A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 121 The Aroma and Sweetness of Grapes

"Brother Li, let me explain—"

"Well----"

"I was completely engrossed in this book."

"So you drank five cans in such a short time?"

"This Kirin drink is quite good."

"So you drank five cans?"

"I'm a little thirsty—"

"Drink five cans if you're thirsty?"

"oops!"

As the mischievous, wry smile spread across Li Mu's face, the big star simply gave up: "I'll drink it, so what!"

"Ha, go ahead and drink."

Li Mu looked indifferent, glanced at the time (it was already past 4 pm), got up from the computer, and went into the kitchen.

"I've started cooking. Can you still eat it?"

"That's for sure—I already told you, I was just thirsty when I woke up."

Fan Taobing responded, tilted her head back again, and finished the fifth can of Qilin. Then she covered her mouth again and let out a subtle burp.

Actually—she rarely drinks beer outside. After all, it's quite bloating, and drinking too much will cause burping.

Actresses have very high standards for their appearance. A bloated belly means there's a risk of being photographed and told they're fat. Besides, burping after drinking is generally considered unseemly.

So usually, when she goes out for social events, she only drinks red and white wine.

But sometimes you have to admit that when it comes to experiencing the exhilarating feeling after drinking, beer is truly irreplaceable.

Especially this brand of beer, I must say—Japanese beer actually tastes pretty good.

Just then, Li Mu's phone, which was placed next to his computer desk, "dinged".

"Brother Li, your phone is ringing."

Li Mu, who was in the kitchen mixing ground beef with both hands, preparing to make Italian meatballs, casually said, "Can you help me? I can't move my hands."

Upon hearing this, Fan Taobing got up and walked to the computer.

"It's a text message, and the sender is Li Wei."

"What are you saying?"

"Um, I'm talking about—Li Mu, what are you doing?"

After reading the message, Fan Bing asked with some curiosity, "Who is this person?"

"A colleague from my workplace, we interned together."

"girl?"

"Definitely, who uses the radical for grass (艹) as a name for a boy?"

Li Mu said it casually.

But Fan Bing's eyes narrowed slightly after hearing this.

After thinking for a moment, she took her phone and went to the kitchen door.

Five cans of beer, though not many, already gave her a slight sense of euphoria. Following this unguarded and straightforward feeling, she asked, "Pretty, isn't it?"

"Who? Li Wei?"

"right."

"Hmm...it's alright."

Recalling Li Wei's appearance, Li Mu nodded.

"And how does it compare to me?"

Li Mu's lips twitched.

He turned his head and glanced at her speechlessly.

The big star was wearing baggy jeans, and—it was unclear whether it was the style or they didn't fit when he bought them.

The waistband of her jeans looked very loose, as if they were hanging on her hips, giving the impression that they might fall off at any moment.

But these pants, ironically, made her waist appear very slender.

The upper body is a loose-fitting T-shirt, but the bottom is very short.

As you walk in and out, a glimpse of delicate skin on your belly will appear and disappear.

The style is so casual, yet it somehow exudes a youthful and vibrant feel.

Even so, it was precisely that combination of her slightly flushed face and her slightly drunken, hazy eyes that made her stand out so strikingly.

So he didn't answer, but the answer was self-evident.

But that won't work for Fan Bingbing.

What's the point of you not saying anything?

"Between the two of us, who's prettier?"

"Sister, you're a celebrity, and she's just an ordinary person. There's no comparison, is there?"

"Why can't we compare? Just tell me who's prettier between us."

"Of course you're good-looking, do you even need to ask?"

"————Hmph."

For some reason, a sense of pride welled up inside her.

At that very moment, Li Mu's phone rang in her hand.

"Ring ring—"

"Brother Li, she called."

"————?"

Li Mu was taken aback.

Actually, Li Wei has been in contact with him quite a lot lately.

Furthermore, the means of contact are not limited to text messages.

Text messages, phone calls, and everyday chats at work all included.

So he didn't take it seriously, and instead tilted his head and shrugged at Fan Bing, meaning he was putting the phone between his neck and his head.

But—she didn't.

Instead, she answered the phone directly and then left the kitchen: "Hello?"

Li Mu's eyes widened, wondering why he was answering the phone.

But then she heard the big star across from her, whose eyes had been fixed on her, say softly, "It's his call. He's busy right now. Is there something you need?"

"Well, I'm his friend. Is there anything you'd like me to tell him?"

"Okay, goodbye."

The call ended after only a few words.

"What did Li Wei say?"

"No, she just asked what you were doing, if you were busy, and who I was. I said I was your friend, and she said it was nothing and hung up."

"?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mu frowned slightly: "Then why did she make this pointless call?"

"Well~"

Clutching Li Mu's phone, a hint of amusement flickered in her eyes for some reason: "Who knows? She and you, Brother Li, have been in frequent contact lately?"

"well enough.

"I see—"

She gave a vague reply, then casually tossed Li Mu's phone onto the sofa: "Brother Li, I'm hungry!"

"You just drank five cans of beer, how can you still eat?"

"What's a little bit of alcohol? Let me tell you, Brother Li, in our Shandong province, people who drink beer aren't even worthy of sitting at the table; they have to sit with the kids."

"I heard that where you're from, women aren't allowed to eat at the table—"

"Who said that?"

"That's what everyone says, that your place has really strict rules."

"Rumors? How could that be? But let me tell you something funny, Brother Li. Usually, sons-in-law from Shandong Province don't want to sit at the table."

Why?

"Because the son-in-law is a distinguished guest, he must be treated well. When they return to their wife's home, besides the father-in-law, the brother-in-law must also be there."

The brother-in-law or similar figures act as the main and secondary hostess, and after a whole set of drinks, people might get dizzy before the food even gets hot. That's why the son-in-law usually refuses to sit at the table, because anyone who drinks too much will throw up, hahaha~

"Haha, it seems being a son-in-law of Shandong Province is quite unlucky—"

Li Wei's matter was like a wisp of wind.

He passed through the hall without leaving a trace.

Lyon stew, pan-fried chicken thigh with Chardonnay, chilled bitter lettuce, and a side of tomato meatballs to accompany the noodles later.

This is today's dinner.

While being absolutely satisfying, bitter lettuce also has the effect of clearing heat and reducing internal fire.

Fan Bingbing was practically drooling.

She raised her wine glass: "Cheers!"

"You should drink less. You've already had five cans of beer. If you keep drinking like this, you'll get drunk very quickly."

Li Mu kindly offered a reminder.

"What's a little bit of alcohol? Besides, I'm having dinner with you, not with anyone else. So what if I get drunk? Ah! I finally get half a day off, I can't take it anymore!"

For some reason, her voice rose in pitch.

"Brother Li, I'll drink it! Do as you please!"

"————?"

Li Mu watched helplessly as she downed the half-glass of red wine as if it were beer.

"—Is filming really that stressful?"

He asked curiously.

And it was also clear that the person opposite him wasn't just having a casual drink today, but was completely aiming to get drunk.

"call----"

After downing half a glass of red wine, Fan Bing exhaled a breath of alcohol and shook her head. She picked up the bottle and continued pouring herself more wine, complaining, "On one hand, there's the pressure of the role, and on the other hand, there's the intensity of the work, but the worst part is when we're filming interior scenes. That pungent smell of paint—it gives me a headache every day. And Brother Li, you haven't experienced it, so you don't know."

Actually—the set was very noisy. People who made mistakes got yelled at, the director would shout if the filming wasn't going well, and you had to yell to direct the camera positions. It was always a commotion—besides, Brother Li, aren't you from the North too? Don't you think Guangzhou's climate is really torturous? It's unbearably hot. Every day when I went into the recording studio, it was stuffy and reeked of paint—ugh—come on, let's do one more."

[”

'

Seeing her pick up the cup again, Li Mu's lips twitched, but he let her have her way.

It's obvious that he's really tired.

only----

"You haven't even had a few bites of food yet, take your time."

"Hehe, I know, let's finish this glass and eat. Let me tell you—I definitely won't waste anything you made. I have a refrigerator, so after we finish eating, Brother Li, please pack it in a plastic bag for me, and I'll take it back to the hotel. I'll just heat it up whenever I want to eat it."

Perhaps it was because he drank too quickly, or perhaps the effects of those five cans of beer hadn't worn off before he started mixing more alcohol.

For some reason, she started talking a lot more.

After drinking a cup with him, Li Mu said, half-laughing and half-crying, "Why are you being so pitiful? Just let me know what you want to eat in advance, and I'll make it for you."

But as soon as he said that, Fan Bing scoffed, "Oh, don't be silly. Who knows if it'll be convenient for you next time? Maybe next time I call you, the person who answers the phone will be a different girl! Like that Li Wei?"

"?"

Li Mu was puzzled: "Why do you say that? What's wrong with her?"

'

"

Fan Taobing paused in her act of pouring him the wine.

Her eyes, increasingly misty, glanced at Li Mu, and seeing the confusion on his face, she suddenly felt speechless.

But after thinking about it for a moment, she shook her head: "Forget it, I was just kidding. You said you'd be very busy these next two months, what's it because of? The Ninth National Games?"

"right."

Li Mu nodded: "It's going to start in November. In a few days, the athletes will start arriving one after another to get used to the venue. With so many people, our interview workload will be very heavy."

That topic just now was like a passing breeze.

Once the music was finished, that was the end of it.

The two people across the table ate and chatted.

Soon, the bottle of red wine was empty.

The second bottle of red wine was also opened, and in the blink of an eye, more than half of it was gone.

Finally, for some reason, the girl opposite started to droop her head.

It was almost 9 o'clock.

"Um, Brother Li, let me rest for a bit and then I'll have Xiao Mi come pick me up."

"----good."

Li Mu responded, thinking to himself that he was starting to talk nonsense, and then began to tidy up the table.

When he finished tidying up the table, he found that Fan Bing had curled up on the sofa and seemed to have fallen asleep.

"—Fan Ye? Fan Ye?"

He nudged the other person.

Fan Bing made no move.

Li Mu was speechless. After thinking for a moment, he took her phone, intending to notify Xiaomi to pick her up. But when he pressed a button, he realized that her phone required a password.

"Fan Bingbing, what's your phone password?"

"Fan Bingbing?"

"Wake up, Fan Bingbing?"

Seeing that the woman didn't respond no matter how he shook her, he wondered what to do.

After hesitating for a moment, he suddenly bent down and scooped the other person up in one swift motion.

The moment he lifted it horizontally and exerted force, a thought popped into his head: "Damn, it's really heavy."

A drunk person is like a corpse; without any assistance or support, he almost falls to the ground.

But she gritted her teeth, picked him up, and carried him into the guest room.

Finally, after carrying her to the bed, Li Mu inevitably fell onto the bed due to his weight.

However, he had prepared in advance, and when he fell, he was already prepared to support himself with his hands, maintaining maximum restraint.

But----

Just as he braced himself on the bed with both hands—in the guest room where the lights hadn't been turned on yet—the unconscious figure, who had been almost gently thrown onto the bed, opened his eyes.

"Uh... Brother Li?"

She let out a murmur.

Li Mu responded, "Okay, Fan Ye, you should rest—um."

The next second, suddenly, his neck was wrapped around his arm, and then he tasted a sweet flavor with the aroma of grapes.