Several more days passed, but there was still no progress on the statue. He had contacted two manufacturers, but they mostly just wanted him to pick from their existing designs. As for a custom order, they either quoted a price Qin Xiaoxia couldn’t accept or flat-out refused the job.

All he could do for now was lie low and bide his time.

The program playing on the TV was the morning news.

Ever since learning that the barrier of the Power of the World might be unstable, Qin Xiaoxia had become a news junkie. If he could, he would watch it every morning and evening.

At that moment, the news anchor was reporting in standard Mandarin about a domestic delegation’s visit to Russia.

Beside him, Doudou emptied his fifth bag of potato chips. He peered inside the bag, confirming that not a single crumb was left.

He glanced at Qin Xiaoxia, who was still engrossed in the boring news.

"Cousin, we’re out of chips!!"

Qin Xiaoxia completely ignored him.

"Cooooouuuusssiiiin... The chips!! They’re goooone!!"

"Oh."

After that grunt of acknowledgment, Qin Xiaoxia fell silent again.

Seeing this, Doudou gently placed the empty bag in the trash can, then tiptoed toward the bedroom.

He kept glancing back at the living room as he went. The sound of the news was still on, so Qin Xiaoxia should still be sprawled on the sofa.

He reached the computer desk and rubbed his small hands together vigorously.

’The bold will feast, the timid will starve! The bold will feast, the timid will starve!’

He slowly pulled open the second drawer of the desk, revealing several red and green banknotes.

Qin Xiaoxia usually kept his spare cash here.

"I’ll just take one, just one..."

Doudou muttered nervously to himself.

He had calculated it carefully. A bag of chips was five yuan. Even if he took a green bill, he could buy ten bags, and there were so many other colorful snacks at the supermarket.

"Oh, just one, is it?"

An emotionless voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

Qin Xiaoxia’s shadow fell over Doudou and half of the computer desk.

Doudou’s hair stood on end, pushing his hat up three inches.

The bump on his forehead, which hadn’t even faded yet, seemed to start throbbing again.

"C-Cousin, how do you walk so quietly now!"

The fear of his cousin’s wrath instantly crushed his briefly powerful foodie soul.

Seeing Doudou sweating buckets, Qin Xiaoxia just shook his head and gave a wry smile.

"Pick up the phone, pick up the phone... Pick up the phone, pick up the phone..."

At that moment, the ringing of a cell phone saved Doudou.

"Hey, Brother Gou? Yeah, I’m home. Uh-huh, uh-huh, really? That’s great, Brother Gou, you’re so efficient! Okay, okay! Noon works. Lunch is on me! Yep, yep, okay, it’s a deal..."

Once they had agreed on where to meet, Qin Xiaoxia hung up.

"Doudou, I’m taking you out for something good at noon. A nice new place just opened in Kehua District."

Doudou quietly shut the drawer, not daring to think about the money inside anymore.

"What’s happening?"

"Heh, Brother Gou is as reliable as ever. He found me a rich kid who’s into sculpting. I just don’t know how skilled he is."

...

"A-a-achoo! Achoo!"

A young man who bore a slight resemblance to Gou Junbao suddenly sneezed twice while walking.

"You got a cold?"

Gou Junbao stopped and looked at his distant cousin.

South Wind rubbed his nose, wiped a handful of snot on his hand, and then smeared it on the wall of a nearby shop.

"Nope..."

"You should wear more. Look how scrawny you are. Come on, I’ll take you to a hotel to get a room first. Someone’s treating us to lunch in a bit."

When South Wind heard his older cousin was going to put him up in a hotel, he instinctively asked.

"Bro, can’t I stay at your place?"

"I might bring a girl home at any time. It’d be inconvenient with you there!"

South Wind didn’t say anything more to that. His cousin was great in every way, except that he was getting on in years and still didn’t have a wife.

When it came to picking up girls, South Wind was confident, but Gou Junbao had no interest in hearing his bullshit advice.

Gou Junbao actually looked down on his cousin quite a bit. The guy had been messing around since college. Not only did he spend money like water, but he also went through one girlfriend after another and had even knocked up two of them.

His uncle had rushed from their hometown to the university to teach him a harsh lesson.

To his credit, the guy hadn’t defied his own father back then.

But after he stopped dating, this finance major started getting into crafts, becoming especially obsessed with things like sword forging and pottery.

The moment he graduated, he started running off to places like Longquan Jingdezhen on his own.

This time, even his old man’s lectures were useless. He refused to go home, no matter what, and wouldn’t find a proper job.

In a fit of anger, South Wind’s father cut him off financially.

Unable to make ends meet, he often asked Gou Junbao, his supposedly well-off cousin, for help.

They were relatives, after all, so giving him some pocket money now and then wasn’t a big deal. Besides, South Wind actually had some sense of proportion; he wasn’t the type to take a mile when given an inch.

Those "arts" South Wind dabbled in could occasionally earn him a little money. When that happened, he would pay back a portion of the money he owed Gou Junbao. Even if he had to borrow again soon after, it still made Gou Junbao feel better about the situation.

Coincidentally, Qin Xiaoxia had asked him about finding a sculptor. Although he hadn’t mentioned his unreliable cousin before, he figured there might be some overlap in the art world and his cousin might know someone. So, he casually gave him a call to ask.

He never expected this would stir up so much trouble for him.

For some reason, that punk South Wind had completely misinterpreted it as his cousin setting him up with a business deal. Without a second thought, he booked a ticket and headed over. By the time Gou Junbao got the call, South Wind was already on his way.

Gou Junbao immediately made two calls.

One was to his uncle, who told Gou Junbao to keep South Wind there. He said he’d arrange things at his factory and come over from their hometown immediately to drag the kid back.

The other was to Qin Xiaoxia, to see if he could help out.

...

「Noon. Han Feng Garden, Kehua District.」

This newly opened self-serve barbecue place was pretty popular lately. Since it was new, the owner definitely wouldn’t recognize Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou.

Today was a good opportunity to take care of two things at once.

After more than an hour on the bus, an excited Doudou arrived with Qin Xiaoxia at Han Feng Garden in Blue Sky Square.

He could finally have a buffet again! At this moment, even the lingering bump on his head seemed pleasant to look at.

The cashier at the counter was a young woman. Seeing a young man with graying hair walk in with a skipping child, she offered a professional smile.

"Sir, how many in your party?"

"Four."

"Okay, that’s 65 yuan per person, plus a 20 yuan deposit. Your total is 280 yuan, please."

Qin Xiaoxia glanced at Doudou.

"Ahem, don’t kids get a half-price discount? He doesn’t eat that much!"

The waitress looked at the cute kid, then took a lollipop from the counter and handed it to Doudou.

Then she apologized to Qin Xiaoxia.

"I’m sorry, sir, we don’t have any promotions right now. You can follow our store’s official account on social media. We’ll post any new deals there."

"Alright. Two more people haven’t arrived yet. We’ll head in first. If someone comes looking for a Mr. Qin, please bring them to our table."

With that, he paid with his phone and took the placard for table number 66, leading Doudou inside.

They had only taken a few steps before both pairs of hands, one large and one small, began to rub together subconsciously.

P.S. Thank you to reader 123linyule for the 1000-coin tip, to readers Wish You a Lifetime of Peace and Ye Xiaohai for the 500-coin tips, and to readers Feilong Zai Tian&, Old~Wang, and Hongtong Jinshu for the 100-coin tips~~ Looks like there’s another crackdown on web novels recently...