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

Chapter 264 The real money is the money in your hand.

"Peach Blossom, have you said you'd be married?"

Lu Zhaozhao and Gu Taohua slept together, chatting intimately about gossip. Lu Zhaozhao asked Gu Taohua if she had arranged a marriage.

Gu Taohua said, "No."

Lu Zhaozhao was quite surprised.

Lu Zhaozhao said, "Isn't it said that girls living in the countryside get engaged very early?"

Lu Zhaozhao is right.

In the countryside, girls are usually approached by matchmakers as soon as they turn twelve, and they can usually be engaged by thirteen and married by fourteen or fifteen.

In Qinghewan, the only girls over thirteen years old who weren't engaged were Gu Taohua and Gu Xiaocao.

Gu Taohua was not approached by matchmakers because she was fat, had a bad personality, and had a bad reputation as a former friend of Tong Dajiao.

Gu Xiaocao's reputation was ruined by Xu Si, so no matchmakers came to her door.

Gu Taohua said, "I am not engaged. Others look down on me, and I look down on others."

Gu Taohua's tone was extremely natural.

Before, no one in the village would come to propose marriage to her, and she always felt inferior. Especially when she fought with Xu Zaohua, Xu Zaohua would always attack her by saying that no one wanted to marry her, and she would always be furious and not know how to fight back.

Gu Taohua is now indifferent to the fact that no one is interested in her.

She was busy managing the shop; compared to marriage proposals, money excited her more.

Lu Zhaozhao said, "You're so wonderful, anyone who doesn't like you must be blind."

Gu Taohua said, "I think so too."

After saying that, the two of them chuckled.

Several months ago, Gu Taohua still had feelings for Fan Tong.

Ever since she beat up Fan Tong, she has completely severed any remaining goodwill she had towards him.

Even when she ran into Fan Tong in town, she and Fan Tong didn't exchange a single word of pleasantries.

He did give her a look, but it was a vicious look that seemed to want to devour Fan Tong.

When Fan Tong saw her, he trembled with fear like a mouse encountering a cat, and now he dared not leave the private school or go out into the street at will.

Seeing Fan Tong's cowardly behavior, Gu Taohua became even more certain of one thing: she had been blind and foolish before to have fallen for a man like Fan Tong.

"Did you say you were going to marry me?" Gu Taohua asked Lu Zhaozhao in return.

Lu Zhaozhao shook her head in the darkness and said, "No."

Gu Taohua said, "You're so beautiful and your family is so rich, you'll have to marry into a wealthy family in the future, right? Sigh, I don't think marrying into a wealthy family is a good thing. Take Xu Zaohua from our village, for example. You met her last time. She married Zheng Ju from Pingchuan County. Her husband died after she got married, and her in-laws don't like her. Anyway, her life is very difficult."

Gu Taohua then told Lu Zhaozhao what she had heard in the village about Xu Zaohua's situation in the Zheng family.

Lu Zhaozhao said, "There are many families like the Zheng family that look down on their daughters-in-law. To tell you the truth, my grandfather wants me to marry into a prominent family in the capital, but I don't want to go. You might think my family is rich, but in the eyes of those prominent families, we are just merchants full of the stench of money. If I really marry into that family, I can't stand them spending my money while looking down on my background."

Gu Taohua was deeply moved by Lu Zhaozhao's words.

In the past, when she was chasing after Fan Tong, Fan Tong would never give her a definite answer or send a matchmaker to her door.

When he ran into a wall at the Huang family and then saw the rise of the Peach Blossom Dessert Shop, Fan Tong turned around and chased after her. If she had impulsively agreed, Fan Tong would probably have been just like the aristocratic family Lu Zhaozhao had mentioned, using her money while looking down on her for selling cakes on the street.

These aloof scholars and aristocratic families are all the same.

Gu Taohua said, "Your family is not good enough for you. Fame and fortune are all empty words. Only money in hand is real. Don't forget that going home to learn how to do business and make money is the right way."

Lu Zhaozhao nodded and said, "Understood!"

The two girls talked until the moon was high in the sky before they finally fell into a deep sleep.

Tong Huaqiong also goes to bed very late, and doesn't sleep very well.

Because Han and she slept in the same bed.

She didn't know what the magistrate's mother was thinking, why she didn't sleep in the room that had been specially prepared for her, but insisted on squeezing into her bed.

Han was completely unceremonious, saying that Tong Huaqiong's bed was big enough to sleep comfortably, and that Tong Huaqiong's words and actions pleased her, so she wanted to rest with Tong Huaqiong and chat with her. In her previous life, as an only child, Tong Huaqiong had almost never slept in the same bed with anyone.

When she started living in a dormitory at university, a four-person room was already the limit for her.

After she started graduate school, her wealthy parents used the compensation money from the demolition of their old home to buy her an apartment near the school. She lived in the apartment during her graduate studies.

Therefore, Tong Huaqiong is not used to sleeping in the same room with others.

Even if he slept with Man'er for a period of time in this life, it was all to explore the secrets of the space.

Once we had a pretty good grasp of the spatial patterns, we let Man'er sleep in the main room.

Han treated Tong Huaqiong as if she were a close friend, talking with her for half the night before falling asleep contentedly.

Tong Huaqiong tossed and turned until the early hours of the morning before finally falling asleep.

Tong Huaqiong woke up with dark circles under her eyes when the rooster crowed three times.

"Sister Tong, is something on your mind? Your eyes are so dark." Madam Han asked.

"No, I get dark circles under my eyes if I stay up late," Tong Huaqiong said.

Han suggested to Tong Huaqiong: "Boil an egg and roll it in the broth later."

Tong Huaqiong smiled and agreed.

Fortunately, Han is going back today; otherwise, Tong Huaqiong wouldn't be able to stand sleeping in the same room any longer.

After finishing breakfast and sitting for a while, Madam Han prepared to take Liu Yanhong back to Pingchuan County.

Liu Yanhong was not at the Gu family's house at this time.

Liu Yanhong quickly finished his breakfast, put down his chopsticks, and let Yaozu and Man'er take him to the river at the entrance of the village to play wildly.

"The countryside is so much fun, I don't want to go back at all," Liu Yanhong said, a little worried.

After returning home, he will go to a private school to study.

I don't know when I'll be able to come to Qinghewan again after this trip.

“If someone calls you home in a bit, pretend you don’t hear them,” Yaozu said to Liu Yanhong.

Liu Yanhong's eyes lit up; how could he not have thought of that?

He not only pretended not to hear her calling him, but he also made sure his grandmother couldn't find him.

Children think simply; he thought that if his grandmother couldn't see him, she might not let him go back.

As Liu Yanhong spoke, he burrowed into the cornfield and said to Yaozu and Man'er, "Let's hide in the cornfield. When my grandma calls me, we'll pretend we didn't hear her."

Man'er said, "Then let's hide deeper."

As he spoke, he led Liu Yanhong toward his own cornfield.

After sitting for a while without seeing Liu Yanhong return, Tong Huaqiong asked Gu Jingzhe to go outside and call for him.

Gu Jingzhe stood on the riverbank and called out several times, but no one answered.

He looked carefully at the riverbank, then turned and left.

"Third Uncle has gone back."

Liu Yanhong hid in the cornfield and saw Gu Jingzhe standing on the riverbank looking for someone. He held his breath and didn't dare to breathe loudly.

“If we hide here, Uncle San definitely won’t see us,” Yao Zu said.

“Third Uncle is very clever. Let’s go further in,” Man’er said.

So the three children ventured deeper into the cornfield.

The corn was about to ripen, and the heavy ears of corn fell on the heads and bodies of the three children.

The three children found a secluded spot in the middle of the cornfield and squatted down, letting the corn leaves brush against their bodies without daring to move.

However, Liu Yanhong's plan to stay in Qinghe Bay failed.