The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 203: Parent-Teacher Meeting

Chapter 203: Chapter 203: Parent-Teacher Meeting

Pei Yang was driven to the brink of collapse by her interruptions, "What now? Who’s here again???"

Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but laugh, pointing to the desk, "I also prepared some wine."

Pei Yang turned around and saw the red wine on the table, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Mingzhu pushed him away a bit, walked over to pick up a wineglass, and handed one to him.

"Clink."

The two glasses lightly touched each other in the air.

After finishing the wine, Shen Mingzhu placed her empty glass back on the desk and looked at the man with her watery, apricot eyes, "Shall we dance? I..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Pei Yang pulled her into his arms and kissed her delicate, petal-soft lips fiercely.

After kissing for a moment, Pei Yang eased his grip on her slightly, panting with a raspy voice, "If you have the energy to dance, better to use it in bed."

Having said that, he gave her no chance to speak or catch her breath.

The enchanting melody began to play in the room—

The cool breeze blows from the south,

The nightingale’s song is a chorus,

All the flowers under the moon drift into dreams,

Only the night-blooming jasmine,

Exudes its fragrance,

I love the vastness of this night,

And the nightingale’s serenade,

Even more, the dreamy, floral dreams,

Embracing the night-blooming jasmine,

Kissing the night-blooming jasmine,

...

It proved that one should never put effort into pleasing a wolf that had been starving for a long time, or the consequences would be to feed oneself to the wolf, to be torn and devoured, leaving not even the dregs behind.

Through the misty window sheer, Shen Mingzhu gazed at the gentle afterglow in the sky, lazily turned over, found a more comfortable position, and was about to sleep a while longer when the door was pushed open at that moment.

She pretended to be asleep and remained still, but her trembling eyelashes betrayed her little ruse.

Pei Yang sat on the bed, held her turned aside left hand in his palm, and looked gently at her beautiful face with his deep eyes.

"If you’re awake, get up. It’s almost time for dinner."

Shen Mingzhu opened her foggy eyes and asked with a lazy voice, "What time is it?"

"It’s 6 o’clock."

"What about our son?"

"He’s back, doing homework in his room."

Noticing the man’s gaze fixed on her, Shen Mingzhu looked down and realized her chest was covered with glaring rose-red marks.

She shot the man a glare, pulled up the blanket to her chin, and kicked his leg with her foot, "Go out for now, I’ll lie down a bit longer before getting up."

Pei Yang caught her foot through the thin blanket, gave it a gentle squeeze, smiling with his profound eyes for a good while before he got up and left.

Only after the door closed did Shen Mingzhu sit up in bed, but the soreness and weakness in her waist made her involuntarily hiss softly.

While getting out of bed, her knees buckled, and she nearly fell.

Standing in front of the dressing mirror and seeing the marks from her neck down to her chest, Shen Mingzhu furiously cursed the man in her heart.

She rummaged through the wardrobe for a high-collared undershirt to put on, and let her hair down loose to cover the traces on her body thoroughly.

Walking out of the room with legs that felt like they were treading on cotton, she smelled the faint aroma of chicken soup in the air. Shen Mingzhu touched her grumbling stomach and went to the kitchen.

Pei Yang was tying on an apron and cooking, and when he saw her come in, his gaze paused on the collar of her high-necked undershirt for half a second before speaking, "The last dish is almost done, go tell Ziheng to wash his hands and come for dinner."

"Mhm."

Shen Mingzhu didn’t rush out but instead lifted the lid of the soup pot, seeing the fragrant and glossy black chicken soup inside made her feel instant warmth in her heart.

At least he has some conscience, knowing to stew chicken soup as a reward for her.

Compared to usual, tonight’s dinner table was evidently too lavish, with not only fish and shrimp but also a pot of aromatic angelica black chicken soup.

Pei Yang ladled a steaming bowl of chicken soup for Shen Mingzhu, then tore off a chicken leg and placed it in her bowl.

Seeing her bow her head to sip the soup, Pei Yang’s eyes and brows brimmed with satisfaction.

"How’s the taste?"

Shen Mingzhu was genuinely hungry, nodded upon hearing the question, "Not bad, pretty fresh."

Pleased by her praise, Pei Yang smiled especially cheerfully, "I know you’re picky, so I specifically bought a live chicken and prepared it right after getting home, of course it’s fresh."

Upon hearing this, Shen Mingzhu was somewhat surprised, "Where did you buy it?"

In that era, the controls on consumer goods were extremely tight, with the private sale of grains, oils, and meats and poultry strictly prohibited, one careless step could lead to accusations of speculation and profiteering.

Meat like black chicken would all go through uniform slaughter by meat processing plants before entering the market, managing to buy any was good enough, let alone a live one, unless you went to the countryside to buy from farmers.

Pei Yang pointed upstairs, a hint of pride on his face, "Auntie Zhang on the fifth floor raised a few black chickens on the rooftop, and I traded a live one for fifty pounds of food coupons."

Fifty pounds of food coupons were roughly equivalent to ten yuan, and ten yuan for a chicken wasn’t cheap. In the market, a regular meat chicken would cost around five or six yuan.

However, Auntie Zhang’s black chickens had been fed grains and vegetable leaves, and she had raised them for over half a year, so ten yuan a piece was considered value for money.

Shen Mingzhu was dressed rather warmly. After drinking two sips of the soup, she felt a bit hot, so she put down the bowl intending to cool off before drinking more.

Looking up, she saw her son staring at her with his dark glistening eyes, couldn’t help but smile, took the bowl in front of him, filled it halfway with soup, then tore off the other chicken leg, and placed the bowl, with soup and leg, in front of her son.

"Eat."

Pei Ziheng bowed his head, took a sip of chicken soup, and then said to Shen Mingzhu, "Mom, there’s a parent-teacher meeting at school tomorrow."

After clarifying the time of the parent-teacher meeting, Shen Mingzhu promised to attend.

Pei Yang glanced at her, then at their son, "How about I go instead, you can take another day off tomorrow."

Shen Mingzhu heard the hidden meaning in his words, and her ears involuntarily turned warm, "No need, I’ll go."

Seeing her insistence, Pei Yang didn’t argue with her anymore and instead began peeling shrimp for her.

...

The parent-teacher meeting was scheduled for three in the afternoon.

Shen Mingzhu specifically arrived half an hour early for school, but upon entering the classroom, she found that many parents had already arrived, seated at their children’s desks, chatting with other parents around them.

"Mom."

Seeing her arrive, Pei Ziheng happily hopped off his stool to let her sit.

After sitting down, Shen Mingzhu whispered to her son, "I’m not late, am I?"

Pei Ziheng shook his head, looking at Shen Mingzhu’s shiny pitch-black eyes.

This was his first time feeling the joy of having his mother attend a parent-teacher meeting, so happy.

...

From the moment Shen Mingzhu stepped into the classroom, many parents were discreetly observing her.

Not wanting to embarrass her son, Shen Mingzhu had taken particular care to dress up; she was wearing a maroon coarse-knit sweater, a coffee-colored corduroy long skirt below, and black leather shoes on her feet.

She was naturally petite, and wearing the loose sweater made her even more delicate and exquisite.

Sitting there with her picturesque brows and eyes, she looked just like a beautiful painting.

Although Shen Mingzhu’s appearance dazzled the parents, a few who knew her background whispered disdainfully—

"The stepmother, I heard she’s from the countryside."

"No wonder she doesn’t look like she’s had children, but her skin is pretty good, not like a villager’s."

Shen Mingzhu was unaware that she was the subject of gossip; she flipped through the first-grade textbooks while chatting with Pei Ziheng to pass the time.

"You must be Pei Ziheng’s parent, right?"

Shen Mingzhu looked up to see a well-dressed woman in front of her and gave a slight nod.

The woman smiled faintly, "I’m Cui Junyou’s mother, I have something I’d like to discuss with you alone."

Shen Mingzhu glanced at her watch, it was still more than ten minutes to three, so she stood up and followed the woman outside the classroom.