If you can join a production team with funding, your influence will be completely different—you can even change the settings yourself, and write in whatever abilities you want.

After saying this, he scrolled through his mom’s Moments.

Yoga, fitness, travel, shopping...

Her main theme was a life of pure enjoyment without any productive work.

Like, like, I frantically liked every post.

He even left an enthusiastic comment under one of her Moments: “There’s nothing more beautiful than this—if my mother were transported back to ancient times, she’d definitely be a legendary beauty capable of bringing down a kingdom.”

Then, under the yoga post, he wrote, “Mom, with you looking like this, it’s really hard for me to find a suitable girlfriend.”

Ethan Brooks’s mom is four years younger than Old Dean. Old Dean comes from a wealthy family, and his mom’s family was well-off since she was young. Plus, she’s always lived a privileged life, takes good care of herself, and loves fitness and yoga, so naturally, she has a great figure and looks very young.

Of course, his mom is beautiful—otherwise, how could she have given birth to a son who can live off his looks?

After liking all of his mother’s Moments from the past month, he finally received a WeChat transfer notification as he’d hoped. Against the golden background of the transfer box was the number 18,888.

Transfer note: Breakup Consolation Money.

What a generous reward!

Ethan Brooks quickly clicked to accept it and thanked his mother for her gift.

“As for getting your dad to invest in the production team, just forget it,” his mom messaged. “Your dad will definitely say, our family is in heavy-asset industries, low profit margins, money doesn’t just fall from the sky.”

That was exactly the expected answer.

Even though Old Dean was born into wealth, he’s always had this twisted idea that his son should be raised frugally—“Only by enduring hardship can one become a superior person.”

Under this misguided thinking, during all the years Ethan Brooks was in college in H City, his monthly living expenses were only three thousand.

He’d even say, that’s enough for you to eat.

If you don’t have enough money, you can get a part-time job, or work hard for a scholarship.

Poor Ethan Brooks, clearly a third-generation rich kid, would have struggled to even date if it weren’t for his mother secretly helping him out from time to time.

After all, Emily Foster’s spending standards were not low.

However, now that he couldn’t get money from home to invest in a movie himself, it wasn’t a big problem.

With his current experience in the entertainment industry, even with a lot of money, it would be hard to put together a decent team.

Sometimes, in this industry, money alone isn’t enough. To assemble a team, you need connections, experience, relationships, and most importantly, the ability to coordinate everything.

Besides, putting together a team is extremely time-consuming and exhausting. From assembling the team to the film’s release, it often takes a year, two, or even more than three years.

How could Ethan Brooks afford to spend that much time?

It would be better to first grind it out in the industry, quickly join various crews to play some roles, speed up the card-drawing process, and while building connections, also get a feel for the system before making further plans.

“By the way, didn’t you break up with that art school girl?” Just as Ethan Brooks was thinking, his mom started persuading him again. “Why not find a capable girlfriend among your classmates at Zhendan? After you get married, she can take over the family business for you, and you can do whatever you want.”

“Is that even possible?”

Ethan Brooks was shocked by his mom’s novel idea.

……

Chapter 4: You Don’t Know How Obscure You Are Until You Post on Weibo

……

After perfunctorily replying to his mom, Ethan Brooks ended their awkward chat.

He replied to some friends and classmates, and noticed that Emily Foster still hadn’t responded.

He knew this was her habit—it meant she was angry.

In the past, Ethan Brooks would have tried to cheer her up.

But now that they’d broken up, he naturally had no obligation to do so.

Casually putting on a mask, he pulled out a copy of “Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits” from his backpack and began reviewing it.

Although he had already secured a spot for graduate studies and officially become a student of his advisor Brian Cooper, it was true that he’d neglected his studies a bit.

Whenever he had time, he needed to catch up.

At first, he couldn’t focus, but perhaps because his mental strength had improved after acquiring the divine sense skill, before long, he was fully immersed in the book, gradually forgetting his surroundings and constantly gaining new insights.

Learning brings joy, and time flew by.

After transferring to the high-speed rail at Jinwu Railway Station and arriving at Hongqiao Station in H City, Ethan Brooks spent the whole journey studying. After several hours, he felt he’d gained a lot—many previously vague concepts had become much clearer.

He put away his book, grabbed his luggage, queued up at the taxi stand, and headed to [Jingchen Huating].

This apartment at Jingchen was bought outright by his mom so he’d have a place to stay in H City for school or work in the future.

To qualify for buying property in H City, his mom had even taken a nominal position at the sales branch there for several years, paying social security and income tax.

Now, during the evening rush hour, Ethan Brooks leaned comfortably against the car seat, looking out the window.

The road was packed with cars, and the sunset had already spread across the whole city, its skyscrapers bathed in a glow like neon lights arriving early.