The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 263: A Woman Unwilling to Be Restrained
"Mom, it’s time for dinner."
Gu Dahuan knocked on the door, interrupting Tong Huaqiong’s thoughts.
Tong Huaqiong responded loudly, "I’ll be right there." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
The dinner was prepared by the brothers Gu Dahuan and Gu Jingzhe together.
Mrs. Hong returned to the town in the evening, and Gu Dashi went to the provincial city to handle the agricultural seed shop.
Therefore, the dinner guests, besides Gu Dashi’s bad bamboo friends, were outsiders like Mrs. Han, Lu Zhaozhao, and Liu Yanhong.
"Did you deliver the pork to the families?" Tong Huaqiong asked Gu Dahuan after sitting down.
Gu Dahuan nodded and said, "To Huang Yuanwai, Boss Qian, and my eldest sister’s family, all delivered."
Tong Huaqiong nodded.
She planned to sell pork this year-end, and Huang Yuanwai and Boss Qian were key figures for her to enter the pork market.
Huang Yuanwai was a trendsetter in Yan Guan Town for clothing, food, and shelter, while Boss Qian’s Fengle Building was a major consumer of pork.
As for County Magistrate Liu and the Lu Family, since their family members were already here, they had already tasted it.
The remaining pork, Tong Huaqiong planned to let Man Er store in the space’s refrigerator for gradual consumption.
She had to admit that she could buy pork in space, but the pork from that era wasn’t as delicious as what she raised here.
After all, the environment here was greener and pollution-free.
"Are these all from the pigs we slaughtered today?" Gu Taohua pointed at the table full of meat dishes, sniffed, and said, "It smells really good."
Chen Sufen and Liu Yueer, who hadn’t eaten their own home-raised pork, were curious about the taste of castrated pork.
Since her mother-in-law changed her temperament, she often said pork had a certain smell. Initially, they couldn’t taste it, but as the family’s living standards improved and they ate chicken, fish, beef, and mutton alternately, they started to sense a faint smell in pork.
They even wondered if they had become too picky.
Gu Taohua picked up a piece of rib, took a bite, and mumbled, "It’s delicious, so fragrant, the best pork I’ve ever had."
Upon hearing this, Chen Sufen and Liu Yueer both reached for some hong shao rou and hui guo rou respectively.
"This pork is delicious!"
Liu Yueer’s eyes lit up; this was the best pork she’s ever tasted, and it definitely wasn’t just because she was hungry.
"Indeed, it’s good. I think it’s even better than the hong shao mutton at Fengle Building."
In the past, Chen Sufen loved fatty and lean pork. One bite of hong shao rou and she felt it was the most delicious pork she had ever eaten.
Her mother-in-law was clever to castrate the pigs while raising them.
"Mom, our family’s pork is really the best. You always said outside pork had a smell. I used to think you were just being picky. Now that I’ve compared, the outside pork does have an odor," Liu Yueer said.
Liu Yueer originally wanted to commend Tong Huaqiong for her genius idea to castrate pigs, but then noticed Mrs. Han sipping rib soup, realizing there were outsiders at the table.
She couldn’t risk saying more. What if the secret was overheard and their pig farm couldn’t develop or monopolize the pork market anymore?
Mrs. Han said, "Sister Tong, I’m just like you—I don’t like pork because of the smell. Your pork is good; if you’re selling it, I’d like to buy some."
Mrs. Han had already had some at lunch, and continuing to eat it in the evening still found Tong Huaqiong’s pork exceptionally fragrant.
Seeing Mrs. Han speaking up, Tong Huaqiong seized the opportunity and said, "I’ve set aside some for you and County Magistrate Liu, so take some back when you leave. Let County Magistrate Liu and Yanhong’s mother taste it. As for selling, let me be honest, our family raised about twenty pigs in the broken temple at the village’s west end just for selling pork. They’ll be ready by the year’s end. If we can open the market, I plan to open a pork shop in Pingchuan County too. You’ll always have plenty to eat then."
Mrs. Han applauded Tong Huaqiong’s various business ideas.
Even in the pork business, she dared to venture.
The rare part was that she approached business not as a mere trial but with careful planning.
Otherwise, why would her pigs taste so fragrant?
She surely put in the effort to figure it out.
Mrs. Han smiled and said, "It’s amazing how you’ve raised the pigs to taste so good. If the pork shop opens in Pingchuan County, I bet every household will want to buy."
Tong Huaqiong wanted just this outcome.
She aimed to replace beef and mutton with pork as the mainstream meat of her era, making affordable, delicious pork available to every household.
Eating meat would no longer be a privilege only for affluent families.
After dinner, Tong Huaqiong and Mrs. Han sat in the yard, drinking tea to aid digestion.
The autumn coolness was like water, bathing everything in the bright moonlight.
The autumn breeze brought no sense of desolation but rather a feeling of tranquility and harmony.
Mrs. Han hadn’t sat so idly under the moonlight like today for a long time.
"Sister Han, there’s something I want to ask, but I’m not sure if I should," Tong Huaqiong had long wanted to ask Mrs. Han why she encouraged Lu Zhaozhao to step out and do business, but she hesitated. But holding back was becoming difficult.
"Never mind. I’ll just ask directly, why do you want to teach Zhao Zhao to do business?"
Mrs. Han took a sip of tea, smiled, and asked in return, "Didn’t you also encourage her to learn business? Why do you do that?"
Tong Huaqiong wanted to say it was to make up for Tong Dajiao’s past mistakes and to change Lu Zhaozhao’s originally tragic fate.
Also, because she had a modern person’s soul, differing radically from Mrs. Han and other pure traditionalists, her soul longed for freedom and equality. She wanted the girls around her to break the chains and step outside the internal courtyard.
But she couldn’t say it.
Even if she did, Mrs. Han wouldn’t understand.
Before Tong Huaqiong could respond, Mrs. Han, with a serious expression, said solemnly, "You might think I have some ulterior motives towards Zhao Zhao or the Lu family. I can assure you openly, I do not! I once had a stubborn temperament and didn’t want to be looked down upon. Even when doing laundry, I refused my maternal aunt’s help. But she secretly arranged for people to help me, allowing my son to study at Wanliu Academy. When she was seriously ill, I visited her. She said that being a woman is hard, confined in her maternal family, and after marriage, trapped in her husband’s family. My maternal aunt was a lively person in her boudoir, learning business with her father from a young age. But after she married, she was forced to stay home to support her husband and educate children, never going out again.
"Supporting her husband and educating children meant her world was confined to a small part of the inner courtyard, so when Zhao Zhao’s parents passed, she couldn’t bear it and left too, leaving poor Zhao Zhao. Zhao Zhao’s ability in abacus and accounting was taught by my maternal aunt. I think she taught Zhao Zhao these so she wouldn’t be trapped in the inner courtyard."
"I am indebted to my maternal aunt, and she’s gone now. Paying back her kindness is best achieved by ensuring Zhao Zhao lives better."
Mrs. Han choked as she spoke.
Tong Huaqiong’s doubts about Mrs. Han were instantly dispelled.
Mrs. Han genuinely cared for Zhao Zhao.
Tong Huaqiong felt a bit ashamed; she always viewed Mrs. Han and other ancient women with a modern person’s superior, free-spirited perspective.
Little did she realize that in any era, there were women unwilling to be constrained.
There were always women devoted to others.
"I’d thought about it before but never articulated it because I didn’t know how. Watching you and your daughters-in-law do business today—and quite well—I realized Zhao Zhao could do the same."
"So, thank you for this."
Faced with Mrs. Han’s eager eyes, Tong Huaqiong felt quite embarrassed.
However, what pleased Tong Huaqiong was that with the combined efforts of Mrs. Han and herself, Lu Zhaozhao’s fate in this life would improve more and more.
