Mi Xiaoxiao’s fox-like eyes widened. “Huh? Are you really going to contact them?”
Qin Jingzhou repeated the original host’s catchphrase. “Would I ever do anything if I wasn’t confident?”
Mi Xiaoxiao clutched her phone and was silent for a moment before muttering in a small voice, “You do things you’re not confident in all the time… whatever, I can afford a hundred thousand yuan…”
Upon hearing this, Qin Jingzhou stepped forward and flicked his cheap daughter on the forehead. “Are you very close to me?”
The original host really wasn’t close with his biological children… and that’s not even an exaggeration: after the divorce, he met each child only once per quarter.
Mi Xiaoxiao was caught off guard by this sudden display of affection. Her heartstrings were tugged as she reached out and hugged her father’s arm, muttering quietly, “True… we’re not that close.”
After her parents’ divorce, Mi Xiaoxiao lived in Haishi with her mother.
Her mother, who was also the original host’s second wife, grew up in a “traditional” family that favored boys over girls. Both her parents and her brother firmly believed that “it is only right to drain the daughter to raise the son.”
But the original host’s ex-wife was clear-headed from childhood, convinced that knowledge could change her fate. Thanks to a steady stream of scholarships, she got into a prestigious school in Capital City, then landed a job at a major company in Haishi after graduation, and went from earning eighty thousand a year to breaking a million within just five years.
Of course, when her family figured out she was doing well, like flies drawn to a scent, they came to Haishi to cause trouble for her several times. Their core motivation was simple: money.
So she pulled some strings and got her college-graduate brother into a state-owned enterprise in the prefecture-level city closest to their hometown.
From then on, her parents and brother more or less realized how capable she was. They also came to understand the phrase “the rat fears the cat.” When they asked for money after that, they became a lot more polite.
For the next few years, things remained outwardly cordial between her and her family.
But when the ex-wife passed away unexpectedly, her greedy family, unsurprisingly, immediately swarmed in to fight Mi Xiaoxiao for the inheritance.
Only, as if she had foreseen this, she had already left a will—almost all her assets went to her only daughter. She left her parents one million yuan, but only on the condition that they sign a document never to disturb Mi Xiaoxiao again.
Her ex-wife’s family was furious, but they happily signed and took the million. In the end, they couldn’t resist firing off a parting shot: “Mi Xiaoxiao, you’d better never come begging to us for anything.”
With the help of a reliable lawyer and her mother’s friends, Mi Xiaoxiao inherited her mother’s estate. On their advice, she moved to Capital City to live with her biological father—even though, being still a year shy of adulthood, she really didn’t want to.
Now it was the third day since Mi Xiaoxiao had moved in.
Qin Jingzhou glanced at his cheap daughter, her head lowered. Remembering the original host’s character setting, he replied in an awkward tone, “You’ll get used to it in a bit.”
Mi Xiaoxiao soon calmed down. She changed the subject. “Are you sure it’s okay? That bet of yours with those online friends…”
Qin Jingzhou grinned. “You still don’t know what I can do.”
Mi Xiaoxiao could hardly hold it in and almost blurted it out: Because you’re obsessed with mechanical tinkering, you burned through twenty properties until now you’re down to five—including this one we’re living in!
Just your rental income isn’t nearly enough to fund your hobby! If you weren’t so short of cash, would you ever take a random ten-thousand-yuan deposit from someone off the street?
Every time Mom mentioned you, she could only shake her head over and over! And you actually dared to tell them to come in person!
Mi Xiaoxiao kept quiet, but all these thoughts were written plain on her face. Qin Jingzhou gave her a gentle flick on the nose. “Go contact them, set up a time for them to come by.”
Mi Xiaoxiao pursed her lips. “Okay then.”
At that moment, the System seized the opportunity and chimed in, “I did some searching. After Mi Xiaoxiao moved in, she started following the original host’s social media accounts, and through his posts, comments, and forwarded links, she easily found the ‘Mechanical Heaven’ forum where her dad always hung out. After registering, she even saw for herself how her dad, the original host, would get drawn into flame wars until he was totally fired up, and eventually went all out claiming he had technology for mechanical hands just as good as the ones in sci-fi movies…” Then the System sent Qin Jingzhou screenshots of what it had found.
Qin Jingzhou scrolled through them—from “stop bluffing” to “I lost half my palm in an accident, if you really can make a mechanical hand like the ones in the movies, with similar function and appearance, I’d pay millions for it,” and then the screenshot showing the ten-thousand-yuan deposit...
It was easy for him to piece the situation together. The few user IDs who kept stirring things up and taunting the original host were clearly following the female lead’s “script,” but there didn’t seem to be any problem with the one who actually put down the deposit to custom-order the mechanical hand.
If he couldn’t spot anything wrong, then there really was nothing wrong with this one.
He couldn’t be bothered to look into it further and simply asked his considerate little System, “What’s the background on this customer?”
The System replied, “Just an average rich guy in Capital City, a younger son from the Zhao Family. He lost half his hand rescuing his older brother, when a falling reinforced door sliced it off. He knows there are tons of scammers on the Mechanical Heaven forum, but real experts do show up now and then. Even though he didn’t fully believe the original host, he figured he’d try just in case and went ahead and sent the money.”
Qin Jingzhou chuckled, “Well, I ought to live up to his sharp eye.” Then he glanced at his obedient cheap daughter sitting beside him. “This girl does pretty well in her studies. If she sticks with me and observes, she could skip the college entrance exam next year.”
The System laughed too. “Wouldn’t it be better to be directly admitted by a top university? Hahaha.”
Five minutes later, Mi Xiaoxiao set her phone down. “I got in touch. He’s really eager, said he can come over any time.”
Qin Jingzhou got up and headed for the basement, which the original host had already converted into a workshop. “Tell him to come now. You can come too.”
Seeing how confident he was, Mi Xiaoxiao hesitated. Maybe her dad was a hidden master... If he was really so capable, why did Mom divorce him?!
Since her dad had already spoken, it would be awkward not to follow, plus she was genuinely interested in his workshop.
But when she actually walked into the basement… her hopes were dashed: there wasn’t a single CNC lathe or anything of the kind. The whole basement looked more like a rundown open-air repair shop on the outskirts than a proper workshop—filthy and disorderly, the kind of place that does scrap metal recycling on the side.
Qin Jingzhou already knew the state of things from the original host’s memories. He skillfully found what he needed from the big toolbox the “inept but eager” original host had stashed in the corner, then dug through a pile of unprocessed junk to find a plastic bag. He stuffed tools and materials into it, picked it up, and said, “Let’s go.”
Mi Xiaoxiao: …
She almost wanted to slap herself for thinking her dad was a big boss just a second ago... It was all his looks’ fault for being so misleading! She couldn’t help looking crestfallen. She thought, Looks like I’ll really have to use Mom’s money to clean up Dad’s mess.
Qin Jingzhou, hefting the big bag in his hand, seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. “What’s the rush?”
The customer who readily transferred the hundred thousand, Second Young Master Zhao, was about to leave when his older brother, First Young Master Zhao—who happened to be home for a rare rest—called out to him. Since his injury, the younger brother had avoided people, let alone ever gone out as excitedly as he did today.
The Zhao brothers had always been close, or else Second Young Master Zhao would never have risked his life to save his brother.
First Young Master Zhao knew this well and tried to be as good to his brother as possible. After hearing his younger brother’s reason for going out, he hesitated for a moment. Rationally, he knew the “expert” his brother found on the Mechanical Heaven forum was likely a fraud, but would a scammer who’d already taken payment ask his brother to show up in person to get measured? At that moment, he understood why his brother was so worked up.
He checked the address the other party had left—yep, a villa district just beside the Fourth Ring in Capital City. People who lived here weren’t top-tier tycoons, but they all had serious assets.
The scales in First Young Master Zhao’s mind tilted a bit toward the “expert” side. “I happen to be free today. Want me to go with you?”
Second Young Master Zhao was all fired up and of course said yes.
The Zhao family home wasn’t far from the Mi residence. By car it took less than twenty minutes.
The Zhao brothers’ business van pulled up at the gate of the Mi family community. Having gotten the call, Mi Xiaoxiao greeted the brothers and First Young Master Zhao’s secretary at the door with a grim face, and let them in.
Qin Jingzhou was in the living room, fiddling with the materials in his bag. He didn’t bother with small talk when the brothers entered. “Come here and sit. Show me your hand.”
Second Young Master Zhao immediately pulled off his glove and the protective cover from his injury, stretching out his hand, which ended right at the palm’s lifeline.
Qin Jingzhou took what he’d been tinkering with and fastened it onto the remnant of Second Young Master Zhao’s hand.
Time was short. He only had time to fashion a single finger, which was basically two hinged metal strips wired together, with a small bundle of wire at the end. The other end of the wires attached to three plain, finger-tip-sized pieces of metal.
Such a thing, in the eyes of First Young Master Zhao and Mi Xiaoxiao, looked absolutely absurd: every detail, especially the specks of rust and stains of grease, screamed “ridiculous.”
But when Qin Jingzhou crudely secured the device to Second Young Master Zhao’s hand with a bit of thin wire, and the long, jointed metal strip replaced where his index finger had been, Second Young Master Zhao stared at his right hand—now wound up with random bits of metal—and asked, eyes wide, “This is it?”
Qin Jingzhou said, “Try moving it. I want to see how it works.”
Second Young Master Zhao’s eyes got even wider. “How?”
Qin Jingzhou’s tone grew a bit impatient. “How did you move your finger before you got hurt? You need instructions for that?”
“Before the injury,” and any related topic, was touchy with the younger brother. First Young Master Zhao couldn’t help himself and was just about to speak when his brother… actually managed to move the ridiculous piece of metal, bending and straightening it, even making it move a little side to side...
Second Young Master Zhao kept flexing his new mechanical right index finger, then suddenly knelt down and bowed, full of admiration. “You’re a legend! Please do the rest of the fingers for me too!”
Qin Jingzhou grunted his assent, then looked at First Young Master Zhao, who had just swallowed his words. “It’ll cost extra.” He pointed at his daughter, Mi Xiaoxiao. “I’ve burned through fifteen properties tinkering with this stuff. If I don’t bring money in now, my little manager’s pout could hang an oil bottle.”
Mi Xiaoxiao blushed but bit back a smile.