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

Chapter 73 The Stepson's Thoughts

Peach blossom desserts have become the new top pastry in Yanguan Town.

Together with Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua, they have become the new generation of internet celebrities in Yanguan Town.

Everyone who goes to the market in Yanguan Town wants to take a picture in front of the peach blossom dessert stall.

Tong Huaqiong thought happily, "Peach Blossom Desserts can't always be sold from an open-air stall; it's time to find a shop."

However, to her surprise, Su Shi Yuan never caused her any trouble.

But she had a vague feeling that the risks would come sooner or later. In the past few days, she had imagined many scenarios in her mind of how Su Shi Yuan would deal with Tao Hua Desserts, and she had a way to deal with each scenario.

Since that troublesome shoe hasn't dropped yet, she decided to stop thinking about it and focus on making money steadily first.

Gu Dahan has already quit his job at the Lu family and returned home. The Lu family has ordered pastries from Peach Blossom Desserts, agreeing to deliver them every seven days, so this task has fallen to Gu Dahan.

Tong Huaqiong knew perfectly well that this was the Lu family repaying her for saving her life. Who eats so many pastries every day?
When Gu Dahan returned home, he also brought two boxes of books, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, which he specifically gave to Gu Jingzhe.

In this era, books were rare, and many were not widely circulated. This is why even if a child from a poor family was very talented, if he could not study at a place like Wanliu Academy, where children from wealthy families gathered, he would rarely succeed by relying solely on his own studies.

Tong Huaqiong knew that Lu Zhaoyang was indirectly advising her not to bury Gu Jingzhe's talent.

Gu Jingzhe touched the books with great affection and made up his mind once again that he would go to the prefectural city to work as an accountant and study at the same time after the wheat harvest.

In addition, Gu Dahan also brought a truckload of piglets home, both male and female, a total of eight.

This pig was also Lu Zhaoyang's doing, said to be a thank-you gift for the Gu family.

The sight of eight squealing piglets made Tong Huaqiong and the others gasp, and also made Tong Huaqiong happy.

She had originally planned to raise pigs to develop the pork economy, and Lu Zhaoyang's gift of pigs was just right, saving her a large sum of money.

Her own castrated boar was already behaving like a sow, gaining weight at an astonishing rate. Every day, Tong Huaqiong felt like sharpening her knife, eager to cook it all. She was craving braised pork belly, braised spare ribs, and stewed pig's trotters without any gamey smell.
As soon as the eight pigs entered the pen, Tong Huaqiong arranged for the three brothers, Gu Dahan, Gu Dashu, and Gu Jingzhe, to take the pigs to Pingchuan for castration.

Because there were too many pigs and he was afraid something might happen to them on the way, Gu Jingzhe personally went to Pingchuan County to invite Master Tan to his home to castrate them.

Tong Huaqiong selected a strong-looking boar and a beautiful sow to breed. The remaining six pigs, regardless of whether they were male or female, were all rendered unfit to be male or female by Master Tan's superb skills on the third day after arriving home.

There was no other way; for the sake of Tong Huaqiong's pork business, these pigs had to be sacrificed.

As soon as Gu Dahan returned home, he took on the main responsibility for the farm work.

It's not that Tong Huaqiong is biased; if Gu Dashu were to take on the main responsibility, all of the Gu family's land would go to waste.

Tong Huaqiong still remembers Gu Jingzhe discovering that the wheat in her field was growing differently on the left and right sides, so one quiet evening she sneaked into the space.

She opened her computer and searched for information. After a night of trial and error, she roughly understood why her wheat was turning yellowish-green with withered tips.

It is most likely caused by nitrogen deficiency.

Nitrogen deficiency is a common problem in wheat field soils, even in the modern era where Tong Huaqiong lives.

Because it is a common problem, it is not difficult to solve; simply apply nitrogen fertilizer.

In the era when Tong Dajiao relied on the weather for her livelihood, nitrogen fertilizer was probably hard to come by, but Tong Huaqiong had a knack for it.

Without hesitation, she immediately placed an order for several bags of nitrogen fertilizer.

Instantly, nitrogen fertilizer appeared on the open space inside the house.

Soon Man'er walked in.

Tong Huaqiong hasn't figured out the rules of the space yet, but one thing makes her feel that God has been kind to her: she can enter the space with her eyes closed whenever she wants.

After she came in, she could let Man'er in whenever she wanted, and she could also let Gu Taohua in whenever she wanted.

"Grandma, what do you want me to get this time?" Man'er asked Tong Huaqiong, tilting her little face up. At first, the child was curious about the computer, speakers, and other things in the space, but after a while, she lost her curiosity and started working right away.

"Take these."

Tong Huaqiong pointed to the fertilizer on the ground and looked worried. How could Man'er carry such a heavy fertilizer bag?

Isn't she abusing child labor?
Gu Taohua is strong; she can carry two bags by herself without any problem. The key issue is that Gu Taohua only has the ability to restock, not to take on new stock.

Tong Huaqiong thought for a moment, then started to take out basins and shovels, intending to scoop out the fertilizer and put it in the basins, carrying them out one by one.

Before she could put this idea into practice, she turned around and saw Man'er carrying a fertilizer bag and darting out of the space.

She froze, holding the shovel. What kind of cheat code was this, that could turn Man'er into Popeye?

She understood; this was space, and there were no rules to it.

In the Gu family, Man'er's small body could only carry a plate of water and a basket of pig feed at most, but in the space, she could lift a 20-pound fertilizer.

After all the fertilizer in the space was moved to the Gu family's house, it was already dawn.

After Tong Huaqiong got up, Gu Dahan, a skilled farmer, had already swept the yard and was preparing to go to the fields with his hoe.

The brothers Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe also came out of the house one after the other.

In the kitchen, Chen Sufeng and Liu Yue'e, sisters-in-law, were making breakfast around the stove.

In the pigpen, nine pigs grunted in unison, while chickens flapped their wings in the henhouse, and several hens clucked after laying eggs.

Both people and livestock are thriving!
Very good, under Tong Huaqiong's leadership, the Gu family's farmhouse has finally shown a vibrant new life.

Tong Huaqiong felt a little proud. If it weren't for her, this bunch of bamboo would have had a terrible life following Tong Dajiao.

"Dahan, let me ask you, have the wheat harvests from those two fields at the entrance of our village been consistently poor?" Tong Huaqiong asked her stepson, Gu Dahan.

A hint of unease appeared on Gu Dahan's face. Although he had witnessed his stepmother's transformation in the past few days, he still felt it was unreal and was afraid that one day his stepmother would turn back into the way she used to be.

Just as he expected, they've arrived!

This is an accusation that he didn't farm well.

In all honesty, he worked diligently in the fields, and even when he was doing hard labor outside, he would still take time to go home and tend to the land.

"My mother's two plots of land have never yielded good harvests. But as you know, I've never been lazy. I've tended to these two plots just as well as the ones at the foot of the mountain. I don't know why the harvests aren't good," Gu Dahan began to explain.

"Don't bring up other things. I'm just asking if your harvest is bad, or if other families are experiencing the same thing," Tong Huaqiong asked.

Gu Dahan felt a chill run down his spine. Qin Qingyou's wheat harvest next door was excellent, and he always envied him during the wheat harvest.

He asked Qin Qingyou how he farmed, but Qin Qingyou's farming method was no different from his.

It seems the stepmother has discovered the problem and can't rely on him to farm anymore.

“Qingyou’s wheat harvest is good. I farm just like him, but I don’t know why our wheat harvest isn’t very good,” Gu Dahan said cautiously.

"Besides the Qin family's land, have you found any other wheat fields adjacent to ours?" Tong Huaqiong continued to ask.

Gu Dahan thought for a moment and then shook his head.

Tong Huaqiong sighed inwardly. Gu Dahan was indeed a skilled farmer, but he only knew how to bury himself in hard work.

But Gu Jingzhe is different; he can spot problems in just a few days of farming.

Therefore, high intelligence is a dominant force in all fields.

(End of this chapter)