The Miao family members tried to refuse a few times, but as country folks who made a living from the soil, they still wanted to own an animal and accepted the money with red faces. However, Miao Xing took the lead and said, "Then consider this animal as our joint purchase. We will pay our share of the money from the dividends we get later and pay it back slowly. How can we let you suffer the loss? It's outrageous!"

Shen Qing didn't care about this little money, but his uncle's attitude still made him feel at ease, so he agreed: "There's no need to rush to pay it back. My cousin is going to build a house and get married, and Xiaoyu is also going to get married. Money is needed everywhere. Just pay it back slowly over three to five years."

This would only add up to one or two taels of silver per year. With the animals doing the hard work, people could free up time to do other things and make more tofu. The cost would be offset by a little more hard work. The Miao people were even more grateful to Shen Qing when they heard this.

After sitting for a while, Shen Qing took Miao back to Lantang Village. There was still a lot of things to do at home, all waiting for Shen Qing to arrange: where to choose the location of the workshop, who to hand over the technology of making starch sausage, who to be in charge... all of them had to be decided by Shen Qing!

For the first thing, according to Shen Qing's idea, it would be better to build the workshop near the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain. Firstly, the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain is far away from other houses in the village, and there is a piece of open space in the middle, which is almost enough to build a workshop. Secondly, Shen Qing did such a big thing just to ensure the safety of his family. After the workshop is built, he will use the excuse of watching the goods and protecting the secret recipe to ask the village chief to organize some young and strong people to form a guard team to patrol near the workshop every day.

He wasn't just saying this to scare Miao Yu or amuse the child, he really had this intention.

This workshop is built next to the courtyard at the foot of the mountain. Wouldn't it allow the guards to ensure the safety of his home as well and prevent anyone from climbing over the wall into the courtyard to steal?

The only thing is that this courtyard at the foot of the mountain is rented from Hunter Liu, not their own. Shen Qing plans to go to Xiahe Village in a few days to ask Hunter Liu if he is willing to sell this courtyard. After living there for a long time, Shen Qing still thinks that this courtyard is quite to his liking, and the materials used are also genuine. If he can buy it directly and do some renovations, it will be much easier than buying land and building a new house.

If Hunter Liu was unwilling to sell, he would go find another piece of land and build his workshop and his house together.

Shen Qing planned to pass on the starch sausage making technique to the family of Second Aunt Lian. Second Aunt Lian, her son-in-law Zhao Yu, Lian Ou, and Miao Shi, only needed to learn the whole set of skills, and then recruit some people to do the rough work of chopping meat, stirring, enema, grinding sweet potato flour, etc.

The management of the workshop naturally depends on Aunt Guixiang, the village chief's wife, as well as the village chief's eldest son Zhao Shi and eldest daughter-in-law Yingzi. If nothing unexpected happens, Zhao Shi will be the next village chief. He has been learning how to manage things with Zhao Youdang for two years. It is believed that managing a workshop is not a problem for Zhao Shi. It can also help him improve his abilities in the process of managing the workshop, so that he can better manage the village when he takes over as village chief in the future.

Along the way, Shen Qing told Miao about his ideas in detail, and then said: "Let's buy an animal later. I think we don't need to buy a mule. We can just buy a tall horse. It is convenient for pulling goods and traveling. We can say that it is arranged by the nobleman to deliver goods to the city. When you come back to your parents' home, we don't have to walk. It would be more elegant to ride in a carriage."

Miao just listened quietly, watching Shen Qing excitedly describing the future in front of her, but suddenly asked: "Qing'er, did something happen to you over there? Are you unhappy?"

The smile on Shen Qing's face slowly froze.

Although he did not show any displeasure, Miao felt that Shen Qing had a hint of depression between his brows. Perhaps this was her intuition as a mother. Shen Qing had just been at the Miao family, excitedly praising Miao Yu for her improved skills, and had given money to buy livestock for the Miao family. Now she was talking about buying a house and livestock for her family... All of this made Miao feel that Shen Qing was trying to make himself happy. In order to do so, he wanted to make the Miao family, Miao Yu, and herself happy. If the people around him were happy, Shen Qing himself would be more affected.

He tries so hard to be happy, but in fact it is because he is unhappy.

"It's okay..." Shen Qing wanted to evade the question, but seeing Miao's worried expression, he couldn't pretend anymore: "I just... I just encountered some things that I couldn't figure out over there. It's not dangerous, don't worry. I'll figure it out someday." Shen Qing murmured, "I think I might figure it out soon."

Whether to break off or not, dragging it out is not a solution, he always has to make a choice.

When they returned to the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain, they saw Aunt Lian and Lian Rong standing at the door waiting for them. They were here to return the keys. Shen Qing was away these days, and Miao moved to Shiqu Village again. The chickens at home were entrusted to Aunt Lian to feed every day.

"Aunt, you've come just in time. Now that you're here, don't leave." Shen Qing said with a smile, and then said to Lian Rong, "Go back to your home, call your eldest brother and his wife, and your second brother to come to our house and learn how to make starch sausage. Stay at my house for lunch."

"Oh," Aunt Lian was very surprised, "Did you negotiate with the noble? He wants to teach us how to make it?" She had actually heard about it from the villagers. Shen Qing's words in the morning had already been spread all over the village with exaggerations. She wanted to find out more about it, but she didn't expect Shen Qing to ask her to come and learn how to make it! "This must be the noble's secret recipe, can I learn it?"

Shen Qing nodded: "But let me make this clear first. I've taught you this secret recipe. It's fine to make some for yourself occasionally, but you can't make it and sell it, and you can't tell this secret recipe to others, otherwise you'll annoy me, and I'll have to eat it with you."

"That's for sure. We don't even do that at home. We'll keep it a secret. We're not that kind of people!" Second Aunt Lian assured her again and again, and pushed Lian Rong: "Go home and call someone. Keep it quiet, don't let anyone else know. If anyone asks, just say that your Aunt Chunlei came back from her parents' home and came to chat with me, and invited people to dinner."

Everyone in the village was keeping an eye on the workshop. Seeing Miao Xing and Miao Wang open a tofu shop, there was a constant stream of people buying tofu every day. Who wouldn't be jealous? They all wanted to establish a good relationship with Shen Qing and get a good job in the workshop!

Lian Rong was very smart: "Don't worry, Mom, I know what to say!"

Shen Qing stopped Lian Rong and said, "Don't be in a hurry. Do you still have a lot of sweet potato flour at home? Bring some over. Take as much as you can. I'll pay you when you go back. Tell your grandma not to worry."

Shen Qing knew that Second Aunt Lian had a lot of sweet potato flour stored at home. There was a story behind this: when Old Lady Shen came to cause trouble, Zhao Youdang punished Shen Zhigao and made him work in a vermicelli workshop for ten days. Second Aunt Lian, in order to vent her anger on Miao, took all the sweet potatoes from her home and forced Shen Zhigao to grind them into flour. She also asked her parents to send a cart of sweet potatoes, which made Shen Zhigao very tired.

Because of this, even the second aunt's sister-in-law often complained at home. This time, it was not Wang's fault for being petty. The sweet potatoes were good when they were roasted or cooked in porridge. Now they are ground into powder and made into vermicelli. No matter how delicious they are, they are boring. Let's make steamed buns. The powder ground in the vermicelli workshop is different from sweet potato flour. How can Wang have a good face for wasting the public food to vent her anger on her sisters? Even her mother-in-law was not very happy.

But I didn't expect that it would come in handy at this time, and it was a pleasant surprise to Aunt Julien.

This starch sausage is made of 10% meat and 80% starch, and then 10% salt, sugar, five-spice powder, pepper, soy sauce, egg white, ginger juice, etc. If there is red yeast rice powder, add some color, but if there is no red yeast rice, it doesn't matter. Today is a learning experiment, so I didn't prepare everything, so I didn't put it in.

Shen Qing had a lot of frozen wild boar meat at home, so he cut half a pound of lean meat. He didn't want to chop the meat himself, so he gave it to Lian Shi to do the physical work.

After the meat is chopped into fine pieces without any visible particles, add four pounds of sweet potato flour and seasonings, mix well into a paste, and finally stuff it into the casing.

"How can this be delicious?" Lian Rong was still young, so she was not allowed to interfere. When the people from the second room came, they also took Lian Qiao and now let Lian Rong hug her. The little girl was curious and stood on a stool far away to watch the whole process: "Isn't this just eating noodles? There is only a little bit of meat."

"It's the starch that tastes good. I don't like it with too much meat." Shen Qing said. He loved the taste of this starch sausage. Shen Qing had eaten the ham sausage with more meat, but he felt that it was not as delicious as this starch sausage. Besides, what's the point of adding too much meat? "Come down quickly. You are still holding Qiao Ge'er. You will fall if you stand so high."

Half a pound of meat costs only a few coins, and sweet potatoes are even less valuable. Such a large amount of meat costs at most ten coins, but it can make twenty-five large starch sausages. Put it in cold water and cook it on low heat for a while until it is shaped. Then peel off the casing and cut it into flower shapes. Insert bamboo sticks and fry them in oil, and the fragrance will immediately emerge.

Just sprinkle some pepper salt and chili powder on it and it will be very fragrant. Lian Rong took a bite and could not ask any more questions. Little Lian Qiao could not speak clearly, but she knew to grab her aunt's hand to eat.

The Forsythia sprinkled with chili powder was not edible, so Miao fried another one for him, sprinkled it with pepper salt, cut it into small pieces and fed it to Forsythia.

"It's still a little bit off." Shen Qing also took a bite. They had made it a few times in the end times. Mother Tang also put beef powder, spices, and fresh and fragrant powder in it... Although Tang Wenjie joked that it was all technology and hard work, it tasted really good. Mother Tang even did an experiment and made meaty sausage without adding any meat. "The ingredients can also be improved. It's too rough today."

This starch sausage can not only be fried, deep-fried, or roasted, but it is also delicious when cut into slices and cooked. At noon, they decided to make fried starch sausage with eggs and black fungus. It is winter now and vegetables are scarce, otherwise, fried starch sausage with green peppers and potato slices is also delicious, and fried garlic moss is also delicious!

They can prepare delicious ingredients by themselves and set up a fried starch sausage stall. The starch sausage does not have to be supplied only to their own stalls, but can also be sold unfried, and people can buy it to cook dishes or set up stalls elsewhere.

Anping County is so large, and there are many counties nearby. Shen Qing is not afraid of others imitating his business. As long as he keeps the secret recipe of making starch sausage firmly in his hands, no matter how many stalls they open, they will all come to him to purchase goods, and the money will still go into his pocket.

Shen Qing thought about it, and then sent Lian Rong to the village chief's house to call someone: "Call Aunt Guixiang to have lunch together, and it's a good opportunity to discuss the management of the workshop with her." They had successfully produced the product, so they first informed Aunt Guixiang, and when everything was almost done, he would invite the village chief and his family to talk.

Lian Rong went out with half a leftover sausage in her mouth, but she didn't come back for a long time. After the dishes were heated up twice, Second Aunt Lian couldn't sit still any longer: "Where did this child go? Guixiang didn't come either. Did something happen?"

Just as she was about to send Lian Shi out to look for him, she saw Aunt Guixiang coming back with Lian Rong, who looked unhappy. Lian Rong's face was pale.

"What happened? Did some kid beat you up?" Aunt Lian hurriedly hugged her daughter, but saw that there were no traces of tears on Lian Rong's face, but she looked very scared.

Aunt Guixiang glanced at Miao and whispered, "The widow Li from the old Shen family has started a movement."

Miao and Shen Qing were both stunned, and the room fell silent. After a moment, Miao said, "Isn't it the wrong date to calculate?"

No one knew this better than she did. Li Jiaofeng was only full-term at the end of February. How come she went into labor in the first month of the year, before the fifteenth day? Miao's heart tightened, and she suddenly thought of something: "What happened to her?"

Aunt Guixiang looked at Miao in surprise, somewhat surprised that Miao had guessed so accurately, and nodded: "She fell and started the car prematurely. Shen Zhigao was extremely anxious and came to our house to borrow the car. Although she was a bad person... but it was a life after all, our head of the family still had some feelings for Shen Zhigao, so he lent him the car, and helped to carry the person and pull the car, which is why it has been delayed until now. Li Jiaofeng had a bleeding, and when Sister Rong came to find me, she frightened the child."

After that, Aunt Guixiang sighed again: "They say that a baby will survive in the seventh month and not in the eighth month. She is just over eight months pregnant and has even seen bleeding. Sigh."

Aunt Lian touched Lian Rong's head and said, "Touch the fur, it won't scare you. Touch the ears, it will scare you for a while." Lian Rong pursed her lips and said nothing, then buried her head in her mother's arms.

Everyone in the room fell silent. Did Li Jiaofeng and Shen Zhigao deserve it? But even Miao, the first victim, couldn't say that she hoped the baby in Li Jiaofeng's belly would die, especially when she thought of the child she hadn't given birth to for two days.

She also fell down at first.

"How did she fall?" Miao put the plates on the table for a while and asked everyone to sit down before asking.

Aunt Guixiang was stunned for a moment before she realized that Miao was asking Li Jiaofeng, "It snowed a little a few days ago, and the snow on the eaves melted, and the water dripped onto the door. It was cold in the middle of the night and she froze again. When Li Jiaofeng got up in the morning, she didn't see clearly and stepped on it, and fell hard."

Aunt Guixiang smacked her lips and said, "I went with the old Shen family to pick them up. There was a huge patch of ice on the ground, frozen hard. My husband said that we have to inform every household later, so that no one else's elderly will fall like this. We can't be lazy in the morning, the first thing we have to do is shovel the ice!"

Miao nodded and stopped talking. It sounded normal, and it was also a common reason for wrestling in the village, but she still had doubts in her heart.

It was not for Li Jiaofeng, but for herself and the child who was not hurt.