The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 108: Returning to the Stall

Tong Huaqiong didn’t care about what was on Manager Feng’s mind.

The one with a headache now was Manager Feng, not her, Tong Huaqiong.

As long as she could bring Taohua Dessert to the same platform as Crispy Food Garden for a showdown, she, Tong Huaqiong, had already won.

"Aunt Tong, where have you been these three days? Our Mr. Su has been missing your pastries." While Tong Huaqiong was collecting money, she saw a smiling face right in front of her.

It was Gu Jingzhe’s classmate, Meng Yanping.

Lately, the students from the private school often came to Taohua Dessert to buy pastries and had become familiar with Tong Huaqiong, enthusiastically calling her Aunt Tong when they arrived at the dessert stall.

"Xiao Meng is here, what would you like?" Tong Huaqiong greeted warmly.

Meng Yanping was a generous customer, not only buying for himself but also buying to honor Mr. Su.

These days, he contributed quite a bit of silver to Taohua Dessert.

Moreover, the information Meng Yanping previously disclosed to Gu Jingzhe helped Tong Huaqiong come up with a counter strategy against Manager Feng.

So for both personal and logical reasons, Tong Huaqiong became even more enthusiastic towards Meng Yanping.

"Mr. Su loves date cakes, chestnut crisps, and jujube crisps, so give me a pound of each," Meng Yanping said.

"Alright, second daughter-in-law, wrap these for Xiao Meng," Tong Huaqiong instructed Liu Yueer, then asked, "What would you like for yourself?"

Meng Yanping said: "I’ll have a pound of taro paste crisps."

"Second sister-in-law, I’ll wrap it, you go attend to the other customers," Gu Taohua told Liu Yueer.

As the eldest daughter-in-law of the Gu Family, Gu Taohua’s position was indisputable. When she ordered Liu Yueer to do something, Liu Yueer didn’t dare refuse.

"Why are you alone today?" Gu Taohua asked Meng Yanping as she efficiently wrapped the pastries, seemingly carelessly.

Seeing Meng Yanping alone today made her want to inquire about Fan Tong.

Gu Taohua hadn’t seen Fan Tong for a long time. The last time she specially asked other students to bring him pastries, she wasn’t sure if Fan Tong received them.

"Miss Taohua, you’re asking about Brother Fan, aren’t you?" Meng Yanping asked without any pretense.

Despite his straightforward appearance, Meng Yanping was a meticulous person. He had already noticed the undercurrents between Fan Tong and Gu Taohua.

"Oh dear, who’s asking about him?" Gu Taohua, embarrassed at having her thoughts exposed, stomped her foot, her face blushing slightly.

"Miss Taohua, don’t worry about me being nosy, but you’re so capable, Brother Fan isn’t worthy of you." Meng Yanping reminded, as he took the pastries from Gu Taohua.

He’d heard that Fan Tong was stringing along the daughter of their village head, while also eyeing the daughter of Huang Yuanwai — a fickle person whom Meng Yanping disapproved of.

Hearing this, Gu Taohua got a little angry.

He must be jealous because Fan Tong is the only scholar in their private school.

Thankfully, her mother and two sisters-in-law were busy and hadn’t noticed their conversation.

"Try my taro paste crisps, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied."

"Why didn’t you have your stall open the past few days? There was a small incident, so we didn’t come."

"What incident? Was it Crispy Food Garden’s doing? It must have been. You didn’t come those few days, and Crispy Food Garden was selling taro paste crisps too."

"I only mind my own business and don’t get involved in others’ affairs. It doesn’t matter who sells taro paste crisps; everyone has their own flavor."

"Still, the taro paste crisps from Taohua Dessert taste great, Crispy Food Garden’s are terrible."

"Perhaps mine suit your taste."

Tong Huaqiong was enthusiastically dealing with customers while collecting payments.

She hadn’t noticed Gu Taohua asking Meng Yanping about Fan Tong.

Chen Sufen, who was watching from the side, kept clicking her tongue.

For her, this was the first time participating in the sales of Taohua Dessert, and she admired her mother-in-law’s poised handling.

Taohua Dessert was surrounded by so many people, yet her mother-in-law and sister-in-law managed to keep the stall running and even secured a shop. It truly wasn’t easy.

She felt selling pastries was more difficult than making them.

Making pastries only required focusing on following the recipe, but selling them was different—it required being astute and enthusiastic, and after a day, her face would probably ache from smiling.

Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had it tough.

Liu Yueer, on the other hand, was visibly excited. Unlike Chen Sufen, she was thriving in the sale of Taohua Dessert.

Liu Yueer was quicker to get the hang of it than expected.

She could grasp customer psychology and read between the lines, and with the customer attraction techniques Tong Huaqiong had taught her earlier, Liu Yueer’s first performance could be considered very successful.

How could Liu Yueer not be hard-working?

Once in town selling Taohua Desserts, she realized she very much disliked farming, preferring instead to interact with people.

In just half a day, all of Taohua Dessert’s pastries were sold out.

Besides the appealing taste and the enthusiastic attitude of Tong Huaqiong and her team, it was also partly because what they offered initially wasn’t much. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

This was intentional by Tong Huaqiong.

She mimicked the hunger marketing strategy from the future, deciding that before the opening of Taohua Dessert Shop, their flagship products would be marketed with a hunger strategy.

The goal was to create buzz and get people talking, then seamlessly inform everyone that Taohua Dessert now had a dedicated shop, capable of offering a wider variety of pastries.

Furthermore, she planned to have a series of promotional events for the shop opening, such as special discounts on the opening day, buy one pound, get two ounces free, recharging membership cards to become a VIP, etc...

There were plenty of tricks up her sleeve.

In short, if Taohua Dessert could become Yan Guan Town’s popular stall as a small stand, there was no reason it couldn’t become a must-visit popular spot in Yan Guan Town after setting up shop.

Tong Huaqiong was calculating delightedly while counting the money.

The midday sun was quite strong, and the tip of Tong Huaqiong’s nose was glistening with sweat.

"Mother, it really isn’t easy for you and sister to keep a stall here." Chen Sufen remarked sincerely while quickly packing up the stall. Unlike Liu Yueer, who could engage customers, she chose to do more of the heavy work.

"It’s nothing, as long as it makes money, the hard work is worth it," Tong Huaqiong said.

"I feel doing business is easier than farming," Liu Yueer said.

Seeing that Liu Yueer was getting a bit carried away, Tong Huaqiong quickly admonished, "You think it’s easy because Taohua and I have already gone through the toughest parts, and Taohua Dessert has its old customers, making it easier for you. The real test will come when the shop opens."

Rather than making Liu Yueer feel discouraged, these words only spurred her competitiveness.

What would be so hard once the shop was open? After all, there’s no such thing as an unmanageable customer.

"Alright, it’s too hot, let’s pack up and go eat," Tong Huaqiong said.

Tong Huaqiong wiped away some sweat. If it weren’t for her two daughters-in-law there, she really wanted Man Er to enter the space to get her some popsicles to quench her thirst.

Just when she was dying of thirst, a vendor selling sour plum soup passed by, so Tong Huaqiong quickly called out and bought a few bowls of sour plum soup for some copper coins.

She drank it all at once, feeling completely refreshed.

"Mother, I just saw Manager Feng looking down at our stall from the second floor," Gu Taohua said to Tong Huaqiong.

"What are you afraid of?" Tong Huaqiong said indifferently.

Little does he know, he can’t beat us!

After packing up the stall, Tong Huaqiong took everyone to eat.

This time, Tong Huaqiong was generous, taking everyone to the restaurant for a meal of braised lamb.

After having their fill, they went to Rouge Alley.

If the shop was to open early, it couldn’t rely only on Gu Guangkui and Qin Qingyou being busy; Tong Huaqiong planned to use all the family’s labor force.

If Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe were available, their help might speed things up.

But the two sons had more important matters to handle.