William Bolton was headed to the advertising department, which shared an office with the news, commentary, and culture departments. The place was a bit old and somewhat messy.

Brian Turner introduced him to the dozen or so colleagues in the office. Everyone applauded, but their welcome for the newcomer was clearly lukewarm.

The advertising department had only one senior editor named Matthew Miller, who handled everything himself. Brian Turner led William Bolton over to him and introduced, “This is your mentor.”

William Bolton respectfully addressed him as “mentor.”

Matthew Miller said, “I don’t deserve that,” but he wasn’t just being polite to William Bolton. He immediately assigned him a task: tomorrow, he was to go to Zhangzhai Township to interview the major pig farmer Robert Bolton, take a few photos, and bring them back for use.

On the surface, it looked like a personal interview, but in reality, it was a disguised advertisement, since Robert Bolton had given the newspaper a sponsorship fee of twenty thousand yuan. Thinking of that dirty, smelly pig farm, swarming with flies and mosquitoes in the summer, Matthew Miller felt a headache coming on. Now that a young person had arrived, it was the perfect opportunity to hand off the job.

Over at the news department, Emily Scott came over proactively. Hearing that he was going to Zhangzhai Township the next day, she mentioned she had a report about Kelezhuang Primary School in Zhangzhai Township, focusing on left-behind children. The article was already written, but she still needed a few photos. Since William Bolton was going, she asked him to help by taking some pictures and bringing them back.

As a newcomer, William Bolton certainly wouldn’t refuse the requests of his seniors and agreed to everything.

To do a good job, one must first sharpen their tools, and he still needed equipment for the interview. Matthew Miller provided him with a voice recorder, and Emily Scott borrowed a Nikon D90 DSLR from the photo editor.

It was William Bolton’s first day, and he didn’t have an official press card yet, but the office had temporary ones. The biggest problem now was how to get there—there were still more than twenty li from the county seat to the interview location, and he couldn’t possibly walk all the way.

For the first time in his life, William Bolton had to rack his brains over such a trivial matter. In the end, Brian Turner solved the problem for him. The office currently had an idle Zongshen motorcycle, which had previously been assigned to their star reporter Andrew Brooks. But Andrew Brooks had transferred to the Pengcheng Daily last year, and the motorcycle had been left unused in the shed ever since.

William Bolton was practically a professional when it came to riding motorcycles, though he no longer had a license. But that wasn’t a big issue—riding to the countryside, as long as there was no accident, no one would check for a license.

That night, he found a budget hotel near the newspaper office to stay in. His meager salary wasn’t even enough to cover the accommodation, so he planned to stay a few days while slowly looking for a suitable place.

Early the next morning, William Bolton rode the motorcycle to the countryside for his interview. This was his first interview ever, so he felt a bit excited. Following the navigation on his phone, he easily found Fugui Pig Farm.

The farm’s contractor, Robert Bolton, had specially changed into a suit and was waiting at the gate in advance. He had expected Matthew Miller to come, but was surprised to see a young guy instead, and his expression immediately soured.

William Bolton showed him the introduction letter and press card from the newspaper.

“What? Wasn’t it agreed that Director Miller would come? How come it’s you, a young guy?”

William Bolton could see Robert Bolton’s disdain for him and quickly explained that Director Miller was sick. He wasn’t cursing Matthew Miller, but he had to come up with a reason.

Robert Bolton nodded, having no choice but to accept reality. With his hands behind his back, he strode inside, saying to William Bolton as he walked, “I get it. I already gave you guys twenty thousand yuan, so of course you don’t take it seriously. My pig farm advertises every year. If you keep doing things like this, next year I’ll go to the Pengcheng Daily. Their influence is much greater.”

William Bolton thought to himself, “With Pengcheng Daily’s standards, there’s no way they’d advertise for a pig farm.” But he kept a smile on his face: “Mr. Zhang, don’t worry. It’s the same whether I come or not. News has to keep up with the times, and that’s why the office sent a young reporter like me. Besides, we both have the surname Zhang—we’re from the same clan.”

Robert Bolton still didn’t smile. “What’s your name?”

“My name is William Bolton!” In order to earn a bit of reputation points, he gave it his all, announcing it in a loud, clear voice. No exaggeration—the three thousand pigs on the farm all heard him, and soon there was a notification sound.

He took out his phone and saw: Reputation +300. Looks like pigs have some spirit after all. This trip wasn’t in vain—what a good omen! He did a quick calculation: ten pigs could equal the reputation points brought by one person. Not bad at all!

Robert Bolton said, “So you’re from the ‘He’ generation. We really are from the same clan. Your father should be from the ‘Jia’ generation.”

William Bolton nodded.

“And your grandfather is from the ‘Fu’ generation!”

Suddenly, William Bolton remembered his grandfather was called James Bolton. Damn, he’d let the pig farmer take advantage of him without realizing it. He laughed even more cheerfully, but secretly cursed Robert Bolton as a sly dog.

Robert Bolton arrogantly patted him on the shoulder. “We really are from the same clan. By seniority, I’m your grandfather.”

William Bolton knew this guy was blatantly taking advantage of him. If it weren’t for the task at hand, as Young Master Zhang, he wouldn’t even bother with a pig farmer like this. In the past, he would have made him lose everything and beg on his knees, crying and pleading for him to be his grandfather.