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

“My son has no gambling debts, and I haven’t stolen any money.”

Granny Cai kept defending herself under the young man's aggressive questioning.

The young man ignored Granny Cai's explanation and waved the money bag, saying, "Stealing my silver wasn't enough, you've come here to frame other shops, trying to get some silver from them to take back to your good-for-nothing son."

"Granny, if you ask me, you should just give up on your son. A gambling addict doesn't deserve to be a thief or to stage an accident for you."

Not satisfied with just mocking Granny Cai, the young man raised his voice towards Xu Zaohua in the carriage and said, "Young Mistress Zheng, you spoil your nanny, does she know some secret about you? When I was in your carriage, didn't you tell this nanny that you had lent out the monthly wages of the Zheng family's maids at high interest rates and hadn't collected them back, and now you need to cover the losses? Your way of covering the losses is quite unique."

The young mistress of the Zheng family needs money to fill the hole, and the Zheng family nanny needs money to pay off her son's gambling debts.

The master and servant hit it off immediately and started planning the peach blossom dessert.

They attempted to swindle money from Peach Blossom Dessert by framing someone.

It's just that the truth came out.

After the onlookers pieced together the whole story, they concluded that Granny Cai and Xu Zaohua had framed Peach Blossom Dessert.

In addition, the young man had a face that exuded righteousness, so the onlookers unconsciously sided with him.

Xu Zaohua was furious as she sat in the carriage.

Who would have thought that Cheng Yaojin would suddenly appear out of nowhere!

Unlike Granny Cai, Xu Zaohua did not believe that this young man was standing up for Widow Tong and Gu Taohua.

She completely concealed Gu Taohua's expression from inside the carriage; Gu Taohua clearly did not recognize this person.

She suspected that Granny Cai had offended someone, and that person was taking their anger out on Granny Cai, which in turn implicated her.

"I'll let it slide since you're women and children. If you were men, I'd knock your brains out. As for the silver you stole, keep it for now, and I'll go to Scholar Zheng in Pingchuan County to collect it later."

The young man smiled brightly at Granny Cai, but Granny Cai sensed a threat in his eyes.

The young man then held up the money bag and spun around to show it to the onlookers.

Only then did Gu Taohua finally get a clear look at the young man's face.

This person had a face that was no less striking than Gu Jingzhe's. The only difference was that Gu Jingzhe had a scholarly air about him, while this person had a more heroic air about him.

Gu Taohua was so smitten by the sight of it that she was completely captivated.

The young man pulled another outrageous stunt in front of the onlookers.

“Thieves don’t just steal from one person; they’ll steal everything, not even a needle in a haystack. Fellow villagers, check if your purses have been stolen. Maybe this old woman saw the long line at Peach Blossom Dessert Shop and took the opportunity to cause trouble, both to extort money from Peach Blossom Dessert Shop and to steal your purses.”

The onlookers were in an uproar, instinctively reaching for their wallets and pockets.

Indeed, an old lady said, "I lost five hundred coins."

The old lady had a sweet tooth and often used her spare change to buy a few pastries from Peach Blossom Dessert Shop. Over time, she spent five hundred coins. These past few days, she was worried about how to explain this to her husband. When the young man asked her, she simply pushed the matter aside and insisted that Granny Cai had stolen her money.

No matter how Granny Cai tried to explain, the old woman insisted that Granny Cai had stolen her money.

Even bystanders demanded that Granny Cai return the money.

Granny Cai was so angry she felt like she was going to vomit blood.

She was falsely accused of being a thief.

If Granny Cai had mentioned the Zheng family in Pingchuan County, people would have been somewhat wary, but in the hearts of the people of Yanguan Town, the Zheng family's name was of no use.

Unable to defend herself, Granny Cai slunk back to her carriage amidst the crowd of onlookers.

Some indignant onlookers and die-hard customers of Peach Blossom Dessert even surrounded Xu Zaohua's carriage, and Granny Cai almost couldn't climb onto it.

Gu Taohua was worried that Xu Zaohua was pregnant, and if something happened to Xu Zaohua at Taohua Dessert Shop, it would be difficult to explain, and the Zheng family would definitely not let it go.

According to Tong Huaqiong, when the Gu family was poor, they could act like they had nothing to lose. Now that they have shops and land, they should not be afraid of trouble when they encounter conflicts with others, but they should not act recklessly and escalate the situation.

Moreover, the public opinion crisis surrounding Peach Blossom Desserts has been resolved, so there's no need to get entangled with the likes of Xu Zaohua and Granny Cai.

So Xu Zaohua, hands on her hips, persuaded the onlookers to disperse. Only then was the Zheng family's carriage able to leave Yanguan Town.

As the crowd gradually dispersed, the Peach Blossom Dessert branch returned to its bustling state, packed with customers.

Gu Taohua breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as I was about to enter the shop, I caught a glimpse of the young man who had stirred up the water.

The young man and Gu Taohua locked eyes, and Gu Taohua thought to herself that this man was hinting that she should give him money.

After all, he put on such a grand show, nipping the Peach Blossom Dessert crisis in the bud. He certainly deserves to be paid for his dedicated performance.

But you can't just give it out openly on the street.

“Come with me to the shop to pay,” Gu Taohua said to the young man in a low voice. “But I’ll go in first, and while everyone’s not looking, pretend to buy some pastries and sneak into the shop to find me.”

After Gu Taohua finished speaking, she turned and walked into the shop while the young man stared at her in disbelief.

Bill, please?

What do you mean?
The young man wondered what this chubby girl was up to.
Normally, Su Chengmin wouldn't have time to pay attention to these things; he would leave as soon as he finished his work. But this time, he inexplicably entered the shop.

The main reason he had to move was because of the freshly baked pastries.

It wouldn't be a bad deal to sneak in and grab a box of pastries to eat.

"Tell me, did Second Brother hire you to put on this show? Your acting was quite convincing. What was the price you negotiated?"

Gu Taohua invited Su Chengmin into her accounting room, personally poured him a cup of hot tea, and then spoke.

Fortunately, Su Chengmin hadn't had a chance to drink it yet, otherwise he would have spat it out.

So this chubby girl was using him as a shill.

Who would dare hire him as a shill when he's known as a "little jinx" sent from heaven?

However, his reputation as a "little evil star descended from heaven" in Yanguan Town might not necessarily be enough to intimidate people.

Even the little devil who fell from the sky was almost killed. If it weren't for this chubby girl beating up a scholar in the alley last time, which alerted the assassins, he wouldn't have been able to escape.

Today, he came to Yanguan Town again. Passing by Zheng's carriage, he heard that Granny Cai and Xu Zaohua were looking for trouble with Peach Blossom Dessert Shop. He also saw Gu Taohua appear and realized that Peach Blossom Dessert Shop was run by this girl.

So I took the opportunity to repay the favor.

"Tell me, how much did my second brother negotiate for you? You can't lie to me. If things don't go smoothly between my second brother and me, I won't let you off just because you acted well." Gu Taohua cracked her knuckles with her hands.

Su Chengmin's lips twitched.

Since this big, fat girl was willing to negotiate the price for him, he agreed.

Anyway, it's free money, so why not make some?

Su Chengmin held up five fingers and said, "Five taels."

Gu Taohua said, "How could my second brother be so generous? I think three taels at most."

Even if the person in front of her was more handsome than her third brother, she would not compromise.

Su Chengmin said without batting an eye, "I put in so much effort and almost knocked that old woman unconscious. Isn't that worth five taels of silver? If it weren't for me, would your Peach Blossom Dessert Shop be able to resume normal business now?"

Gu Taohua gritted her teeth and took out five taels of silver to give to Su Chengmin.

"There are two more packets of pastries," Su Chengmin said as he took the money.

Gu Taohua had the shop assistant pack four bags of pastries for Su Chengmin as a personal thank-you gift.

Su Chengmin, with silver in his pocket and snacks in hand, walked out of Peach Blossom Dessert Shop and disappeared from Gu Taohua's sight in the blink of an eye.

Gu Taohua's eyelids twitched; she felt something was amiss. (End of Chapter)