The more Aunt Guixiang thought about their family, the more embarrassed Miao felt! After all, this "whole village suffered a loss" was caused by their family...

She knew that Shen Qing went to the city today to buy Dongshan, but she didn't know that he would move so quickly. Shen Qing hadn't returned to the village yet, but the official in charge of surveying had already arrived. When Aunt Guixiang brought up the topic, Miao whispered, "If someone else asked me, I would definitely not tell you, but I will tell you the truth. The matter of the workshop is almost certain. Brother Qing has already negotiated with the people, and it will start working next year."

"Really?" Aunt Guixiang was very surprised.

Miao nodded. She had never expected that she could lie so fluently. "That nobleman thinks highly of Qing Ge'er and said that he would give Qing Ge'er full authority to handle this matter. Qing Ge'er doesn't plan to stay in the village to manage the workshop. Once it is built, I'm afraid you and your husband will have to worry about it, not to mention Sister He Xiang's family. Qing Ge'er has seen a lot of the world outside and has grown up. He always wants to go out and can't stay at home."

This was the excuse that Miao and Shen Qing had discussed before. Because of the trip to Zizhou, Shen Qing also thought that he might have to stay in the apocalypse for a while in the future, and he had to give an explanation to the village. This was a good excuse for doing business outside. No matter how much money the family took out in the future, they would have an excuse. Even if they took out rare items like facial balm, they could just say that they were bought when they were doing business outside. Who could verify it?

"It's good to go out more often." Aunt Guixiang sighed, "If Qing'er hadn't gone to the county town so often, would he have met a noble person? Would he have encountered such a good thing? If this thing is done, our whole village will thank Qing'er."

Aunt Guixiang now understands the saying "the brave die of overeating, the timid die of starvation". Most girls and boys dare not go to the county town by themselves, but because they don't dare to do so, including herself, they can't have such a good thing. She is full of envy when she mentions it now: "I just don't know what that noble man does, and what kind of workshop he wants to open in our village?"

Miao thought for a moment and said, "I don't know what they do, but I heard that they have a house and a shop in the city. The workshop makes food, which will be transported to the shop in the city and sold in the future."

Shen Qing did have this plan! The Gold Tooth Man took the yamen runners to Lantang Village, but Shen Qing was not in a hurry to go back: he was afraid that appearing in the village with the Gold Tooth Man would reveal his identity. Instead, he went to the house he had bought before.

There are only six servants living in this house now, and the four doors outside are tightly closed. Shen Qing walked around. This place is close to the city gate, and the residents are not very wealthy. It is considered a gathering place for people with lower-middle economic conditions in the city. Shen Qing's house is the largest and most luxurious house here. No wonder it has been vacant for a long time and cannot be sold.

Rich people would rather buy in wealthy areas for a good environment and high-quality neighbors. People living in this area want to buy but cannot afford it.

But fortunately, there are many people living here, so it is not desolate. On both sides of the street, except for Shen Qing's four closed shops, there are many shops open: selling food, groceries, wool, tea... They are all small shops, one or two shops are a small shop, but they are quite lively.

After walking around for a while, Shen Qing started to think that his four storefronts were empty anyway, so he might as well rent out two of them. He could then use the remaining two to sell starch sausages and grilled gluten.

Starch sausage is one of Shen Qing's favorite foods after he went to that world! Especially after watching the video many times, Tang's mother made it again. After learning the recipe, Shen Qing was even more surprised: such delicious food is so cheap!

Ninety percent of them are made of starch only, and only one tenth is made of meat, but they taste full of meat flavor! The cost is low, the taste is good, and it is also suitable for selling in this not-so-affluent area.

Shen Qing felt that business would definitely be good. Of course, he was not afraid even if it was not good. Originally, this shop was opened for money laundering. If he couldn't sell it, he would take it to the end of the world. There were many people who wanted to buy it.

The only problem was who should sell it. Shen Qing trusted his uncle's family the most, but the Miao family was busy with the tofu business: Miao Xing and Miao Wang had some business sense, and of course they also benefited from the fact that Shiqu Village already had many connections and channels. They didn't need Shen Qing's advice, as they had asked the Shiqu Village people who worked in restaurants to sell tofu, yuba and bean curd skin to the city.

In addition, he could earn about one or two taels of silver every day from odd businesses in nearby villages. How could he find time to do anything else?

Then, Aunt Lian's house? Or Aunt Guixiang's house, Aunt Yanzi's house?

Shen Qing was a little hesitant. He only regretted that he had too few people when he needed them. But the workshop hadn't been built yet, so it was a little early to consider this.

Shen Qing bought some food on the street and asked the butcher to deliver some meat to the house he bought.

Except for the day he bought the house, Shen Qing had never been here before. This time, the house was actually quite different.

The six servants were bought by Shen Qing, and they were a little nervous at first. But Shen Qing just left them in this house and didn't show up for many days. They were nervous for a while, but gradually got used to such a plain and leisurely life. The children were all from the village and were good at work at home. When they came to this house, they had nothing to do except cleaning and taking care of their own lives. They were very uncomfortable.

They cleaned up the withered and rotten plants in the yard. Although they didn't know how to grow flowers, they knew how to clean up crops. Now the plants in the yard were not very beautiful, but at least they were neat and full of vitality.

Shen Qing looked quite satisfied. He then looked at the children, all wearing new clothes. Although the workmanship and stitching were a bit clumsy and simple, their spirit was very different from when they first arrived.

"Chinese New Year is coming soon. Our family will not be celebrating the New Year here. You can keep these things and eat them. Don't treat yourself badly."

Several children lowered their heads and dared not look at him. Shen Qing was also a little uncomfortable. He still hadn't adapted to being a "master". Mudan had just clumsily poured him some water, and he didn't know how to take it.

He felt like he had raised these children for nothing, there was nothing for them to do, and he had to come and feed them regularly. But if he didn't raise these children, there would be people watching over such a big house, and he was afraid that some unscrupulous people would sneak in.

He sat for a while and was about to leave. The atmosphere in the room was very awkward. He was uncomfortable here, and neither were the children. Shen Qing was a little depressed. He had spent a lot of money to buy this house, so why should he be uncomfortable here?

Mudan didn't know if it was out of politeness, she whispered: "It's getting late, would you like to have dinner, sir?"

They were all trained by the pawnbrokers. How to serve the master, what to say, when to pour tea, when to serve food, the training nannies would teach some fixed rules. They would not teach in depth, because the rules of each family were different. Generally speaking, when a new slave was bought, the old slaves in the family would be taught the rules again. There were few people like Shen Qing who had never had a slave before.

Mudan finally managed to summon some memories of serving her master from her mind.

Shen Qingyuan had stood up, but after hearing this, he suddenly sat back down: "Can you cook?" He looked at the remaining children: "I remember two of you can cook, who are they? What about the others, can you light the fire and help out?"

He hadn't thought of who to ask to sell the starch sausages before. These kids were just sitting there doing nothing, so why not use them?

It was getting dark, and Shen Qing thought that the yamen runners must have left, so he returned to the village. Many people greeted him and chatted with him when they saw him. First, the news about the workshop had spread, and everyone was particularly enthusiastic about Shen Qing recently. Second, something big happened in the village today, and everyone wanted to chat with everyone they saw.

"...You said that our ancestors have lived off the mountain for generations, but now that this nobleman has come, we are not allowed to go up." An old lady said with resentment, "How can we reason with this? Qing'er, is this right? Will you still go up the mountain to chop firewood in the future?"

Shen Qing was a little embarrassed: "...If I just dig some wild vegetables and don't go near other people's farms, I think you won't mind." He quickened his pace: "I have to go back quickly, my mother is still waiting for me at home."

Miao cooked a pot of casserole noodles tonight, filled with meatballs, crispy meat, ribs, and eggplant boxes, but not much noodles. This eggplant box was fried at Aunt Guixiang's house today. The long eggplant was cut into thin slices, stuffed with meat in the middle, and then fried in batter. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and it was very fragrant. Frying at the two houses together can save a lot of oil!

"Me too. When your aunt Guixiang told me about it today, I felt embarrassed." Miao sighed, "How come you feel a little ashamed after making money behind people's backs?"

Maybe she would do this because she is not in the presence of someone who is really good to her. If she is not close to them, she would not have such thoughts!

"I was thinking that tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I need to prepare a New Year's Eve dinner, so I didn't cook much tonight." Miao brought the casserole to the table.

Shen Qing burped slightly. He had tasted several dishes made by several children in the city today.

There are mainly two girls and two boys. Although they are still young, they can cook quite well. The village doesn't let the boys cook very much, and the two boys don't know how to cook. However, they are good at making fire and can help. "Mom, I think when you have time in the future, you can go there more often to teach them cooking skills. In the future, let them sell the starch sausage made in our village workshop in the city."

Although starch sausage and grilled gluten only need to be simply grilled or fried and sprinkled with some seasonings, the control of the heat is not low. It is still necessary to practice cooking skills more and cultivate the feeling of cooking. Today, Shen Qing ate the meals made by several children, and the biggest feeling was that they were stingy!

Maybe because of their poor background, even though Shen Qing had piles of rice and flour in the warehouse, the children were reluctant to add oil or salt, and they only cooked the most ordinary and tasteless farm meals.

"What's the big deal?" Miao said, "Are the children too young?" If it were her, she would not dare to buy food sold by such young children.