Chapter 127: If You Have a Bold Idea, Give It a Try
When Chen Ge left yesterday, the paint on the simulated human heads hadn’t dried yet; they were at most half-finished, so they hadn’t seemed all that scary at the time.
Pushing open the glass door, Chen Ge and the chubby boss walked over to the workbench.
“With this craftsmanship and texture, running a haunted house is really a waste of your talent.” The chubby boss followed behind Chen Ge, picking up a female student’s head from the table. At first, he was a bit frightened, but after getting used to it, he gradually became captivated by the head in his hands.
Lifelike—the girl’s eyes seemed to harbor some kind of emotion, with none of the dullness or stiffness of a typical doll.
“Even the best doll makers I’ve seen are no better than this.” The chubby boss held the simulated head, staring at the girl’s face for over a minute before finally looking away.
He seemed to have something to say but hesitated for a long time. In the end, he placed the girl’s head back in its spot and gently nudged the busy Chen Ge. “Bro, I actually came by so early today because there’s another thing I want to discuss with you.”
Bro?
The chubby boss suddenly changed his address, and his attitude had shifted significantly, which caught Chen Ge a bit off guard.
“If you’ve got something to say, just say it. I’ll help if I can.” Chen Ge was busy designing bodies for the dolls, so he kept his words direct.
“It’s a good thing for both of us.” The chubby boss pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Chen Ge. “Let’s keep in touch from now on.”
“Qian Guigen?” Chen Ge had no idea what he was up to, why he’d suddenly become so enthusiastic.
After Chen Ge accepted the card, Boss Qian leaned in mysteriously. “I used to specialize in making dolls for amusement parks and shops, but technology’s advanced so much now—all kinds of visual projections look real, and the demand for dolls has dropped a lot. To keep the shop going, I’ve been thinking about switching gears, but this industry’s model is too set in its ways. Changing is incredibly hard.”
“Switching industries is tough for anyone. I’d suggest you play it safe and not gamble away everything you’ve got.” Chen Ge was shaping a student’s body out of clay, wiping the surface with a damp sponge. His finger pressure was just right—where the sponge passed, it looked like real human skin, smooth and firm. He wasn’t too concerned about Boss Qian’s plans, only focused on finishing quickly and moving these dolls back to the haunted house.
“Before I met you, I thought the same way. But after meeting you, it’s like a little boat sailing through fog suddenly sees a lighthouse—you’ve pointed me in a direction.” Boss Qian hovered around Chen Ge, eyeing the twenty-four simulated heads with varied expressions on the workbench, then suddenly spoke up. “I’ve got a bold idea!”
“Move aside, hand me the No. 16 carving knife.”
“Don’t brush me off! If this pivot works, our monthly net profit might even exceed your haunted house’s yearly ticket revenue!” Boss Qian slapped his chubby hand on the table, staring at Chen Ge with utter seriousness.
At the mention of money, Chen Ge paused his work. “I’m not the type to be obsessed with cash, but I’m curious about your pivot plan.”
“Small creative dolls don’t sell for much, and the market for big, cheap ones is sluggish, so I’m going for high-end custom pieces!” Boss Qian carefully picked up one of Chen Ge’s finished heads. “This is the first time I’ve seen such realistic dolls. You’re using pretty low-grade materials—if we switch to the best stuff, can we make dolls almost indistinguishable from real people?”
“Theoretically, yes.” Chen Ge didn’t tell Boss Qian that with enough resources, he could even create true living dolls.
“That’s your talent, and our ticket to riches!” Boss Qian pulled out his phone and randomly searched for images of semi-realistic dolls. “These shoddy adult dolls online dare to ask for eight or nine thousand. If we custom-make one-to-one, flawless-looking dolls, the price would be at least five figures. I’ve done some research—this market is huge and won’t be saturated for years.”
“That’s definitely a bold idea.” Chen Ge shook his head and went back to working on the clay base.
“It’s a goldmine! At your pace yesterday, you could easily make twenty in three days, two hundred in a month. There’s never been dolls like this on the market—start at fifteen thousand, and even with the priciest materials, we’d still clear ten thousand in profit! Two million a month! Why bother with a haunted house!” Boss Qian couldn’t believe Chen Ge’s indifferent reaction.
“I won’t do anything illegal. Besides, customizing dolls based on a customer’s photos and info is an invasion of that person’s privacy.” Chen Ge knew deep down that the dolls he made used living doll techniques, which carried risks. He didn’t want to see headlines about dolls killing people in the news later.
“Why are you so stubborn!” Boss Qian seemed genuinely pained. “Every one of us is an island—even the most loving couples argue. But dolls are different. A lot of people choose doll companionship just to find something to hold onto. Life’s full of pressure—no matter who you vent to, they’ll get annoyed, but dolls never do. Customizing dolls for them doesn’t hurt anyone; it just builds a harbor for countless lonely souls in the middle of the ocean to dock at.”
“I think if you went into insurance sales, you’d probably own your own company by now.” Chen Ge kept his head down, shaping the clay. The world wasn’t as calm on the surface as it seemed—if his living dolls were sent everywhere, things could spiral out of control, and he’d likely end up implicated.
“If you have a bold idea, you’ve got to try it! How about you make two more dolls today? I’ll take them out for a test run. If it doesn’t work, I’ll drop it.” Boss Qian already had photos ready on his phone, clearly prepared.
“Boss Qian, have you ever imagined this scenario: you’re sleeping in the same bed as a doll, and after you fall asleep, the doll slowly opens its eyes?”
“How could a doll… open its eyes?”
“If you don’t believe me, come experience it at my haunted house. The dolls I make aren’t like ordinary ones—not just in appearance.” Chen Ge didn’t elaborate. This chubby boss seemed like a decent guy, just a bit ahead of his time.
After hearing Chen Ge’s words, Boss Qian glanced at the simulated heads on the workbench again. A flicker of fear crossed his mind, but he still didn’t give up. “When you change your mind, feel free to contact me.”
As they chatted, Chen Ge finished the clay base and started repeating yesterday’s steps.
At nine in the morning, Chen Ge packed all the simulated heads into three large cardboard boxes, hailed a taxi, and shipped them to New Century Amusement Park.
“The doll bodies will be fully done tonight. By tomorrow, the Morning Sun Middle School scene should be ready for use.”