With a flick of the whip, William Carter drove the carriage toward the village.

After seeing his parents drive the carriage for several hours just to pick him up, Jason Carter guessed that things at home weren’t going well. At the same time, he was deeply moved by his parents’ devotion.

Sitting in the carriage, his little sister introduced many things to him. Hearing that his classmates had either gotten into college, started businesses, or become civil servants, Jason Carter couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss.

However, Jason Carter quickly pushed that feeling aside. He knew his own situation—ever since that fight, his life had already changed.

In fact, Jason Carter had always had a secret. He hadn’t told anyone about it, and even in the future, he wouldn’t reveal it.

Back then, the group fight happened at a scrap yard. Jason Carter was stabbed, and when he fell, he crashed into the scrap yard’s gate, which swung open and sent him tumbling onto a pile of junk. Somehow, his blood soaked into the pile, and as it did, a flood of information surged from what looked like an old wooden plaque.

When the transmission of information ended, the plaque had already turned to ashes. The whole thing was bizarre.

It was this event that exposed Jason Carter to knowledge that could almost overturn his entire worldview.

What shocked Jason Carter most was how vast and varied the information was.

After three hours, the carriage finally arrived at a small mountain village.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar sights of the village, and then at his own dilapidated house, Jason Carter felt that from this moment on, he was truly about to embark on a very different path.

Chapter 2: Short on Money

Jumping over the fire basin, taking a bath, changing clothes...

Following all the customs after being released from prison, after a round of fussing, everyone finally sat down in the house to talk about what had happened.

Only now did Jason Carter truly see the situation at home.

At a glance, there was hardly any decent furniture in the house, and there wasn’t even a TV.

Looking at his parents’ and little sister’s clothes, although they were very clean, it was clear that their clothes were all old, some even patched.

“I’ll go return the carriage,” William Carter said, then walked out.

“The carriage isn’t ours?” Only now did Jason Carter realize that to pick him up, the family had even borrowed a carriage.

“It’s from Old Zhao’s family in the village. His daughter apparently made it big in the provincial capital and sends money home from time to time,” Grace Bennett said.

“Is the family really struggling?” Thinking about how they couldn’t even bear to spend money on a bus ticket to pick him up, Jason Carter understood even more—his family was probably so poor they could barely put food on the table.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. Now that you’re out, you should rest well. Don’t worry about the family’s problems,” Grace Bennett said, smiling at her son.

At this moment, the neighbors all came to Jason Carter’s house.

People in the village lived close together and knew everything that happened. Everyone knew the Wang family had gone to the city to pick up Jason Carter, so now they all came over.

“Xiaofei, you need to behave now. Don’t get into fights or cause trouble anymore,” Uncle Harris said to Jason Carter with a sigh.

“Xiaofei, help out at home more. Look, Caixia is about to drop out of school,” said Ms. Thompson, who had taught Jason Carter in elementary school, shaking his head and sighing.

“Little sister, you’re not going to school anymore?” Jason Carter looked at his sister.

Looking at her brother, Olivia Carter hesitated and said, “The family doesn’t have money to send me to college.”

Only then did Jason Carter remember that his sister had gotten into college.

“Caixia, what’s the point of a girl studying so much? What do you and your mother think about that marriage your aunt mentioned a while ago? You have to give Old Friend Quinn an answer, right? He said the bride price would be thirty thousand.”

“Yeah, if this marriage goes through, your family could pay off more than half its debts.”

Hearing this, Jason Carter became anxious and said loudly, “Little sister, what’s going on?”

Grace Bennett sighed and didn’t say anything.

Neighbor Aunt Grace said, “Xiaofei, maybe you don’t know, but after your dad’s surgery, his recovery cost a lot of money. When your grandpa passed away, that was another big expense. Your family has borrowed money from almost everyone in the village. You didn’t know before, but now that you’re out, everyone is counting on you.”

“Aunt Grace, don’t worry, we’ll pay back the money!” Grace Bennett quickly said, glancing at her son.

“Mom, why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Jason Carter was a little angry.

“Brother, Mom said you’ve been inside for three years. You don’t know what’s been happening outside. We’ll tell you about the family’s situation bit by bit.”

Looking at the growing number of villagers arriving, Jason Carter understood that everyone was here to collect debts. But among fellow villagers, it was hard to bring it up directly. Now, they were actually thinking of marrying off his sister to pay the debts!