After the recording of "Wu Ha" concluded, it would be August before it officially aired, which would coincide with the second recording period.
Mu Li planned to accept Wang Xiang's invitation to visit "Wonderful Life" in mid-July for a week of recording.
"Wonderful Life" is a slow-paced variety show primarily hosted by Huang Xiaochu and He Lin, in addition to a younger sister, Zhang Xiaofeng, and two older brothers, Zhang Xiaoyang and Peng Xiaochang.
This show focuses on rural leisure life and is generally not strenuous.
The filming location for this season was a small coastal fishing village on South Island, with each filming period lasting approximately one to two weeks, during which various guest stars would visit.
Wang Xiang's intention was for Mu Li to participate for one full cycle, which would then be edited into about 3-4 episodes of the show.
This variety show is currently Mango TV's flagship program, and people eager to appear on it have to queue up and compete, something Mu Li was naturally aware of.
"Oh, right, I'll have your Chichi brother come along then, so he can look out for you," Wang Xiang said with a smile.
"How can I impose?" Mu Li felt a little overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.
Wang Xiang explained, "It's fine, if Chichi has nothing else to do, he basically goes every season. I'm calling him for the show's ratings; his laid-back personality is especially popular on that show."
Well, Mu Li wanted to say, I'm actually quite laid-back too.
Just as the two were chatting, Mu Li's phone rang; the caller was Liu Yun: "A Li, is your filming finished?"
"Yes, just finished," Mu Li replied.
"That's good. I discussed it with Wu Yao, and our future studio will likely be located here in the Demon Capital. Do you have any objections?" Liu Yun inquired.
Regarding the studio's location, Mu Li had also expressed his opinion; he initially wanted it to be in Yangcheng, closer to home, but Yangcheng's resources were somewhat lacking, so he ultimately had to choose between the Imperial Capital and the Demon Capital.
These two locations made no difference to Mu Li, so he let Liu Yun and Wu Yao decide.
"I have no problem," Mu Li agreed. "Oh, right, Sister Liu, have you arranged a recording studio for me? I'll probably need to record a few finished songs when I get back."
"It's already arranged, just waiting for you to come over," Liu Yun's actions were quite swift.
After a brief work handover, Liu Yun hung up the phone.
With the recording for "Wu Ha" concluded, Mu Li also followed Chichi to the Demon Capital.
Upon arriving in the Demon Capital, Mu Li bid farewell to Chichi and took Togekiss directly to a villa.
This villa was Mu Li's parents' residence in the Demon Capital; his parents were currently traveling, so the house was naturally empty.
The last time he was here was during high school, when he came to the Demon Capital for a competition and stayed here. He didn't expect five or six years to have passed in a blink of an eye.
The house was regularly cleaned and was still quite tidy inside.
After returning home, Mu Li released all the Pokémon he had brought with him this time.
Although they had only been out for a few days this time, these little guys were quite cooped up.
These little guys had grown up on a farm since they were young, and rarely had the chance to stay in a Poké Ball for so long, especially Jigglypuff and Sylveon, who hated being in Poké Balls and preferred to snuggle on Mu Li.
Fortunately, these Poké Balls were specially customized by Mu Li, and the environment inside was quite comfortable, which made living in them less uncomfortable for the Pokémon.
Arcanine had also been well-behaved these past two days, not causing any trouble outside. Once released, it thought it was back on the farm and tilted its head to howl, but just as its head went up, Mu Li clamped it down tightly.
"Stupid dog, look closely, this isn't the farm!" Arcanine had no real flaws, except for its habit of howling a few times for no reason.
Most Pokémon could bark as they pleased, but this one happened to be a Totem Pokémon, and when it howled, it would attract a bunch of Pokémon to respond from a distance.
And when those Pokémon responded, wouldn't Arcanine have to reply?
The result would be no peace for the entire night, and the police would probably come directly to the house and take the dog away for disturbing public order.
Arcanine looked utterly wronged: "They won't even let a dog bark anymore."
Mu Li was too lazy to bother with this guy and let Arcanine go play in the yard by itself.
Blissey finally emerged from her Poké Ball; she hadn't really had a chance to be useful this time.
"Happy!" Blissey gave Mu Li a big hug as soon as she came out.
"Ah ah ah! Gently, gently! My kidney is going to break!" Mu Li felt a massive force hit him, and he almost split in two.
Blissey's face flushed, and she quickly put Mu Li down.
After releasing all the Pokémon, Mu Li immediately made a video call.
The video connected, and on the other end was a Ninetales, who seemed to still be sleeping and was startled awake by the video's sound, with a hint of murderous intent in her eyes.
However, upon seeing Mu Li on the other end of the video, the murderous intent in Ninetales's eyes dissipated.
"Ninetales, we're in the Demon Capital now! We'll probably be staying for a long time, do you guys want to come over?" Mu Li greeted her and then asked, "But the house here isn't very big, so too many Pokémon can't stay."
A mechanical voice spoke: "Ninetales says she misses you, she wants to come over."
Before the words were finished, Mu Li felt a light orange shadow sweep by, and the video on the other end spun wildly, followed by a scream.
A moment later, a somewhat disheveled Rotom appeared in front of the video: "Ninetales got angry, Luotomu, I'll go tally which Pokémon want to come over."
With that, the video call was hung up.
Mu Li's mouth twitched: "Heh heh, Ninetales's temper is still as explosive as ever."
Not long after, a dimensional rift appeared in the villa's yard, and one Pokémon after another emerged directly from it: Alcremie, Florges, Indeedee, Ditto, Bewear, Ninetales, and finally, a Gardevoir stepped out of the rift.
Mu Li immediately jumped up happily upon seeing the many Pokémon.
"This is great! Especially Indeedee and Gardevoir, without you two, I wouldn't know how to tidy up the house."
Gardevoir helplessly spread her hands and said telepathically, "What would you do without us!"
Indeedee, however, was already used to Mu Li's ways. She walked directly in front of Mu Li, patted him, and gestured: "You have me."
Indeedee was originally a Pokémon skilled at housework, and the one in Mu Li's family had maxed-out life skills, with the only drawback being that she couldn't cook human food.
"But why did Bewear come too?" Mu Li was a bit curious; his Bewear usually liked to stay at home pretending to be a plush toy and rarely went out. He didn't expect it to come with the main group this time.
Gardevoir said helplessly, "He made a mistake recently. After you left, he ran into the garden outside and trampled many flowers, and then Combee and the others taught him a lesson."
Bewear's cheeks flushed, and he immediately ran to lie on the sofa, pretending to be a large bolster.
"Heh heh, this guy really doesn't make things easy," Mu Li sighed and introduced to everyone, "This is our house. You can find your own rooms to sleep in, or you can stay with me, but don't fill up my bed."
As soon as Mu Li finished speaking, Bewear sprang up from the ground and bounced straight upstairs. Ditto looked at the departing Bewear, then immediately transformed into Bewear's likeness and lay down on the same sofa.
Looking at his family of strange Pokémon, Mu Li also had a bit of a headache.
Fortunately, although these Pokémon were playful at times, they could still take care of themselves, so he didn't have to worry too much.
Indeedee and Gardevoir would help him tidy the room. While they were doing that, Mu Li checked the latest news.
It had been almost a week since his graduation ceremony performance at Yangcheng Conservatory of Music, and with it being graduation season recently, his song had exploded in popularity.
On the Kuaoyin search rankings, it was rapidly climbing with millions of views daily, though most people only knew the song itself. Furthermore, this song only had a graduation ceremony performance version, without even an official audio release.
Mu Li also planned to record this song officially this time. Additionally, while the graduation season hadn't ended yet, he wanted to release another song, but he hadn't decided which one to choose yet. He would discuss it with Liu Yun tomorrow before making a decision.
The next morning, he was once again woken up by Arcanine.
Large canine Pokémon like Arcanine are not allowed to move around the city alone, so Mu Li gained an extra exercise each day—walking the dog.
In fact, rather than walking the dog, it was more like he rode Arcanine around, especially in the morning, when he would basically sleep on Arcanine's back.
Arcanine was very fast and stable, and Mu Li felt almost no bumps while lying on its back.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but Mu Li finally woke up and looked at his surroundings.
Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, he didn't know where Arcanine had taken him.
"Hey? Let's go back quickly, I have to go to the company today," Mu Li checked the distance; they were already more than ten kilometers from home, so he quickly told Arcanine to turn back.
Fortunately, Arcanine was very fast, and this distance could be covered in less than 15 minutes.
On the way back, however, the combination of Mu Li and Arcanine attracted a lot of attention, especially after he entered the villa area, where he saw many strange glances along the way.
"Whose Arcanine is that? Looks very energetic!"
"Is this a new resident? Why haven't I seen them before?"
...
There were many Pokémon in this community. Mu Li saw many on his way back, such as Eevee, Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander, etc., and even a Greninja. The most unusual one was a Milotic floating in the air.
Mu Li even specifically looked at that Milotic and her owner. Her owner was wearing sportswear and looked slender with a good figure, but before he could clearly see her face, he was warned by the dog.
This dog, relying on Ninetales, Sylveon, and Jigglypuff for support, would go back and tell on Mu Li if he dared to sneak a peek at other Pokémon when they were outside.
"Don't go back and spread rumors, okay? I just thought that girl looked a little familiar, like I'd seen her somewhere before," Mu Li quickly explained.
After a quick tidy-up at home, Mu Li took Togekiss directly to the address Liu Yun had sent him.