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

Chapter 443: Competing for a Job
After Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao's marriage was arranged, Tong Huaqiong finally had one less thing on her mind.

The next day, Gu Jingzhe went to Wanliu Academy to enroll and officially became a student of Wanliu Academy.

Tong Huaqiong naturally introduced Gu Baishuang to Old Master Lu.

The merchant ships that Old Master Lu was sending after the New Year wouldn't return until autumn. Gu Baishuang was calculating that if they didn't encounter any major storms on this trip, she could earn at least three or four hundred taels of silver.

Having money in hand naturally gave her confidence, so she begged Tong Huaqiong to help her find a shop in the prefectural city.

They acquired two shops, originally intending to put them under Nie Xiaofeng's name, but after Tong Huaqiong reminded them, they put one of them under Gu Baishuang's own name.

The stepmother is right. Even one's own children are not as reliable as something held in one's own hands.

Gu Baishuang instructed Nie Xiaofeng, "Don't tell your father and your two brothers."

Nie Xiaofeng said, "I'm not stupid. In the Nie family, my mother and I are the ones on the same side."

Nie Xiaofeng had long realized that his father favored his two older brothers and even guarded against his mother in many matters.

The reason why his two older brothers and sister-in-law often gave their mother a hard time was because their father spoiled them.

After his mother regained consciousness, she started doing business with his maternal grandmother. He was overjoyed and would never tell his father and his two adopted brothers.

After helping Gu Baishuang set up two shops, Tong Huaqiong began to inspect her own shops in the prefectural city.

To be honest, she wasn't worried about the overall operation of the shop at all.

Now, every other week, the shopkeeper from the prefectural city would bring his account book to Yanguan Town to report on his work.

He Chao and Gu Taohua have also changed their visits from once every two weeks to once a month.

Therefore, Tong Huaqiong was quite familiar with the situation and personnel of the shops in Fucheng.

After more than half a year of operation, Taohua Dessert Shop in Fucheng has shown its potential as the number one pastry shop.

Tong Huaqiong first went to greet the owners of various pork shops, since the pork in these shops was supplied by Tong Huaqiong, making them her clients.

Then he visited the pastry shop and the seed and pesticide shop, checked the account books, and offered his regards to the employees.

Just as Tong Huaqiong had predicted, the pastry shop was operating without problems, but trouble arose in the baking room.

Tong Huaqiong figured out the reason.

Initially, Master Song, who was transferred from Yanguan Town, was in charge of the baking workshop. Master Song was experienced, skilled, and worked for the headquarters, so no one in the city dared to disobey him.

After staying in Fucheng for more than half a year, Master Song went to Pingchuan County last month to manage the bakery, as agreed with Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong couldn't stop him from going back; he was from Yanguan Town and had never planned to stay in the prefectural city for long.

He originally wanted to return to Yanguan Town, but considering that Pingchuan County is not far from Yanguan Town, he could bring his family and mother to Pingchuan County to enjoy their retirement. Therefore, he agreed to go to Pingchuan County to take charge.

With Master Song gone, the pastry and baking workshops in Fucheng were leaderless.

Before leaving, Master Song recommended Master Wen to take charge of the baking room.

Master Wen is the only female baker at Fucheng Bakery. She is also Master Song's apprentice. She is hardworking and has a talent for baking, especially for new types of pastries. She can learn them very quickly and even tries to develop new pastry recipes after she becomes proficient.

Master Wen's two improved pastries have become best-selling items at Fucheng Peach Blossom Desserts.

Logically speaking, with Master Wen's business acumen, he should have no problem being the head of the bakery.

However, the peach blossom dessert shop in Fucheng encountered resistance.

Without him.

The reason is that the Fucheng Bakery is a man's world, with only Master Wen as a woman.

Many male pastry chefs disagreed.

They stated that, looking across all the pastry shops in the city, there wasn't a single woman who was the head pastry chef.

They were unwilling to accept being surpassed by a woman. Manager Sun of the Fucheng Pastry Shop worried that if he promoted Master Wen, the male pastry chefs would quit, thus affecting the shop's revenue.

Besides Master Wen, there were no other pastry chefs more suitable.

Therefore, the person in charge of the bakery has temporarily put the matter on hold.

Tong Huaqiong's face darkened after hearing Manager Sun's report.

Logically speaking, Manager Sun is an outstanding manager. If he can't even handle such a small matter in the bakery, isn't it just that he, like most men in the world, doesn't want women to take the lead?

Tong Huaqiong is his boss, and he has no choice but to submit.

Master Wen was just a worker like him. He could accept Master Wen doing odd jobs in the shop or being an ordinary pastry chef, but he didn't approve of Master Wen moving up to management.

Once Master Wen moves up to the management level, won't we have to discuss work with him personally?

The thought of having to discuss the development of new pastries and the management of the shop with a woman, and that he would have to rely on a woman for the bakery, made him unhappy.

He still hoped to promote a male pastry chef to be his right-hand man.

Tong Huaqiong asked Manager Sun, "Master Wen's pastry skills are top-notch, why can't he be the head of the baking workshop?"

Manager Sun said after careful consideration, "She is still relatively inexperienced. The other bakers in the bakery are all experienced masters who have worked for several years or even more than ten years. If we promote her, everyone will object. I am afraid that if we force her to be promoted, the baking fans will cause trouble and delay business. Therefore, we put this matter aside and thought about slowly training another one from among the other bakers."

Tong Huaqiong said, "Afraid of trouble in the bakery? You're the manager, and if you can't even handle trouble in the bakery, how can you command respect?"

Manager Sun was sweating profusely.

Tong Huaqiong's meaning was very clear: if you can't even handle this matter, what use are you?
It's not easy to train a shop manager, and since Manager Sun has never made a mistake since he came to Peach Blossom Dessert Shop, he has made a great contribution to making Peach Blossom Dessert Shop one of the top pastry shops in the city.

It's not that he can't handle the trouble at the bakery, it's that he simply doesn't want to get involved.

Because Manager Sun is capable, Tong Huaqiong will not fire him because of this incident.

If we fire him, we'll need to find another manager.

Although she also wanted a female manager, almost all managers in this era were male. When Manager Sun left, Manager Liu and Manager Chen would come. It was foreseeable that these managers would share Manager Sun's ideas, believing that the management of the bakery should be done by male pastry chefs.

Instead of replacing the manager, it would be better to forcefully promote Master Wen and change Manager Sun's mind.

Tong Huaqiong took a deep breath and said calmly, "Since the bakery is not satisfied with Chef Wen, then let's have a competitive selection process for the position?"

Manager Sun asked, "What is a competitive selection process?"

Tong Huaqiong said, "The selection process will be competitive, and whoever wins will become the head of the bakery. Starting today, each baker can come up with two new pastries. You will have two days to decide who becomes the head of the bakery based on the most popular pastry among customers."

Since it's a bakery, baking skills should definitely be the first thing to consider.

Seeing Tong Huaqiong's attitude, Manager Sun had no choice but to agree.

Disagreeing is not an option; Tong Huaqiong is the boss. Unless he leaves, where else can he find a job with a high monthly salary and year-end bonuses if he leaves Peach Blossom Dessert?

Manager Sun said respectfully, "Master, we will proceed as you have instructed. We will hold a competitive selection process. I will go and inform everyone to prepare."

Tong Huaqiong said with a half-smile, "Manager Sun, I respect your fairness and loyalty. Let me make this clear: no matter who wins, once they become the head of the bakery, you cannot look down on them because of their gender or seniority. If I find out, I will not stand for it."

Manager Sun wiped his sweat and repeatedly said he dared not.

The boss really has a sharp eye; he saw through his intentions at a glance.

Tong Huaqiong said to Gu Taohua, "Taohua, you and Manager Sun will jointly manage this matter."

Gu Taohua nodded.

Manager Sun, don't you have a psychological aversion to women being in charge of management?

Then let the young master Gu Taohua sway vigorously in front of you.