The evil mother-in-law does not whitewash, she only abuses her children

Chapter 585 Why are you talking about marriage now?

It was Tong Huaqiong's idea to put fingerprints on the contract.

Of course, this is not the first time this has happened. Everyone who works at Tong Huaqiong's house, whether they are short-term hired workers in the fields or long-term workers in the shop, must sign a contract.

Only by signing a contract will everyone respect this job and avoid taking shortcuts to the greatest extent possible.

For example, if it is verbally stipulated that those who cut corners in sewing cotton-padded clothes will be fined ten times the amount and will never be hired again, there will definitely be people who can take advantage of this loophole. However, if it is clearly stated in the contract with a signature and a seal, it will have a deterrent effect in black and white.

Everyone was quite reserved at first, but they relaxed after receiving the cotton cloth.

Su Qing repeatedly emphasized that the price was calculated by piecework, with payment due every five days, and the more you work, the more you earn.

After hearing this, everyone calculated how many cotton-padded clothes they could sew with the cotton and cloth they received, and thought happily that what they were holding was not cotton-padded clothes but money.

Girls think of using the money they earn to buy flowers for the town or save up for their dowry. Young wives think of buying new clothes for their children and buying cakes for them. Old ladies think of using the money they earn to have a good year.

Everyone said goodbye to Tong Huaqiong with a smile and walked home.

After all, the sooner you finish sewing, the sooner you can get the money. After this batch is finished, there will be the next batch.

Of course, those who had not been assigned the first batch of work surrounded Tong Huaqiong and asked when the next batch of work would be assigned. Tong Huaqiong understood that everyone wanted to make money. After all, there were few opportunities to make money during the busy non-agricultural season in the countryside.

Everyone was eager to be assigned work.

Tong Huaqiong did not promise everyone a specific time, but only said that once the cotton in the weaving workshop reaches a certain amount and the cloth is woven to a certain amount, everyone will be assigned work immediately.

The weaving workshop was on full alert, with the cotton-fluffing machines and looms running from morning till night.

Tong Huaqiong asked He Chao to recruit some craftsmen from the surrounding counties to assemble the looms with Gu Daqiao.

Everyone was very motivated. Not only did they not rest for a moment during the day, they even worked until midnight with oil lamps lit.

Tong Huaqiong didn't want to let everyone rush like this, but the cotton-padded jackets for the border needed to be rushed. Since she had accepted the job, it was like she had signed a military order. If they couldn't be delivered on time, there would be big trouble.

Fortunately, the female workers had no complaints and even comforted Tong Huaqiong, saying that the weather in the weaving workshop was neither too hot nor too cold, they had food to eat and money to earn, and that this job was much better than working in the fields. Not to mention working until the middle of the night, they could even work all night.

When the weaving workshop was in full swing, Mr. Lu and Mr. Huang had already mobilized the shopkeepers and clerks to stockpile large amounts of cotton.

Tong Huaqiong used all of Aunt Tang's 20,000 taels of silver to hoard cotton.

When Mr. Lu sent people to deliver cotton to Qinghe Bay, Tong Huaqiong was going to Pingchuan as a matchmaker to help Governor Yao propose marriage.

Fortunately, the proposal went smoothly.

It is impossible for Magistrate Yao, who has both personal ability and family background, to propose to the illegitimate daughter of the Lian family without fail.

Aunt Tang was afraid that the Lian family's principal wife and three legitimate sons would do something bad, so she kept the news a secret. Old Man Lian didn't know about it until five days before the proposal. Hua and others got the news on the morning of the proposal.

Old Master Lian was originally very angry, thinking that marriage was an important matter that should be decided by parents, but Lian Hengruo made the decision on his own without saying a word.

But when she learned that her son-in-law was Magistrate Yao, she had no reason to be angry. She laughed so hard that wrinkles appeared on her face.

Since ancient times, which businessman did not want to change his family fortune? Any family with a fortune would want to have a scholar who could pursue a career in politics. He took great pains to send the second son of the Lian family to study at Wanliu Academy, but not only did he fail to learn, he was completely ruined.

The elder son was absorbed in business, and the younger son, who was studying in the county's private school, did not seem to have a chance of passing the imperial examinations.

Just when Mr. Lian felt that the feng shui of his ancestral tomb was bad, a son-in-law who was the prefect and came from a noble family in Shengjing suddenly arrived. How could he not be happy?

Mr. Lian was so happy that he increased the dowry for Lian Hengruo.

When Hua and her son and daughter-in-law learned that Magistrate Yao was coming to propose marriage, they thought that Aunt Tang had gone insane. They could not understand how a concubine's daughter of a merchant family could catch the eye of a noble family.

It was not until Magistrate Yao and Tong Huaqiong came to their door together that they believed it was true.

Tong Huaqiong saw that Hua's face was tense from beginning to end.

Apart from Hua's unhappy face, everything went smoothly with the engagement. The engagement letter was exchanged and the marriage was scheduled for the spring of the following year.

The Yao family sent an old housekeeper from Shengjing to help Yao Zhifu prepare for the wedding. Originally, the Yao family intended for Yao Zhifu to return to Beijing at the end of the year to report on his work and bring Lian Hengruo to Shengjing to get married.

Prefect Yao refused, and the wedding was scheduled to take place in Ningcheng.

Because according to the rules of the Yao family, women from noble families had to stay at home to take care of their parents-in-law and manage the household affairs, and Prefect Yao did not want Lian Hengruo to be trapped in the inner house of Shengjing.

He planned to bring Lian Hengruo to the Yao family after he was transferred to Shengjing.

These details were told to Tong Huaqiong by Aunt Tang, who praised Magistrate Yao for his appropriateness in her words and deeds.

Tong Huaqiong also felt that what Magistrate Yao did was a rare behavior of a good man in this era.

On the way out of the Lian family, Tong Huaqiong finally couldn't help asking Magistrate Yao why, as a descendant of a noble family, he had waited until now to arrange a marriage. Magistrate Yao said helplessly that his family had arranged three marriages for him, one of which was a childhood marriage, but he had never seen the first two, as one died young and the other died of illness.

The third one took advantage of his studying at Wanliu Academy to enter the palace and become a queen.

Due to his first two marriages, he gained a reputation for being unlucky in marriage.

He told Lian Hengruo all these, and Lian Hengruo said that she was strong and had nothing to fear, so the two of them hit it off and got together.

Tong Huaqiong: “…”

When she came to Pingchuan County, she naturally had to go to Jufulai for inspection. Fortunately, everything satisfied her.

It was already the afternoon of the next day when Tong Huaqiong returned to Qinghe Bay.

Gu Taohua came forward and asked, "Mother, is Hengruo and Lord Yao's engagement going smoothly?"

Tong Huaqiong noticed that Gu Taohua seemed to be glancing towards the private school constantly, so she followed Gu Taohua's gaze and found Gu Ruinian standing at the door of the private school.

"It goes well. The wedding date is set for next spring." Tong Huaqiong said loudly.

She understood what Gu Taohua meant.

The person Gu Ruinian wanted to marry the most was Lian Hengruo, but now his dream was completely shattered, and Tong Huaqiong didn't mind stabbing him in the chest again.

When Gu Ruinian heard the news that Lian Hengruo and Prefect Yao were engaged, his eyes were instantly filled with hatred.

His legs and his current situation are all thanks to Lian Hengruo and Tong Huaqiong Gu Taohua, mother and daughter.

What made him hate it even more was that he had no way to retaliate for the time being. He could only watch Lian Hengruo become the prefect's wife and watch Tong Huaqiong's weaving business prosper.

Gu Ruinian finally got a break from Old Lady Gu and came to the private school under the pretext of collecting firewood. He used to look down on country teachers like Master Su, but this time he lowered his head to pay a visit to Master Su, hoping to see if he could find a way to continue taking the imperial examinations from him.

When he came out and met Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua, he felt that everything was not going well.

Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua walked towards the weaving workshop. Gu Ruinian stared at the backs of the mother and daughter with hatred, then sneered.

He stood at the window and listened to Master Su's lecture.

He seemed to have peeped into Su Fu's secret.