After the song's general production direction was set, Mu Li's life for the next week basically revolved around three points: home, Jiayu Company, and Xu Yunyi's home.
Besides producing the music for "stubborn," he went to Xu Yunyi's home to study vocal music, though occasionally he had an additional option—walking the dog.
Ever since he learned that Fu Peiyao occasionally took Milotic out, he took the task of dog walking back from Gardevoir.
However, Fu Peiyao had been quite busy recently; her schedule for the past two weeks seemed to be fully booked, and most of the time she wasn't even in the Demon Capital, so Mu Li's goal of meeting her through dog walking was not achieved.
Mu Li couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but what he didn't know was that Fu Peiyao was actually not feeling well either, the reason stemming from that three-person meeting a week ago.
Even though that meeting involved three people and was live-streamed, it still had a significant impact on Fu Peiyao and Mu Qingqing.
Many unscrupulous media outlets directly posted headlines like “Fu Peiyao in Love,” “Mu Qingqing in Love,” and even “Fu Peiyao and Mu Qingqing Fighting Over a Man” on Weibo, causing many uninformed passersby to comment extensively on the situation.
Even though both their agencies had issued official statements, there were still some anti-fans who chose to be selectively blind, only believing what they saw and relentlessly slandering online.
However, the public's eyes are sharp, and with the full live broadcast as evidence, everyone's view on the matter was quite consistent, believing it was just a meeting of three online friends offline, even though Mu Li and Fu Peiyao's interactions seemed a bit too ambiguous.
For those familiar with Fu Peiyao, they were even more suspicious of her situation.
Xingyao Company is Fu Peiyao's current agency. Luo Wenying is one of the founders of Xingyao Company and is also one of the most recognized Superior agents in all of Huaxia. Fu Peiyao's agency contract is in her hands.
At this moment, in Luo Wenying's office, Fu Peiyao sat upright on the sofa, a pile of documents directly thrown onto the coffee table in front of her.
“Explain it, please? What’s going on?” Luo Wenying's tone was very cold.
“Uh… hmm…” Fu Peiyao stammered for a long time but still couldn't say anything.
“Don't think you can muddle through by stammering.” Luo Wenying's tone rose slightly. As she spoke, she stood up directly from her chair, looking very imposing. At this moment, the aura of Huaxia's top agent was fully displayed.
“I just met with Qingqing and him…” Fu Peiyao said, feeling a little wronged, her charming eyes blinking continuously, a mist gradually rising in them, as if she was about to cry the next second.
“Don't try that with me.” Luo Wenying seemed particularly unfeeling, her tone growing stricter. “Just a meeting? Huh? Fifteen trending topics, a full fifteen trending topics. Do you know how much effort I spent to take down those trending topics?”
“I'm your agent; can you inform me in advance if anything happens?”
Fu Peiyao pouted her small mouth and asked softly, “Is it okay if I notify you in advance?”
“Of course!” Luo Wenying affirmed. “I am your agent. If such matters are handled well in advance, I wouldn't be as passive as I am now.”
“Oh, alright. Then next time he records "I Live Alone," I want to go out to sea with him,” Fu Peiyao said indifferently, as if talking about a trivial matter.
“Go out to sea together, right… Wait… Go out to sea together?” Luo Wenying's tone immediately rose an octave. “What exactly is going on with you two? And you want to go out to sea together? Weren't you just online friends who met offline?”
Two blushes suddenly appeared on Fu Peiyao's cheeks: “It's just… it's just…”
“Something's not right, you're very off…” Luo Wenying no longer had any Superior demeanor. At this moment, she had already leaned close to Fu Peiyao, staring at her eyes with a suspicious expression, “Your look… you haven't already gotten together, have you?”
“No way…” Fu Peiyao quickly denied, “It's our first meeting, okay? How could we get together so quickly? At most, there's just a tiny bit of ambiguity.” As she spoke, Fu Peiyao extended two slender, jade-like fingers and made a small gesture.
“Oh, oh, oh… a tiny bit of ambiguity, I think you're just falling for him.” Luo Wenying didn't give Fu Peiyao any face at all. “I watched you grow up since you were little; don't try that with me.”
Luo Wenying didn't say anything else, but just asked seriously, “Are you sure? You know your status; if you date him, his pressure won't be small.”
Mu Li's image couldn't help but float through Fu Peiyao's mind, and she couldn't help but laugh, “He, ah, is carefree. It's probably impossible to say that he's completely unaffected by this, but it's even more impossible for such a small matter to crush him.”
Luo Wenying snorted, “You really understand him.”
“Of course.” A hint of pride even showed in Fu Peiyao's tone. “We've known each other for so many years; I still understand him.”
“Oh? Really?” Luo Wenying expressed some doubt, “Where is he from? How old is he this year? When is his birthday? Who is in his family? How tall is he? How much does he weigh? What color does he like? What fruit does he love to eat? Does he like raising Pokémon? What is his profession? What are his hobbies?…”
“Ah, ah, ah… Master, stop nagging…” Fu Peiyao felt as if ten thousand mosquitoes were buzzing endlessly in her ears.
Luo Wenying snorted, “With you like this, you say you understand him? I think you're just after his looks. But then again…”
She changed her tone, a mischievous smile appearing on her face: “This kid is quite handsome. Why don't you try to convince him? I'll poach him to our company so it's more convenient for you two to hook up in secret?”
“What do you mean by ‘hook up in secret’? Sister Wenying, if you can't speak properly, you don't have to.” Fu Peiyao said coyly, but then she changed her tune, “He seems to have started a small studio with friends. You can directly cooperate with him.”
Luo Wenying nodded in agreement: “That's true, society isn't like before where you had to control people with contracts. This kind of cooperation model between studios and companies is actually more convenient.”
“But you have to think carefully. Feelings are feelings, and work is work. I hope you can distinguish between them. It's fine if you want to go out to sea with him, but work cannot be delayed,” Luo Wenying emphasized.
“That's natural,” Fu Peiyao said with a smile, “I still need to save money to buy energy cubes for my Milotic to eat.”
“As long as you know what you're doing.” Luo Wenying smiled, immediately dropping her business-like demeanor. She suddenly sat beside Fu Peiyao, her face showing an excited expression. “Business is done; let's talk about private matters. I saw him give you a necklace called ‘ocean heart’? How is it? Is it really as beautiful as in the video?”
“What can you see in a video?” Fu Peiyao pretended to disdainfully wave her finger. “The real necklace is a hundred times more beautiful! You don't know, I was stunned at the time. After putting on that necklace, I felt as if I was immersed in the ocean!”
“Wow!” Luo Wenying's eyes were filled with envy. “I don't care, you have to lend it to me to wear. I want to see for myself if it deserves to be called ‘ocean heart’.”
Fu Peiyao lifted her chin, making her already fair neck appear even more alluring: “That depends on your performance.”
Meanwhile, in a five-star hotel far away on South Island, Huang Xiaochu and He Lin were brewing tea and eating fruit. He Lin was holding his phone, watching the recorded live stream of Mu Li and Fu Peiyao's meeting.
“Teacher He, what are you watching?” Huang Xiaochu asked curiously. Since He Lin arrived today, he had been watching videos, which he never used to do.
“Teacher Huang, you should also take a look. This is our guest for this recording,” He Lin said with a smile, handing over his phone. “It's the one Director Wang slipped in.”
“Oh? What about him? Is there anything special?” Huang Xiaochu was a bit puzzled. Too many celebrities had recorded for 《Good Life》 (Wonderful Life), from newly debuted stars to Elite film queens. What kind of person hadn't he seen? He didn't quite understand why He Lin specifically mentioned this person.
“I didn't know him before, but this person is a friend of Mu Qingqing and Fu Peiyao, so they asked me to take care of him,” He Lin said mysteriously.
Huang Xiaochu was stunned: “So what? Isn't that very common?”
He Lin retorted, “Teacher Huang, it's common, yes, but you also have to consider who is saying it, right?”
He Lin said softly, “When have you ever seen Pei Pei ask for a favor? Especially for a boy?”
Huang Xiaochu raised an eyebrow, stroked his chin, and grinned mischievously: “You mean… hehehe…”
“Can you not smile so lewdly?” He Lin couldn't help but laugh as he interrupted Huang Xiaochu's smile. As he spoke, he adjusted the recorded video to the scene where Mu Li gave the “ocean heart” necklace. “Look, he gives such an expensive necklace upon meeting, and more importantly, Pei Pei accepted it and let him put it on her. With Pei Pei's personality, if there's nothing between these two, I'll bring my head to you.”
“Then this matter is easy to handle,” Huang Xiaochu punched his palm. “This counts as half a son-in-law for us. Alright, I understand.”
“That's right,” He Lin also laughed. “Then how many good dishes will you prepare this time? Don't do those flashy ones again, okay?”
“Alright,” Huang Xiaochu responded. “No, what do you mean by flashy? I only tried those for the sake of the show's effect, didn't I? How did they become flashy?”
“Both of us were trending number one because of that before, and you still haven't learned?” He Lin said with exaggerated emphasis.
Thinking about that, Huang Xiaochu couldn't help but laugh, “Don't even mention it, many people complained about it to my face during the opera festival.”
“We'll just make some home-style dishes to entertain them.”
...
At this moment, in Mu Li's home in the Demon Capital, Pokémon of all sizes were lined up in a row. Mu Li stood opposite them, the entire scene resembling a military training ground.
“There's a serious problem coming up,” Mu Li said meaningfully, with his hands behind his back. “For the next month, I'll be going to the beach to record a show. Is there anyone among you who wants to go to the beach to play?”
Ninetales was the first to cast a rejection vote: The beach, not even a dog wants to go.
Arcanine immediately jumped up from the side: “Woof! (I want to go!)”
Ninetales just rolled its eyes.
Mu Li considered for a moment: Indeedee and Florges had to stay home to watch the house and take care of the plants, Ninetales didn't want to go to the beach, and as for Bewear and Ditto who liked to transform into Bewear, he'd skip them for now. Taking them out on the first meeting would scare people; he'd take them when they were more familiar with people.
Thus, it seemed he could only bring the original team.
“But going to the beach, it would be safer to have a water-type Pokémon, right?” Mu Li thought for a moment and decided to have Blissey stay home and be responsible for the safety of the house, although Ninetales indicated that it didn't matter whether Blissey was there or not.