Chapter Sixty-One: Both Parents Accompany
Song Liang’s Mercedes S500 took Li Mu all the way to the gate of the Xiling Coal Mine residential area.
Li Mu originally didn’t want to trouble him so much, but Song Liang insisted on dropping him right at his doorstep, so Li Mu had no choice but to give the driver his exact address.
Before getting out, Li Mu thanked Song Liang once again, then added, “Brother Liang, Tianming said you had planned to return this morning, and ended up waiting a whole day for me. I’m really sorry for the trouble.”
Song Liang smiled faintly. “It’s nothing. I wasn’t in any rush; it gave me a free day to spend with Tianming’s father.”
Li Mu nodded, ready to say goodbye and get out, but Song Liang reminded him, “Haizhou isn’t a big place. If you need anything, remember to call your brother.”
Li Mu understood that this was Song Liang’s promise: if he encountered any trouble in Haizhou and sought him out, Song Liang would definitely help. Although he didn’t currently need anything, having someone so well-connected in Haizhou was reassuring.
When he returned home, it was nearly ten o’clock at night. His parents hadn’t gone to bed yet, both waiting for Li Mu, who had been away for two days.
Li Mu’s parents didn’t know about the Yi Ting project he was preparing. When they asked why he stayed an extra day in Jinling, Li Mu simply said he was meeting with clients who had previously bought his songs, and that there might be similar collaborations in the future.
His parents didn’t ask further. Li Mu’s mother said, “Your father and I discussed it. Now that we’ve both been laid off, we’ll open the shop together. So for the training, your father, your aunt, and I are planning to go together.”
Li Mu nodded. “That’s actually the best way.”
“We’re not worried about the training itself. What I’m worried about is how you’ll eat while we’re away,” his mother said, troubled and reluctant.
“It’s only fifteen days, really nothing much. Just think, in another month when I go off to college, I’ll be on my own for at least four years. This is just fifteen days—consider it early practice,” Li Mu replied lightly.
Hearing this, his mother’s eyes suddenly reddened at the thought of her son spending four years away from home. She steeled herself and said, “Let your father stay home to run the shop. I’ll go to Yanjing with you for university. I’ll rent an apartment near your school and cook for you every day.”
Li Mu nearly fainted. “Mom, who takes their mother to college to cook for them? I’m a grown man! If word got out on campus, I’d be laughed out of the place.”
“Exactly!” his father, seeing his wife was serious, hurried to intervene. “College is half a society; our son needs to learn to be independent like thousands of other students. Following him there to cook makes no sense. And if I stay home, what would I eat?”
“But…”
His mother sighed, clearly giving up the idea, but still felt pity for Li Mu’s upcoming college life.
Li Mu quickly reassured her, “Mom, I’ve heard the university cafeteria food is really good, and since they cater to students from all over, there’s plenty of variety. If I get tired of the cafeteria, there are countless restaurants outside.”
He was lying; any college student knows how bad cafeteria food can be. In his previous life, the cafeteria at his second-tier university was not only terrible but expensive, since it was privately contracted. Still, no matter how bad the food was, he couldn’t let his mother accompany him as a student!
His father chimed in. “Don’t worry about him. Our son is paying for us to open a shop—that means he’s starting to worry about us now.”
His mother could only nod, feeling sorry, and said to Li Mu, “Take care of yourself these days. Don’t make me worry.”
Although Li Mu was eager for the freedom once his parents went off for training, he still wore an obedient look and nodded gently.
The headquarters training for Metersbonwe was scheduled for four days later. Li Mu gave his parents two travel options: the first was to take an overnight sleeper train from Haizhou to Wencheng the day after tomorrow, about ten hours, arriving in the morning with a day to rest; the second was to fly directly from Jinling to Wencheng the day after tomorrow. Both options would get them there a day early for the training.
His parents almost immediately chose the first option.
His mother thought the plane tickets were too expensive; his father felt none of them had ever flown before and didn’t feel comfortable with it.
Li Mu realized that all three—his parents and his aunt—had never flown, and he couldn’t accompany them, at most just drop them off at Jinling airport. If anything unfamiliar happened, they might worry or get embarrassed.
“I’ll check train tickets tomorrow and buy you three sleepers. It’s a good way to travel—just sleep and you’ll be there.”
His father said, “Don’t worry about us. Go wash up and sleep. I’ll go get the tickets myself tomorrow morning.”
Li Mu nodded, didn’t say more, and acted as if he remembered something. “I need to see Kongzi about something, I’ll be back soon.”
His parents didn’t ask further.
Leaving the house, Li Mu took a taxi to the train station. There weren’t many people buying tickets at night; after waiting about twenty minutes, he bought three soft sleeper tickets for his parents and his aunt.
He knew without asking that his parents would have chosen hard sleepers, or even hard seats—they were used to being frugal and weren’t ready to start enjoying themselves. So he had to do it for them.
Returning home after buying the tickets, his parents had already gone to their room. Li Mu put the three tickets on the coffee table, took a shower, and went to his own room.
Li Mu, used to staying up late, turned on the computer and logged into QQ.
He had only one message, from Chen Wan.
Chen Wan’s message was from yesterday and quite simple: “Naughty boy, your sister is so bored in Shanghai…”
Li Mu shook his head helplessly. Chen Wan only ever called him “naughty boy” or “rascal.” He couldn’t understand it; as a promising, bright young man, what was naughty or bad about him?
That she left a message instead of texting or calling indicated she was just venting, not really wanting to contact him. It was late, so Li Mu didn’t reply.
There was also a verification request, from Kong Lingyu.
Li Mu accepted, and unexpectedly, Kong Lingyu immediately sent him a message: “President Li, I contacted one of my younger classmates today. He hasn’t graduated yet, but he has plenty of time, so I’d like to assign part of the development work to him and his classmates to speed things up. What do you think?”
Li Mu asked, “Are you planning to outsource to them, or hire them part-time?”
“Outsource. We’ll set the workload, timeline, and price. That’s more reasonable.”
Li Mu replied immediately, “No problem. That way, we get collective wisdom.”
Kong Lingyu responded, “Ok. They’re all students from Provincial University of Science and Technology, entering their senior year. If all goes well, we should be able to finish front and back end development by the end of the month.”
Li Mu was surprised and asked, “You’re confident it’ll be done so quickly?”
“Absolutely!” Kong Lingyu replied. “You’ve already completed about 20%, and the remaining logic is well defined. Development will be much easier.”
“Keep a close eye on the page design. It must be just as I said: simple, elegant, and tasteful. Don’t clutter it with endless lists and playlists copied and pasted everywhere. Make sure the main banner ad is well designed, and besides that, the homepage needs eight prominent square icons with text for recommendations, plus a single popularity chart. Remember, only one chart.”
Websites nowadays have almost no aesthetic sense. Open any site, and the page is crammed with all sorts of text, making it visually exhausting. The homepage alone has a dozen charts, chaotic and messy.
When Li Mu decided to create Yi Ting, he set a clear direction: the most useful and user-friendly music site. While everyone else provided music streaming, he would get ahead by perfecting the user experience first.