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

Chapter 453 Reborn Person Meets Old Acquaintance

Secondly, Gu Jingzhe will return from the prefectural city to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.

To be honest, Gu Jingzhe had been away in the prefectural city for almost two months, and Tong Huaqiong missed her youngest son quite a bit. When she suddenly heard that he was coming back, she did what any old mother would do: slaughter chickens and ducks and prepare some of Gu Jingzhe's favorite dishes.

Before the Dragon Boat Festival, the usual comings and goings continued, with gifts being sent to relatives such as the Huang, Liu, and Zhao families. The main event was with the Lu family in the prefectural city. This year, the Lu family was related by marriage, so the gifts naturally had to be substantial. Tong Huaqiong carefully prepared gift boxes and had Gu Dahan take them to Gu Dashu in the prefectural city. They then found Gu Jingzhe at Wanliu Academy, and the three brothers together delivered the gifts to the Lu family.

This was also the first time Gu Jingzhe had given gifts to his future in-laws after the marriage proposal.

The city of Fucheng had a three-day holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, and Gu Jingzhe returned to Qinghewan on the first day of the festival.

Lu Zhaozhao also came with Gu Jingzhe.

Tong Huaqiong sighed, "Grandpa Lu is indeed quite open-minded, willing to let Lu Zhaozhao come to her future mother-in-law's house with her fiancé for the holidays."

Lu Zhaozhao liked to spend holidays at Tong Huaqiong's house. Because the Lu family was small, she longed for the lively atmosphere of the Gu family, where everyone was together.

In her past life, Lu Zhaozhao was too attached to this warmth and fulfilled all the unreasonable demands made by Tong Dajiao and others.

However, in this life, Tong Huaqiong is her mother-in-law, and the Gu family only gives her liveliness and warmth, but never hardship and coldness.

As soon as Lu Zhaozhao jumped off the carriage, she called out to Aunt Tong. Tong Huaqiong went up to her and took the bright young girl's hand.

Gossip spreads quickly in the countryside. As soon as Gu Jingzhe's carriage entered the village, the villagers spread the word that Gu Jingzhe had brought his fiancée from the prefectural city to their home.

The area in front of Tong Huaqiong's house was instantly packed with people.

It's similar to arranged marriages in later generations.

"Jingzhe, is this your wife? She's so beautiful. Girls from the city are so fair-skinned compared to girls from our country."

Lu Zhaozhao had visited Qinghewan twice before, and many villagers were familiar with her. The person who asked this question was deliberately trying to see Gu Jingzhe's reaction.

The usually composed Gu Jingzhe was embarrassed to answer the question.

"Of course, just look at their family background. They're imperial merchants. Do you understand what an imperial merchant is? They're big merchants who buy things for the emperor himself. They have pearl powder used by the empresses in the palace. How could they not be fair-skinned?"

People from the countryside speak directly and don't hold back; they say whatever comes to mind.

He stared at Lu Zhaozhao's fair, glowing face and clicked his tongue in admiration.

Amidst the undisguised whispers of the crowd, Lu Zhaozhao's fair face flushed red.

"Jingzhe is so lucky, to have such a beautiful wife and a brother-in-law who is a top scholar," someone exclaimed.

“Jingzhe is no less impressive; he was the top scholar in the imperial examinations, and might even become the top scholar in the future,” someone praised Jingzhe.

Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao were surrounded and unable to move an inch.

Tong Huaqiong was afraid that Lu Zhaozhao would be embarrassed, so she tried to chase her away, but the villagers were in such high spirits that they couldn't be driven away at all.

At this moment, Lu Zhaozhao smiled and beckoned her maid Ruoxue to bring out candies, melon seeds, and pastries from the carriage and distribute them to the elderly women and young wives who were watching.

Lu Zhaozhao even personally grabbed some candy and scattered it to the children surrounding her.

Because of Lu Zhaozhao's graceful and generous actions, everyone felt that they should not continue to ridicule her. They not only made way for her, but also began to praise Lu Zhaozhao for her magnanimity.

Tong Huaqiong and Lu Zhaozhao exchanged a smile.

Lu Zhaozhao is already the successor to the business empire handpicked by Old Master Lu. These days she's been doing business outside, so today's crowd is just a small spectacle.

Tong Huaqiong took Lu Zhaozhao's hand and led her into the main room.

"You must be tired, go and take a rest," Tong Huaqiong said.

Although there were horse-drawn carriages from the prefectural city to Qinghewan, the roads in that era were all dirt roads, making the journey bumpy. Coupled with the hot weather, riding in a horse-drawn carriage was inevitably unbearable.

"It's alright, not too tiring," Lu Zhaozhao said.

Lu Zhaozhao's maid, Ruoxue, wrung out a handkerchief and handed it to Lu Zhaozhao to wipe her sweat.

Tong Pandi brought over a plate of washed cherries and placed it in front of Lu Zhaozhao.

"Thank you, cousin."

Lu Zhaozhao learned about Tong Pandi's situation from Gu Jingzhe and felt sympathy and admiration for her for taking care of her two children and getting a divorce.

Tong Huaqiong noticed that Tong Pandi's gaze towards Lu Zhaozhao was filled with a complex mix of emotions, including gratitude, relief, joy, and sadness.

She guessed that Tong Pandi, being a reborn person, probably had met Lu Zhaozhao in his previous life.

After all, in her previous life, Tong Dajiao, wanting to show off her marriage to a beautiful and wealthy daughter-in-law, took Lu Zhaozhao to her maternal home in Heilongtan after Lu Zhaozhao and Gu Jingzhe got married, and threw a lavish banquet. At that time, Tong Pandi, like Tong Dajiao, was still a relative of her maternal family, so she naturally had to go when her aunt invited her.

It's hard not to see Lu Zhaozhao.

"Cousin, this is a gift for the two children."

Lu Zhaozhao asked Ruoxue to bring two boxes and a package. She opened two of the boxes and found a gold necklace with a longevity lock and jade inlay.

It looks very valuable.

He opened the package again, and inside was a piece of lake-blue satin with a silver sheen. He said, "This is for my cousin."

Tong Pandi choked up.

Lu Zhaozhao was still as kind and warm-hearted as she remembered.

Especially that gold necklace inlaid with jade, which was a gift from Lu Zhaozhao to Duo'er in her previous life.

However, it later fell into the hands of Wu Musheng's adopted son.

Tong Pandi said, "This is too precious."

Lu Zhaozhao said with a smile, "These are all from my family's shop. I didn't spend any money on them. If my cousin doesn't accept them, it means she doesn't like the gift."

Tong Pandi wiped away her tears and quickly said, "No, no, that's not what I meant."

After speaking, he looked at his aunt, Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong said, "Zhaozhao is very sincere. Since she is giving this to you and the two children, please accept it."

Tong Pandi accepted the gift.

"Zhao Zhao, what do you want to eat? I'll cook." Tong Pandi asked Lu Zhao Zhao.

Lu Zhaozhao thought for a moment and said, "I'm not very hungry, I'm fine with anything."

After saying that, he asked Ruoxue to go to the kitchen to help Tong Pandi pick vegetables.

Looking at Ruoxue's figure, Tong Huaqiong suddenly wondered if she should also hire a maid to cook and tend the fire.

Since Tong Pandi came to live with us, she has taken on a lot of housework.

He Chao hired a cook and a maid for Hong Shi, and Hong Shi then advised Tong Huaqiong to hire a few more people.

Tong Huaqiong disagreed.

The same logic applies: Tong Huaqiong, having been exposed to modern civilization, still believes that there is no difference between maids, servants, and slaves in this era.

However, she is now considering hiring someone to do the housework.

Household chores are one thing, but we should also hire a maid to take care of Gu Taohua.

After all, Peach Blossom is often out and about, so she needs someone to take care of her.

This is equivalent to a secretary in later generations.

It's time to change her mindset. As long as she doesn't treat maids and servants as slaves, they are not slaves.

When Lu Zhaozhao saw Tong Huaqiong looking at Ruoxue, she asked nervously, "Aunt Tong, should I not have brought my maid?"

Lu Zhaozhao did not bring any maids with her on her first two visits to Qinghe Bay, because she felt that the rural families did not have the custom of serving others.

Since Tong Huaqiong's family had no servants, she followed local customs and did not allow her maids or servants to accompany her.

This time, because of the engagement, Old Master Lu insisted that she bring Ruoxue along.

Now she's worried that Aunt Tong might think she's being spoiled by bringing a maid along.

Tong Huaqiong knew that Lu Zhaozhao was overthinking things, so she quickly said, "No, I just thought Ruoxue was efficient and loyal to you, so I wanted to hire a maid to come to our house."

Hearing Tong Huaqiong say this, Lu Zhaozhao breathed a sigh of relief.

"I heard that you went to Suzhou and Hangzhou with your grandfather a few days ago."

Soon, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law started discussing business.

When Lu Zhaozhao heard Tong Huaqiong ask about her trip to Suzhou and Hangzhou, she was overjoyed and told Tong Huaqiong about her experiences there.