The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 300 - 299: Afraid You’ll Hide and Cry

Chapter 300: Chapter 299: Afraid You’ll Hide and Cry

The village chief held considerable authority in Shenjiagou, and when he lost his temper, Goudan’s mother backed down, shrinking her neck and saying no more.

However, Shen Baolan was not afraid of the village chief.

"There might not be anything wrong now, but falling from such a high tree, who knows if there are any internal injuries? In my opinion, not only should there be compensation, but a full body checkup in the city hospital is also necessary, including a CT scan. Just in case there are any lingering effects, it could ruin Goudan’s whole life."

After stoking the fire, she didn’t forget to diss Shen Mingzhu, "If you wanted to eat sour dates, why didn’t you have your own Ziheng climb the tree for you? It’s always easy to boss around someone else’s child. What, you get used to being a leader in the city and now you want to throw your weight around in the village too?"

Hearing Shen Baolan say this, Goudan’s mother regained her confidence.

"That’s right, if it weren’t for her, Shen Mingzhu’s instigation, my Goudan wouldn’t have climbed the tree, and he wouldn’t have fallen off. Uncle Dequan, no matter what’s said today, she, Shen Mingzhu, must pay compensation and also take my Goudan to the hospital for a checkup!"

"Fine, let’s go now."

Shen Mingzhu replied indifferently, ready to call Pei Yang to take her son back to the city, but the village chief, Shen Dequan, stopped her with an outstretched hand.

"Mingzhu, don’t rush. I must make things clear with them today!"

Shen Dequan pointed at Goudan’s mother and cursed furiously, "They say a long hair but short on wit, and that’s putting it politely! Mingzhu is a big boss in the city, what delicacies hasn’t she eaten? Do you really think she’s coveting the sour dates that not even pigs would eat?"

Shen Mingzhu, who had eaten several sour dates earlier: "..."

"Mingzhu asked the children to pick sour dates so she could exchange them for pencils and exercise books, all to ensure the kids study well and save you folks some expenses."

On hearing the village chief, others also spoke up.

"That’s right, Goudan’s mother, don’t be so unforgiving after winning your point. Which kid in Shenjiagou hasn’t taken a tumble or had a scrape? Doctor Liu said Goudan is fine, that means he definitely is."

Seeing that the villagers sided with Shen Mingzhu, Goudan’s mother was visibly disgruntled.

Shen Baolan was not content to let Shen Mingzhu off the hook so easily and insinuated with a sour tone, "Shen Mingzhu, you had the kids pick so many sour dates, what do you plan to do with them? Are you planning to take them back to the city to make money through business? You earn big bucks yourself, yet you miserly refuse to share even a bit with the kids who risked their lives to climb trees and pick those sour dates for you; you’re really heartless and cold-blooded."

Before Shen Mingzhu could open her mouth, the village chief exploded at Shen Baolan.

"Shut your mouth! Whatever Mingzhu does with those sour dates is none of your business. Wild sour dates rot on the hillside every year, a thing not even animals would eat. If Mingzhu can make something of them, that’s her ability! If you’re so capable, go pick sour dates to trade and earn big money yourself. Who’s stopping you?"

Humiliated by the village chief in front of the whole village, even thick-skinned Shen Baolan found it hard to bear.

With a sense of grievance, she said, "Uncle Dequan, you’re so biased towards Shen Mingzhu just because she’s making big money now, right?"

Shen Dequan went on full offensive, "Mingzhu runs a factory, helping the villagers get rich together. If I don’t support her, should I support you, a troublemaker chased back by her in-laws?"

At those words, the surrounding crowd burst into quiet laughter.

Suddenly, Shen Hongmei from the crowd dredged up old accounts, "Sister Baolan, that year you deliberately poured oil on the path by the ditch, causing Mingzhu to slip into the water and miss her matchmaking meeting, but Mingzhu never held it against you."

"Today’s incident is just an accident. Clinging to it so desperately, is it because you can’t stand to see Mingzhu doing better than you?"

Although the incident of Shen Mingzhu falling into the water had spread throughout the village long ago, Shen Baolan had always turned a deaf ear to it, and gradually, the villagers stopped mentioning it as well.

Now that the old incident was brought up again in front of all the villagers, Shen Baolan naturally wouldn’t admit to it.

"Stop talking nonsense! What does Shen Mingzhu falling into the water have to do with me? Shen Hongmei, it’s your choice to be a loyal dog, but stop biting recklessly, or I won’t be polite with you."

Shen Hongmei fought back, "Shen Baolan, dare you swear on your child that you didn’t intentionally cause Mingzhu to fall into the water? I dare. If I, Shen Hongmei, have wronged you in a single word or half, may heaven strike me down, and may I never die a peaceful death!"

Shen Baolan was stunned, her face turning bright red, and just then, her baby in her arms began to cry loudly; seizing the opportunity to feed the baby, she tried to slip away.

Shen Mingzhu was not about to let the other party get off so easily.

"Shen Baolan, thank you so much."

"Thanks to your acquiescence, I was able to find happiness with Pei Yang," she said, her words piercing to the heart.

With a deathly pale face, Shen Baolan held her son and left, her silhouette as forlorn as a dog defeated in a fight.

As for the family of Shen Goudan, they, under the chastisement and education of the village head, gave up the idea of demanding compensation from Shen Mingzhu and took their son away.

The incident came to a close.

However, Qin Jinlian was extremely dissatisfied, blaming Shen Mingzhu for ruining the festive atmosphere of the day. She began scolding heatedly, "Today is your second brother’s wedding, couldn’t you have just stayed quietly at home? Did you have to stir up trouble and upset me? Luckily, you didn’t injure the child badly, otherwise, I would like to see how you could resolve that!"

"What are you prattling on about? Dequan hasn’t said a single bad word about Mingzhu, so you just shut your mouth," he snapped at his wife before turning to Shen Mingzhu with a kind and pleased demeanor, "Don’t listen to your mother. She simply can’t stop talking. You want some sour dates, don’t you? After the meal this afternoon, I’ll pick some for you, as many as you want."

"Thank you, Dad."

Shen Jianguo’s weather-beaten face broke into a simple, honest smile as he turned to gesture to the villagers and guests to sit down for the meal.

After such an incident and considering that the hearty rural cuisine was not particularly appealing, Shen Mingzhu barely ate a few bites before she put down her chopsticks and made an excuse to step outside and get some air.

When she stepped out, she discovered a group of fifteen or so children gathered outside, each holding a handful of yellow, ripe sour dates.

Seeing her come out, the children swarmed around her.

"Auntie, these sour dates are for you."

"I picked these."

Looking at the innocent and tender faces of the children, Shen Mingzhu was suddenly moved.

She had thought that, after the incident with Goudan falling from the tree, the village children would blame her more or less, resenting her for what happened to Goudan.

But as it turned out, she had been too cynical.

She took the children to the village chief’s house and registered each one of them. As soon as she got back to the city, she bought pencils and exercise books to send back to them.

"Uncle Dequan, thank you for earlier," she said.

Shen Dequan was even older than Shen Jianguo. His face, eroded by the elements like the bark of an old tree, was crisscrossed with deep and shallow grooves.

Yet, when he looked at Shen Mingzhu, his eyes were filled with extra affection, and his tone was very emotive, "Mingzhu, Uncle really didn’t expect that out of all the children in Shenjiagou, you would be the one to make something of yourself."

"Uncle is getting old and isn’t capable of much. The future of Shenjiagou rests on the shoulders of you younger ones."

She had not gone far from the village head’s house when she bumped into Pei Yang, who was hastily coming out to find her.

"Where have you been?" he asked, instantly taking hold of her upon seeing her.