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

Chapter 533 Three Cunning Rabbit Cave
After being rebuffed by Gu Baishuang, Old Master Gu gritted his teeth and went to Gu Dashu.

He hoped to borrow two hundred taels of silver from Gu Dashu.

Gu Dashu took a breath; his grandfather really dared to speak up.

Despite being the young master of Jufulai, he was paid wages just like the other employees, and he didn't even have ten taels of silver on him.

Tong Huaqiong said that men become bad when they have money. In addition, he had a criminal record for gambling, so he was never allowed to carry more than ten taels of silver. Even when he treated people to meals in the prefectural city, he had to report it and use the official accounts.

His mother would deduct his wages if any account didn't match up.

He originally had ten taels of silver for pocket money every month, but Liu Yue'e firmly believed in the saying that men become bad when they have money, so she deliberately deducted five taels from the ten taels.

He had to be very careful with those five taels of silver.

“Grandpa, Gu Ruinian isn’t my grandson, I have no money.” Gu Dashu took out five taels of silver from his pocket and handed it to the old man, saying, “I only have five taels of silver on me, this is for you as a token of my filial piety, I have no more.”

Before Old Master Gu could frown, Gu Dashu continued, "My eldest sister is already married. She's already having a hard time as a stepmother in the Nie family. Instead of supporting her, we, her family, are borrowing money from her. If the Nie family finds out, how will my eldest sister hold her head high? Don't come to my eldest sister for anything in the future. She doesn't belong to our Gu family, and she certainly doesn't belong to Ruinian."

Gu Ruinian was already angry when he learned from Nie Xiaofeng that Old Master Gu had asked Gu Baishuang for money. But Old Master Gu had come to him, so he had no choice but to lecture him.

Grandpa Gu's beard trembled with anger. This brat was giving him a lecture in his fatherly manner. It turned out that he had never tricked Gu Baishuang before.

"You used to"

"Please don't talk about the past, I've been busy."

“Back then, my older sister and I were siblings. Who did Gu Ruinian think he was?”

"Little aunt, give this five taels of silver to Grandpa. Keep a close eye on it, and don't let that unfilial grandson Gu Ruinian take it away."

Gu Dashu was afraid that Old Master Gu would mention the money he had spent on Gu Baishuang in the past, so he quickly stuffed five taels of silver into the hand of Gu Honglian, who had come to see him with Old Master Gu.

"Mr. Xu, you've arrived. Come in, come in and let's talk."

Gu Dashu walked over to a chubby boss.

He was stockpiling charcoal according to Tong Huaqiong's request and had been busy finding charcoal merchants to inquire about charcoal prices. Gu Dashu left Grandpa Gu behind and, holding Boss Xu's hand, went into Jufulai to find Tong Huaqiong.

Grandpa Gu was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

Mr. Xu is the largest charcoal merchant in Pingchuan. In recent years, the winters have been mild, and the charcoal he stockpiled has not fetched a good price. Hearing that Tong Huaqiong wanted to buy charcoal, he took the initiative to come to his door to discuss business.

Of course, Tong Huaqiong wouldn't tell these charcoal merchants that this winter would be extremely cold, nor would she put 500,000 jin of charcoal on the shoulders of the charcoal merchants in Pingchuan and even Ningcheng. These local charcoal merchants knew each other, and they would become suspicious of each other in private.

Doubt would be detrimental to her.

Even if they couldn't guess it was due to the weather, they would suspect that Tong Huaqiong was going to enter the charcoal market. Based on her understanding of these charcoal merchants who, in Tong Dajiao's memory, were opportunistic and profited from the deaths of the deceased, they would unite to attack her and try to raise prices.

She intended to stabilize coal prices when the extreme cold weather arrived, but she didn't intend to lose money.

She plans to stockpile charcoal in a dispersed manner, partly from local charcoal vendors and partly from other regions.

Since the Lu family happens to own merchant ships, she plans to stock up on some charcoal from the south.

When doing business, you have to be cunning and have multiple escape routes.

While Tong Huaqiong was talking to the charcoal vendor at Jufulai until her throat was dry, half of Jufulai's customers went to Wuji.

Liu Yue'e and Gu Taohua thought that Wu Ji had bewitched its customers, otherwise there would be no reason for customers to go to Wu Ji.

Wu Kee's reputation is so bad that anyone who goes to Wu Kee to buy something will be looked down upon by those around them.

"Let's go see what mischief Uncle is up to." Gu Taohua pulled her sister-in-law Liu Yue'e and ran towards Wu Ji.

When they arrived at Wu Ji's shop, a crowd had gathered three or four deep. They didn't look like they were buying anything; they looked more like they were just watching the show. "Auntie, what kind of event is Wu Ji having?" Gu Taohua asked, grabbing an older woman's hand.

"What nonsense. The second young master of the Wu family and the eldest young mistress of the Zheng family are having an affair, and now the eldest young mistress of the Zheng family's family has come knocking on our door," the old woman said.

The young woman next to the old lady recognized Gu Taohua and knew she was the young master of Jufulai. While eating melon seeds, she said, "Aren't you from the same village as Young Madam Zheng's family? Just now, two cartloads of people came, carrying sticks and hoes, and rushed into Wuji. I wonder if Young Madam Zheng's lover was beaten to death."

Gu Taohua and Liu Yue'e, who were keen on gossip, perked up. With so many people from the Xu family arriving, Gu Ruinian was in grave danger.

The Xu family is not an easy family to get along with.

"Peach Blossom, let's go inside and take a look." Liu Yue'e took a handful of melon seeds from her pocket and pulled Gu Taohua towards Wu Ji's place.

The two were crawling when they were stopped by two familiar voices.

Liu Yue'e turned around and exclaimed with delight, "Uncle!"

It turned out that Liu Tielian, Uncle Gu, and the head of the Gu family had arrived, followed by a group of Gu family members, including Gu Dahan.

"Big brother, what brings you here?" Gu Taohua asked.

Gu Dahan rubbed his hands and said, "I don't even know what happened. I was dragged here by my second grandfather as soon as I came out of the pigsty."

Gu Taohua was speechless.

"Peach Blossom, go and call your mother."

The Xu family was aggressive, and Liu Tielian, fearing someone would be killed, sent Gu Taohua to call Tong Huaqiong.

Only Tong Huaqiong could keep the Xu family in check.

Even if Tong Huaqiong doesn't want to get involved, if the Xu family goes too far, she can use her title as the village head to report them to the authorities.

The peach blossoms in the valley gather in the morning, bringing good fortune.

Tong Huaqiong had just finalized a deal with Boss Xu, buying several thousand kilograms of charcoal at a price one-third lower than the market price last winter. She was happily seeing Boss Xu off when she saw Gu Taohua running towards her.

"Mother, Second Brother, the Xu family has sent two cartloads of people to settle accounts with Gu Ruinian. The village chief, Second Grandfather, and the clan head have also come with our Gu family members. Second Grandfather and the village chief asked you to come over."

Since she had nothing else to do, Tong Huaqiong headed towards Wu Ji, with Gu Dashu following along.

We walked through the crowd and entered Wu Ji Shop.

Uncle Gu Er instructed Gu Dahan to guard the door, allowing only Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua Gu Dashu to enter.

"What are you looking at? Stop looking!" Uncle Gu shouted at the eager onlookers who were trying to squeeze in.

He felt that Gu Ruinian had disgraced the Gu family and caused Gu Dahan to close the door on Wuji.

Tong Huaqiong looked up and saw that the shop was in a mess. The shelves were smashed, the goods were scattered on the ground, and even the abacus beads were broken.

Wu Ren and Qiao Shi had livid faces.

While Tong Zhaodi and her brother Tong Zhijie were stuffing things into the package, they smiled ingratiatingly when they saw Tong Huaqiong come in.

The sounds of cursing and weeping came from the warehouse.
Shadows moved about in the courtyard.

"No, that's my house. What are you doing smashing things? I'll report you to the authorities."

When Qiao saw several Xu family members smashing things with sticks and rushing into her house, she quickly tried to stop them, but she was too late.

The kitchen was smashed and banged.

Suddenly, a wail came from the warehouse.