Du Xinzhu insisted on them staying out of this matter, hence Li Mu and the others eventually promised that they would no longer be involved in her divorce lawsuit.

Everyone knew that Du Xinzhu meant well. She didn’t want them to be involved in this fiasco or get themselves into trouble.

Sometimes it was hard to be a kind person, and good deeds could be more easily said than done. If you were not careful, you might just get yourself into trouble.

With the evidence Du Xinzhu had, Fang Qiang would not dare to do anything to her. Hence there would be a great chance that he would take his frustration out on the people around him. Being vengeful enough, if he knew that Li Mu and the others were supporting his ex-wife in this issue, he would never let them get away with it.

It was not that Li Mu was afraid of him, but as the saying went, an open enemy was better than a false friend. He could care less about himself, but what about his wife and He Xiaoyu? He couldn’t just let them also get themselves involved in this mess.

After leaving the hotel, Lin Wan began to make plans to leave the country. Mrs. Hong was right. It was better for her to return to where she belonged as soon as possible. Her recent encounters made her feel uneasy and her desire to leave became stronger and stronger.

Li Mu didn't think much of it. He thought that his wife simply wanted to go for a vacation. Little did he know that once he left his homeland, it was unknown when he would be able to return again.

While the both of them were busy preparing to leave the country, Wang Shen completed four errands as fast as he could when he went to work on Monday. Right after that, he booked two tickets and fled from the country together with a woman.

The first thing he did was settling the resignation procedures for Lin Wan. This act of his made it clear that the so-called transition plans and essential resignation processes were all bullshit. It wasn’t that hard to fire a contract worker.

The second thing he did was fishing out money from his own pocket to order custom-made costumes for the school’s choir. With his promise of paying a hefty sum of money, the workers at the factory burned the midnight oil and worked overnight on Sunday to produce the costumes on time. Wang Shen then proceeded to deliver the costumes to Mr. Yan's office the next day and told him his decision to resign, leaving Mr. Yan in shock.

The third thing he did was instructing his second uncle to do whatever it took to make sure the school choir took the first place and that Lin Wan received the best guidance award. The possibilities of him obtaining Miss Lin’s forgiveness depended heavily on this, hence it needed to be done as perfectly as possible.

These three things were Wang Shen’s best way to show his sincerity and goodwill. He hoped that Miss Lin would not hold a grudge against him anymore after all that he had done. They would not see each other from now on, so it was a good way to end things.

The last thing he did was rather unethical. He went to Zhou Li and confessed his identity. Then he asked her to make a decision. Who’d know Zhou Li would willingly be his mistress by choosing to betray her family and leave together with him.

These incidents took a toll on two people. One was Zhou Li's confused husband who received a divorce agreement out of the blue and could not locate his wife anymore.

The other one was Mr. Yan, who was forced to accept such a big change that had happened to the school right after the weekends; which was the vice-principal resigning all of a sudden and taking away a competent music teacher along with him.

With the school’s choir all on his shoulders, he felt like he was going insane. He had zero knowledge about these matters! With the finals coming up, he wasn’t even sure how it worked.

Usually, Mr. Yan would choose to just shrug it off and pick a random music teacher to take over the task. He wouldn’t care about the results.

Not now though, the choir had a shot at the championship. How could he not care?

Although Wang Shen had hinted that he made connections before he left, the choir team must still perform well enough to be convincible. If they performed weakly and sounded like a dying cat on stage, the judges would never be able to help them even if they wanted to.

Mr. Yan was worried sick, and the only person that came to mind was Lin Wan. She was the only one who could bear such a huge responsibility and ensure that the school’s choir took first place.

However, Lin Wan had already resigned and was no longer a teacher at the school. Mr. Yan felt too embarrassed to ask for help or demand anything from her.

Mr. Yan hated Wang Shen to the core now. It was already bad enough for him to chicken out just like that. Who knew what was going on in his head when he helped Lin Wan with her resignation procedures behind Mr. Yan’s back? It was not like Mr. Yan asked him to help!

With no other options good enough after much consideration and thinking, he had no choice but to call Lin Wan, with the hopes that she would give him a hand for old times’ sake.

The call did not go through, as the only thing that could be heard from the other side of the phone was a voice message stating that Lin Wan’s phone was switched off. The same thing happened when Mr. Yan tried calling with another phone. It seemed that she was informed of her appeal for the resignation procedures and had decided to cut off all ties with the school.

The old man had a huge headache as he weighed up the available candidates he had in mind. After much deliberation, he decided to ask Lin Wan for help. All the other people were somewhat useless. He honestly wouldn’t mind begging Lin Wan if that was all it took for her to help him out.

If Lin Wan cannot be contacted, he could try contacting the people around her. Every teacher had an alternative contact person listed on the school directory. Undoubtedly, Lin Wan’s alternative contact person was Li Mu.

He hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to dial Li Mu's number.

“Hello!”

“Hello, hello. May I know if this is Mr. Li Mu?”

“Yes, I am. May I know who’s speaking?”

“Oh, I'm Ms. Lin Wan's former colleague, Yan Xiangdong, the headmaster of XX Primary School.”

On the other end of the phone, it was obvious that Li Mu froze for a moment before responding, “Hello Mr. Yan, is there anything I could help you with?”

He had no impression of Mr. Yan, as the two of them had never crossed paths before. He could only recall his wife saying how kind the principal was. Albeit being rather lazy in his administrations, he wasn’t manipulative or calculative, and he was considered a relatively upright person.

Mr. Yan said politely, “Mr. Li, there are some things I would like to talk to you about. When would it be convenient for you to meet today? Let me treat you to a meal.”

This added to Li Mu’s confusion. He and Mr. Yan had never met each other before, yet all of a sudden, the latter wanted to invite him to dinner and had some matters to talk to him about. This was definitely related to his wife.

He had just received a call from his wife in the morning, where she told him about the completion of her resignation procedures. Coincidentally on the same day, he received a phone call from Mr. Yan. What would this mean? Would it be that the school wanted his wife back?

“Mr. Yan, do you want to talk about Lin Wan's resignation? If so, I don't think there's any need for us to meet. Lin Wan won't be going back for sure.”

"Mr. Li, there seems to be a misunderstanding. I respect Ms. Lin's decision and will certainly not force her, but I do have something that would require her help. Mr. Li, I kindly ask for you to do me an honor by meeting up with me."

Mr. Yan sounded so humble that Li Mu felt bad to say no, hence he reluctantly agreed to meet up with Mr. Yan. The call ended only after the two have agreed on a time and place.

Li Mu then called his wife and told her what happened. The latter said immediately, “I think he wants to talk about the choir competition. You can just tell him that I am no longer a teacher and have no intentions on getting myself involved with any school activities anymore. I won’t be able to help with this matter!”

“Why did he call me, but not you?”

“I blacklisted him so he couldn't reach me. That's why he turned to you instead!” Lin Wan giggled.

“Can’t believe you’re dodging him to this extent! So, do you want to come along with me tonight?”

“Where are we going?”

“Going for dinner, of course! Mr. Yan is treating me dinner, and I've promised him I’ll attend.”

“For what? Just call him and reject him. There’s no need for you to meet up with him for a meal.”

“That’s not very nice. He begged me in a really humble manner, and I've promised him already. It's pretty unkind for me to reject him right after saying yes. Plus, didn't you say he has quite a good personality? Let me go and meet him to hear what he has to say.”

Lin Wan hesitated while Li Mu smiled and said, “It’s alright if you don’t want to go. I'll go and meet him myself and reject him so he can drop the idea.”

“What do you plan to say when you see him?” Lin Wan asked uneasily.

“Well, ain’t that easy? I’ll reject him on behalf of you. No matter what he says, I'll only respond with one word, no. I’ll say two words at most, I’m sorry!”

“Alright, sounds great!”

The couple ended the call and around twenty minutes later, Lin Wan called again and said, “I'd better go with you. You tend to offend people easily with what you say!”

“Bullshit, I've been a sales engineer for so many years now. How dare you say I offend people easily with what I say? Just admit that you don’t feel like letting go and giving up on the school choir instead of blaming me!”

Lin Wan giggled and instructed her husband, “Cut the crap. Come back home and pick me up. We'll go together!”

Some might criticize Lin Wan because of this. Why couldn't she let go of that small achievement? Was that championship title really that attractive?

That championship might mean nothing for the others, and probably was as insignificant as a speck of dust. But for Lin Wan, this was the best testimony to the hard work she had put in for nearly three years, and was an evidence of her career’s success. Was it really that easy for her to let go?

When Li Mu and his wife appeared together right in front of his eyes, Mr. Yan was surprised and delighted. He did not expect Lin Wan to come either. Her appearance really delighted him.

After exchanging a few words, Mr. Yan started pouring his heart out to the two of them.

“Ms. Lin, it's not that I don't know what’s right and what’s wrong. I know that I should not bother you anymore, but I don’t have any options left! I’m sure you’re unaware of this, but both Wang Shen and Zhou Li have resigned. There’s no one on the look for the school’s choir, and I really have no other in mind. I can only count on you to come back and help me out.”

“They're all gone?” Lin Wan asked in surprise.

“Yeah, they left immediately right after telling me without giving me any notice in advance. I couldn't come up with any ideas anymore. If you’re not willing to help, I'll have no choice but to disband the choir and give up the chances of entering the finals.”

Li Mu was unaware but Lin Wan knew very well that Mrs. Hong’s threats towards Wang Shen worked and scared him away. But why did Zhou Li resign either? Was she also intimidated by Mrs. Hong’s actions? Lin Wan was confused.

What she did not know was that Wang Shen saw the good in Zhou Li after crossing paths with her. Besides, he felt quite at loss that he had given so much but got nothing in return, hence he decided to bring Zhou Li away with him.

Seeing Lin Wan’s silence, Mr. Yan sighed and continued to convince her. The only thing left was him kneeling down to beg Lin Wan for help.

Mr. Yan was really anxious. Disbanding the choir was more easily said than done, as he had already boasted about this matter to his superiors, in which he received affirmation and compliments from them. The choir was now the center of attention. How could he afford to quit at this very moment?

Li Mu who was observing all along knew very well that his wife was tempted to help Mr. Yan out. What she needed was a reason for her to help, and Li Mu was the best person to provide her such a reason. She would be able to accept the offer if Li Mu said yes.

After Mr. Yan finished pouring his heart out, Li Mu said with a smile, “Since Mr. Yan has put it out like that, I think you'd better say yes. I know you can't bear to let go of the choir just like that either, so let's do him a favor!”

“Honey, I...”

Li Mu waved his hand and interrupted his wife, “I know what you want to say. Forget it. We’re married, and there’s no need for such courtesy between the two of us. Since you can't let go of the school’s choir, then go ahead and do it. It’s better to end what you’ve started.”

“Yes, what Mr. Li said is spot on!” Mr. Yan chimed in immediately, “Lin Wan, lead the choir to get that championship trophy and end your education career with a proud full stop. Isn’t this what you’ve always dreamt of? Now that you have the opportunity to bring this dream to life, why not seize the chance?”