At five in the afternoon, the delivery guy brought the molds Qin Xiuli sent to the door.
Six sets of solid wood molds, weighing over sixty pounds in total. Ouyang, who didn't believe a single mold weighed over ten pounds, insisted on holding one and standing on the scale. He then discovered he had gained eight pounds and started feeling emo.
Qin Huai chose to ignore him and used the animal molds to try making a batch.
The attempt was very successful.
The speed was fast, the size and shape were uniform, and most importantly, little post-processing was needed. The mold itself was detailed enough that the little rabbits, mice, and pigs pressed out were vivid and lifelike, a style that children would love.
"It can actually be pressed out. I thought these molds could only press mooncakes and osmanthus cake," Ouyang, ending his emo phase, clicked his tongue in wonder, pointing at another unused set of molds. "You don't think the ones with Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie can be pressed out too, do you?"
"They can press out the rough shape," Qin Huai answered. "Further processing and coloring are needed afterward. If you're skilled, the final product will look similar to dough figurines."
"That's great," Ouyang instantly got interested. "A couple of years ago, when I took my nephew on a street visit, we saw someone making dough figurines. To be honest, I thought the craft was so-so. You could sort of tell it was Sun Wukong, but you couldn't look closely. It cost 25 bucks each, wasn't edible, and didn't last long. My nephew squashed it before we'd finished our street tour. But if you could mass-produce these, make three in one batch, and in three minutes each time, you'd earn 1500 per hour!"
"Qin Huai, why do you even bother running a canteen? Just set up a stall outside the affiliated elementary school, you're gonna strike it rich!"
Qin Huai really wanted to show Ouyang his system panel. How was he supposed to get rich with his basic Finger Skill, by relying on elementary school kids' naivety and the indulgence of the city management?
"How about making one now? I'll give it to my nephew and let him open up a market for you. He's at the affiliated elementary school." Ouyang felt like he could see a bright future.
At that time, Qin Huai would produce, and he'd sell, and they would be on their way to becoming wealthy.
Qin Huai spread his hands, "I can't."
"If you can't, then how does your family have these molds? Could it be your uncle can do it?!" Ouyang felt it was time to establish friendship with Qin Congwen.
"My dad can't do it either."
"Here's the thing, these six sets of molds were ordered by my dad 27 years ago when he hadn't opened the Breakfast Shop yet. He went to the most famous carpenter in our county to have them made. It cost a lot of money. According to my mom, if my dad hadn't ordered these six sets of molds and had used the money to buy a small house in the city, our family would have long reached financial freedom."
"These things are so expensive?"
"Not really, it's just that houses in the city were cheap back then, even cheaper than in our county."
"Then why did your uncle spend good money to order a set of molds he couldn't even use?" Ouyang was puzzled.
To this, Qin Huai said, it was a long story.
Speaking of this, one had to mention Qin Congwen's grand ambitions.
Despite twenty-some years of opening a Breakfast Shop with mediocre skills, Qin Congwen was once a man with dreams. Over twenty years ago, due to its geographical location, Qiu County was also prosperous for a time, bustling with merchants, among whom were many rich people. Both restaurants and inns did good business. At that time, Qin Congwen's dream was to open a snack shop, gradually making it the best in the county, then the province, and eventually nationwide.
Coincidentally, the county's most famous restaurant was generating extra income by selling snacks throughout the day in addition to regular lunch and dinner. They had a wide variety of cute animal styles, and even series gift boxes. The Twelve Chinese Zodiac, the 108 Heroes of Liang Mountain, Journey to the West characters, you name it, they had it. If the price was right, they even took custom orders. In a few months, the restaurant's snacks became a famous local product of Qiu County, and every traveler wanted to buy a few sets as gifts.
When snacks became popular, many followed suit. Every snack shop in Qiu County ordered the same molds from carpenters. If they couldn't do high-end snacks, they'd fight in the low-end market through price wars. With everyone joining in the competition, carpenters in Qiu County became sought after, and with dreams of snacks, Qin Congwen followed the trend and ordered molds, not only queued but also paid extra, spending a fortune on molds, becoming the biggest fool in the snack trend frenzy.
A few years later, the restaurant closed after the chef left, and without a leader, snack shops that only relied on molds without solid skills were no longer popular.
Today, Qiu County was no longer a transportation hub, turning into an ordinary small town, with its former glory gone. The old famous brands closed down. Qin Congwen, who failed to open a snack shop, turned to opening a Breakfast Shop, which became "old brand" unexpectedly. Now, aside from occasionally taking out the well-preserved, still 99% new molds to lament the stupid money he spent back then following the trend, not many people remember that Qiu County's specialty was once snack gift boxes.
"Back then, when my dad ordered custom molds from Master Zhang, the master even advised my dad, saying that the Journey to the West series wasn't so simple. The restaurant dared to sell them because the chef's skills were good. Molds could only create a rough shape; further processing and coloring were needed. But my dad didn't believe it. He didn't know how to make snacks back then. Ignorance is bliss, how could he have known how hard further processing would be? He thought he was making Sun Wukong, while others thought he made the King of Spiritual Insight."
"The end result was ready molds without the skills to use them. Those simple basic styles could be made by any snack shop in the county and tasted better too. So afterward, my dad simply didn't open a snack shop, and instead apprenticed with Auntie next door for a few months to learn bun-making and opened a Breakfast Shop."
"These six sets of molds have stayed at home ever since, neither willing to throw them away nor able to sell them. Luckily, the wood quality is good, so they haven't rotted or been worm-eaten over the years, and they finally found a use now."
To this, Ouyang could only express regret:
"Why did Uncle order the Journey to the West molds back then? If he had ordered the Twelve Chinese Zodiac ones, our dough figurine business could have started."
"The Twelve Chinese Zodiac would have been great! Kids would definitely love it!"
Qin Huai thought if Qin Congwen heard Ouyang's words, he'd definitely say: You don't understand! The Journey to the West only has Tang Seng and his three disciples, but the Twelve Chinese Zodiac has twelve characters. That's three times the money, do you understand cost-effectiveness?
Not understanding cost-effectiveness, Ouyang lingered at Qin Huai's house until dinner, and finally left with two large bags of Red Bean Hedgehog Buns under Qin Luo's grateful gaze. Before Ouyang left, Qin Luo didn't dare to cheer until he was sure Ouyang was on the elevator.
"Yay, no more Red Bean Hedgehog Buns!"
"Brother, what are we having for breakfast tomorrow?"
Qin Huai pointed to the batch of rabbit buns he made while testing the molds that afternoon in the kitchen, "Red Bean Rabbit Buns, the other fillings aren't made yet."