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

Chapter 156 Peach Blossom Learns Accounting

Tong Huaqiong and Gu Dahan went to the temple to take a look.

This temple has one entrance and two courtyards, and the space is very large.

Due to the long period of neglect, the temple courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and the steps and eaves were dilapidated due to wind and rain erosion.

Tong Huaqiong did some calculations and concluded that the space in the front yard could be expanded into a pig farm, and it looked like it could easily support over a hundred pigs.

There is also a well in the yard.

This suited Tong Huaqiong's wishes perfectly.

The pig farm needs a lot of water, so we won't have to go to the village to jump into the water anymore.

Although the paint on the temple buildings has peeled off, the building materials are all high-quality blue bricks, which can be repaired and used to make them habitable and store large amounts of pig feed.

The Buddha statues that were left unattended were cracked or broken one by one, and some were covered with vines. Tong Huaqiong planned to clean them up and move them to an empty room.

Before cleaning, Tong Huaqiong still devoutly lit an incense stick.

Having acquired the dilapidated temple to use as a pig farm, Tong Huaqiong felt relieved and planned to hand over the expansion of the pig farm to Gu Dahan, as she would return to her shop in town to oversee the project.

"Is it okay to leave the pig farm to you?" Tong Huaqiong asked Gu Dahan.

"No problem. Mom, don't worry, the pigs will definitely be fat and strong by the end of the year." Gu Dahan patted his chest and assured her.

Tong Huaqiong believes in her stepson's talent for farming and raising pigs.

“Since you’re going to set up a pig farm, you don’t need to do everything yourself. You can hire villagers to clean the temple; you can just pay them some wages. Your Uncle Guangkui would do it,” Tong Huaqiong said to Gu Dahan.

Gu Dahan had the same idea.

However, my stepmother is being too polite in her business in town; villagers don't need money to help each other out.

They weren't hired workers at the shop.

“Mom, there’s no need to pay us wages. We all live in the same village, and everyone is willing to come and help. Just provide a good meal,” Gu Dahan said.

Tong Huaqiong nodded. Since the matter had been handed over to Gu Dahan, she would not interfere.

As for paying her wages, it's because she's been immersed in modern commercial society and has forgotten the neighborly dynamics of the village.

In the village, whether it's building a house or holding a wedding or funeral, neighbors will lend a hand.

Gu Dahan often helped the villagers with their work.

Giving wages would seem too polite and might even make the person who helped feel uncomfortable.

If the pig farm is built in the future and we need to hire people, then we can talk about paying them.

After the pig farm was finalized, Tong Huaqiong went to town before dawn the next day.

With sleeves rolled up and head coverings on, Tong Huaqiong and Chen Sufeng entered the baking room and began to get busy.

Liu Shan's wife, Hu, assisted him, while Liu Xiuxiu, who had come with him as an apprentice, handed him things.

Everyone in the baking room wore clean work clothes, head coverings, and foot covers, and wore gloves throughout the entire process.

This was stipulated by Tong Huaqiong.

Since it's a pastry, there must be hygiene standards.

After the first batch of fresh pastries came out of the oven, a long queue had already formed outside Peach Blossom Dessert Shop.

Peach Blossom Desserts are divided into two categories: those that can be made a day in advance and those that are freshly baked.

The price is cheaper if it's made a day in advance, and slightly more expensive if it's freshly baked.

But they can basically meet everyone's needs.

With the wheat harvest season over, the market in Yanguan Town has become lively again, and Taohua Dessert's business has returned to its booming state when it first opened.

Tong Huaqiong stayed in the control room from morning till night, so tired that she couldn't straighten her back.

When it was time to close, Tong Huaqiong flipped through the ledger and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

"Mom, the shop received orders today: three birthday cakes for the children, two birthday cakes. The two children's birthday cakes will be picked up the day after tomorrow, and the remaining three will be delivered the day after tomorrow," Gu Taohua said to Tong Huaqiong, holding the order slips.

Peach Blossom Desserts now has three business lines.

One business line is traditional Chinese pastries, which is overseen by Chen Su-fen, with Hu assisting her.

The two worked together very well. Traditional Chinese pastries are the core business of the shop.

After all, most people in this era eat traditional pastries most often, and traditional pastries are easy to store, making them a good choice for visiting relatives and friends.

This business line is already very mature at Peach Blossom Desserts, so Tong Huaqiong isn't worried at all.

Another business line is innovative pastries like cake rolls and taro pastries, which are overseen by Tong Huaqiong.

Chen Sufen has been learning from them for a while and has already gotten the hang of it.

The reason Tong Huaqiong didn't let her participate fully was mainly because she considered that a lot of materials would need to be retrieved from the space.

These innovative products are relatively expensive due to their scarcity, which is what sets Peach Blossom Desserts apart from other pastry shops.

Because many of the ingredients are rare in this era, they are considered a secret recipe for Peach Blossom Desserts. Even though the price is slightly high, they are still popular with many diners.

In addition, Tong Huaqiong also opened a separate cake pre-order business line.

This line is managed by Gu Taohua.

Any cake, regardless of its type, needs to be ordered at least one day in advance. Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua made the cake in their space before going to bed, and then had Man'er bring it out the next day.

The business volume on this line isn't very large yet, so Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua can still manage.

As the cake business expands in the future, Tong Huaqiong plans to spin it off into a high-end custom line, just like in her previous life.

This requires a professional cake decorator.

Unlike traditional pastry chefs, these cake makers, who specialize in high-end customization, need to have a keen eye for aesthetics and be able to create different cakes according to the needs of different customers.

It is not easy to cultivate such a person.

Gu Taohua is a suitable candidate, but she hopes to train Gu Taohua to control the overall product and store operations. Gu Taohua is definitely not just a cake maker.

Tong Huaqiong sighed, wishing that the baking chefs from Su Shi Yuan would come to Tao Hua Dessert Shop.

The pastry chefs of Su Shi Yuan should not be underestimated. Su Shi Yuan's dominance in Yan Guan Town for more than ten years is not only due to Manager Feng's iron-fisted methods, but also inseparable from the contributions of those pastry chefs.

The reason they couldn't beat Peach Blossom Dessert wasn't because of their poor skills, but because Tong Huaqiong had the magic touch of a spatial dimension.

Even the best technology cannot be fully utilized if it is limited by materials.

However, at this stage, it's not appropriate for her to openly poach talent.

Let's take it one step at a time.

Anyway, Su Shi Yuan's business is declining, and who knows, one day those pastry chefs might voluntarily switch jobs to Tao Hua Desserts like Hong Xiaoxi did.

"Peach Blossom, you'll learn to read account books from me from now on," Tong Huaqiong said to Gu Taohua, taking out an account book.

Since cultivating peach blossoms to produce peach blossom desserts is essential, understanding the accounting books is indispensable.

Gu Taohua was a little unwilling. She was already tired enough after a busy day, and she still had to look at the account books at night. Her mother didn't let her have any free time at all.

"Peach Blossom, what did you tell me the other day? You said you wanted to learn how to do business with me, and now you're unwilling to look at an account book?" Tong Huaqiong scolded.

Gu Taohua had no choice but to sit down next to Tong Huaqiong and start flipping through the account book.

To be honest, she couldn't quite understand it.

"Little Ma," Tong Huaqiong called out to Ma Huateng.

"Shopkeeper, what can I do for you?" Ma Huateng asked as he walked over.

"Starting tomorrow, you will teach Tao Hua how to use an abacus to do accounts." Tong Huaqiong assigned Ma Huateng a new task.

Ma Huateng looked at Gu Taohua and said, "This is not within the scope of my work."

Tong Huaqiong rolled her eyes. "Little brat, trying to bargain with me."

She understands; all he wants is a raise.

“I’ll give you an extra hundred coins every month,” Tong Huaqiong said.

"Okay!" Ma Huateng said with a beaming smile.

After Ma Huateng left, Tong Huaqiong, who was teaching Gu Taohua, said, "This 100 wen a month is the tuition fee I'm paying for you. You'd better study hard, because I need to take the exam."

Seeing that she couldn't escape it, Gu Taohua had no choice but to agree.

(End of this chapter)