The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 118: A Deadly Pit with No Reparation

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: A Deadly Pit with No Reparation

Just moments ago, the four mandarin fish were jumping lively, but now they were barely breathing, their gills opening and closing weakly, about to breathe their last.

Sun Feifei’s face was very grim as she pointed to the mandarin fish on the ground, angrily questioning, "Shen Mingzhu, is this how you kill fish?"

"Hmm, I usually kill fish this way."

"You..."

Sun Feifei was so frustrated that all she could do was to urge her, "Well, then you hurry up and prepare these four fish. Once they die, the flesh won’t be fresh anymore."

Shen Mingzhu looked completely clueless, "Prepare what?"

Zhao Fang couldn’t help but burst out, "Do you even know how to kill fish? Don’t you know that after killing them you need to scrape off the scales and remove the innards? Also, the black membrane inside the belly has to be cleaned out thoroughly, otherwise the fish flesh will smell fishy."

Shen Mingzhu suddenly realized, then smilingly replied to Zhao Fang, "I know how to do those, but that’s at an additional cost."

"What did you say?!"

Pei Ziheng suddenly shouted, "My mom says, that’s at an additional cost! Auntie, are you going deaf at such a young age?"

Zhao Fang was startled, nearly bursting with fury, at a loss whether to scold Shen Mingzhu for her greed or to scold Pei Ziheng for lacking manners by calling her auntie.

Shen Mingzhu took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire, "The two of you from the bank, do you want the additional service or not? Make up your minds quickly, your fish are running out of breath."

Sun Feifei and Zhao Fang looked down and sure enough, the four fish were lying stiff on the ground, almost unresponsive.

The money was already given out, they couldn’t just let the fish die for nothing.

Moreover, the more Shen Mingzhu demanded, the more her greedy nature was revealed without doubt, and the more disdain and contempt she would receive from the study group members.

She didn’t believe that after Yan Yi saw Shen Mingzhu’s true greedy and ugly nature, he would still look at her differently.

In just a few seconds, Sun Feifei quickly weighed the pros and cons in her mind and made a choice.

"You prepare the fish first, I’ll pay."

"Payment first, goods delivered afterward."

Sun Feifei gritted her teeth, "How much do you want?"

"Fifty."

Sun Feifei was about to explode, "Shen Mingzhu, don’t push it too far, you’ve already taken fifty."

Shen Mingzhu pointed at her dress, "I just had this dress made, it’s my first time wearing it. Having killed four fish for you, do you think it will be wearable afterward? If it’s too expensive, you don’t have to hire me. Just clean the fish yourself and save some money, but you better hurry up, they’re almost gone."

Pei Ziheng added dispassionately, "You can also choose not to make the squirrel fish. If you fail to complete the task, no one will say anything other than you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, aiming too high for your capabilities, and bragging without the skills needed."

Pfft—

Someone laughed quietly, and then everyone around burst into laughter.

Sun Feifei and Zhao Fang were both red in the face with anger.

Especially Sun Feifei, who at this moment was filled with regret and annoyance.

Regretting that she should not have chosen to make squirrel fish, a complicated dish, to showcase her cooking skills.

At the same time, she resented Shen Mingzhu and her son for their cunning and deceitful ways, singing in duet to swindle her money and embarrass her.

But the situation being what it was, she had no way out; otherwise, she would lose both her dignity and her investment.

It’s just a hundred bucks, she could afford it!

Besides, this gave her the perfect opportunity to go borrow money from Yan Yi, and then she could ask him to dinner to repay him as a thank-you, inadvertently getting a chance to grow closer to him.

The imagination was rich, but reality was harsh—

"Sorry, I didn’t bring my wallet when I left the house."

Yan Yi declined Sun Feifei’s request for a loan with a serene expression and casually pointed to Ning Yuan beside him, "Ask him, he’s got plenty of money."

Ning Yuan was straightforward, immediately taking out his wallet and lending fifty to Sun Feifei on the spot.

After Sun Feifei took the money to find Shen Mingzhu, Ning Yuan stroked his chin, sized up Sun Feifei with an appraising look, then turned to Yan Yi and teased in a low voice, "I think that girl’s head over heels for you."

Yan Yi replied with a velvety voice, "Are you blind?"

Ning Yuan chuckled, "Do you need me to get rid of this rotten peach blossom for you?"

"Up to you."

"Alright, consider it done."

After taking the money, Shen Mingzhu took out an apron from her bag and tied it on, nearly driving Sun Feifei and Zhao Fang mad with irritation.

In less than ten minutes, Shen Mingzhu had processed the four mandarin fish to perfection.

She could easily cut salmon weighing over twenty pounds into pieces, so dealing with a few small mandarin fish was a piece of cake.

Her brisk and efficient filleting won the admiration of the married female students in attendance.

These women had to cook at home all the time and knew too well the difficulty of preparing fish, not to mention the strong fishy smell and the need to be careful not to get cut by the scales, bones, and fins.

To maintain her composure and manners, Sun Feifei politely thanked Shen Mingzhu.

Shen Mingzhu flashed a white smile, "It’s I who should thank you, letting me make an easy hundred bucks. If you have such good deals in the future, feel free to come to me."

Sun Feifei was fuming, but she didn’t have time to argue with Shen Mingzhu right now; she needed to make the sweet and sour mandarin fish while it was still fresh.

With no more drama to watch, the other groups also started to get busy.

In Shen Mingzhu’s group, Shen Mingzhu and Pei Ziheng had already washed the radishes, leaving the subsequent tasks to Xiangying and her husband.

Xiangying was responsible for shredding, while her husband prepared the condiments.

Shen Mingzhu took Pei Ziheng to ask the farm management for some toothpaste to remove the fishy smell from their hands.

"Mom, you’ve hurt your fingers."

Seeing the concern and distress for her on Pei Ziheng’s pretty little face, Shen Mingzhu felt a warmth in her heart.

"It’s nothing, just a few small cuts. I’ll put some medicine on when we get back."

After saying this and noticing that Pei Ziheng still looked downcast, Shen Mingzhu comforted him, "A couple of cuts in exchange for a hundred bucks is a good deal."

Not a good deal at all.

Never mind just a hundred bucks, even a million wouldn’t be worth his mother getting hurt.

All because of that annoying woman who always targeted his mother and even caused her to get injured.

Staring at Sun Feifei and Zhao Fang who were busy making incisions in the fish from a distance, an evil glint flashed in Pei Ziheng’s dark eyes.

——

With her hands washed, Shen Mingzhu returned to the group to teach Xiangying how to marinate the radish strips.

Pei Ziheng, like a curious baby, flitted from one group to another. Though he was running around, he didn’t disturb anyone’s work, so no one minded him.

After a while, Pei Ziheng arrived at Sun Feifei’s group.

Since Yan Yi and Ning Yuan had both admitted they had no cooking skills, Sun Feifei had to work with Zhao Fang to complete the task of cooking four sweet and sour mandarin fish, dealing with the fish heads and bodies as well as preparing various ingredients, keeping both of them extremely busy.

So, when they saw Pei Ziheng standing off to the side as if watching a show, Zhao Fang snapped irritably, "Get lost."

Pei Ziheng stared at her, "Auntie, you have a caterpillar on your head."

Zhao Fang was skeptical but still turned to Sun Feifei to help check for insects in her hair.

Taking advantage of their distraction, Pei Ziheng dumped a handful of white powder into the bowl of starch.

When Zhao Fang confirmed there was no caterpillar on her head and turned to look for Pei Ziheng to settle the score, Pei Ziheng had already disappeared without a trace.

Furious, she stomped her foot and had to continue with the task at hand.