The dazzling stage effects of the Spring Festival Gala made everyone dizzy. A large group of people in red came on stage to sing. Their outfits were all different, yet the colors were inexplicably unified, with only subtle differences. Olivia Carter couldn’t remember any faces at all—she just felt like a bunch of tomatoes, strawberries, chili peppers, and cherries were bouncing in front of her eyes...

David Carter deliberately asked, “Olivia Bennett, do the brothers and sisters look good?”

Olivia Carter: “They look pretty tasty.” She liked strawberries and cherries.

David Carter: “?” What kind of logic is that?

David Carter patiently guided her: “Then do you want a handsome brother?”

Olivia Carter: “No.”

David Carter was just about to bring up Ethan Carter, but his daughter flatly refused, leaving him wide-eyed in surprise: “Why not?”

Olivia Carter blinked and answered seriously, “Sister Sarah Young said that brothers are all bad news.”

David Carter was about to argue back when Ethan Carter appeared on the screen. Ethan Carter was dressed in a bright red suit, slowly walking into the golden crowd of backup dancers, performing classic CCTV-style dance moves, looking very much like a square dancer in the park.

The whole family got excited the moment they saw Ethan Carter appear: “Ethan Bennett is on!”

“Olivia Bennett, look! Look!” David Carter hurriedly shook his little daughter, reminding her not to get distracted.

Olivia Carter pressed her lips together, her expression complicated as she stared at the red-suited fool on the screen, completely unable to understand why her family was suddenly so hyped.

The Spring Festival Gala’s dances were already repetitive, monotonous, and a bit tacky. On top of that, Ethan Carter’s throat hadn’t been well lately, making this song-and-dance number truly hard to watch. Olivia Carter tried to turn her head away several times, but David Carter kept turning her little head back. She endured three minutes of auditory and visual torture with a tense face, nearly suffocating herself.

Poor, weak, and helpless Olivia Carter, after being tormented by the performance, gave a concise review: a lonely tomato mixed into golden scrambled eggs—not tasty at all.

The lonely tomato’s face finally disappeared from the TV. Olivia Carter let out a heartfelt sigh of relief and couldn’t help but ask, “This celebrity can’t sing or dance, so how did he get on TV?”

Although there had been plenty of strawberries, cherries, and chili peppers singing earlier, only the lonely tomato got a solo shot, and for such a long time. In Olivia Carter’s view, all the fruits and veggies’ singing and dancing were equally mediocre, but since the lonely tomato tortured her the longest, he naturally became her main target.

As soon as Olivia Carter finished speaking, the house suddenly fell into a mysterious silence. The previously excited family members all hesitated, looking at the innocent little girl, not knowing what to say.

As the main culprit, David Carter could only bite the bullet and say, “Olivia Bennett, that’s your brother.”

Olivia Carter: “???”

Olivia Carter: My brother embarrassed himself so badly on TV—how am I supposed to hold my head up in front of my friends now!

Meanwhile, Ethan Carter finished his performance and returned backstage. He had just seen a message from his father and stood there as if struck by lightning.

Manager Brian Clark was chatting with the assistants while packing up. He cheered, “We’re done! Time to go home! Happy Spring Festival, everyone!”

“Not happy at all. Going home just means getting nagged to get married and have kids. I just want to work and make money...” The young assistant sighed, as if already picturing the days ahead.

“True, it’s the same old story every year...” Brian Clark laughed and sighed, not noticing Ethan Carter’s stiff posture. He casually patted him and joked, “Who knows, maybe in a few years your parents will start nagging you to get married and have kids too!”

“No, they won’t.”

“Don’t think you’re still young and an idol type—they’ll push you to find someone and have kids sooner or later!”

“No need, they already had them for me.”

“?”

Ethan Carter stared at the WeChat screen, still in shock, unable to recover from the bombshell message.

YI: I have no work after this year’s Spring Festival Gala.

Family Pillar: If you have time, come home for a visit. Your little sister misses you.

Family Pillar: [video]

Sure enough, David Carter was giving his son an excuse to come home, persuading Ethan Carter to visit. But the excuse he gave nearly tripped his son up.

Ethan Carter opened the latest video. On screen, a little girl like a glutinous rice ball was watching TV, while the old man shook her back and forth, calling out, “Olivia Bennett, look!” as if shaking a teddy bear.

Ethan Carter knew his father’s way of phrasing things all too well. The “your little sister” in the message clearly had nothing to do with cousins.

Ethan Carter: He’d been busy with work, passing by home three times without going in, and his parents actually responded to the call to have a second child!?

Chapter 3

Ethan Carter decided to go home on the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year. The news instantly filled the house with joy.

The family was bustling in the kitchen, preparing food, while Olivia Carter slipped out alone, wanting to find Sister Sarah Young. Olivia Carter was always clever and mischievous. She quietly avoided her parents’ eyes, but was noticed by the observant Auntie.

Auntie was usually quiet and low-key, speaking softly. Seeing the little girl open the courtyard gate, she quickly put down her vegetable bowl and said, “Olivia Bennett, where are you going? I’ll go with you.”