Chapter 99: Not Playing Around Like This

Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to be a salary cut to have such an effect. The rising prices of other essential goods in life will also compress the proportion of people's spending on services such as bars. Similarly, facing slightly more expensive drinks, people may refrain from consuming.

But, in a way, this situation can also be considered a salary cut.

After all, when prices rise but income remains the same, what's the difference between that and a straightforward salary reduction? A decrease in purchasing power, such as wages, and the actual effects reflected by directly lowering wage standards are quite similar. Life just keeps getting tougher.

Unemployment, Carter sees it! Pay cuts, now Carter sees it again!

The two most common social phenomena during economic downturns are appearing one after another in front of him. This further darkens Carter's mood.

Carter, born in '99, almost never directly experienced life during the Great Depression in his growing up years. Even though there was the subprime mortgage crisis in '08, the impact on China was not as significant as in the US, plus there was that earthquake at the time. For Carter, who was not yet ten years old at the time:

Economic crisis? What's that? Can we eat it? Oh, fundraising again, here, I'll pitch in 50.

After '08, China's economy shot up like a rocket. With the rapid economic development, accompanied by the increase in age, Carter had more disposable income.

He felt many things were getting cheaper, excluding real estate. Except for housing, things that seemed extremely high-class when he was in elementary school, like KFC, where he wouldn't even dare to eat unless it was his birthday, started to feel more commonplace.

Before the accident. After '08, what's KFC? I have no idea what it is. When you don't know what to eat, you go to a fast-food restaurant for convenience. Who would invite friends to KFC for a birthday? That would be a joke.

Carter, who had no firsthand experience, even if he knew that in the early '80s, the US economy was in a downturn, with high unemployment and inflation rates, he wasn't overly worried.

On one hand, he had money, and on the other, those who haven't experienced any harm tend to be somewhat blindly optimistic about possible pain and suffering. But what he saw before his eyes made Carter unable to maintain his optimism.

Originally planning to prepare some cash to deal with the upcoming crisis, he instead invested his money everywhere and ended up with nothing. Perhaps it's time for a change!

Stocks of promising companies, even though they seem lucrative, what's the use if you can't hold out until those stocks are liquidated? If he kept going like this, and then he fell during the early '80s, it would be a big problem.

The most shameful thing for a time traveler, he would be disgraced!

"Carter, why are you lost in thought again? Come on, have a drink! And then..."

Putting aside electronic screens and such, the slow bar nowadays is not much different from the bars of the future. Without the distraction of smartphones, people at the drinking table are even more engrossed.

Playing drinking games, cracking jokes, with a few drinks down, it didn't take long for everyone's faces to turn slightly red.

They stayed at the nightclub until around nine o'clock before calling it a night and leaving. By this time, Carter was clearly feeling the effects.

He liked whiskey, liked hanging out at folk bars, that's for sure, but each time he would only order one drink and never overdo it under normal circumstances. Listening to music and having a drink. After finishing one drink, he would be slightly tipsy, making it easier to fall asleep quickly when he got home.

With this kind of drinking habit, even after drinking for years, Carter's tolerance wouldn't increase much. Under the influence of worries and anxieties about the future, half a bottle of whiskey flowed into his stomach, and while Carter wasn't exactly blackout drunk yet, he could only walk back to the hotel with the support of two male friends, swaying along the way.

After helping Carter into the room and tossing him onto the bed, the two male friends couldn't help feeling a bit pleased as they quietly left.

Hehehe, it's good to drink too much, it's best to drink until you're a dead dog! Let's see if you can still do anything bad with our goddess!

Doing something bad? Not anymore! Not anymore!

Lying on the bed, Carter felt miserable. Moderate alcohol consumption is good for sleep, but excessive drinking makes it difficult to sleep.

Carter, who was still in the midst of alcohol excitement, couldn't fall asleep at all. But the heavy feeling in his head prevented him from even lifting his hand.

"Carter, I'm going to take a shower first. If you need anything, just call me!"

Whether it was intentional or not, just as Lily locked the door and returned to the bed where Carter lay, she began to change her clothes.

"I'm going now."

With a weak shout, Carter watched Lily's fair skin and golden hair shimmering at the corners of his eyes, and the little guy in his pants had a slight urge to rise.

Before long, the sound of trickling water came. The sound of raindrops hitting the surface of the water made Carter feel a lot calmer, and he slowly closed his eyes. Suddenly, a somewhat absurd thought popped into his mind. It seemed like in many novels he had read before, authors liked to write about the protagonist becoming more excited after hearing the sound of water.

But in Carter's actual experience, this situation never occurred.

Lost in random thoughts, Carter closed his eyes.

The sound of water gradually stopped, but Carter, who still couldn't fall asleep, heard some faint footsteps by his ear, followed by

"Hehe, Carter, your alcohol tolerance is really poor! Even my little brother is stronger than you!"

The fragrant breeze blowing in his ears made Carter's earlobes itch, and a sense of oppression moved around.

"During the day, in front of them, I knew you had some things you didn't say. Can you talk to me about it now?"

"What things? And, if you're going to speak, speak properly. I warn you not to play with fire!"

Under Lily's teasing, the rise of little Carter was unstoppable. If this couldn't be stopped, it would be a sad story.

But the remaining reason was telling Big Carter: Not playing around like this!!

Before even discussing the price, if you talk about that kind of thing, who knows what price you'll have to pay in the future!

"Hehe."