The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 92: So It Was Ma Huateng

Rouge Alley.

Pastry shop.

Tong Huaqiong grasped the key information.

In an instant, it became clear. Could this "Ma Huateng" be the same Young Master of the tavern, who’s not good with business, that Gu Dashu was talking about?

He was here to discuss transferring the shop with her.

Tong Huaqiong patted her chest. Her dream of being a queen of the internet was shattered.

But fortunately, this "Ma Huateng" wasn’t targeting Gu Taohua.

"Oh yes, I want to turn Taohua Dessert into a pastry shop." Tong Huaqiong showed eight teeth, as politeness and enthusiasm took over again.

What a coincidence!

Tong Huaqiong’s first pastry client was this Ma Huateng, and now he’s the first to come and transfer the shop.

If this young guy wasn’t a current sensation, Tong Huaqiong would have thought they were destined in fate and love.

"Aren’t you the Young Master who almost ran his own tavern into bankruptcy?" Gu Taohua quickly quipped.

Ma Huateng blushed.

At the same time, sadness filled his heart; he hadn’t managed to keep his father’s shop.

If it wasn’t for his mother who urgently needed money for medicine, he wouldn’t have reached the point of transferring the shop.

"Yesterday, at the tavern, I met Brother Dashi who was looking for a shop. He looked at my place and found it quite satisfactory, but he said he couldn’t make the decision and needed to discuss it with you. Since I thought you were setting up a stall here, I decided to personally come and talk to you." Ma Huateng said.

Tong Huaqiong was delighted.

Rouge Alley had a good location, but the fact that his tavern was on the verge of bankruptcy showed he really didn’t understand business.

And seeing how eagerly he came to find Tong Huaqiong, it was clear he was in urgent need to transfer the shop.

Urgently needing to transfer the shop was good; it gave her leverage to bargain on the price.

Even though Ma Huateng was a VIP customer of Taohua Dessert, she had to haggle where necessary.

"Aunt Tong, isn’t it a coincidence? Just as I was thinking of transferring the shop, you happened to want to rent one." Ma Huateng said.

Tong Huaqiong thought it was indeed a coincidence.

But although everything seemed just right, the initiative was in Tong Huaqiong’s hands; she had more choices.

If she didn’t rent Ma Huateng’s shop, there were other shops available. If Ma Huateng couldn’t rent out the shop for a while, he’d have trouble making ends meet.

"It’s quite a coincidence. I was just done with my stall, so instead of chattering here, let’s go and take a look at your shop," Tong Huaqiong said.

Ma Huateng was very pleased with Tong Huaqiong’s straightforwardness.

He helped Gu Taohua with her sign and packaging bags.

Tong Huaqiong secretly observed and found that Ma Huateng indeed had no interest in Gu Taohua, which set her mind at ease.

Since it was still early, Gu Dashu hadn’t come to town yet to pick up Tong Huaqiong and her daughter, so Tong Huaqiong temporarily stored her things in front of Mr. Xu’s cart, then took Gu Taohua and followed Ma Huateng to Rouge Alley.

When they arrived at Rouge Alley, they realized the tavern’s location was indeed excellent.

Across from it was a jewelry store, with a cosmetics store on the left and a high-end restaurant on the right.

Yet despite this, Ma Huateng had managed to run the shop into the ground, showcasing his utter lack of ability.

"Aunt Tong, I’m not good at doing business. I used to study at Wanliu Academy and was already a Scholar; given the chance, I’d still want to study more. After taking over the shop, I couldn’t manage it well and it delayed my reading," Ma Huateng explained with embarrassment, knowing how poorly he’d mismanaged the once-prosperous shop left by his father.

Tong Huaqiong inexplicably thought of a popular ancient comedy martial arts drama from her childhood, and found Ma Huateng strikingly similar to Lv Xiucai.

Curiously enough, she, about to become the shop’s boss lady, shared the same surname as Manager Tong, and neither had ever seen her supposed husband before becoming a widow at debut.

"Is this shop rented or do your family own it?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

"It’s ours. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t even be able to afford the rent by now," Ma Huateng said.

Tong Huaqiong nodded, acknowledging his self-awareness.

"So, do you want to rent it or sell it?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

Ma Huateng had been pondering this issue for the past couple of days, finding it hard to decide.

His mother was ill and he needed money for books, brushes, ink, paper, and everything else.

His mother wanted him to sell the shop, find a wife, buy a few acres, and move to the countryside to live a stable life, saying that in eighteen generations, their family never produced a scholar, and he should give up the idea.

He couldn’t accept this, unwilling to marry or return to the countryside.

Besides, the shop was something his father had worked hard for, and selling it felt regrettable.

He leaned towards renting.

However, renting came with its own set of troubles. His mother pointed out that he wasn’t good with mundane affairs, collecting rent every month would be troublesome, and if he came across unscrupulous merchants, he might end up losing the shop entirely.

"I want to rent it out, ten taels of silver per month rent," Ma Huateng stated.

He’d found that the nearby shop rents were generally around this price.

Tong Huaqiong frowned and said, "That rent is a bit high." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Ma Huateng replied, "Aunt Tong, the rent isn’t high at all. I’m not lying to you; the surroundings are all at this price."

Unhurriedly, Tong Huaqiong said, "Look at how thriving the other shops are, while yours is completely deserted. I can’t tell if it’s due to the shop’s bad feng shui or something else. What if I take over and don’t get a single customer in a day? Wouldn’t that be a huge loss for me?"

Ma Huateng: "..."

"Aunt Tong, this is a prosperous shop. I’ve already said that when my father was alive, it was doing well. It was just my incompetence in business that drove customers away." Ma Huateng again tried to explain.

Tong Huaqiong remained unmoved and said, "That doesn’t concern me. Since your father can’t come back to bring customers, what I see now is a shop with pathetic traffic."

Ma Huateng was flustered by Tong Huaqiong’s unreasonable logic.

He had thought that since Tong Huaqiong was a country lady, she’d be easy to negotiate with. Little did he anticipate her to be so tough.

Ma Huateng was truly not skilled in negotiating prices.

Seeing Ma Huateng’s difficulty, Tong Huaqiong seized the opportunity to gain an advantage and said, "Actually, I think a one-time sale of the shop to me would be better, sparing you the monthly hassle of collecting rent."

"If I sell the shop to you, how could it be steadier than having income every month?" Ma Huateng said.

Tong Huaqiong thought for a moment and said, "There definitely is."

Ma Huateng was curious, "What do you mean?"

Could it be that she wanted him to lend money at high interest? He couldn’t manage his father’s tavern, let alone navigate the complex world of loans.

Tong Huaqiong laughed and said, "Seeing that you’re a scholar, you can write and paint, and you also know accounting. Why not sell the shop to me, and I can let you be the accountant in my store? What do you think?"

Compared to renting, Tong Huaqiong preferred buying.

She felt owning the shop offered more security than leasing.

She didn’t want to develop the business only to be driven away due to envy and increased rent.

Especially when Crispy Food Garden was eyeing them eagerly.

Ma Huateng was astounded!

He hadn’t thought that Tong Huaqiong would come up with this plan.

As a scholar, how could he lower himself to deal with money?

He would rather take his ailing mother back to the countryside to farm than become an accountant.

"Young man, I’m sincerely doing this for your benefit. Just think about it. You’re not skilled at business, and the shop is wasted in your hands. But if I get it, you’ve seen how I can grab business even with just a stall from Crispy Food Garden. Imagine how well I’d do with a proper shop. Selling the shop to me, becoming my accountant would allow you to keep accounts without hindering your studies, and you’d still have income every month."

"Besides, you being a Scholar, it seems like you aim for a career path. Civil exams include economics knowledge, and even officials need it. The reason your shop failed is because no one taught you. No one is born knowing business. Keeping accounts while learning business in the store lays groundwork for your future official career. Don’t you agree?"

Ma Huateng was taken aback by Tong Huaqiong’s insight.

His father had said similar things, but he hadn’t listened.

So, after his father passed, he found himself at a loss.

"You don’t need to answer me now. Think it through and come find me. I’ll give you two days to consider," Tong Huaqiong said.

"Alright, I’ll go back and discuss with my mother," Ma Huateng said.

Tong Huaqiong left the tavern with Gu Taohua. Just as they were leaving, she asked, "How do you write your name?"

"It’s Ma as in tall horse, Hua as in painting, and Teng as in vine, Ma Huateng." Ma Huateng surprisingly acknowledged Tong Huaqiong’s literacy and respectfully explained the characters of his name.

So it was Ma Huateng!