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

Chapter 564 Trying to Turn Things Around with Gunpowder
"Sister-in-law, it's quite lively here."

Gu Honglian was like a piece of chewing gum; she would stick to Tong Huaqiong the moment she saw her.

Tong Huaqiong thought to herself that no matter how lively it was, there would be no room for Gu Honglian to show her skills.

Tong Huaqiong looked over at Gu Xiaoxue and saw the usually timid Gu Xiaoxue standing in front of the loom, instructing the female workers to try it out, smiling sweetly as she nodded or shook her head.

The female workers on trial shifted their expressions as Gu Xiaoxue nodded or shook her head.

Gu Honglian felt a mix of emotions she couldn't quite describe.

“Gu Xiaoxue is better off working here with my sister-in-law than at home,” Gu Honglian said.

Tong Huaqiong nodded and said, "Xiaoxue is very good to begin with."

When Gu Honglian came to Gu Xiaoxue's rescue, Tong Huaqiong remained calm and composed towards Gu Honglian.

"What are you doing here? Just joining in the fun? There's no job suitable for you here," Tong Huaqiong said to Gu Honglian.

Gu Honglian said casually, "I know, I can't spin yarn or weave cloth, I just came to take a look."

She wouldn't want to sit inside and weave.

That's so boring.

She couldn't sit still.

"Sister-in-law, Ruinian has been fiddling with things in the yard these past few days. He almost set the kitchen on fire the night before last," Gu Honglian told Tong Huaqiong about Gu Ruinian's activities.

Tong Huaqiong frowned. She recalled seeing sulfur saltpeter hidden under firewood in the old house courtyard last time. Combined with Gu Honglian's mention that Gu Ruinian almost set the kitchen on fire, she could basically deduce that Gu Ruinian was making gunpowder.

Why would he make gunpowder?
It seems that with his right leg crippled and disqualified from holding office, he had no choice but to resort to unorthodox methods, such as gunpowder manufacturing, to make a comeback.

Gunpowder was crucial in this era; powerful gunpowder served as a weapon to defend cities. In wars between two nations, even more potent gunpowder could turn the tide of battle.

Gunpowder existed in this era, but its power was not as great.

This is what Su Chengmin explained to Tong Huaqiong.

Gu Ruinian probably grasped the fact that the gunpowder of this era was not powerful enough, and thus wanted to use his modern knowledge to improve it.

The raw materials for making gunpowder are not cheap, and the old house is already extremely poor. How could Gu Ruinian have extra money to buy these raw materials?
She suddenly remembered what Gu Honglian had mentioned in Pingchuan last time: the reason the Zheng family let Gu Ruinian go was because Gu Ruinian was useful to the Zheng family.

This is useful; I guess he knows how to prepare gunpowder.

In the Zheng family, he only needs to demonstrate his abilities to have a glimmer of hope.

The Zheng family were business people, so of course they had their own network of connections. They probably valued Gu Ruinian's gunpowder technology and wanted to use it for their own purposes.

Creating powerful gunpowder and presenting it to the imperial court, just like her "creating" pesticides to control cotton aphids, could earn her a title of "Lord of the Country." If either the Zheng family or Gu Ruinian were to master the gunpowder technology of later generations, they might become invincible.

Moreover, the second son of the Zheng family passed the imperial examination in the same year as Gu Jingzhe and is now studying at Wanliu Academy.

According to Tong Dajiao's memories from her previous life, the second young master Zheng was a person of bad character and had a vicious nature. The fact that Gu Ruinian was treated so lightly by the Zheng family was probably because he and the second young master Zheng had hit it off and were probably plotting something bad.

Thinking of this, Tong Huaqiong asked Gu Jingzhe, "Did you meet Young Master Zheng at the academy?"

Gu Jingzhe said, "He and I were classmates."

When Tong Huaqiong asked Zheng Er Gongzi, Gu Jingzhe thought that Tong Huaqiong was worried that Zheng Er Gongzi would spread his past scandals. Fortunately, Zheng Er Gongzi was studying at a private school and did not know the details of the deal between Gu Jingzhe and the Zheng family.

He did bring up Gu Jingzhe's past, but now Gu Jingzhe appears to be a respectable scholar, while Zheng Er Gongzi is the troublemaker type in the academy. Over time, people have come to believe Gu Jingzhe and not Zheng Er Gongzi.

Therefore, when Gu Jingzhe's past was revealed, the people in the academy did not believe it.

With the addition of the handsome and refined senior brother Lu Zhaoyang betrothing his younger sister to Gu Jingzhe, everyone became even more convinced that Gu Jingzhe had a shameful past.

Thinking of this, Gu Jingzhe cursed his past self even more for being so foolish and blinded by greed, and was even more grateful to his mother for forcing him to pick up his conscience. Tong Huaqiong was too lazy to pay attention to Gu Jingzhe's inner thoughts and said to him, "Keep an eye on Young Master Zheng, don't fall for his tricks. He's now involved with Gu Ruinian in making gunpowder."

Gu Jingzhe paused for a moment, then nodded.

Tong Huaqiong didn't hide these words from Gu Honglian.

Gu Honglian now hates Gu Ruinian to the core and wishes he would suffer a terrible fate.

However, after Gu Honglian revealed Gu Ruinian's situation to Tong Huaqiong, her mind was no longer on pleasing her sister-in-law; her gaze fell on the village road.

"Sister-in-law, you go ahead with your work, I won't bother you anymore."

Gu Honglian ran away as fast as she could.

Gu Jingzhe glanced at the village road outside the door and frowned.

"Mother, could it be that Auntie has taken a liking to Fan Tong?" Gu Jingzhe asked, pointing towards the village road.

Although Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao were both very polite, they had also experienced the joys of love. The little aunt rushed up to Fan Tong with a smile on her face, just like when he saw Lu Zhaozhao.

However, he and Lu Zhaozhao had already made their relationship public.

My aunt and Fan Tong are completely unrelated.

Moreover, Fan Tong is of extremely poor character. While stringing along the village chief's daughter and Gu Taohua, he also fantasizes about becoming the son-in-law of Master Huang.

Following the direction Gu Jingzhe pointed, Tong Huaqiong saw Gu Honglian smiling as she spoke to Fan Tong, while Fan Tong maintained an affectedly indifferent expression.

"Only your aunt knows whether she has taken a liking to Fan Tong, but what is Fan Tong doing in Qinghe Bay?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

The thought of Gu Taohua being burned to death because of Fan Tong in her past life sent a chill down Tong Huaqiong's spine.

With her intervention, Gu Taohua had given up on her feelings for Fan Tong, but Tong Huaqiong was afraid that Fan Tong would not give up on Gu Taohua.

The second owner of Peach Blossom Dessert Shop, the daughter of the village lord, is extremely pampered at home. With so many advantages, Gu Taohua can be said to be the most enviable girl in the entire Yanguan Town.

Which family wouldn't want to marry Gu Taohua?
Marrying Gu Taohua is like marrying a lot of money.

Ever since Gu Jingzhe passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, many people have secretly wanted to arrange marriages for Gu Taohua, but Tong Huaqiong has refused them all since Gu Taohua has no intention of doing so.

Therefore, upon seeing Fan Tong, Tong Huaqiong could hardly help but suspect that he had come for Tao Hua.

When Fan Tong saw Gu Jingzhe standing at the entrance of the weaving workshop, his eyes lit up and he moved over. But when he saw Tong Huaqiong standing beside him, his steps faltered.

"Let me meet him."

Gu Jingzhe flicked his clothes and called out to Fan Tong, "Senior Brother Fan."

Fan Tong had no choice but to brace himself and approach Tong Huaqiong and Gu Jingzhe.

"What brings Senior Brother Fan to Qinghe Bay?" Gu Jingzhe asked.

Gu Honglian looked at Fan Tong with anticipation in her eyes.

Ever since she met Fan Tong in Yanguan Town in the spring, she had secretly fallen in love with him. Coincidentally, she would run into Fan Tong every time she went to the town market, and Fan Tong would always greet her or chat with her.

A few days ago, she ran into Fan Tong again at the market in Yanguan Town. Fan Tong was carrying a bag of osmanthus cakes from Taohua Dessert and gave them to her. During their chat, he asked Gu Honglian what the relationship was between her and his junior brother Gu Jingzhe.

Holding the osmanthus cake, Gu Honglian thought happily that Fan Tong was just trying to make conversation.

She was afraid that Fan Tong would treat her as an elder if he found out that she was Gu Jingzhe's aunt, so she vaguely said that she and Gu Jingzhe were from the same village.

Therefore, Fan Tong was unaware of her aunt-niece relationship with Gu Jingzhe.