The three of them sat at the kitchen table at Rex's house, feeling defeated. They all drank beer except for Lester, who drank tea. Angus had slept at the pub since it was his home, but now he lived with Rex. Lester stood up and walked towards the TV.

"I can't believe I lost my cool like that," he said as he sat on the couch and saw the smashed TV. "Rex, you need to fix the TV."

"Oh, shut it, Turtle."

Lester continued, "The country is going through a recession."

Rex shook his head "We stole from the whole world. How can we be in a recession?"

"It is how it is. At this rate, it will be impossible to find jobs. I'll try to help you two the best I can, but I can't guarantee anything," Lester said.

Rex stood up. "All of you, pack your bags. We're going to China."

Lester was dumbfounded. "What on earth are we to do in China?"

"We're going to poach pandas!"

Angus woke from his drunken slumber and said, "I ain't going to no communist country."

Lester slowly smoked his cigarette and replied, "Angus, you're always the first to visit Chinese shops."

"A shop is a shop."

Rex deeply inhaled his cigarette, sipped his beer, and said, "Relax, Goat. In a year or two, communism will fall, and China will be called the Democratic Republic of China. It will be as democratic as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but one thing will not change: the Chinese obsession with snooker. Their tournaments are the only ones where players get to earn good money. We will go there, play some snooker, play some pool, hustle some poor bastards, and maybe along the way... poach some pandas."

Lester shook his head. "It simply won't work, Rex. The expenses, not to mention we could get into trouble with the law. It's suspicious of you suddenly wanting to go to China when you said you would never go there in the past. And then there's the flight from the UK, the hotels, and not many people speak English. We'll need a translator. We simply won't reap any benefits."

Rex paced back and forth. "We'll figure something out."

"No, Rex."

Rex sat down, gripping his hair. Lester smoked his cigarette and spoke. "Cornelius really is greedy. When I won the world title in 1979, I earned 10,000 pounds, while the golf world champion earned 60,000 pounds. Now, in 1989, the snooker champion earned 10,000 pounds while the golf champion earned 100,000 pounds. The first-round earners in 1979 were 500 pounds; in 1989, they were 250. This is simply ridiculous. Even Julian himself would have an average lifestyle as a winner, but he constantly gets promotions and is the only player that gets that."

Rex sipped his beer and spoke. "I can't believe how that Cornelius got so much money. He looks like a rat, and his name is so pretentious. That's not his real name; that egotistical prick gave it to himself. That old cunt must've backstabbed every single person he ever laid eyes on. He and his damn icy blue eyes. Fucking wanker."

Angus coughed and said, "I have a plan...but you won't like it."

Rex was intrigued, so he leaned in. "Go ahead."

"Well...we rob Cornelius."

Lester spilled his tea while Rex said, "Interesting."

"You can't be seriously thinking of this, Rex! We can't do this!"

Rex raised his hands to calm Lester. "No, no, wait. I know Cornelius has a safe in his office at the Crucible Theatre."

Lester stood up and backed away. "I want no part in this with you two, and how do you even know he has money there?"

"Oh, come on, Turtle. Cornelius is a money whore. He has money everywhere, and it probably won't even be much by his standards, but enough for us to bear the recession."

Lester shook his head. "First the plan of poaching pandas, now robbing the snooker tour organizer? You two must share a single brain cell. I'm leaving."

Rex grabbed Lester by the arm. "Listen, Lester, we won't rob him right away. We'll just check out the situation, see who's guarding it, and then we'll decide if we'll go through with it or not. I mean, we probably won't, but who knows."

Angus joined in. "Don't worry, son. I'm good at cracking safes. All I require is a distraction."

Lester deeply inhaled his cigarette. "Alright...but we will just check who's guarding it. Just check, only check. If we decide to rob it, then I demand a calculated plan. But right now, we will just peek at who the guard is, okay? And if IF it turns out to be Steele, I'm going the other way."

Both Rex and Angus nodded. "Alright," said Lester as he inhaled his cigarette one more time.