After the marriage arrangement between Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao was set, Tong Huaqiong finally felt at ease with one of her concerns.

The next day, Jingzhe went to enroll at Wanliu Academy, officially becoming a student there.

Tong Huaqiong naturally introduced Gu Baishuang to Mr. Lu.

Mr. Lu’s batch of trading ships set after the New Year wouldn’t return until autumn, and Gu Baishuang calculated that if this trip encountered no major storms, she could earn at least three to four hundred taels of silver.

Having silver in hand naturally gave her confidence, and she begged Tong Huaqiong to keep an eye out for a shop for sale in Prefecture City.

She acquired two shops, originally intending to put them under Nie Xiaofeng’s name, but with Tong Huaqiong’s reminder, she placed one under her own name.

What her stepmother said was true, that even one’s own children aren’t as reliable as having things in one’s own hands.

Gu Baishuang instructed Nie Xiaofeng, "Don’t tell your father and your two brothers."

Nie Xiaofeng said, "I’m not stupid. In the Nie Family, it’s just you and me on the same side."

Nie Xiaofeng had long seen that his father favored his two brothers more, even being cautious of their mother in many matters.

The reason his brothers and sisters-in-law often showed displeasure to their mother was their father’s indulgence.

Now that their mother was awake and doing business with Grandmother, he couldn’t be happier, so why would he tell his father and two opportunistic brothers?

After helping Gu Baishuang acquire two shops, Tong Huaqiong started inspecting her own shop in Prefecture City.

To be honest, she wasn’t worried at all about the shop’s business affairs in the larger scope.

Now, every week, the manager of the Prefecture City branch would come to Yan Guan Town with the account books to give a report.

He Chao and Gu Taohua also originally went to Prefecture City once every two weeks, and now it was once a month.

So, Tong Huaqiong was very familiar with the situation and personnel of the Prefecture City shop.

After more than half a year of operations, Taohua Dessert in Prefecture City had already shown the stature of the first pastry shop.

Tong Huaqiong first greeted the bosses of the major pork shops, as after all, the pork from these shops was provided by her and she was their patron.

Then she checked the pastry shop and the seed and pesticide shop, verified the account books, and consoled the staff.

As Tong Huaqiong had anticipated, the pastry shop on the management side had no issues, but there was unrest in the bakery room.

Tong Huaqiong realized the reason.

Initially, the bakery room was supervised by Master Song from Yan Guan Town, who was an experienced and skillful artisan from the headquarters, commanding respect and compliance from everyone in Prefecture City.

After staying in Prefecture City for more than half a year, according to the agreement with Tong Huaqiong, Master Song went to manage the bakery room of the shop in Pingchuan County last month.

Tong Huaqiong couldn’t stop him from leaving, as he was a Yan Guan Town native and never intended to stay long in Prefecture City.

Originally, he wanted to return to Yan Guan Town, but considering the proximity of Pingchuan County to Yan Guan Town, he could bring his family and elderly mother to Pingchuan County to enjoy life, so he agreed to go there instead.

Once Master Song left, the bakery room in Prefecture City was left without a leader.

Before leaving, Master Song recommended Master Wen to be in charge of the bakery room.

Master Wen, the only female baker in the Prefecture City bakery room, was also recognized as an apprentice by Master Song, worked diligently, had a talent for baking, and especially excelled at learning new types of pastries, experimenting with new recipes after becoming skilled.

The two pastries that Master Wen improved were already best sellers at Taohua Dessert in Prefecture City.

Logically, with Master Wen’s professional skills, there should be no problem for her to be the chief of the bakery room.

But she faced resistance at Taohua Dessert in Prefecture City.

The only reason.

Simply because the bakery room in Prefecture City was a man’s world, and Master Wen was the only woman.

The many male pastry chefs were not accepting.

They asserted that throughout Prefecture City’s pastry shops, no woman had been the chief pastry chef.

They were not accepting of a woman rising above them.

Manager Sun of the pastry shop in Prefecture City worried that if Master Wen was promoted, the male pastry chefs would refuse to work, jeopardizing the branch’s revenue.

Yet, there was no more suitable candidate among the other pastry chefs than Master Wen.

Therefore, the appointment of the bakery room manager was postponed.

Tong Huaqiong’s expression turned stern after hearing Manager Sun’s report.

Though typically a manager with outstanding ability, Manager Sun couldn’t even resolve such a minor issue with the bakery room, perhaps because, like many men in the world, he was innately reluctant to see a woman excel.

She was the owner, and he had no choice but to submit.

Just like him, Master Wen was also a worker. While he could accept Master Wen doing odd jobs or being an ordinary baker in the shop, he internally wouldn’t acknowledge Master Wen advancing to management.

If Master Wen entered management, wouldn’t he have to discuss work matters directly with her?

Thinking about having to consult with a woman on new recipe development and shop management drove him unwilling.

He still wanted to promote a male pastry chef to be his right-hand man.

Tong Huaqiong asked Manager Sun, "Why can’t Master Wen, with her pastry expertise, be the bakery room supervisor?"

Manager Sun hesitantly said, "She lacks experience, whereas other baking masters in the bakery room have been there for years, some for over a decade. Promoting her would upset everyone; I’m afraid that forced promotion would cause unrest in the bakery, affecting business. So I shelved the matter, thinking to slowly groom someone from the other bakers instead."

Tong Huaqiong said, "Afraid of unrest in the bakery room? You are the manager, and if you can’t handle bakery room unrest, how can you command respect as the manager?"

Manager Sun broke out in a cold sweat.

Tong Huaqiong’s message was clear: if you can’t even manage this, what is your purpose?

Since grooming a manager for the shop wasn’t easy, and Manager Sun had never made mistakes since joining Taohua Dessert, his contributions were undeniable in making Taohua Dessert one of the top pastry shops in Prefecture City.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle unrest in the bakery, he just didn’t want to manage the issue.

Precisely because Manager Sun is capable, Tong Huaqiong wouldn’t dismiss him because of this.

Dismissing him meant finding another manager.

While she wanted a female manager, most managers of this era were male; replacing one Manager Sun would bring another like Managers Liu or Chen, who likely shared the same view that a male baker should manage the bakery.

Instead of changing managers, why not strongly push Master Wen forward and alter Manager Sun’s thinking?

Tong Huaqiong took a deep breath and calmly said, "If the bakery room doesn’t accept Master Wen, then how about hiring based on competition?"

Manager Sun inquired, "What do you mean by competition?"

Tong Huaqiong replied, "Competitive hiring means whoever wins will lead the bakery room. Starting today, every baker can come up with two new pastries. You have two days, and whoever’s pastries are favored by customers will be appointed as the bakery room supervisor."

Since it’s the bakery room, baking skills should be the priority.

Seeing Tong Huaqiong like this, Manager Sun could only agree.

Disagreement wasn’t an option; Tong Huaqiong was the owner, and leaving would mean giving up a well-paying job with year-end bonuses.

Manager Sun respectfully said, "Owner, as you instruct, the competitive hiring will proceed, I’ll notify everyone to prepare."

Tong Huaqiong smiled faintly, "Manager Sun, I respect your fairness and loyalty. Let me make it clear: regardless of who succeeds, once they are the bakery room supervisor, you can’t look down on them due to gender or experience. If I find out, I won’t tolerate it."

Manager Sun wiped his sweat, repeatedly saying he wouldn’t dare.

The owner truly was perceptive, seeing through him at a glance.

Tong Huaqiong said to Gu Taohua, "Taohua, work with Manager Sun to oversee this matter."

Gu Taohua nodded.

Manager Sun, aren’t you psychologically opposed to a woman being a supervisor?

Then let the Young Master Gu Taohua stand before you to shake things up.