The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 70: Truly a Straight-A Student

The cart was piled high with a variety of pastries.

Tong Hua and Gu Taohua sat comfortably on the hay-covered seats, while Chen Sufen and Liu Yueer couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of their mouths.

This round trip sure exhausted Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe.

"Sufen, you make the peach crisps, mung bean cakes, and honey crisps. Don’t overexert yourself. Yueer, you handle the fire, cooking, and laundry. If you slack off, I won’t let you off the hook, but if you do it well, I’ll give you some pocket money from the profits."

Tong Hua gave some instructions to her two daughters-in-law, focusing particularly on Liu Yueer.

She was worried that once she went to the town, Liu Yueer would act like the boss at home and dump all the housework on Chen Sufen.

Liu Yueer, hearing about the pocket money, was thrilled and patted her chest, promising not to disappoint Tong Hua.

Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe pushed and pulled, working together to move the cart out of the Gu household.

Under the big tree at the village entrance, Tong Hua handed Mr. Xu two pieces of mung bean cake and two jujube cakes to thank him for his help the previous day. Mr. Xu felt a bit lost knowing Tong Hua wouldn’t be riding his car anymore.

He thought Widow Tong was actually quite a good person upon getting to know her. Despite her rough demeanor, she always paid her fare.

It must have been due to that cheap nephew of his causing trouble yesterday, costing him two passengers.

No, it should be four passengers, since Tong Hua had paid him fares for four people.

With that thought, Mr. Xu felt distressed and cursed Xu Si and Granny Yan in his heart.

"...Tong Bigfoot."

Tong Hua hadn’t realized she was being called that until she saw a woman with a headscarf and a basket in front of her.

Searching her mind, Tong Hua matched this woman to Liu Qiaoyun’s mother-in-law, Granny Qin.

"Sister Qin," Tong Hua greeted.

"My daughter-in-law told me you’ve been selling pastries in town lately, and I didn’t believe it. Seeing it today, I guess you’re truly trying to live a decent life now. The heavens have opened their eyes; even Tong Bigfoot has turned over a new leaf, tsk tsk tsk." Granny Qin’s words were less than pleasant.

Tong Hua side-eyed Granny Qin, embodying Tong Bigfoot, and said, "I’m minding my own business, you don’t need to be so shady. Good dogs don’t block the road, move along, I’ve got a market to catch."

This was Tong Bigfoot’s style of speaking, and Tong Hua decided to stick to it in the village. As a widow, she couldn’t afford to appear too reasonable if she didn’t want to be bullied.

"Your mouth really doesn’t quit." Granny Qin flashed her basket of fresh-picked cucumbers and mulberries before Tong Hua, saying, "My family can’t finish these, so I plan to give them to yours."

Looking at the fresh cucumbers and dark purple mulberries—truly organic and pollution-free produce—Tong Hua’s mouth watered, and she reached out to take them.

"These aren’t for you to eat. I’ll send them over for your eldest daughter-in-law and Man Er later. If you want to eat, grow your own. But I doubt you’ll manage that with your laziness. If you were diligent, your plot of land wouldn’t be lying waste."

Tong Hua: "..."

It was clear Granny Qin was here to thank her for saving her daughter-in-law Liu Qiaoyun from Xu Si, but was too embarrassed to directly express it.

Despite her harsh words, Granny Qin was a simple-minded, warm-hearted village elder.

Yesterday, she had already sent a basket of eggs via her son and daughter-in-law to the Gu household, and this morning, aware that Tong Hua was heading to the market, she waited at the village entrance to thank her.

A few cucumbers and mulberries were obviously not enough.

"Sister Qin, isn’t that your Qingyou over there?" Tong Hua pointed ahead.

Granny Qin turned to look but saw no one. She only felt a weight lift from her hands as her head turned back to find the basket in Tong Hua’s hands.

"Thanks, Sister Qin! These cucumbers and mulberries are great, I love them."

Tong Hua bit into a cucumber with a crunch. Not bad, fresh and crisp.

Granny Qin stomped her foot, scolding, "Tong Bigfoot, be a human, won’t you? Snatching food meant for your granddaughter."

Some things never change!

Gu Taohua grabbed a handful of mulberries, waved, and said, "Aunt Qin, if you feel bad for Man Er, just send another basket to our house."

Tong Hua munched on cucumber while urging Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe to hurry on.

Granny Qin shook her head with a smile and went toward her vegetable plot.

As the cart passed by their wheat field, Tong Hua glanced at the field.

The wheat ears, not yet filled with grain, swayed gently in the morning breeze.

Thanks to Gu Jingzhe and Gu Dashu’s recent efforts in the field, there weren’t as many weeds, although the ears still looked less plump than those in surrounding fields.

Of course, the field was somewhat dry.

It wasn’t only the Gu family’s field that was dry; Qinghe Bay as a whole hadn’t seen much rainfall from spring to early summer, and everyone’s fields were a bit parched.

Those diligent families fetched water to irrigate their fields morning and night, so their wheat grew better.

Take now, for instance; Tong Hua saw many people carrying water from the village river to their fields.

The Gu family, a lazy bunch of bad bamboos, never thought of watering the fields in Gu Dahuan’s absence, always hoping for rain instead.

That’s why the Gu family’s wheat didn’t grow as well as others’.

"It’s not that I’m nagging, but look at the Qin family’s wheat, and then at ours. The third son used to study at a private school, so I won’t mention him. But the second son, you’re so lazy that it hurts, and that’s why our wheat looks like this."

"You get all energetic at meal times, but when it comes to cultivation, you just can’t. From now on, eat two bowls less per meal."

Couldn’t help but start scolding when she saw her own wheat field.

Gu Dashu hunched his shoulders, gritting his teeth as he pulled the cart, feeling wronged.

Despite fetching water daily to irrigate the fields, he still lagged behind the Qin family, and he didn’t think Qin Qingyou had been more diligent than him these past days.

Gu Jingzhe pointed at the field and said to Tong Hua, "Mom, look at our wheat fields. From the left, starting with the Qin family’s plot, the wheat grows better than ours and the ones to our right. It’s understandable that Qin Qingyou’s wheat grows well, but our right side belongs to Second Brother’s in-laws, the Yue family. Brother Liu is even more industrious than Qin Qingyou, yet their wheat is no better than ours. These past days working in the fields, I’ve wondered why the wheat’s growth differs so much at our plot’s boundary."

Tong Hua followed Gu Jingzhe’s finger and indeed noticed the disparity in wheat growth between the left and right fields.

The wheat fields to the left generally grew better than those to the right.

Fields to the right, including the Gu and Liu family fields, had shorter wheat, with leaves tinged yellow, and some leaf tips even withered.

"Third son, you’re very observant."

Sure enough, Gu Jingzhe was a top student, able to discern patterns others couldn’t even while farming at home.

Tong Hua couldn’t help but praise. Had he been born in her time, Gu Jingzhe might have thrived at an agricultural university.

Though Tong Hua hadn’t farmed in her past life, she’d seen and heard about it; her grandmother’s place was rural, and her parents’ factory was surrounded by large wheat fields.

She had some knowledge about when to till, harvest, fertilize, and thin seedlings.

After observing the right-side wheat fields closely, Tong Hua concluded that those soils lacked certain nutrients compared to the left-side fields.

She wasn’t sure what was lacking, though.

"Third son, I’ve noted the wheat problem you mentioned. I’ll ask someone knowledgeable in town to see what’s up," Tong Hua said.

She decided to search online in the evening; perhaps she’d find a way to compensate for the deficiency.