A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Li Mu, born in 80, is 21 years old and graduated from the Department of Media Studies at Sun Yat-sen University.

I'm currently an intern reporter at the Southern Metropolis Daily, and I just completed my onboarding process yesterday.

As a reporter intern with 1.6 years of practice time, he did not feel any discomfort after waking up. On the contrary, he felt that he had slept quite well under the influence of alcohol.

Besides that dream in my head...

Recalling the strange and bizarre content of his dream, he checked the time and quickly went to wash up.

A little after 8 o'clock, he changed out of his unbearably hot suit, slung his backpack over his shoulder, went out the door, and squeezed onto the bus.

There were no seats on the bus, and standing in the crowd, all he could do was obediently hold his backpack to his chest.

He wasn't from Guangdong, but after studying at university here for four years, he had developed his own methods for avoiding being ripped off on public transport.

And so, amidst the strange, musty smell of sweat on the bus, he passed two stops and finally arrived at his workplace. After getting off the bus, he rummaged through his bag, took out his work ID, hung it around his neck, and walked into the gate of the Southern Metropolis Daily.

As recent graduates and interns, there were 13 of them in total. Today was their first day of work, and no one dared to be late.

The same applies to Li Mu.

After entering the newspaper office, he went directly to the [Culture and Sports News Department].

To be honest, as a popular media newspaper in the Southern Media Group, the Southern Metropolis Daily naturally has a considerable reputation, and it is divided into many departments. For example, there is the Local News Department, which focuses on local news; the Political News Department, which specializes in commenting on current affairs; and the Economic News Department, and so on.

The Southern Metropolis Daily has many departments, and as interns, this group of people were assigned to various departments, starting as intern reporters.

Internships, interviews, news gathering, and writing articles.

If I can stay, I'll become a full-fledged reporter, gradually build up my seniority, discover my strengths, and eventually be transferred to another department by the newspaper.

As the name suggests, the "Culture, Sports and News Department" that Li Mu was assigned to is a news department that integrates culture, sports, entertainment and so on.

He will begin a three-month internship here, and if he performs well, he can be hired as a full-time employee of the Southern Metropolis Daily, the newspaper with the largest circulation under the Southern Media Group.

On my first day, I started by cleaning.

The drunken welcome party last night didn't seem to bother these young people. As newbies, they conscientiously picked up mops, brooms, and other cleaning tools after checking in and started working.

Normally, interns are assigned a mentor after joining the company.

This mentor will have connections within the department, be familiar with the business of this sector, and have their own network. Under the mentor's guidance, interns begin to systematically transform the knowledge they learned in school into practical skills. Ultimately, based on their abilities, they "survive" the internship assessment and become high-income earners with a base salary of 2000 yuan and potentially 7,000 to 8,000 yuan a month with royalties.

Li Mu and his fellow interns were new hires, and to put it bluntly, they were still green on the job. Before they were assigned their own mentors, their main task was to quickly familiarize themselves with the office environment and hone their skills in the next few days, from finding and interviewing news stories to writing articles, finding editors for review, and publishing.

Oh right, and most importantly, cleaning is also essential.

To put it bluntly, I'll do odd jobs for a while first, and once I've thoroughly understood and become familiar with all the operations of the newspaper, I'll start working.

This applies to everyone else, including Li Mu.

The Arts and Entertainment section is quite large. The Arts and Entertainment section of the Southern Metropolis Daily is an important window for many people to understand the entertainment industry. The entire department has no fewer than 20 full-time reporters, including editors, graphic designers, etc., and the whole department has about 30 to 40 people.

It would take a long time just to clean these two huge office spaces.

After Li Mu finished washing the mop, it was almost 10 o'clock, and he finally sat down at his workstation.

then……

At a loss.

I don't know what to do.

For intern reporters, with no informants and no connections, uncovering news on their own is virtually impossible.

Fortunately, he didn't stand there in a daze for too long.

"Two people, come and move the manuscript paper."

Hearing someone call at the door, Li Mu and another classmate who had been assigned here, Sui Kuan, a kind-hearted and chubby man from the same Department of Journalism at Sun Yat-sen University, stood up together.

"Teacher, let us help move it."

"Okay, distribute some to each workstation, and put the rest in the warehouse..."

Following the man's instructions, Li Mu quickly got to work.

And just like that, noon arrived.

After finishing his meal in the cafeteria, Li Mu was about to return to his workstation when he suddenly saw Sui Kuan carrying a backpack, looking like he was about to leave.

He asked, somewhat puzzled:

"Fatty, where are you going?"

"Digging for news."

Sui Kuan walked to his side and said:

"I just saw a few people who were assigned to the Local News Department leave with their bags. When I asked them, they said they were going out during their lunch break to see if they could find any news. I'm going to check it out too, so I'm off."

Sui Kuan did not intend to invite him.

To be frank, interns are also subject to competition, so it's already quite kind of them to share this "clumsy method" with him.

Li Mu understood, nodded and watched him leave. After thinking for a moment, he returned to his workstation, picked up his backpack and tidied up his notebook and the Nikon FM2 provided by the company.

This camera is quite interesting; it's known as the "Mechanical God of War."

The camera, produced in the early 90s, features a fully mechanical structure, making it exceptionally robust and durable.

The FM2 that Li Mu received had been through several hands; the black paint on the camera's exterior had all peeled off, but it was still usable.

After packing everything into his bag, he went outside.

After leaving his workplace, he looked around, completely lost and without a destination in mind.

To be honest, he's not very familiar with Guangzhou.

I'm familiar with the area around the university.

For now, all I can do is try my luck and wander around the neighborhood looking for news.

At midday, the city was shrouded in heat.

He hadn't walked more than a few steps when he felt himself sweating profusely.

It's so hot here.

After walking two blocks, he was starting to feel exhausted and decided to find a convenience store to buy a bottle of ice water.

Then, turning around, I saw a refrigerator placed outside with a sunshade over it.

It's a small water stall.

And this small stall with beverage bottles on top of the refrigerator... belongs to a lottery station.

"..."

Li Mu's eyes flickered.

He took out his wallet from his pocket and walked towards the lottery station.

A moment later, he came out holding a lottery ticket with the numbers 03, 05... and a bottle of water.

Choose your own numbers, 2 yuan per bet.

He bought ten tickets.

20 yuan.

A bottle of water, one dollar.

A total of 21.