Baby Carter pulled out a chair, and before even sitting down, reached out to grab a bun and stuffed it into her mouth. With her cheeks puffed out, she said, “Where did you go this morning?”

“I went for a run,” James Carter calmly closed the system interface.

“You, running?”

Upon hearing this, Baby Carter covered her mouth with one hand, her expression exaggerated, and let out a “hehehe” laugh to show her disdain.

“Don’t laugh. In at most half a year, your brother will be a man with eight-pack abs.” James Carter snorted.

“Forget half a year—if you can stick with it for even a week, I’ll cook for you all next month.” Baby Carter curled her lip.

“Then I give up right now.” James Carter shot back immediately.

In her twenty-five years, Baby Carter still didn’t know whether to put oil or vegetables in the pan first when cooking, or whether to add rice or water first when making rice.

Annoyed and embarrassed, the older sister hit James Carter.

After finishing his breakfast, James Carter suddenly remembered something. “Oh right, give me some more money.”

Baby Carter frowned, her phoenix eyes sharp enough to make ninety percent of women feel ashamed. “Didn’t I give you five hundred for living expenses last week? Did you really get a girlfriend?”

“Don’t look at me like that. On your birthday, I bought the cake. Damn, it cost me three hundred bucks. Your group of girlfriends are all money-wasters—they didn’t eat a bite, just smeared it all over their faces.”

Baby Carter seemed relieved, shuffled back to her room in her slippers, came out with her purse, pulled out five hundred yuan, and put it on the table. “Spend it sparingly. I just quit my job, and my new one only pays a base salary of three thousand. We’ll have to tighten our belts from now on, and we can’t ask Mom and Dad for money, or Dad will start nagging again.”

“Didn’t you sign a contract to become a celebrity? Celebrities only get three thousand salary?” James Carter had a look that said, “Don’t try to fool me, I’m not that dumb.”

Baby Carter rolled her eyes. “I haven’t debuted yet. Entertainment companies sign tons of artists every year, but only a few make it big. Most are just nobodies who never get famous. And celebrities don’t care about base salary anyway. I still have three months of training before I can debut, so for now I only get a tiny bit of base pay.”

James Carter immediately felt a sense of urgency and the need to make money.

Although his family was local and owned two apartments, those were fixed assets; their actual savings weren’t much. As the locals in Shanghai say: the ones with money aren’t us locals, all the rich people are from out of town...

After James Carter moved in with his sister, the family cut off his allowance, so all his expenses were covered by Baby Carter: three sets of clothes per season, plus his phone and laptop—all bought by Baby Carter.

He was thinking about making money, but of course wouldn’t say it out loud. Instead, James Carter kicked Baby Carter’s calf. “So why are you still sitting here? Go to your training! Don’t come back to see me until you’ve made something of yourself.”

Baby Carter was furious and retaliated under the table, giving him a flurry of Foshan Shadowless Kicks.

At 8:30 in the morning, Baby Carter rushed off to work.

James Carter went to the bathroom to shower, quickly took off his T-shirt and pants, and was about to toss them into the bamboo basket when he suddenly saw a pile of clothes inside. On top was the black lace underwear Baby Carter had worn yesterday. James Carter’s first thought was: “I heard there are beauties online selling their used underwear. I wonder how much Baby Carter’s would sell for?”

At 10:00 a.m., James Carter slung on the Hermes bag his sister bought him, left the apartment complex, and took the subway to University Town.

This University Town was home to many prestigious schools—Fudan, Tongji, University of Technology. In comparison, the finance university James Carter attended was just so-so—not at the bottom, but far from the top. It was a perfect match for James Carter: not quite good, not quite bad, just like his university—better than some, worse than others. As Baby Carter put it: this is so James Carter.

Back then, their dad wanted to raise his only son to be a top student at Fudan, but the only child didn’t live up to expectations, so he settled for trying for Tongji or University of Technology. In the end, James Carter went to the finance university. Though their dad was disappointed, he couldn’t say much, because James Carter indignantly declared: “Dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes to phoenixes, and mice have sons who dig holes.”

Their dad was a professor at the finance university!

Red walls, red rooftops, a grand school gate—James Carter slung his shoulder bag and walked briskly into the familiar campus.

A wide two-way road, tree-lined on both sides, girls in cool outfits holding books walked along the sidewalks, some in groups of three or five, some alone. Occasionally, cars would enter the campus, moving slowly.

Today, James Carter wore a hoodie and carried a shoulder bag, looking a bit like a high school student. He actually didn’t like carrying a shoulder bag, but he had no choice—he wasn’t a boarding student, and had a ton of textbooks. Besides, the bag was a gift from Baby Carter, bought with her entire year-end bonus.

There was a public lecture on international finance at noon today, and two major courses in the afternoon. Originally, he could have slept in at home and come to school after lunch. But the professor in charge of this class was notoriously petty, often giving pop quizzes that counted directly toward the final grade. Many students had suffered because of him, so hardly anyone dared skip his class. When it came to this professor, all the students agreed: “A mild-looking carrot, but spicy at heart!”