The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 260: Mutual Appreciation

"My mother-in-law is sincere; she doesn’t keep secrets from us. The method she told us about, we must not leak it out."

After leaving Tong Huaqiong’s house, Mrs. Zhao and Aunt Qin walked home together. After praising Tong Huaqiong, Mrs. Zhao reminded Aunt Qin not to reveal the matter of pig castration.

If someone found out, who knows what kind of trouble it would bring.

Previously, didn’t the medicine for blight cause a stir when it was caught by Xu Zaohua and Xu Yong?

Aunt Qin glanced sideways at Mrs. Zhao and said, "You’re underestimating me. I won’t leak it out."

Her son and daughter-in-law are all working for Tong Huaqiong.

Since they went to work at Tong Huaqiong’s shop, the family’s life has greatly improved, and they’ve saved a sum of silver. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Aunt Qin wishes for nothing more than for Tong Huaqiong’s family to prosper, so that her son and daughter-in-law can also benefit.

As for whether Tong Huaqiong is afraid they’ll steal her business.

Tong Huaqiong is not afraid.

The Liu Family and Qin Family are honest families and have never thought about doing business.

For those who have been relying on agriculture and following a small-scale farming economy, it’s not something that can be changed overnight to shift their mindset towards business.

Moreover, doing business is not simple; it requires capital and connections.

Besides, raising pigs isn’t easy either.

If there’s a swine fever outbreak, the whole pig farm could be in jeopardy.

The investment could lead to a total loss, so for farming families, it’s even less likely to invest easily.

Otherwise, why had there been no one in Qinghe Bay doing business in Yan Guan Town until Tong Huaqiong came along and started opening shops?

No one had ever thought of doing business in town before, or even about starting a farm in the village.

In the evening, Gu Taohua, Chen Sufen, and others returned home from Taohua Dessert.

Everyone met Mrs. Han and Lu Zhaozhao.

Mrs. Han sighed inwardly, admiring how Tong Huaqiong had children and grandchildren. Unlike the Liu family, which had a sparse population, and with County Magistrate Liu often away, the house frequently felt empty.

Lu Zhaozhao similarly envied the lively and bustling Gu family. The Lu Family was not even as good as the Liu family. Mr. Lu spent 300 out of 365 days doing business outside, and Lu Zhaoyang, who studied at Wanliu Academy, wasn’t home often, so the vast Lu Mansion usually only had Lu Zhaozhao.

"Mother, just to tell you, our family’s mooncakes have sold out again, especially the egg yolk lotus seed paste ones, which are in high demand. The bakery was smoking with how busy it was," Gu Taohua excitedly said, sitting next to Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong wasn’t surprised at all.

Of course, every time she came up with a dessert recipe, it caused a sensation in the pastry world of Yan Guan Town.

From Dragon Boat Festival’s meat dumplings to the colorful lotus crisps for Qixi Festival, everyone looks forward to new desserts from Taohua Dessert during the holidays.

There are still over ten days until Mid-Autumn Festival, and many people are already watching Taohua Dessert or coming by to inquire about new pastries.

These days, Taohua Dessert is officially selling mooncakes, with various uniquely shaped and richly filled mooncakes attracting those buying mooncakes.

Nowadays, in the Yan Guan Town area, bringing pastries from Taohua Dessert for festive visits has become standard.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a very important traditional festival, and everyone is enthusiastic about visiting relatives and reuniting, so it’s no surprise that Taohua Dessert’s mooncakes are selling well.

In addition to the mooncakes themselves, Tong Huaqiong also put effort into the packaging.

However, it wasn’t the kind of packaging where the box was more expensive than the mooncake in the style of "buying the casket and returning the pearl" from later days.

Instead, it followed a simple and elegant style.

Rustic oil paper, with depictions of a full moon, Chang Er, and Jade Rabbit, with poetry and essays about Mid-Autumn reunions written on the side.

This style has an irresistible appeal to the literate who pursue elegance. Moreover, it also charms ordinary illiterate housewives, who love the packaging of Taohua Dessert’s mooncakes so much that, after eating the mooncakes, they can use the packaging paper to cover windows, with no need for colored paints as it already has colorful drawings.

In addition to packaged mooncakes, Taohua Dessert also offers loose-sale mooncakes.

They strive to attract different customers in Yan Guan Town with their mooncakes.

"Everyone says our mooncakes are delicious, even the five-nut and red bean paste ones are sold out," Gu Taohua said excitedly.

"Fortunately, Manager He anticipated the situation and arranged the staff in advance, which is why both stores are running smoothly," Liu Yueer said happily.

Nowadays, after some experience, Liu Yueer isn’t afraid of large queues anymore and has even become the head clerk at the main Taohua Dessert store.

"If He Chao couldn’t even manage the stores during festivals, why would I spend so much money hiring him?" Tong Huaqiong said.

Even though she spoke like this, Tong Huaqiong couldn’t help but feel happy inside.

He Chao was well worth hiring; he did even better than she expected.

If not for him, Tong Huaqiong wouldn’t have had time to enjoy a leisurely life in Qinghe Bay while managing two stores.

By now, she would have been working non-stop from morning till night.

"The most capable one is still our little Taohua. I’ve seen people lining up all early in the morning, especially today, if it were me, I’d be going crazy. Our little Taohua, at fourteen, manages such a big shop without any rush," Chen Sufen said.

Since He Chao joined Taohua Dessert, he’s been teaching Gu Taohua shop management diligently. Gu Taohua has a knack for business and puts in a lot of effort to learn, and now she’s starting to manage the store in Rouge Alley.

Even the usually very confident Gu Taohua couldn’t help but smile sheepishly upon hearing her sister-in-law’s praise.

"Sister-in-law is also impressive, managing the bakery so well with stable output," Gu Taohua said.

This aunt-niece duo, who were in a tense relationship in spring, had by autumn become partners who appreciated and praised each other’s business acumen.

Mrs. Han watched the harmonious scene between Gu Taohua and Chen Sufen with envy in her heart.

When she was widowed with her son, her sister-in-law was not kind to her, and with the family pressing her, she eventually ceased communication with them.

Mrs. Han once again admired the positive family values of Tong Huaqiong.

Though Tong Huaqiong pampered her daughter, she was also kind to her daughters-in-law.

She allowed both daughters-in-law to help at the shop, which was quite rare in other families.

Not to mention other things, like how the Zheng Family in Pingchuan County guarded against their daughters-in-law as if they were thieves.

Mrs. Han said to Tong Huaqiong, "It’s rare for you not to restrict your daughter and daughters-in-law. In some families, they keep the women tightly bound. I went to the county to do laundry for others for my son’s sake, but my in-laws scolded me for exposing myself and almost chased my son and me out of the family."

Tong Huaqiong said proudly, "When Old Gu left, I was helpless, but I couldn’t let the family starve. So, I tried doing business and setting up a stall with Taohua, and once we started, I realized I could support the family without relying on anyone. I figured if I could do it, my daughters-in-law definitely wouldn’t do worse. Now they work really well in the shop. In fact, I found out we women can be as capable as men, sometimes even more so."

"We just didn’t have the opportunity before. Once you take the first step, you’ll find your feet unbound, taking bigger and farther steps."

Mrs. Han listened thoughtfully and looked at Lu Zhaozhao beside her.