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

Chapter 303 The Empress and Imperial Concubine's Same Rouge and Face Powder
However, since it was Man'er who wanted to buy it, it can be said that she and this horse are destined to meet.

She couldn't bear to hurt Man'er's feelings.

Before Tong Huaqiong could suggest that Ma stay, Chen Sufen spoke first.

"Mother, Man'er is just a child and doesn't understand. Let my second brother return the horse."

When Man'er heard that the pony was to be returned, she hugged the pony's neck tightly and looked at Tong Huaqiong with pitiful eyes.

Tong Huaqiong said, "Since we've already bought it, we won't return it. Otherwise, it would be too upsetting for the child. Let's just keep raising him."

Upon hearing this, Man'er smiled and said, "Thank you, Grandma."

Liu Yue'e felt uneasy.

The first and second wives are treated exceptionally well in the mother-in-law's eyes.

Without knowing the truth, the mother-in-law scolded her husband, complaining that the pony he bought was no good.

Why does it work on Man'er?

That's such a double standard.

Man'er is truly the princess of the family. She threw out 150 taels of silver to buy such a sickly little colt. When her mother-in-law found out the truth, she not only didn't scold her, but also stopped talking about returning it.

Tong Huaqiong approached the foal and began to observe it carefully.

Gu Dashu said, "Mother, this foal is mainly premature and weak, not sick."

Tong Huaqiong patted the foal's head. Sensing Tong Huaqiong's kindness, the foal stuck out its tongue and licked Tong Huaqiong's hand, then braced itself on its four hooves to stand up.

Tong Huaqiong softened her heart.

If someone were to give her another 150 taels of silver now, she wouldn't give it away.

"During the Great Heat, go and invite a veterinarian to come and take a look at our house," Tong Huaqiong said.

Having decided to keep the foal, Tong Huaqiong resolved to take good care of her.

She doesn't care about warhorses or anything like that; as long as the horse is big enough to pull a cart, that's fine. She doesn't expect it to go to the battlefield.

Gu Dashu returned in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Behind him followed Lu Zhaoyang and a dark-faced man.

“Mother, I just ran into Brother Lu outside. He brought a veterinarian to check on the foal,” Gu Dashu said.

Tong Huaqiong greeted Lu Zhaoyang.

Lu Zhaoyang laughed and said, "We agreed to help Aunt Tong choose a horse, but we picked a sick and weak foal instead. This is Veterinarian Tan, the veterinarian in charge of horses at the Hunmu Division. I asked him to take a look at this foal."

Tong Huaqiong couldn't help but look at the veterinarian Tan, finding him very familiar.

"Does Veterinarian Tan know Master Tan under the big locust tree on Tianshui Street in Pingchuan County?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

“That’s my cousin,” said Veterinarian Tan.

What a coincidence, they're all acquaintances.

These two brothers are interesting; one is a veterinarian, and the other is a castrator.

Upon hearing that Tong Huaqiong was an acquaintance of his cousin, Veterinarian Tan treated the foal with utmost care.

"I estimate this foal is only two months old. Judging from its skeleton, it really could be a warhorse," said Veterinarian Tan after examining it. "It doesn't have any serious illnesses, it's just too weak because it was born prematurely. With careful care, it might grow into a fine steed."

"It should be drinking mare's milk, but it's hard to buy, so you can only feed it commercial feed. When feeding it, you need to be careful to chop the feed into small pieces, soak it until it's soft and moist before feeding it to it, because its stomach is weak right now and it can't eat hard feed."

After speaking, he prescribed a few pills and handed them to Tong Huaqiong, instructing her to mix them into the feed each time she fed her child.

Tong Huaqiong remembered the biology knowledge she had learned in her previous life. A two-month-old foal is considered a foal. According to the rule, foals are weaned after six to seven months of age. Her own foal is still in the foal stage of nursing.

Fortunately, the one-month-old foal was able to eat feed, otherwise Tong Huaqiong would have had nowhere to find a mare to feed it.

Since Veterinarian Tan said the foal could grow into a fine horse with careful care, Tong Huaqiong decided to believe him. She decided to search online that evening for information about raising foals and see if she could find some more nutritious feed for it.

After examining the foal, Dr. Tan instructed Gu Dashu to fetch the consultation fee.

Veterinarian Tan said that Young Master Lu had already given it to him.

He refused to accept it, so Tong Huaqiong had no choice but to give him two boxes of pastries.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, Lu Zhaoyang came to Tong Huaqiong's side. He wanted to tell Tong Huaqiong that he had already talked to Old Master Lu and would not mention the marriage with Gu Taohua again.

When Gu Taohua saw Lu Zhaoyang talking to Tong Huaqiong, she put her hands on her hips and swayed in front of Tong Huaqiong. Without saying a word, she kept looking Lu Zhaoyang up and down.

Lu Zhaoyang remembered Gu Taohua's words that he couldn't have a son, and he was so frightened that he grabbed Tan the veterinarian and fled in panic.

Gu Taohua laughed heartily.

After Lu Zhaoyang and Veterinarian Tan left, Tong Huaqiong directed Gu Dashu to take the foal into the house.

The autumn evening breeze was chilly, and she was afraid the foal would get cold.

Man'er was the happiest that the little pony could stay.

She also knew that it was because of her willfulness that her second uncle spent a lot of money to buy the foal.

"Grandma, I will take good care of the little pony." Man'er hugged the little pony and said to Tong Huaqiong, "I will raise it to be strong and healthy, and when it grows up, it will pull Grandma's cart."

Tong Huaqiong laughed and said, "Okay, let's raise the foal to be strong and healthy."

The shop in the prefectural city has opened, and in the past few days it has become a newly popular shop in the prefectural city.

He Chao and Hong Xiaoxi will temporarily take charge here, and Tong Huaqiong feels that there shouldn't be any major problems.

Therefore, she planned to return to Qinghewan the next day as originally intended.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner, so naturally I'll buy some local products to take back with me since I'm here in the prefectural city.

Although she has only been in the prefectural city for a few days, many things have already happened that have distracted her, and she hasn't even had a chance to properly explore the city yet.

Tong Huaqiong planned to take advantage of the time from evening to night to stroll around and buy some silk, spices, Chinese medicinal herbs, and also to buy some rouge and face powder from Lu Zhaozhao's rouge shop.

In addition, she also needs to see if there are any new business opportunities in the city that she can enter.

Tong Huaqiong took Gu Taohua and Chen Sufen shopping.

She did not bring Liu Yue'e with her.

Once Liu Yue'e gives her a friendly look, she loses her sense of propriety. Tong Huaqiong had just stood up for Liu Yue'e a couple of days ago because of Qianqian and Gu Dashu's matter, and now she's trying to interfere in Gu Taohua's marriage.

Therefore, she had to give Liu Yue'e a little cold shoulder from time to time, so that she would understand that she should not interfere in things that were not her business.

Tong Huaqiong, Gu Taohua, and Chen Sufen went to a silk shop to buy fabric, picked up the jewelry and headwear they had ordered earlier from a silver shop, and finally went to Lu Zhaozhao's rouge shop.

This was Tong Huaqiong's first visit.

The Lu family's rouge shop was very large, filled with a dazzling array of rouge and face powder.

Because the Lu family were imperial merchants, one of their most important businesses was providing various cosmetics and face powders to the imperial concubines.

The imperial concubines, of course, required high-quality rouge and face powder, which not only created a beautiful makeup look but also had skin-nourishing properties. Old Master Lu obtained the secret formula for the imperial rouge and face powder, making his products far superior to those from other shops on the market.

Originally, the Lu family's rouge shop in the prefectural city only served wealthy families and noble ladies.

After Lu Zhaozhao took over, she changed her strategy and started doing business with everyone, from wealthy families to ordinary people.

Moreover, inspired by Tong Huaqiong's "mooncakes that even prefects love to eat," they have recently launched the same rouge and face powder used by empresses in the palace.

This gimmick attracted almost all the young ladies and wives in the entire city.

Who wouldn't want to have the same rouge and face powder as the Empress and Imperial Concubine?