The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 290 - 289: Qin Jinlian Comes Knocking

Chapter 290: Chapter 289: Qin Jinlian Comes Knocking

By the time Pei Ziheng returned home, it was nearly evening.

As soon as he entered, he saw Shen Mingzhu holding Little Guoguo, wandering through the living room. The golden sunset outside the window cast a soft halo around mother and daughter.

Pei Ziheng couldn’t help but stop in his tracks, silently watching this heartwarming tableau.

When Shen Mingzhu turned around, she saw her son standing at the entryway, lost in thought. Her palm-sized lovely face bloomed into a bright smile, softly calling out to him—

"Son, come in."

Pei Ziheng walked over, tilting his snow-white and beautiful little face upward, "Mom, I’m back."

Shen Mingzhu freed one hand and ruffled his hair, "There’s something delicious for you in the fridge, go get it yourself."

"Mm."

Pei Ziheng first went upstairs to change into clean clothes and washed his hands and face before coming back down to the kitchen.

At the dining room’s round table, Pei Ziheng sat in his usual spot eating milk pudding from a white porcelain bowl with a spoon.

Shen Mingzhu sat next to him, holding her daughter in her arms, tenderly watching him eat.

Pei Ziheng took a bite, glanced at his mom and sister guarding him, and felt bubbles of happiness and joy fizzing out like a bubble machine.

"Mom, did you make this?"

"Yes, is it good?"

"Delicious!"

Shen Mingzhu gazed at him with a gentle look, "Son, mom has been busy taking care of your sister lately and hasn’t paid much attention to you. You’re not angry with mom, are you?"

Pei Ziheng was startled and quickly shook his head, "No, mom, you’re already working so hard taking care of my sister. I’m grown up, I can take care of myself."

Shen Mingzhu affectionately tousled his hair, "What silly things are you saying? You and your sister are both my children. I should take care of and love you both equally, without favoring one over the other."

"Yiyi ahhh..."

Glancing down at her squirming daughter, Shen Mingzhu smiled, "See, Guoguo agrees with what I’m saying."

Pei Ziheng looked at his sister, his dark eyes as soft as the starry night sky.

After caring for her these past days, Little Guoguo’s skin had grown much fairer than at birth, and her eyes were no longer uneven but like two shiny black grapes, rolling around curiously as if fascinated by everything.

Pei Ziheng continued to savor the sweet and cool pudding. It was made by his mom’s own hands, and he intended to finish every last bit to show his appreciation.

Shen Mingzhu seized the opportunity to ask Pei Ziheng about his recent whereabouts and with which classmates he had been playing.

"Mom, I haven’t been playing with classmates, but have been doing part-time work study," Pei Ziheng answered obediently after swallowing the pudding.

The term "part-time work study" was familiar to Shen Mingzhu, but it seemed both incongruous and amusing when associated with her six-year-old son.

Trying to hold back her laughter, she seriously inquired about what kind of part-time work he did.

"Selling mooncakes."

"How did your sales go?"

"Not too bad."

Shen Mingzhu took his "not too bad" to mean that a few parents of his classmates bought some boxes out of courtesy.

That was until Pei Ziheng produced a proper sales report.

Seeing the dense list of orders, Shen Mingzhu’s first reaction was to wonder if today was April Fool’s Day and her son had created a fake report just to tease her.

It wasn’t until Pei Ziheng detailed every customer on the orders that she had no choice but to believe in the authenticity of the sales report.

Besides a few classmate’s parents who had ordered several dozens of boxes, the rest were orders from a company called Zhengxing Trading Company acting as a sales agent, with a total of one thousand five hundred boxes.

About Zhengxing Trading Company and Shi Yizheng, Pei Ziheng’s explanation was—

He had once found Shi Yizheng’s wallet, and in gratitude, Shi Yizheng had treated him to a meal. During the conversation, he learned that Shi Yizheng was in the food trade, which inspired Pei Ziheng to suggest that Shi could distribute his family’s mooncakes.

Perhaps because she had long accepted that her son was a prodigious child, Shen Mingzhu wasn’t as surprised as one might expect when her son managed to conceive and facilitate such a business deal, but she was still delighted.

One thousand five hundred boxes of mooncakes, minus Zhengxing company’s distribution commission, still earned a profit of fifty cents per box, adding up to over seven hundred dollars.

Although her goal had always been to raise her son to be a hardworking, sensible, and independent child, she had never thought to gain anything from him.

At this moment, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t tell if she was more startled or touched, only feeling an inexplicable soreness in her nose and eyes.

She freed one hand and pulled her son into her embrace, kissing the top of his head, "Son, you did so well, mom is very proud of you."

Pei Ziheng nestled quietly in her arms, his delicate and beautiful little face brimming with happiness and contentment.

Making his mother happy also made him happy.

In the evening, Pei Yang looked at the report and felt the same surprise and delight.

"This kid, he really pulled it off," he said.

Shen Mingzhu looked at him, "You knew about this? Why didn’t you tell me?"

Pei Yang was quick to shift the blame onto his son, "It was Ziheng who told me not to say anything. He wanted to surprise you. Besides, I didn’t expect he could really accomplish this. If I had told you and then our son didn’t succeed, wouldn’t that just lead to disappointment for no reason?"

Shen Mingzhu huffed, "Our son is only six years old. Whether or not he succeeded, the fact that he had this idea already sets him apart from other children."

Pei Yang grinned, "That’s true, my wife, our son is so outstanding, and it’s all thanks to you."

Despite her happiness, Shen Mingzhu did not let the man’s flattery go to her head.

Her contribution to Pei Ziheng’s upbringing was more about shaping his character; intelligence and talent were innate.

After the excitement, Pei Yang presented another pleasant surprise.

"So much?"

Looking at the overall sales of mooncakes by the food factory during this period, Shen Mingzhu was ecstatic.

"Old Zhu has been driving for so many years and knows quite a few business owners. He’s helped sell a lot of mooncakes. I plan to give him a commission of twenty cents per box," he said.

Shen Mingzhu nodded, "Just make the call on that."

Although sales had gone up, production couldn’t keep up, so the couple decided to hire ten more female workers after discussing it together.

Before going to bed, Shen Mingzhu asked Pei Yang to find some fruit saplings to plant in their yard when he had time, so when their daughter grew up a bit, both children could pick and eat fruit from their own yard.

Pei Yang, known for his swift action, went to the sapling market the next day and brought back several top-quality fruit saplings.

There were peaches, apples, cherries, plums, jujubes, and pears. From spring to autumn, they would have fresh fruit throughout three seasons.

After placing the saplings down, Pei Yang glanced at his daughter and then went to the factory. Shen Mingzhu, with her son and Auntie Yu, planted the saplings together in various corners of the yard.

Once the saplings were planted and they had rested for a bit, Shen Mingzhu took out a ruler and created a new height chart on the wall next to the stairs in the living room.

And she measured the height of both her son and daughter.

Little Guoguo was forty-five centimeters, and Pei Ziheng had grown a little taller, now reaching one meter three.

After waking up from an afternoon nap, Shen Mingzhu was surprised to find that Qin Jinlian had come to her house.

It was the busy season of autumn harvest in the countryside, a time when people should be hard at work. Yet, Jinlian had come to the city to find her, which surely meant something.

Seeing that she was awake, Qin Jinlian expressed a desire to see her granddaughter. Shen Mingzhu replied directly, "Little Guoguo is still sleeping."

Hearing that her granddaughter was sleeping, Qin Jinlian didn’t insist but instead hesitantly revealed the reason for her visit.