote "Yi Ting," and release these songs one by one on Yi Ting, opening them for download.

This way, Yi Ting could also gain some users through Simple Plan’s popularity.

However, the two songs he recorded were also of high quality. If they were released online, they would likely have a good market. So, could he make "himself" famous?

The fame Li Mu wanted wasn’t to become a star but to create a virtual singer on the future Yi Ting, using a fake name to release good music. This way, a mysterious singer with a few good songs, after being hyped by internet trolls and the platform, would certainly attract some user attention.

Moreover, this secret was easy to keep. Even Kong Lingyu, who was responsible for developing Yi Ting, wouldn’t know. Besides himself, only the four members of Simple Plan and Chen Wan knew.

Almost instantly, Li Mu made his decision: Go for it!

In his previous life, he liked to browse Douban, **, and Zhihu, using a unified nickname, "Muzi." The character "Li" was split into "mu" and "zi," but there were too many people named "Muzi," so he used the character "mu" from his name, hence "Muzi."

After Yi Ting went live, he could use the name "Muzi" to release some classic songs that hadn’t been released yet, just like Simple Plan, releasing a new song on Yi Ting every so often. This serialized release model would increase user stickiness, and since Yi Ting was a free platform, it didn’t matter if other listening websites followed with his and Simple Plan’s songs, as their timeliness would always be slower than Yi Ting’s.

The more Li Mu thought about it, the more he felt it was feasible. This dual-pronged plan seemed very practical when carefully considered.

"Hey, bad boy, why aren’t you responding!"

The sudden scolding in his ear made Li Mu snap back to reality. He quickly said, "What’s up, Sis? I was just thinking."

"I said, are you really not coming tomorrow?"

"Really can’t make it." Li Mu sighed, "I have to take my parents to the station tomorrow evening. It’ll be past six, and I can’t make it in time!"

"Okay..." Chen Wan’s tone was full of disappointment.

Li Mu said, "Help me cheer them on, especially tell Ke Xuan that the songs are fine, his face and voice are fine, and the band’s performance is fine. If they still can’t win the semi-finals, I won’t write songs for them anymore."

"Okay, I got it." Chen Wan’s tone was still low, and she hesitated before saying, "I’ll talk to you later, I have things to do."

"Okay, you go ahead." Li Mu reminded her before hanging up, "Take care of yourself."

"Okay... bye."

After hanging up, Li Mu felt a bit melancholic. Honestly, he didn’t really want to watch Simple Plan’s performance. Even if they sang the two songs well, they still had a gap compared to the original singers. As for cheering them on, one time was enough.

However, not wanting to watch the performance was one thing, but Li Mu did want to see Chen Wan.

Their chances of meeting would decrease in the future, especially once he went to Yanjing, which would be even farther away.

Although Li Mu casually mentioned that it was only a two-hour flight from Yanjing to Shanghai, he knew that once they were in different places, even a two-hour flight would make it hard to find time to meet, let alone a distance of over a thousand kilometers.

In his previous life, he had some friends whose relationships had gradually faded over time. Once they started working and living in different places, even if they were in the same city, the distance between districts could become a significant barrier to maintaining friendships.

Thinking about this, Li Mu felt a bit melancholic.

After less than a minute of contemplation, his phone buzzed with a text: "I’m leaving now. Where are you? I’ll take a taxi to pick you up."

It was from Su Yinxue.

Li Mu tapped a few keys: "Green Island Ice House."

The page turns with ads start

The page turns with ads end