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Lan Luo seemed to have recovered and was no longer as frightened as before. He shyly smiled and accepted the apology. Seeing the little doll return to normal, Qi Chao breathed a sigh of relief.

That old woman should be grateful that his Little One had not been hurt.

Otherwise, Qi Chao definitely would not have let that brat off so easily.

Though the matter had ended, he had not forgotten the scene of those children mocking Lan Luo for having no friends.

After returning home and finishing dinner, Qi Chao made up his mind to work hard and went upstairs to draw designs for a new little doll.

Lan Luo had been watching cartoons on the first floor. When he caught sight of Qi Chao heading toward the study, he jumped off the sofa and followed him.

After what happened at the park, Lan Luo seemed to have grown rather attached to him.

Qi Chao gladly accepted this. He gently asked, "Little One, do you want a good brother to play around with?"

Brother?

Lan Luo looked somewhat confused. "Lan Luo has two older brothers."

The older brothers Little One mentioned should have been the other little dolls Doctor had made. Qi Chao smiled and rubbed Lan Luo's golden hair. "The brother I mean isn't a blood brother. I mean a good friend."

As he spoke, Qi Chao used Little Fatty from the park as an example. "A good friend is a companion who can play and mess around with you, someone who'll always stand firmly by your side."

Lan Luo did not understand very well, but he knew Qi Chao was using those children from the park as an example.

Human children all had good friends.

Then he wanted one too.

Seeing Lan Luo nod heavily, his eyes full of anticipation, Qi Chao smiled. "Since Lan Luo wants a friend too, I'd better work harder!"

Qi Chao had originally planned to turn on some cartoons for Lan Luo so Little One would not get bored in the study. Unexpectedly, Lan Luo shook his head and refused outright, staring at the drawing paper on the desk. He clearly wanted to watch Qi Chao draw.

Qi Chao chuckled, moved over a chair, and placed it beside himself so the little doll could watch more easily.

Like a cat, Lan Luo lay sprawled across the desk, his eyes following Qi Chao's movements.

Charcoal-black lines outlined the doll's body structure—front, back, and side views—with a mass of proportional measurements attached to every page.

These were the doll proportion charts Qi Chao used for reference. An expert could understand them at a glance, but they were rather difficult for an outsider to follow.

Though Lan Luo was a doll, that did not mean he could understand them. Seeing the little doll's confused expression, Qi Chao thought for a moment, pulled out a sheet of paper from the side, and began sketching on it. In less than ten minutes, he had used colored pencils to draw a chibi character.

Qi Chao had envisioned little dolls' personalities and expressions thousands of times in his mind and had gone through hundreds of discarded drafts. By now, even a rough line sketch could capture the standout traits of his own Little One.

On the paper was a chibi boy with short white hair and half a fox mask. He was squatting on the ground, happily smiling at a snail crawling slowly in front of him, revealing two sharp little canine teeth.

Qi Chao placed the drawing in front of Lan Luo and said with a smile, "Little One, don't look at those anymore. Come look at this."

Lan Luo stared at the drawing and nodded, though no one knew what he was thinking. Qi Chao simply assumed the little doll was curious and secretly felt delighted. He said nothing, lowered his head, and continued pondering the proportions for the new Little One.

He had drawn the chibi doll to amuse the child. To make a doll proportioned like Lan Luo, he still had to keep refining the ratios of every body part.

Honestly, Qi Chao had never made a life-sized doll in his previous life. The closer a doll's physique was to that of a human, the more meticulous the production had to be and the harder it became. It was no small challenge for him.

Before he knew it, it was already eight or nine at night.

Qi Chao looked up at the time and hurriedly coaxed the little doll to bed. Only after Little One had fallen asleep did he return to the study.

[Hello, Host.]

The moment Qi Chao sat down, he heard the system's voice. He smiled. "Welcome back. I didn't expect your timing to be so good."

Within his consciousness, the system's green glow flickered. It did not mention that it had returned an hour ago but had been too frightened to make a sound because the doll was there.

As long as it did not say anything, no one would know how cowardly it was. The system tried to steer the topic toward making money. [Following an inspection by the General Bureau, your design works meet the standards for listing. However, based on their level of completion, each clothing or character design can be exchanged for a different number of points.]

Qi Chao was a little surprised that things had gone so smoothly. He had no objections to the standard the system proposed. After all, being able to trade with the store was already an unexpected delight.

[In your previous life, you had a total of fifty-six unpublished clothing design drafts: thirty C-rank pieces, fifteen B-rank pieces, and eleven A-Rank pieces. The points exchangeable for each rank are fifty, eighty, and one hundred respectively.] The system continued, [Would the Host like to confirm the transaction?]

"Confirm." As soon as Qi Chao finished speaking, he saw a notification that the payment had arrived in his Light Brain account.

[After automatically deducting the system's share and converting the points into Star Coins, you will receive 798,000 Star Coins. Please check your account.]

Qi Chao grinned. This speed was seriously impressive.

The system had never received so many points in its entire existence. How could it possibly dawdle? This was enough to exchange for who knew how much high-grade energy fluid.

After receiving the benefits, the system felt even more favorably toward Qi Chao. Originally, the General Bureau had not wanted to have any business dealings with artisans, but once the system gave them the plane number, the General Bureau immediately agreed. It had barely done anything and had already gained a pile of points.

The system now found its Host increasingly pleasing to the eye. Seeing that his Host was still cluelessly treating the demon like a treasure, it felt guilty while also beginning to consider giving its Host another hand.

It was just about to secretly offer a hint when the Light Brain on the desk chimed. The avatar on the screen looked very familiar, so the system shut its mouth and quietly watched.

Doctor: [You only replied to half of my message. Did something happen?]

Doctor: [Sorry, but I waited a long time and never received the other half of your message, so I was a little worried.]

When Little One had fallen from the swing, Qi Chao had been chatting with the doll maker. He had only sent half a sentence at the time, and later, because he had been busy, he never got around to checking the messages on his Light Brain or finishing it.