Despite such favorable conditions, Qi Huan did not immediately accept the offer.
In her heart, she regarded Mrs. Lu as a foolish woman, otherwise she would not have taken a fancy to Lu Baiian, an ungrateful and disloyal scoundrel.
In the chaotic Lu's Residence, it was hard to tell whether the maids and servants were loyal or treacherous.
Hastily accepting them would only bring her trouble.
However, the courtyard and servants at Lu's Residence were readily available, which would allow for the fastest production, a prospect that somewhat tempted her. Adding to that, Lu Yueming was her good friend, and her goodwill was difficult to refuse.
After some contemplation, Qi Huan quickly had an idea.
She leaned over and whispered her thoughts into Yueming's ear.
Upon hearing her out, Lu Yueming's eyes grew brighter, and she clapped her hands, excitedly exclaiming, "Ah Huan, what a great idea! I'll go instruct Housekeeper Liu right away!"
A few days later, the results were out.
The two met again in a private room at Qi's Restaurant.
"Ah Huan, following your advice, I had Housekeeper Liu take some silver and, under Lu Baiian's name, go to the maids and servants one by one. He told them that if they said good things about Lu Baiian and helped reconcile him with me, they would receive a reward of twenty taels of silver. Sure enough, many were tempted.
Over these days, I've had those who agreed locked up. Of course, the silver they received has been taken back by Housekeeper Liu. Now, I've called in some hatchet men, and they'll all be sold off.
If they can't be sold in Mo County, they'll be sent to Lingzhou. If they can't be sold in Lingzhou, they'll be sent elsewhere. For such treacherous servants who betray their master, whatever fate befalls them is their own doing."
Those maids and servants were well aware of how Lu Baiian had wronged his wife and daughters. Yet they were still willing to run errands for such a person. How could she trust them?
Seeing her flushed face from anger, Qi Huan poured a cup of tea and pushed it towards her.
After drinking the tea in one gulp, Lu Yueming was still somewhat indignant.
"What kind of people has my mother been keeping all these years? Nothing but ungrateful wretches. ...However, there are a few honest servants, but they are clumsy in speech, not favored, and only do menial tasks like sweeping and cleaning. Ah Huan, can they do the work of making starch?"
"If they are trustworthy, of course they can!" Qi Huan thought for a moment, then added, "Even for manual labor, it's fine. Compared to other servants, they have a bit more strength, which would be perfect for helping to grind potatoes."
Hearing this, Lu Yueming finally showed a smile.
She was delighted to be able to help Ah Huan.
During this period, Ah Huan had helped her a lot, and she had been wanting to do something to repay her.
Giving money seemed too impersonal.
Now, doing a favor by letting Ah Huan use the vacant courtyard at Lu's Residence and the extra maids suited her just fine.
But Qi Huan did not think so.
Even between siblings, accounts must be settled. She insisted on paying Lu Yueming.
After several refusals, she finally came up with a compromise.
"Yueming, since the venue and labor are yours, I'll give you one-tenth of the profits."
Seeing her determined attitude, Lu Yueming could only nod, then added, "Ah Huan, I have enough money. Why don't I provide some capital for you? Otherwise, it seems unfair for me to receive a share just for providing a place and some labor."
Her tone was sincere and her attitude genuine. Qi Huan could not refuse her good friend and eventually nodded in agreement.
After she agreed, Lu Yueming immediately took her leave, rode to the money house to withdraw a thousand taels of silver notes, and then returned.
Upon arriving at the private room, she slapped the silver on the table, panting, "Is this enough, Ah Huan? If not, I'll go get more."
"It's enough, Yueming. Please have a seat and rest." Qi Huan handed her a handkerchief while speaking, indicating for her to wipe her sweat.
She then took out paper and quickly drafted a contract, signed and sealed it.
Since Yueming provided the venue, labor, and capital, Qi Huan added an extra two shares, giving her a total of three-tenths profit share.
Next, she wrote another contract, planning to give it to Shu later.
The Yunying Caravan had also provided a thousand taels as capital, so giving Shu three-tenths was only fair.
As for herself, she kept the remaining four-tenths.
This was the payment for providing the starch recipe.
After finalizing the shares, the starch factory expanded in scale, and starch production began in full swing at Lu's Residence.
The workers were all indentured servants, with Housekeeper Liu, Huixin, Lanxin, and others supervising, so there was no need to worry about the recipe being leaked.
At the same time, Qi Huan also began contemplating the production of potato noodles.
She carefully recalled her memories from her previous life, but could only vaguely remember the process of making noodles.
However, dwelling on it would not help, it was better to try directly.
From memory, the first step was to make a batter. First, mix the potato starch with water, then scald it with boiling water until it slightly solidified into a jelly-like consistency.
The next step was kneading the dough. First, stir the batter, then gradually add more starch, repeatedly kneading and mixing.
It was actually quite fun to knead the glutinous starch dough, but prolonged kneading could also make one's hands tired.
When the starch reached the desired consistency, Qi Huan proceeded to the next step.
In her previous life, her mother-in-law called this process "pulling noodles," where a small aluminum basin with evenly spaced small holes in the bottom was used. The starch dough would be placed inside, and if done correctly, long, even noodle strands would be extruded through the holes.
However, she did not have such a tool, so she took out a slotted spoon from the ones she had collected from unpacking packages and began experimenting.
She placed the starch dough into the slotted spoon and pressed down, but the first attempt was not very successful. Qi Huan did not get discouraged. She adjusted the consistency of the dough and tried several more times.
Finally, her perseverance paid off.
After countless attempts, the noodles slowly extruded into a satisfactory shape, with even and thin strands.
Qi Huan cheered for a moment, then slowly calmed down and began dipping the noodles.
Holding the slotted spoon over a pot of boiling water, she tapped the starch dough, causing the sticky batter to slowly fall into the iron pot under the tapping action.
She then quickly scooped it out and placed it in another iron pot filled with cold water to cool. After cooling, she cut the noodles into shorter lengths and hung them on wooden sticks newly set up in the courtyard to air dry.
The translucent potato noodles had a different color from the slightly darker sweet potato noodles, appearing more white. However, their texture was no less delicious than sweet potato noodles.
The next day.
After the potato noodles had dried and become crisp enough to snap with a gentle bend, Qi Huan and the others carefully packed them into bamboo baskets.
When they were done, she took out a bundle, gazing at the noodles in her hand with longing, "Let's have ants climbing a tree tonight!"
"What? ... Qi Huan, have we really become so destitute that we have to eat ants?"
Yan Qinghe scratched his head, glancing at the occasional ant crawling on the ground, finding it hard to accept.
Unlike him, Yan Wu squatted down and started catching ants.
He had never tasted what ants were like before.
A little curious.
However, Qi Huan stopped him, "It's not those ants! ... You'll know at dinner time!"
With that, she turned and went into the kitchen to prepare the evening meal.
After heating the oil, she added minced meat and stir-fried it until no longer raw, then added Pi County Fermented Bean Paste, a small amount of water and soy sauce. Finally, she added rice noodles and simmered until softened, then sprinkled with chopped scallions before removing from the heat.
Since it was a mourning period, meat was avoided, so she also sliced some Chinese cabbage and tofu cubes.
Once the oil was hot, she pan-fried the tofu until golden on both sides, removed it, then stir-fried the Chinese cabbage, added the rice noodles and seasonings, and finally arranged the fried tofu cubes on top to simmer. A pot of Chinese cabbage and tofu with rice noodles was ready.
It was all homestyle flavors, yet with a touch of novelty.
It was the first time for all of them to eat rice noodles, and with the side dish called "Ants Climbing a Tree", Yan Qinghe and the others had bowl after bowl.
