William Bolton looked at his silent younger sister. “Little Edward, tell us your opinion.”

　　Edward Bolton kept her head down, her face still burning and probably swollen. Her brother really hadn’t held back. Thinking of how he’d just beaten up the blond guy, she realized he’d actually gone easy on her. Suddenly, she felt a sense of awe.

　　“The county newspaper, huh? Going to work in the county—aren’t you afraid people will say you’re just a county person?”

　　“It’s not that era anymore. There’s no such thing as city people or county people. The whole Earth is just one village; we’re all villagers.”

　　“That’s true. With your third-tier degree, it really is hard to find a proper job in Pengcheng.”

　　Samuel Clark said, “You have the nerve to talk? Your brother is a lesson for you. If you don’t study hard, you’ll end up worse than him.”

　　“Mom, if you want to scold her, just scold her. Why do you have to put me down?”

　　Samuel Clark took off her flip-flop and threw it at William Bolton, but he slapped it away with one hand.

　　Samuel Clark’s phoenix eyes widened. “You’re getting out of hand!” Before she could get angry, William Bolton picked up the flip-flop and respectfully handed it back. “Mom, your feet are really pretty—so white and soft, not a trace of athlete’s foot. They look even better than white cloud pig’s trotters.”

　　“Get out!” Samuel Clark, who had been trying to keep a straight face, couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Edward Bolton also couldn’t hold back her laughter. Since when did her brother get so good at talking?

　　“When do you start work?”

　　“Next week.”

　　Samuel Clark nodded. “Call your sister over for dinner tomorrow.”

　　“My dad…”

　　“Don’t mention that beast who’s worse than a pig or a dog!”

　　William Bolton was completely speechless. Just how deep is this grudge?

　　His father, David Bolton, wasn’t dead, but he and his mother had divorced five years ago. The divorce was because David Bolton had cheated during the marriage, which actually fit his dad’s character—he’d always been a notorious playboy.

　　William Bolton had inherited this trait from his father. Even though he was thirty-six and still unmarried, it hadn’t stopped him from having countless women—he’d been through a sea of flowers without a single leaf sticking to him.

　　Karma? After his life reset, his girlfriend dumped him right away, saying he lacked ambition and his family background was too poor. Was Henry Foster blind? I was once the richest man in Asia! Even without the money, am I not good-looking? Can’t I do push-ups well enough?

　　William Bolton concluded that Henry Foster wanted a long-term meal ticket, and right now, he clearly didn’t fit the bill.

Chapter 3: Trainee Reporter

　　Although Samuel Clark really wanted to have a family dinner to celebrate her son finding a job, neither of her daughters was interested, so the reunion dinner ended up not happening.

　　There was a reason the two sisters didn’t think much of William Bolton. Their mother, Samuel Clark, had always favored him. From childhood, anything good went to him first. She’d spent who knows how much on tutoring to give him a good future, but he never lived up to it. Even his third-tier degree was paid for by the family.

　　Both sisters felt the family had wasted so much money raising a good-for-nothing. Edward Bolton thought that if she’d gotten even half the support he did, she might have made it into a second-tier university. And what’s there to celebrate about being a trainee reporter at a county newspaper anyway?

　　It was only seventy kilometers from Pengcheng to Han County. William Bolton didn’t have a car, so he could only take the intercity bus. He went to the CY market to catch a bus to Han County.

　　In the past few days, he’d already gotten used to this ordinary city life. Although the days of luxury were gone, he felt more motivated than ever. Fighting for survival, he quietly set a small goal for himself: to earn at least 3.65 million reputation points in a year. That way, he could extend his life for another year, and year after year, he could live forever.

　　The bus happened to pass right by the Han County Newspaper office. William Bolton asked the driver to stop, dragged his suitcase to the office, and, with directions from the doorman, found the HR department. Brian Turner assigned him to the advertising department as a trainee reporter. The probation period was six months, with a base salary of 1,200 yuan per month, plus extra pay for articles.

　　The newspaper didn’t provide dorms, so he had to rent a place himself. The paper could give him a 500-yuan monthly housing subsidy, which Brian Turner had helped him secure.

　　William Bolton didn’t care much about the salary. After all, he was just a trainee reporter, so the pay couldn’t be high. Honestly, whether he got a thousand or ten thousand a month made no difference to him—it was all small change. What he really cared about was reputation points. Now that he was a reporter, he had to use this platform to quickly boost his reputation.

　　Since he owed Brian Turner a favor, Brian Turner personally took William Bolton to the advertising department and gave him a rundown of the newspaper’s structure. Even though it was a small county-level paper, it had all the necessary departments: news, commentary, culture, editing, distribution, advertising, liaison, printing, new media, and so on.

　　Corresponding positions included editor-in-chief, text reporters, photojournalists, text editors, art editors, photo editors, proofreaders, typesetters, plus technical staff and admin support. Altogether, the paper had over fifty people, about the same as other public institutions—more than half of them just coasting along.

　　There were lots of departments, but clearly not enough office space. It was common for several departments to be crammed into one office.