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

Winter was fast approaching, and they needed to hurry and stockpile charcoal and cotton. So, Old Master Lu and Master Huang left Qinghe Bay without stopping.

Lu Zhaozhao originally wanted to stay, but now that Grandpa Lu is personally teaching her the ways of business, she naturally can't stay in Qinghe Bay as easily as before.

This time, Old Master Lu intended to train her, having her work with the shopkeepers to stockpile supplies such as charcoal, cotton, and grain.

After Old Master Lu left, Tong Huaqiong thought for a moment and asked Nie Xiaofeng to go to the Liu family in Pingchuan County. Usually, when there was a happy occasion in Tong Huaqiong's family, Magistrate Liu's mother, Madam Han, would be there. She didn't come this time because she heard that she had caught a cold.

Tong Huaqiong asked Nie Xiaofeng to deliver medicine to Han Shi and take the opportunity to pass on a message to Magistrate Liu.

“When I was young, I caught a cold and my bones would ache every winter. This year the pain is especially bad, and I’m afraid there will be extremely cold weather this year.”

Whether Magistrate Liu believed it or not, she carried these words with her.

After much deliberation, Tong Huaqiong still hoped that the local officials could make a prediction before the extremely cold weather arrived.

The next day, Aunt Tang delivered 20,000 taels of silver notes without stopping.

Then, Prefect Yao sent someone to deliver the deposit for the cotton-padded clothes.

Tong Huaqiong's weaving workshop was originally just a trial run, but now she's going to go all out.

After all, delivering tens of thousands of cotton-padded coats in two months is a major business for a rural weaving workshop.

However, for Tong Huaqiong, rushing to finish the work was not a problem. At this time of year, there was no work to be done in the fields, and most villagers had already begun preparing to stay at home for the winter.

Gathering manpower is easy.

Her weaving workshop couldn't accommodate so many people, so she planned to leave the cotton carding, spinning, and weaving to the workshop, and distribute the cotton clothing sewing to other households so that each household could sew their own clothes.

With that in mind, she turned around and went to find the village chief.

Since a lot of manpower is needed, she needs the village chief's help to spread the news to the surrounding villages, so that she doesn't have to go to every village herself.

So, when the women, wives, and girls from the surrounding villages who envied Tong Huaqiong's weaving workshop suddenly received news that the workshop needed people again, they flocked there once more.

Tong Huaqiong asked Su Qing to retrieve the list of female workers who were not selected and to hire them directly into the weaving workshop.

The reason they were not selected was not because they didn't weave well, but because the people who were chosen were more outstanding.

Tong Huaqiong specifically asked Gu Taohua to explain to them that the reason they were allowed in was because there was an urgent batch of cotton cloth and cotton clothes that needed to be completed, and it did not mean that they could continue to work in the weaving workshop in the future.

Those who were not selected did not care; as long as they could work at the weaving workshop, they could earn money to support their families, even if it was only for two months.

Besides, it doesn't mean the weaving workshop won't need people in the future. If they do a good job, and the workshop needs more people in the future, Manager Tong will probably still let them join.

As for the job of sewing cotton-padded clothes, every household was vying for it.

After all, from now until next spring, everyone will be at home with nothing to do, so sewing cotton-padded clothes is a windfall for young women, wives, and older women.

They don't need to go out, they don't need to be exposed to the wind and sun, and since needlework is something everyone is used to doing, delivering goods on time is not a problem at all for them.

Border-area cotton-padded clothing needs to be both warm and lightweight; otherwise, it would be too bulky to even stretch out one's arms, making it impossible to march or fight.

Tong Huaqiong always believes in never underestimating the wisdom of people in any era. Even rural housewives can come up with clever ways to make lightweight and warm cotton-padded clothes.

Sure enough, as soon as Tong Huaqiong explained the requirements for sewing the cotton-padded coat, several young women, wives, and older women came out to offer suggestions.

In the entire Qinghe Bay, the most skillful hands belong to Liu Yue'e's mother, Zhao.

Tong Huaqiong had seen Zhao's craftsmanship, so she asked Zhao to sew several cotton-padded coats, intending to distribute them to various villages so that everyone could sew according to her standards.

Just as the cotton-padded coat was about to be delivered, Gu Fengnian's wife, Wei, arrived at the door.

She handed Tong Huaqiong a finely stitched cotton coat. Tong Huaqiong's eyes lit up as she took it. This cotton coat was even lighter and warmer than the cotton Zhao had made, and Wei had also cleverly added an extra layer of cloth to the elbows and an extra layer of cotton at the knees.

“Auntie, I heard that these cotton-padded coats are sold to the border. I thought that marching and fighting is very hard, and you have to climb and carry weapons. Your elbows and knees will get chafed easily, so I made those areas thicker,” said Madam Wei.

Tong Huaqiong gave Wei a look of approval.

Gu Youtian and Jia Shi were incredibly lucky to have married such a smart daughter-in-law.

I'm afraid even if you combine Chen Sufen and Liu Yue'e, they still can't compare to Wei Shi.

Tong Huaqiong only told everyone that the cotton-padded clothes were to be sent to the border, but she didn't say that they were military supplies. Even the village chief thought that Tong Huaqiong had opened up a border market, and he advised her that there was going to be a war on the border and that the risk was too great, so she shouldn't invest so much.

Only Wei noticed something amiss and knew the true whereabouts of the cotton-padded clothes.

Seeing that Tong Huaqiong was not going to say anything, Wei panicked a little and said, "Auntie, don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Tong Huaqiong waved her hand and said, "I trust you. Here's what we'll do: I'll not only assign you the job of sewing cotton-padded clothes, but I'll also ask you to be the supervisor when someone delivers their goods."

Although it was the first time Ms. Wei had heard of a supervisor, she guessed that Tong Huaqiong had asked her to check whether the cotton-padded clothes were up to standard.

"Don't worry, I will definitely check them carefully, and I will not accept anything that does not meet the standards."

Wei was overjoyed. She had only wanted to show off her needlework skills and ask Tong Huaqiong to sew more cotton-padded clothes for her, but she didn't expect Tong Huaqiong to give her such an important task as supervision and inspection.

It was definitely the right decision to separate from my in-laws.

Although many people in the village gossiped about her behind her back, saying that she was not virtuous, encouraged Gu Fengnian to separate the family, and was unfilial to her parents-in-law, so what? As long as her aunt did not have any prejudice against her, that was fine.

Then Tong Huaqiong asked Gu Xiaoxue to bring more cotton and cotton cloth for Wei to sew a few more cotton-padded clothes, which would then be distributed to the villages along with the cotton-padded clothes sewed by Zhao.

Once the preparations were complete, the village chiefs led their respective villagers to collect the cotton and cotton cloth.

Since the weaving workshop has just started operations, there have been many fires in the past few days, and not much cotton cloth has been woven yet.

Therefore, the first batch of people assigned work were all nimble and capable women from various villages.

Since sewing cotton-padded clothes is mostly done by women, Tong Huaqiong required that only women from each household come to collect cotton and cotton cloth. This move infuriated many heads of households.

But there was nothing they could do; they couldn't sew.

"Let me make this clear from the start: I have a record of all the cotton-padded clothes and cloth that have been distributed. Don't try to fool me. If anyone cuts corners or replaces the cotton with cattail fluff without permission, they will not only have to compensate me tenfold for the cotton and cloth, but they will also never be able to get any work from my family again."

As Tong Huaqiong finished speaking, Su Qing stepped forward with the contract and read out the regulations and penalties for sewing cotton-padded clothes, then had everyone put their fingerprints on it.

"Putting your fingerprint on means you accept the conditions and punishment. If you cut corners, you'll either have to pay ten times the compensation or be sent to the authorities." Su Qing smiled and shook the paper, saying, "You can also choose not to put your fingerprint on it, which means you don't accept the assignment and can go back."

No one had ever seen such a display of handprints before, so the group dared not step forward.

Aunt Qin was the first to step forward and put her fingerprint on the document. Then she took out some cotton and cotton cloth and said to everyone, "My son and daughter-in-law both work with Manager Tong and have put their fingerprints on the document. As long as they don't cheat people against their conscience, they won't be punished."

Aunt Qin set a good example.

"Exactly, I wouldn't cut corners."

"If we just sew according to the requirements honestly, there won't be any problems."

"This fingerprinting is also a form of protection for us. You only hear about the punishments, but you didn't hear that even our wages were written down."

After some discussion among the crowd, everyone stepped forward to leave their handprints and receive cotton and cotton cloth. (End of Chapter)