Chapter 8 Molds

At five in the afternoon, the delivery guy brought the molds that Qin Xiuli had sent.

Six sets of solid wood molds, weighing over sixty pounds in total. Ou Yang, who didn’t believe that a single mold could weigh over ten pounds, insisted on holding one while standing on a scale—and discovered that he had actually gained another 8 pounds. He immediately started feeling emo.

Qin Huai chose to ignore him and used the animal molds to try a batch.

It was a success.

The process was fast, and the size and shape were uniform. Most importantly, there was hardly any need for further processing. The molds themselves were precise enough that the pressed-out little rabbits, mice, and pigs looked vivid and lifelike—designs that children would love.

“Wow, it actually works. I thought molds like these were only used for mooncakes and osmanthus cakes,” Ou Yang said, having recovered from his emo state, clicking his tongue in amazement. He pointed at another unused set of molds and asked, “Could this set—with Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie—also be pressed like this?”

“It can produce a rough shape,” Qin Huai said. “But it still needs further processing and coloring. If the craftsmanship is good, the final product will be similar to dough figurines.”

“Not bad at all.” Ou Yang immediately became interested. “A couple of years ago, I took my nephew out on the street and we ran into someone making dough figurines. To be honest, I didn’t think they were very good—you could vaguely tell it was Sun Wukong, but you couldn’t look at it closely. It cost 25 yuan each, couldn’t be eaten, and wasn’t durable. My nephew broke it before we even finished walking around. If what you’re making can be mass-produced—three pieces per batch, three minutes per batch—that’s 1,500 yuan per hour!”

“Qin Huai, why are you even running a cafeteria? Just set up a stall at the entrance of the affiliated elementary school—you’re going to get rich!”

Qin Huai very much wanted to pull out his system panel and show Ou Yang. With his beginner-level technique, what exactly would he use to get rich? Rely on naive elementary school kids with money to burn and the leniency of city management?

“Why don’t you make one now?” Ou Yang suggested. “I’ll take it and give it to my nephew—he can help you open up sales. He goes to the affiliated elementary school.”

Ou Yang already felt like he could see a bright future ahead.

By then, Qin Huai would produce, and he would sell—they’d strike it rich in no time.

Qin Huai spread his hands. “I don’t know how.”

Ou Yang: ?

“You don’t know how, so why does your family have these molds? Don’t tell me uncle knows how?!” Ou Yang felt it was time to build a friendship with Qin Congwen.

“My dad doesn’t know how either.”

Ou Yang: ??

“These six sets of molds were custom-made by the most famous woodworker in our county 27 years ago, before my dad opened his breakfast shop. They cost quite a bit of money. According to my mom, if my dad had used that money to buy a small apartment in the city instead of ordering these molds, our family would have been financially free long ago.”

Ou Yang: 0.0

“These things were that expensive?”

“Not really. The main reason was that housing in the city was cheap back then—actually cheaper than in our county.”

“Then why would your uncle spend a large sum on molds he couldn’t even use?” Ou Yang was puzzled.

To this, Qin Huai said, this was a long story.

Speaking of which, one had to mention Qin Congwen’s grand ambition.

Although Qin Congwen had been running a breakfast shop for over twenty years with only average skill, he was once a man with dreams. More than twenty years ago, because of its location, Quxian County experienced a period of prosperity. There was a constant flow of merchants, many of them wealthy, and both restaurants and inns did very well.

At that time, Qin Congwen dreamed of opening a pastry shop—starting steadily, becoming the best in the county, then expanding to the province, and eventually going nationwide.

Coincidentally, the most famous restaurant in the county at the time launched a revenue-boosting strategy. In addition to regular lunch and dinner, they also sold pastries all day long, offering a wide variety of cute animal-shaped designs and gift box series. From the twelve zodiac animals to the 108 heroes of the Water Margin, to a Journey to the West series—if the price was right, custom orders were even available. There was nothing they couldn’t make—only things you couldn’t imagine.

Within just a few months, their pastries became a famous local specialty of Quxian County, and traveling merchants loved buying them as gifts.

Once pastries became popular, many followed suit. Every pastry shop in Quxian County ordered custom molds from woodworkers. Those who couldn’t compete at the high end fought price wars in the low-end market. In the midst of this collective competition, woodworkers in Quxian became highly sought after.

Qin Congwen, swept up in the trend, also ordered molds from a woodworker. Not only did he queue, but he also paid extra, spending a large sum to customize molds—becoming one of the biggest “victims” of the pastry craze.

A few years later, the leading restaurant closed after its chefs left. Without strong craftsmanship, pastry shops that relied solely on molds and offered cheap products lost their appeal.

Today, Quxian is no longer a transportation hub but an ordinary small county. Its former prosperity is gone, old establishments have shut down, and Qin Congwen, who failed to open a pastry shop and instead opened a breakfast shop, unexpectedly turned the Qin family breakfast shop into something of an “old brand.” Now, aside from occasionally taking out the well-preserved molds (still nearly brand new after all these years) to lament his past wasted money, hardly anyone remembers that pastries once used to be a local specialty of Quxian.

“When my dad asked Woodworker Zhang to make these molds back then, Zhang even advised him that the Journey to the West series wasn’t simple. The restaurant could sell them because their chefs were skilled. Molds could only press out a rough shape; further processing and coloring were required. But my dad didn’t believe it—he didn’t even know how to make pastries at the time. He was fearless out of ignorance and had no idea how difficult the finishing work would be. What you think looks like Sun Wukong might look like something else entirely to others.”

“In the end, the molds were made, but he couldn’t use them. Basic designs were something every pastry shop in the county could make—and they tasted better than what my dad could make. So he gave up on the pastry shop and instead apprenticed with a neighbor aunt to learn how to make buns for a few months, then opened a breakfast shop.”

“These six sets of molds have been sitting at home ever since. Too valuable to throw away, and unsellable. Fortunately, the wood was of good quality—they haven’t rotted or been eaten by insects after all these years. Now they’ve finally found some use.”

Ou Yang could only sigh regretfully:

“Why did uncle choose the Journey to the West templates back then? If he had chosen the twelve zodiac animals, wouldn’t our dough figurine business have already taken off?”

“The twelve zodiac animals would’ve been great—kids would definitely love them!”

Qin Huai felt that if Qin Congwen heard this, he would probably say: What do you know? Journey to the West only has four main characters, while the zodiac has twelve—three times as many. Do you understand cost-effectiveness?

Ou Yang, who didn’t understand cost-effectiveness, stayed at Qin Huai’s place and had another dinner. In the end, under Qin Luo’s moved gaze, he took two large bags of red bean hedgehog buns home. Before Ou Yang left, Qin Luo didn’t even dare to cheer. Only after confirming that Ou Yang had already entered the elevator did she scream out loud.

“Hooray! We never have to eat red bean hedgehog buns again!”

“Brother, what are we having for breakfast tomorrow?”

Qin Huai pointed at a batch of rabbit-shaped buns they had made that afternoon while testing the molds in the kitchen: “We’re having red bean rabbit buns. We haven’t made other fillings yet.”

Qin Luo: Σ(°△°|||)︴