Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 301 I Want to Be the Store Manager

The translucent fruit dots on the petals and leaves are like morning dewdrops, instantly bringing the whole flower to life. It nodded and said, "Beautiful, truly beautiful."

Li Wenhe put the paper tube in his hand aside, picked up a piece of tracing paper, and said, "Making this thing relies entirely on imagination and experimentation. There are no standards or fixed methods. You have to think a lot. As long as it looks nice, that's fine."

This time, he chose an alligator mouth, put it in a paper tube, added yellow, pink, and blue butter, squeezed it on the work surface, and said, "Three colors at most. The mouth isn't wide enough. Any more and it will look dirty and ugly."

He quickly drew three closely spaced arcs along the edge of the turntable and said, "Isn't it a rainbow? Doesn't it look like one?"

"It really does look like it," Xiao Wei nodded, giving a thumbs-up.

Li Wenhe picked up a serrated nozzle for edging and said, "Don't underestimate this kind of nozzle for edging. Any nozzle can create beautiful patterns if used properly." He twisted the nozzle at both ends of a rainbow and squeezed out a few clumps, saying, "For clouds, you can't use a flat nozzle; it won't look right."

Putting down the piping tip, Li Wenhe said, "That's it. Just think of something and try it out. The one you just made only had pink flowers, which isn't good. If you're going to make a lot of flower patterns on a cake, you need to have different sizes, some buds and some in full bloom. Most importantly, don't just use one color. Pink, red, yellow, purple, and blue—they need to be combined to look beautiful."

He picked up the flower-making nozzle and stick, skillfully and quickly making flowers while saying, "Look, roses, wild roses, tulips, dahlias, gladioli, butterfly flowers, lantern flowers, carnations, you can make so many kinds of flowers. You have to practice and try more." He picked up the green paper package that Xiaowei had just used and added some small grasses to it.

The turntable has been transformed into a garden, with green grass, white clouds, rainbows, and dazzling colors.

Xiao Wei slowly turned the turntable and said, "It's really beautiful, Master Li, you're amazing."

Li Wenhe scraped the cream off the turntable with a spatula and threw it into the trash can, saying, "This is for making flowers. Because cream can't support three-dimensional patterns, I can't teach you how to make three-dimensional things. If you have fresh milk later, you can practice on your own. My master is preparing to publish a book on three-dimensional patterns. I'll bring you a few copies when it comes out. The twelve zodiac animals, various cartoon characters, and so on. Actually, besides these, you can also make two-dimensional patterns."

He picked up the green butter tube, enlarged the hole at the bottom with scissors, and quickly sketched a Mickey Mouse head on the turntable. Then he filled it in with color, and a lifelike Mickey Mouse appeared on the turntable. He added a small hat to the head with pink butter and said, "Look, this is flat. As long as you draw it well, it's actually easier to make than flowers and patterns." He scraped off the pattern, drew a coiled dragon, filled it in, and sketched cloud patterns under the claws.

Xiao Wei clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "Impressive, truly impressive. Your technique is now no worse than your master's, is it? Why don't you go out and do it yourself?"

Li Wenhe said, "My master taught me. Right now, his business is just starting out and he needs manpower, so I'll do it first. I'll still make money. When my master doesn't need more people, I can go out and do it myself. My master supports me. Why don't you try drawing this?"

Xiao Wei shook his head and said, "I'll practice on my own for a few days first. I've never drawn before, so I'm not very good at it now, but I believe I can improve."

Over the next few days, Xiaowei spent his mornings attending pastry classes and his afternoons practicing cake decorating at a cake shop, leading a fulfilling life. A week later, he was already able to handle less complicated orders, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

"Boss, another cake shop has opened across the street."

Xiao Liwen pushed open the door and ran in, panting, and said to Xiao Wei, who was practicing making flowers.

Xiao Wei looked at the flowers in his hand and said, "The grocery store? It's open for business?"

Li Wen nodded and said, "Yeah, the sign was put up today. They say it's opening tomorrow. It's called Baolilai. It's run by people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I had a feeling that all the hustle and bustle over there these past few days couldn't be anything good, and sure enough, it is." She frowned and said fiercely.

Xiao Wei flicked the flowers off the flower stick into the cream bowl and said, "What? You're not going to stop others from doing it? It's not like you're going to smash them."

Li Wen said angrily, "If you can do it, why don't you stay a little further away? Longcheng is such a big city, why did you have to come right next to us? What does this mean? Isn't it just on purpose?"

Xiao Wei, while squeezing the flowers, said, "They're confident, they're skilled, and they've already started. Why don't you go and chase them away?"

Li Wen reached out and tugged at Xiao Wei's clothes, shaking them as she said, "Boss~~~, aren't you worried?"

Xiao Wei glanced outside and said, "I know who owns it. I used to buy cakes from him. I knew he was going to open a shop here when I saw him at the door last time. It's okay."

Li Wen released her grip and asked Li Wenhe, "Brother Li, what should we do?"

Li Wenhe laughed and said, "It's normal for other people to open shops. There weren't any here before, but there will definitely be more and more later. There are shops everywhere in eastern Guangdong, and the competition is fierce. Everyone should just do their own thing. There are so many people and such a big market, there's no end to the business."

Li Wen twitched her chubby cheeks and said, "What's the use of having a lot of people? Look at us, how many do we sell a day? Five, six, six, seven, sometimes we don't even sell ten. If he takes some of it, what's the point of working?"

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "We didn't have this before. We're just starting out. We'll gradually buy more and more. Once eating cake on everyone's birthday becomes a habit, we won't be able to finish it, let alone open another store. We could open ten more stores and still not be able to finish."

Li Wen snorted and glanced at Xiao Wei sideways: "You little brat."

Xiao Wei said, "Now you think you're so tough, huh? You even dare to curse at me? What do you mean? Should I go smash his clothes and then turn myself in at the police station? Are you playing the gangsters?"

Li Wen turned her head and said, "Anyway, we can't let him drive it. It's so annoying to watch."

Xiao Wei stared at Li Wen for a long time and said, "We also run restaurants, right? There must be five or six around here now, right? How many more are there further away? Should I smash them all?"

Li Wen was taken aback for a moment, then immediately said, "That's different."

Xiao Wei said, "What's the difference? Get lost, get to work, and make some cream."

Li Wen stomped inside angrily. She was now the one making the cream, and occasionally she'd learn piping techniques from Li Wenhe. Li Wenhe whispered to Xiao Wei, "I think she wanted to do it, but then she saw someone else had started, and she's upset about it."

As it turned out, Li Wen, with her sharp ears, said while weighing the sugar, "It's not that I want to do it myself, I'm just thinking that if the boss opens a few more stores, I can be the store manager. Boss, can I be the store manager when we open a new store?"

(End of this chapter)