Chapter 23: University Alumnus

After posting photos of the ancient city wall, the timeless charm of Baoen Chan Temple, and the history of Shouxian Confucian Temple to his Moments, Qin Yun strolled leisurely through the town.

Everywhere he looked were shops selling "Da Jiu Jia"; freshly fried "Da Jiu Jia" were golden and crisp, biting into one brought sweetness without cloying, carrying the faint fragrance of osmanthus. He ate a few, enjoyed the taste, then set off to find his task target.

To complete the check-in task, he first needed to find a workshop willing to let him experience the traditional method of making tofu. Although some roadside tofu workshops hung signs offering experiential visits, Qin Yun wandered around and found none met his requirements.

The system's check-in task required him to experience the complete traditional process and personally make intangible cultural heritage traditional tofu, so he dared not just pick any random workshop—what if, after all his hard work, the system deemed it unqualified? That would be a waste of time.

So the best target was those workshops that had inherited the intangible cultural heritage traditional methods.

As he walked, his phone suddenly rang.

Qin Yun glanced at the caller ID, first looked dazed, then finally realized.

Qin Yun answered the call; a soft, delicate voice came from the other end: "Senior, are you in Shouxian?"

"How do you know?" Qin Yun pulled his umbrella down slightly and noticed the rain had stopped.

There was a pause on the line, then the voice said: "I just saw your Moments post—the background was clearly Shouxian."

This made Qin Yun feel foolish—he'd posted on Moments and then asked how they knew.

"Alright, you're not trying to tell me you're from Shouxian, are you?"

There was another pause, then a slightly delighted voice came through: "Mm-hmm. Senior, are you still in the old city? Want to come find me?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm in Daquan Village, but our family runs a tofu workshop inside the old city—you can wait for me there."

"Tofu workshop?" Qin Yun paused, then laughed, "Hu Bingbing, your family isn't the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage traditional tofu method, are you?"

"Senior, how did you know?"

"..."

A moment later, Qin Yun was still walking toward the Hu Family Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Tofu Workshop when an electric scooter appeared beside him.

"Senior, get on!"

Qin Yun turned his head and saw a burly, muscular man riding a pink electric scooter, his face fierce-looking, speaking in a voice unmistakably feminine, staring at him with delight.

He sighed: "Hu Bingbing, I didn't turn around and thought some beautiful girl was calling me—turn around and I regret it enough to cry."

Hu Bingbing laughed: "Senior always teases me about my voice—if anyone else did, I'd punch them into pulp."

Qin Yun shook his head and sat behind Hu Bingbing; as the scooter strained forward, he asked curiously: "Didn't you join Huawei?"

"No one in my family was taking over the intangible cultural heritage, so after thinking it over, I figured Huawei was too exhausting, and I wanted a different way of life—I came back."

"Alright, you really do take things lightly."

Hu Bingbing was a junior two grades below him at North China University of Science and Technology—physically rugged, yet spoke in a soft, almost feminine voice. He had no idea this kid was from Shouxian or that his family was an intangible cultural heritage inheritor.

So this was fate—he'd just needed a tofu workshop where he could fully experience traditional craftsmanship, and here it was.

At other workshops, he might miss some steps and couldn't guarantee completeness—but here with Hu Bingbing, he felt confident. After all, back in college, he'd helped this kid out, and over time, they'd become close friends.

Soon, the scooter turned into the depths of the old city, stopping before a workshop unmistakably ancient—a tofu workshop. The blue stone path was polished shiny, and above the wooden door hung a faded wooden sign: Hu Family Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Tofu.

They stepped through the doorway and saw a courtyard filled with bamboo trays and several stone mills. Sitting in a rocking chair beneath the eaves was an elderly woman, roughly sixty.

"That's my grandmother—she's always at the shop. I usually come in the morning and go back in the afternoon."

After introducing him, Hu Bingbing called out: "Grandma."

Hearing the sound, the old woman opened her eyes, murmured an acknowledgment, then turned to look at Qin Yun.

Hu Bingbing said: "Grandma, this is my college senior—he was very kind to me. He's visiting Shouxian, so I invited him to our home."

Qin Yun politely greeted: "Hello, Grandma!"

"Good, good, young man, you're quite distinguished," the old woman said, her face wrinkled with a warm smile. She rose from her chair with a chuckle: "Come inside—I'll get you something to drink."

"Thank you, Grandma."

Qin Yun nodded and walked in.

Beside him, Hu Bingbing said: "The backyard of this house is the shop—we sell the tofu made here."

Qin Yun surveyed the so-called Hu Family Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Tofu Workshop. The front courtyard wasn't even where tofu was made—so altogether, front, middle, and back courtyards covered quite a large area.

They sat inside the house. Hu Bingbing asked curiously: "Senior, did you take leave? Why isn't your wife with you?"

Qin Yun thought: Looks like I'll have plenty to explain later.

"I quit my job and got divorced, so I'm traveling alone, just wandering—and eventually I plan to head back to Zhejiang."

"Ah!"

Hu Bingbing's face showed shock—he'd always thought Qin Yun was an outstanding person. How could he, in just a few years, lose his job and get divorced?

"What's that look for?" Qin Yun said, exasperated. "Can't I be unemployed and divorced?"

"No, no!" Hu Bingbing waved his hands quickly. "I just didn't expect you to take it so lightly."

"..."

"Senior, I remember Sister Su Huan is in Hangzhou, right? You could ask her for an internal referral—Alibaba's benefits are still great, definitely better than Beijing."

"I don't plan to work again," Qin Yun shook his head. For the first time, he voiced his inner thought: "I plan to drive around the world and turn it into my self-media career."

Hu Bingbing immediately looked impressed: "Senior, you've got real guts."

Qin Yun nodded, unconcerned: "I was worried it'd be troublesome, but you just happen to be the intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Shouxian's traditional tofu method—perfect."

"Oh? What do you plan to do?"

"I want to personally experience your family's complete traditional tofu-making process—I want to participate in every single step. Is that okay?"

Hu Bingbing thought it was something serious, but when he realized it was this, he laughed: "Of course! We've got four or five apprentices learning here already. Intangible cultural heritage needs more people to carry it forward—Senior wanting to learn is the best thing possible."

"I also want to record the entire process of making it."

"No problem."

Qin Yun clapped his hands: "Perfect! Why don't you tell me the full process of your family's traditional tofu-making first?"

As they spoke, Hu Bingbing's grandmother brought over two glasses of orange juice: "Young people all love drinks—we only have orange juice at home. Don't be rude, young man."

"Grandma, you're too kind."

Qin Yun took it and took a sip; before he could speak, Hu Bingbing's grandmother went on: "Young man, just now I heard you wanted to learn our family's ancient method of tofu-making?"

"Yes, Grandma, I want to experience the entire process firsthand."

"Hehe, good, good—rare to find a young person willing to come learn voluntarily. That's a good thing." She glanced at Hu Bingbing. "If it weren't for Bingbing's grandfather passing away, he wouldn't even have come home to inherit it."

Hu Bingbing scratched his head and said nothing.

Hu Bingbing's grandmother continued: "Our Shou County ancient tofu is different from others. First, selecting the beans—we use local small yellow soybeans, round, thin-skinned, rich in pulp. When picking, the color must be uniform."

"After selecting the beans, you soak them—use room-temperature well water, never hot water. Soak until the beans swell, and when you pinch open a split bean, there's no hard core inside. This soaking takes over six hours, and when a fine white foam floats on the surface, it's nearly done. Of course, the exact soaking time depends on circumstances—there's no fixed rule."

"Then comes grinding the pulp—the timing and amount of added water is crucial, determining whether the soy milk meets standards. You can't just dump water in all at once. The same goes for boiling—the heat control is tested. One moment's inattention, and the whole pot of soy milk is ruined."

"When the soy milk gradually warms, forming fine bubbles and bubbling fiercely, you must use 'brine-stop' to instantly calm the boiling soy milk. This step is unique to our Shou County ancient method."

Qin Yun's expression turned puzzled—he clearly didn't understand what 'brine-stop' meant.

Beside him, Hu Bingbing spoke up: "It's when, right after boiling ends, you scoop a ladle of cold water and pour it into the pot."

Hu Bingbing's grandmother nodded: "Exactly. When the soy milk's temperature is just right for coagulation, you use gypsum water to coagulate it. This gypsum water is made from powdered gypsum ground from Baga Mountain in Shou County, dissolved in warm water—it's the soul of our Shou County ancient tofu."

"The coagulation must be slow and even—pour while stirring. When fine tofu curds appear in the soy milk, stop. Then…"

As Hu Bingbing's grandmother spoke, Qin Yun gained a preliminary understanding of the entire ancient tofu-making process.

Every step seemed simple, but he knew it certainly wasn't easy.

Finally, Hu Bingbing's grandmother said: "If you want to learn the full process properly, you should come to our home—here in the ancient city, everything's just for tourists to experience."

"Thank you, Grandma."

Then, Hu Bingbing took Qin Yun to tour their tofu workshop.

"Senior, come have dinner at my place—we live in Daquan Village, not far from here. You can even stay overnight; our house is quite large in Daquan Village."

Qin Yun thought for a moment, then nodded: "Then I'll trouble you."

Hu Bingbing was delighted: "Trouble? It's no trouble at all—just glad I can help you a little, Senior."

Qin Yun didn't linger long in the ancient city. After making plans with Hu Bingbing, he left and stopped by to buy a small gift for his evening visit. After all, arriving empty-handed at someone's home? He understood proper etiquette.

Back at the hotel, Qin Yun finally had time to check the message from Su Huan.

Regarding Su Huan's proposed collaboration, he rejected it instantly without a second thought. Though having a collaborating editor seemed beneficial, not even the division of profits mattered—trust between them simply didn't meet his standard.

He'd rather pay for services—least it's trouble-free.

Besides, for him, editing self-media videos was nothing complicated—he didn't need advanced techniques, just enough to present exactly what he envisioned.

Su Huan saw Qin Yun's rejection on WeChat and wasn't surprised at all.

Having been classmates for four years, she understood Qin Yun somewhat.

Fang Nan, upon learning the result, felt disappointed. But since the initiative lay with the other party, there was nothing he could do.

"Just quote the price you think is fair for the video editing—it's fine."

Fang Nan thought for a moment and decided to put some thought into the video—make sure the contrast between rough cut and fine cut was stark, so the other side could see just how much difference a good editor makes.