Chapter 90

The song "Li Bai" is sweeping through major radio stations with great enthusiasm. At the same time, on the internet forums of Haizhou, Jinling, and Pengcheng, the topics of Guo Lin's corruption and his affair with Zhao Lina are also heating up. However, Li Mu always felt that the current momentum was far from achieving the effect he desired.

Although Guo Lin had been heavily criticized online, it was only confirmed that he had a conduct issue. The real big problem with Guo Lin was his embezzlement and abuse of power. Only by finding solid evidence in this area could he permanently solve this trouble.

By the fifth day of Xue Guilan's criminal detention, the high-level management of the mining group in Pengcheng still showed no signs of action, not even regarding the investigation into Guo Lin's conduct issue.

During these five days, Guo Lin had been secretly operating. He sent a million yuan in cash to his old leader, Han Lu, and also handed over three properties he had bought in Pengcheng, asking Han Lu to help him operate at the higher levels.

After five days, the group still showed no signs of investigating him. Guo Lin gradually calmed down from his initial anxiety. He realized that with Han Lu's help, he was not in real danger. The only problem left to solve was Zhao Lina's lawsuit against his wife.

Guo Lin did not go to the detention center to pick up his wife but entrusted his brother-in-law to do so. He himself called Zhao Lina for an hour-long conversation.

Zhao Lina no longer dared to meet Guo Lin. Guo Lin also knew that their brief relationship had come to an end. He openly asked Zhao Lina how she could drop the lawsuit against Xue Guilan.

Zhao Lina said she could no longer stay in Haizhou with her face lost. Starting a new life in a new city would mean starting all over again, so she demanded a million yuan to drop the lawsuit.

Guo Lin hesitated for a moment but agreed. A million yuan to settle the matter and let Zhao Lina leave would save him a lot of trouble. Once she was gone, anyone who tried to use this issue against him would have no evidence.

Meanwhile, after five days in the detention center, Xue Guilan gradually realized that her attack on Zhao Lina was a bit rash, especially considering the significant risk it posed to her husband. At this time, the two of them should work together to weather the storm.

Guo Lin spent over two million yuan in cash and several properties. When Xue Guilan found out, her heart bled. The woman who had seduced her husband had only been beaten, yet she demanded a million yuan in compensation, which was an outrageous demand.

However, she also thought it was a good thing. Giving her a million yuan to leave was better than her continuing to be her husband's mistress.

The next day, Zhao Lina received the million yuan she had dreamed of and formally dropped all charges against Xue Guilan at the police station. This news was quickly published online by well-informed individuals at around 10 a.m. Then, at 11 a.m., a netizen, suspected to be an insider from the education bureau, posted that Zhao Lina had resigned, indicating that she was preparing to leave Haizhou.

Guo Lin had sent Zhao Lina away, stabilized his wife, and controlled the situation. After enduring so many days, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, he did not know that Li Mu was still watching him closely, like a hunter waiting for the right moment to strike.

...

The day before the first round of the Simple Plan finals, Yi Ting Network released their second song, "Sunflower." At the same time, Li Mu also released his second song, "When You Are Old," under the name Mu Zi.

Since Simple Plan had already gained a significant following online, "Sunflower" became an instant hit both online and offline. "Li Bai" had just topped the music charts of several major radio stations, and the highly motivational "Sunflower" quickly followed, surging to the top.

The success of these two songs made Simple Plan known to audiences across the country. Yi Ting Network's user data analysis showed that when the website first launched, 80% of users were from Jiangsu Province. Now, the number of in-province and out-of-province users was evenly split.

Li Mu believed that with the start of the finals, the proportion of out-of-province users would soon surpass that of in-province users, and Yi Ting Network would experience a surge in traffic.

The play counts of Simple Plan's songs had reached the million level, but the play counts of Mu Zi's songs were pitifully low. Li Mu did not pay much attention to this, but he did not know that "Zebra, Zebra" was starting to gain popularity among college students.

At 10 p.m. on the night of the finals, Li Mu received a call from the four members of Simple Plan in Beijing. They had won first place in the first round of the finals with "Old Boy," and they were ecstatic.

Zhang Kexuan, still excited, called Li Mu first and asked urgently, "The final is on August 15th, and there's only a week left. Brother Mu, have you prepared the next song for us?"

"Prepared, I'll give it to you when you come back."

The four members asked in unison, "What's the name of the next song?"

Li Mu smiled and said casually, "Fly Higher."

...

Li Mu successfully passed the driving test for reversing and parking. Although Zhao Kang and Su Yingxue had minor collisions during the test, the examiner waved them through. Overall, the driving test difficulty in this era was about one-fifteenth of what it would be fifteen years later.

That afternoon, the four members of Simple Plan returned to Jinling and, without celebrating their victory with their families, drove straight to Li Mu's house.

Li Mu had already prepared the lyrics and chord sheet for "Fly Higher." He sang the song a few times in front of the four members and explained the general arrangement ideas.

The song's style was grand and majestic. In the original arrangement, the prelude had a long synthesizer keyboard introduction, but since Simple Plan did not have a keyboardist, this was not a problem. Li Mu suggested finding a professional keyboardist to record the accompaniment and adding appropriate string sections during the chorus to enhance the effect.

During live performances, the pre-recorded instrumental accompaniment, combined with the band's live accompaniment and vocals, would create an excellent effect, a common practice in many band concerts.

After explaining the entire arrangement idea, the four members of Simple Plan took notes and visualized Li Mu's arrangement, all feeling excited and amazed.

Li Mu instructed the four members to continue strengthening their public relations with the radio stations. Now that "Li Bai" and "Sunflower" were on the charts, especially "Li Bai," which had topped the charts for several days, some music critics said the song had the potential to become one of the top ten songs of the year. However, in Li Mu's view, "Old Boy" and "Fly Higher" were also strong contenders for the charts.

The four songs were released in sync with the band's competition schedule. If the radio station operations were handled well, all four songs could top the music charts, and they might become famous across the country after the summer.

The success of the Beijing finals made the four members of Simple Plan revere Li Mu like a god. They gave him 200,000 yuan as payment for the songs and another 100,000 yuan for the next stage of promotion. Li Mu did not accept the 200,000 yuan but took the 100,000 yuan for promotion.

Zhang Kexuan and Ye Tianming strongly urged Li Mu to accept the 200,000 yuan, but Li Mu waved them off, saying, "I'm not short of money right now. I still have some left after opening the store. You've been in charge of the Yi Ting Network budget, so let's not be so formal about the money for these two songs."

They insisted, but Li Mu changed the subject and asked Zhang Kexuan, "Has Sister Chen been in touch with you recently?"

"She called me before the competition."

Li Mu said, "Strange, why hasn't she been in touch with me these days?"

Zhang Kexuan countered, "Have you tried contacting her?"

Li Mu admitted, "No, I've been dealing with a lot of messy things recently."

Zhang Kexuan rolled his eyes, "There you go."

He then added, "Sister Chen said she's been busy, but she did ask about you and whether I had invited you to Beijing. I told her I had, but you were too busy, so she didn't ask any more."

Li Mu nodded. He had indeed been very busy recently, and because of Guo Lin's attempt to frame his father, he had been on high alert. In the past few days, Zhao Kang was almost the only person he had truly interacted with. He had not actively contacted his parents, Chen Wan, or even Su Yingxue.

After the four members left, Li Mu called his parents. Their training was almost over, and they sounded very happy on the phone. It seemed that learning new things was good for them.

After hanging up, Li Mu thought about calling Chen Wan, but unexpectedly, he received a text message from her.

"Bad boy, what are you up to?"

"Thinking about you."

"Stop being silly."

"Really, I was just about to call you when your message came."

"Really missing your sister?"

"Really!"

"Sister misses you too..."

The two exchanged a few caring messages. The most intimate content was the phrase "missing you," and they both tacitly avoided going any further.

Li Mu always felt that his relationship with Chen Wan was somewhat ambiguous. Although he had a wicked thought to deepen this ambiguity, his rational side told him that things were just fine as they were—neither too heavy nor too light, sweet and long-lasting.