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

Xu Zaohua panicked when she heard that Butler He was the owner of Peach Blossom Dessert Shop.

Her hand unconsciously went to her stomach.

She wasn't sure whether He Chao knew about her borrowing the child.

All she could do was preemptively prevent He Chao from ever speaking again or make him lose his in-laws' trust.

She couldn't do the former, but she could do the latter very easily.

She tricked He Chao into going to the eldest son's room in the inner courtyard, falsely accused him of peeping at him while he was taking a bath, and thus humiliated him.

Even after He Chao lost his reputation and left the Zheng family, she still dared not relax her vigilance and sent people to secretly monitor He Chao.

Despite meticulous planning, He Chao vanished from Pingchuan County out of thin air.

Despite all the planning, no one expected that He Chao would get involved with Widow Tong.

"Granny, you'd better not go." Xu Zaohua softened her voice to Granny Cai.

She was afraid that He Chao might discover her affair with the servant and tell Granny Cai.

He Chao lost the trust of her in-laws, but Cai Mama did not, and in fact, Cai Mama was the person her mother-in-law trusted most.

Granny Cai had always looked down on her. In addition, since Young Master Zheng had been raised by Granny Cai since birth, Granny Cai treated Xu Zaohua with more of a mother-in-law attitude than Madam Zheng. She secretly disliked Xu Zaohua and always stirred up trouble for her in front of Madam Zheng, saying bad things about her.

Ever since Young Master Zheng died, Granny Cai has become even more displeased with Xu Zaohua.

She kept reminding Madam Zheng that Xu Zaohua was the one who caused the death of Zheng's eldest son.

If she hadn't been pregnant, she would have been even more bullied by a mere nanny.

If Granny Cai knew about her affair with the servant, she would probably encourage the Zheng family to hang her so that the eldest son of the Zheng family could be buried with her.

"Why can't we go? What are you afraid of, young mistress?"

Granny Cai looked at Xu Zaohua with a half-smile.

Xu Zaohua said that He Chao spied on her while she was taking a bath, but Granny Cai did not believe her.

He Chao is not that kind of person.

That's why they say that the only person who truly understands their competitors is themselves a competitor.

Granny Cai guessed that there must be some hidden story behind this, but the master and madam were blinded by the child in Xu Zaohua's belly and easily believed Xu Zaohua's words, so they kicked He Chao out.

Cai Mama was naturally happy that He Chao left the Zheng family, but that doesn't mean she was grateful to Xu Zaohua for it.

She now wanted to go to Peach Blossom Dessert Shop and confront He Chao, hoping to humiliate him while also extracting some information from him that would be detrimental to Xu Zaohua.

Killing two birds with one stone is truly ingenious.

Xu Zaohua was a little flustered and forced a smile, saying, "Granny, do you know why Steward He was kicked out of the Zheng family? If this matter gets out, I am a widow. I don't care about my reputation since I have stayed in the Zheng family all my life, but it will damage the reputation of the entire Zheng family and also harm the reputation of my deceased husband."

Xu Zaohua regretted encouraging Granny Cai to cause trouble at Peach Blossom Dessert Shop.

Xu Zaohua doesn't know what impact this incident will have on Widow Tong, but for Xu Zaohua, it could be a matter of life and death.

Granny Cai didn't take Xu Zaohua seriously at all; she thought Xu Zaohua should be buried with the young master.

How could Xu Zaohua's few words of reputation possibly stop Granny Cai?

So Granny Cai turned around and went to Peach Blossom Dessert Shop.

"Hey, isn't that Xu Zaohua's carriage? And that old woman is Zheng's old woman?"

These days, Gu Taohua has been learning from He Chao how to be an excellent manager at Taohua Dessert Shop No. 2. At this moment, she is on her way from Qinghe Bay to the town. When she sees the conspicuous carriage of the Zheng family and Granny Cai getting off the carriage, she has a bad feeling.

Xu Zaohua is full of wicked schemes and is likely to cause trouble for Peach Blossom Dessert and He Chao.

Gu Taohua got off the donkey cart and ran wildly toward Taohua Dessert Shop.

Xu Zaohua couldn't stop Granny Cai from being both angry and anxious. When she saw Gu Taohua's figure, she suddenly had a thought and shouted, "Taohua Dessert Shop is a shady business. I got a stomachache from eating their hazelnut pastry!"

"Ouch, ouch, my stomach hurts so much."

Xu Zaohua clutched her stomach and screamed in pain.

Since they couldn't stop Granny Cai from confronting He Chao, they might as well stir things up.

Let Gu Taohua and Granny Cai deal with it; He Chao, having received the news at the shop, would probably be too ashamed to come out and face Granny Cai.

That way she'd be safe. Xu Zaohua's shout drew everyone's attention.

Xu Zaohua was afraid that Manager He would expose her affair with a sperm donor, so she was so nervous that her face turned pale. In addition, she was covering her slightly protruding belly, which made it hard to doubt that she was acting.

Granny Cai just happened to have no reason to cause trouble for Peach Blossom Dessert.

Let's use Xu Zaohua's diarrhea from eating peach blossom dessert as an excuse.

As for why they didn't buy hazelnut cookies, who saw that?
Will customers believe the store clerk's statement 100% of the time?

If Peach Blossom Desserts were to cause a diarrhea incident involving hazelnut pastries, firstly, the business of Peach Blossom Desserts would be affected and Widow Tong would suffer a setback, which would be considered revenge for her wife and the deceased young master. Secondly, it would cause He Chao to lose his foothold in Yan Guan Town.

He Chao is now involved with Widow Tong, making Granny Cai convinced that He Chao orchestrated the breakup between Widow Tong's granddaughter and the eldest son of the Zheng family.

She couldn't help but think of how He Chao had advised the young master that having a young girl marry him for good luck would be a death sentence.

The widow Tong's visit to break off the engagement must have been instigated by He Chao.

The eldest son is gone, and He Chao also bears responsibility.

Perhaps when the shopkeeper's granddaughter went to marry him to ward off bad luck, the young master would still be alive and well.

Granny Cai arrived at the entrance of Peach Blossom Dessert Shop and stood in the queue, saying, "My young mistress got a stomachache from eating the hazelnut pastries at this shop."

Gu Taohua had already rushed to Cai Mama's side.

She really wanted to slap Granny Cai down.

But she couldn't. She was now the second-in-command at Peach Blossom Dessert Shop, and in everyone's eyes, Granny Cai was just a customer of Peach Blossom Dessert Shop.

She cannot be violent towards customers.

"Excuse me, ma'am, when did you buy the hazelnut pastries from my shop?"

Gu Taohua remembered what Tong Huaqiong had taught her: don't panic when things happen, face the problem head-on.

The more you try to avoid it, the more you will lose the trust of your customers.

As long as the peach blossom desserts are of good quality, they are not afraid of customer doubts.

Just then, a shop assistant heard the commotion outside and stood at the door waving at Gu Taohua.

Gu Taohua realized that Xu Zaohua hadn't bought any hazelnut shortbread at all.

This is a frame-up.

Since it's a frame-up, she has ways to deal with it.

Granny Cai said without batting an eye, "It was this morning that your manager, He Chao, came out to speak."

Gu Taohua is a bit of a handful; she doesn't play by the rules. She's here to cause trouble for Manager He.

She certainly couldn't push Manager He out, because if this old woman revealed the fabricated story that He Chao had spied on Xu Zaohua taking a bath, He Chao would probably be too ashamed to stay in Yanguan Town.

Gu Taohua suppressed her anger and said, "This old lady, I am the second-in-command of Taohua Dessert Shop. If you have something to say, just tell me. How about this, the shop has prepared some good tea. Let's go to the shop to talk."

Granny Cai put her hands on her hips and said, "What's wrong with the second-in-command? I'm not going to talk to you, you're a young lady. I'll have your shop manager come out and talk. You want me to talk in the shop? Who knows if you'll cover your mouth?"

Then, looking around, he said to the customers in line, "This shop made my young mistress sick, and you still dare to line up? The owner of this shop must be obsessed with money. I don't know what kind of inferior ingredients he used in the hazelnut shortbread."

The customers queuing up were almost all from the surrounding villages and towns of Yanguan.

Most people naturally didn't believe Granny Cai's words, since the peach blossom desserts had never had any quality problems since they started as a roadside stall.

After opening the shop, Tong Huaqiong became even more strict with everyone in their pursuit of quality.

Tong Huaqiong always emphasizes that food is the most important thing for people, and that the food we eat must be clean and hygienic.

However, no shop can guarantee that it will never have problems. The most important thing is how to solve and quell the problems when they do occur.

Gu Taohua was trained by Tong Huaqiong on many strategies for dealing with problems, but she couldn't withstand the deliberate smear campaign against her.

If even one person believes there's a problem with the quality of Peach Blossom Desserts, the word will spread like wildfire.

This could lead more people to have doubts about peach blossom desserts.

What is false can become true.

People are more likely to believe rumors about things they put in their mouths or near their mouths. (End of Chapter)