The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 88 With a stepmother comes a stepfather
"What are you thinking about, Gu Dashu?"

Tong Huaqiong looked at Gu Dashu as if he were an idiot.

“Magistrate Liu is a proper scholar who studied hard for the imperial examinations. How could he become sworn brothers with someone as ignorant as you? It’s true that I saved the magistrate’s son, but he just called me that as a token gesture. You really want to be a guest of honor in the magistrate’s household? You’re dreaming.”

"Try going to the county government office and claiming to be the magistrate's sworn brother. See if the magistrate will accept it."

Tong Huaqiong did not hesitate to pour cold water on Gu Dashu.

She saved the magistrate's son and gained some recognition from the magistrate's mother, but that doesn't mean she's completely latched onto the magistrate's coattails.

She doesn't even know whether the county magistrate is good or bad, so she can't misuse this favor.

Gu Dashu was instantly snapped out of his daze by Tong Huaqiong's scolding, and looked somewhat dejected.

Upon hearing that the county magistrate's son had recognized Tong Huaqiong as his godmother, he was overjoyed and immediately imagined that he was the magistrate's sworn brother. He even thought that he could ask the magistrate to find him a job as a yamen runner in the county government.

Well, after being scolded by his mother, the yamen runner's dream was completely shattered. He was still the farmer Gu Dashu, welded to the ground in Qinghewan.

"So saving the magistrate's grandson was a waste of time; we won't get anything in return," Liu Yue'e muttered.

"What do you want to fish out?" Tong Huaqiong rolled her eyes at Liu Yue'e, then climbed onto the flatbed cart with Gu Taohua and Man'er.

"Wait a minute."

Gu Dashu and Liu Yue'e pulled the flatbed cart for a while, and Gu Baishuang caught up with them.

"Big sister, what's wrong?"

Gu Dashu's tone was a little impatient. When he saw Gu Baishuang, he thought of his mother's refusal to let his deceased mother be buried in the ancestral grave because of his older brother and sister's death. He felt a lump in his throat.

Gu Baishuang didn't look at Gu Dashu, but came to Tong Huaqiong's side and said, "I heard from Man'er that Dahan went home. I want to choose a good day to build a grave for my mother and bury her with my father."

Even though it was something Tong Huaqiong had promised, Gu Dashu was still annoyed when Gu Baishuang said this, and said irritably, "I think today is a good day, why don't you get up today?"

Tong Huaqiong glared at Gu Dashu and said to Gu Baishuang, "You can discuss it with Dahan, you don't need to discuss it with me. Anyway, it's your father and mother who are buried together."

Tong Huaqiong really didn't want to get involved in this matter.

She never belonged to this world; she probably became a soul in another world, and she didn't care where she was buried.

That's just how life is. Once you close your eyes, who can think about what will happen after you die? In the end, it's just dust to dust and ashes to ashes.

“Alright, I’ll go back another day and discuss it with Da Han,” Gu Baishuang said.

Tong Huaqiong nodded.

"Well, thank you for speaking up for me today."

It was the first time Gu Baishuang had spoken to her stepmother so politely, and she felt a little uncomfortable.

Tong Huaqiong knew that Gu Baishuang was thanking her for teaching Sun a lesson and saving face for her at the banquet.

"I heard you're opening a pastry shop in town. If you need any help, just let me know. But you really need to be careful of Su Shi Yuan; they're not someone to mess with," Gu Baishuang said after thinking for a moment.

Gu Baishuang felt that her stepmother was a tyrant in Qinghe Bay, and that things were not as easy as she thought when she came to the business world outside of Qinghe Bay.

Su Shi Yuan has been operating in Yan Guan Town for decades, so it won't be easy to take their business away. If Tao Hua Dessert Shop remains a small stall making a pittance, that's fine, but if it opens a shop, it will definitely be targeted by Su Shi Yuan.

Although her stepmother had gotten involved with Master Huang and caught the eye of the county magistrate's mother, the business world is like a battlefield, and the Su Shi Yuan restaurant was not without connections. If the Su Shi Yuan restaurant were to launch a vicious attack, it would be enough to make her suffer greatly.

However, her relationship with her stepmother was already distant, so this reminder was enough!
Tong Huaqiong said, "Thank you for reminding me."

Let's not talk about being family; we're not family to begin with. Let's just be polite on the surface.

Tong Huaqiong already thought Gu Baishuang had done a good job.

However, Tong Huaqiong felt that if she were Gu Baishuang, she wouldn't have allowed her mother to be buried with Gu's father. What was there to argue about with a dead old man?

Before Tong Huaqiong transmigrated, Gu Dahan and Gu Baishuang resented their stepmother, but they never imagined that the culprit behind their unfortunate lives was their father, Old Gu.

People often think that having a stepmother means having a stepfather, but they don't realize that the reason a biological father becomes a stepfather is because he never had the awareness of being a biological father in the first place.

Old Gu saw clearly how they made a living under their stepmother's care; Tong Dajiao married into the Gu family at a young age and gave birth to three children in succession. The Gu family only had so many resources, so it was understandable that she, as a stepmother, would fight for her own children's resources.

In addition, Tong Dajiao also had to serve her parents-in-law and take care of her sister-in-law, so she was naturally dissatisfied. With no outlet for her emotions, she could only take it out on Gu Dahan and Gu Baishuang to beat and scold them.

What's infuriating is that Lao Gu just watches coldly, pretending not to see anything as long as the flames of war don't reach him.

Gu Baishuang married the old widower of the Nie family. The matchmaker was Tong Dajiao, and Tong Dajiao collected the money. But was old Gu dead during all this? Didn't he just watch Gu Baishuang marry into the Nie family?

He spent the money, but Tong Dajiao took all the blame for pushing her stepdaughter into this mess.

This kind of father, in the end, took root in the hearts of Gu Baishuang and Gu Dahan as a kind, honest, and helpless figure. The two siblings made it their greatest wish in this life to bury their mother and this kind of father together.

That's really ridiculous!

Regardless, she decided not to interfere and let Gu Baishuang and Gu Dahan do whatever they wanted.

"By the way, how's your shop-hunting going today?"

Gu Dashu led Tong Huaqiong through the town's streets, and Tong Huaqiong couldn't help but ask about the progress of the second son and his wife's mission.

"We've looked at all the shops on the street," Gu Dashu said. "Yue'e and I compared and chose three."

“The first one is next to the post station. It used to be a herbal medicine shop. The young master of the herbal medicine shop went bankrupt due to gambling and it has been closed for half a year. I think it's a good location with lots of people coming and going, and it's also the cheapest place to rent among all the shops,” Liu Yue’e said.

“I don’t think this place is suitable. There are many people coming and going near the post station, but Mother, think about it, who would choose to eat snacks instead of a bowl of soup noodles to fill their stomach after traveling for so long? Pastries and snacks are not meals.” Gu Dashu expressed his opposition to his daughter-in-law’s opinion.

Tong Huaqiong said that Gu Dashu's way of thinking was on the right track and gestured for him to continue.

“The second shop is in Pear Blossom Lane. This shop used to sell food, but I don’t know why it closed down. The area around this shop is full of shops selling wontons, buns, and other food, so there’s a lot of foot traffic and the rent is relatively expensive,” Gu Dashu said.

"And what about the third one?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

“The third one is in Rouge Lane,” Gu Dashu said.

Tong Huaqiong was familiar with Rouge Lane; just hearing the name, she knew it was a street that sold rouge, face powder, clothes, and jewelry.

When she went to buy fabric last time, she discovered two luxuriously decorated restaurants on this street, and a brothel in the middle of the alley.

"This shop used to sell wine. The business was very good when the previous owner was in charge. Later, the owner fell ill and passed away, and his son took over, becoming the current young owner. The young owner used to study at Wanliu Academy, but he failed the imperial examinations for several years and then went home. Because he only knew how to study and not how to do business, the wine shop's business got worse and worse, and now he wants to close it down and rent it out." Gu Dashu told Tong Huaqiong about the situation of the shop in Rouge Lane.

This shop met Tong Huaqiong's expectations.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Rouge Lane seems to have nothing to do with pastry shops.

Upon closer examination, it's not like that at all. Just like Gu Dashu said, pastries aren't eaten as a meal; people only buy pastries when they have spare money.

Moreover, she also wants to develop her own pastry business into a high-end line, such as custom-made cakes.

The ideal target audience for this is the wives and young ladies of wealthy families.

Rouge Lane, on the other hand, is a perfect location for the wealthy women from the surrounding villages and towns.

There's something else Tong Huaqiong is too embarrassed to mention: she also wants to do business at the brothel. It's not unreasonable for some young master to ask her to set up a dessert table and order a cake for his confidante or the top courtesan to celebrate her birthday.

“This shop sounds pretty good. Let’s hold off for now and secretly inquire about it. If it’s good, I’ll personally negotiate the rent and stuff,” Tong Huaqiong said.

She's an employer now!

(End of this chapter)