The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 256 - 255: Shen Baolan Gets Emotional Again

Chapter 256: Chapter 255: Shen Baolan Gets Emotional Again

Pei Yang was in a hurry to buy tofu pudding for his wife and didn’t pay much attention to Shen Baolan and the old lady, striding past with big steps.

Although Pei Yang was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, his tall stature and especially his two-meter-long legs, which he moved quickly and steadily, were hard to ignore.

The cotton-padded coat that made other people look like bears, looked proper and handsome on him. Combined with his deep-set facial features and prominent nose, every move he made exuded the virile aura of a mature man.

Shen Baolan was so mesmerized that she inadvertently lost herself in watching him.

Until the fortune-teller Madame Ma slapped her back to reality, "Hey, snap out of it."

Shen Baolan turned around to face Madame Ma’s teasing eyes and felt a strange stirring in her heart, "Madame Ma, do you think there’s any marital fate between him and me?"

Madame Ma did not hesitate: "No."

Shen Baolan: !!

After being sulky for two seconds, she finally remembered the important matter, "Did you see clearly just now? Is he still a virgin?"

"Not anymore."

This was not the result Shen Baolan wanted, "Are you sure you saw clearly?"

Madame Ma’s face turned cold, "Are you questioning my professionalism?"

Shen Baolan quickly placated, "Madame Ma, don’t be angry, I just thought, if he’s really capable, why hasn’t he consummated the marriage with Shen Mingzhu after so long?"

"You should go ask him yourself, how would I know?"

Unwilling to leave it at that, Shen Baolan took Madame Ma to the Pei Family again.

Hearing the knock on the door, Shen Mingzhu thought Pei Yang had come back with tofu pudding and happily ran to open the door.

But when she saw that the people outside were Shen Baolan and Madame Ma, she shut the door without a word.

Bad luck.

Outside the door, Shen Baolan, having been snubbed, didn’t even have time to get angry as she hastily asked Madame Ma, "Madame Ma, what do you think, can you tell if she’s found another man, if what’s in her belly is a bastard?"

Madame Ma looked at her as if she were an idiot, "Don’t look for me next time, go to the hospital."

Shen Baolan was confused, "What do I need the hospital for?"

"To check your head."

"Her husband is tall, handsome, and strong, why would she cheat with another man? Has your brain gone soggy?"

Shen Baolan’s head buzzed from Madame Ma’s reprimand: "..."

Back at home, Shen Baolan had no appetite for breakfast and lay in bed feeling emo alone.

She had spent half a year’s worth of her private savings only to find out that Shen Mingzhu had not cheated and that the child was not illegitimate; how could she not feel angry and disappointed?

What made her feel even worse was that Pei Yang was not just a pretty face.

She couldn’t imagine what bliss and fortune it must be to do those things in bed with a strong and valiant man like Pei Yang.

If only she hadn’t had that dream, she wouldn’t have let Shen Mingzhu have Pei Yang, and she would be the one pregnant with Pei Yang’s child now.

Thinking this, Shen Baolan felt as if thousands of ants were gnawing at her heart.

...

"Eat slowly, be careful not to choke, no one’s fighting you for it."

At the dining table, seeing Shen Mingzhu gobble down the tofu pudding like a little greedy cat, Pei Yang couldn’t help but nag, yet his eyes were filled with doting.

Shen Mingzhu took several sips in succession before slowing down her eating pace.

Like most pregnant women, Shen Mingzhu’s tastes had become increasingly picky.

For example, she suddenly craved tofu pudding in the middle of last night and couldn’t sleep without eating it.

In this era, unlike thirty years later, they didn’t have the convenience of 24-hour restaurants or food delivery.

Because of this craving for tofu pudding, Shen Mingzhu hardly slept in the second half of the night, and Pei Yang could only stay up with her until dawn. Then he went out to buy the tofu pudding to satisfy her whim.

"Husband, do you want to try some?"

Seeing him watching her constantly, with the faint redness of sleeplessness in his eyes, Shen Mingzhu scooped up a spoonful of tofu pudding and fed it to him.

But the term of address that slipped out caused a moment of silence at the dining table.

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Seeing father and son both staring at her without blinking, Shen Mingzhu felt her ears heat up as she was about to retract the spoon, but Pei Yang caught it in his mouth.

"Tasty."

She glanced at the man and lowered her head to continue eating her tofu pudding.

After eating her fill, Shen Mingzhu went back to the bedroom, intending to get some more sleep.

Not long after she lay down, Pei Yang came in, closed the door, sat on the edge of the bed, rested his arm near her ear, bent over to look at her, his eyes as if flickers of flame were leaping within them, intense with heat.

His voice was also especially low and sultry, "Wife, what did you just call me?"

"Say it again."

Shen Mingzhu hid her face in the blanket and whispered, "Stop bothering me, I need to sleep."

Pei Yang easily fished her out from under the blankets, coaxing gently, "Just say it, and I’ll let you sleep."

Shen Mingzhu then blushed and weakly called out again, "Husband."

"Mmm..."

It proved that one should never trust what a man says in bed.

If she had known that calling him husband would excite him like a dog in heat, she definitely wouldn’t have said it carelessly, she swore.

...

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the food factory began operations as scheduled.

However, after starting up, Shen Mingzhu did not rush production, but instead, led the entire staff to renovate and remodel the food factory.

Firstly, the perimeter walls were heightened and reinforced, and a night security guard was hired.

Next, a new workshop and a finance office were constructed.

In the new workshop, roles were defined more precisely, with each person responsible for their particular step in the production process.

Such restrictions limited workers’ opportunities to learn the complete production process, minimizing the risk of formulae leaks.

As for the finance office, it was built next to the office as a separate room with reinforced doors and windows. Besides her and the financial staff, no one else was allowed inside, with violators facing immediate dismissal.

While the food factory was being updated, Shen Mingzhu canceled her sole proprietorship license and filed for corporate registration.

She was planning to establish a company.

While waiting for the sole proprietorship to transition to corporate status, the opening of the school year for Pei Ziheng arrived.

"Did you pack your pencil case and winter vacation homework in your backpack?"

"Hmm, all packed."

Even though the Lantern Festival had passed, temperatures hadn’t risen. Seeing Pei Ziheng’s coat seemed too thin, Shen Mingzhu opened the wardrobe to find a thicker one.

"Wear this one. On the first day of school, the principal is surely going to ramble on for ages. Don’t catch a cold."

"Hmm."

Shen Mingzhu took off his thinner coat, replaced it with a thicker one, and carefully adjusted his collar and hem.

Pei Ziheng was as obedient as a doll, his dark eyes gleaming, as if filled with the stars of happiness.

After changing coats, Shen Mingzhu looked him up and down with satisfaction, then suddenly noticed her son’s pants seemed to have become too short.

At first, she thought her son had pulled up his pants too high, but after tugging at the leg, she realized they truly were short.

"Son, it looks like you’ve grown taller!"

Meeting Shen Mingzhu’s happy gaze, Pei Ziheng uncertainly looked down at his pant legs.

On the wall where awards were pasted, Shen Mingzhu had drawn a height chart with a permanent marker, measuring Pei Ziheng’s height every three to four months.

"Husband, come quickly!"

Hearing her call, Pei Yang thought something had happened and rushed out, pinching half a green onion.

Coming out, he saw his wife with bright apricot eyes pointing at their son by the wall, "Look, our son has grown taller."

Pei Yang walked closer with the green onion in hand and, seeing the mark level with his son’s height, a smile spread across his face.

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