The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 306 - 305: Standing up for My Wife

Chapter 306: Chapter 305: Standing up for My Wife

Following her gaze, Pei Yang looked down to see the injury on the back of his hand, shook it nonchalantly, and said, "I hit a stone with the bike wheel on the way back and took a spill."

Shen Mingzhu looked at him in silence.

Feeling uneasy under her gaze, Pei Yang could only honestly admit, "I went to take revenge for you."

Shen Mingzhu let out a cold laugh, "Didn’t you say I was impulsive this afternoon? And now you running out in the middle of the night to fight isn’t impulsive?"

"Wife, keep it down."

Pei Yang sat at the edge of the bed, lowering his voice to avoid waking their daughter, his tone carrying a hint of rascality, "This is different, I wore a sack over my head, so he didn’t know it was me, I hit him and then ran off."

From a young age, Pei Yang had always been the mischievous little tyrant, always the one bullying others, never getting bullied himself.

He grew up and his temper mellowed, but the innate assertiveness and dominance did not change.

Wang Hongcheng bullied his wife repeatedly, now he even openly insults and curses her, it would be strange if Pei Yang could tolerate it.

But he was quite shrewd and smooth about it, leaving no traces.

"I waited in the alley near his house, and when he passed by on his bicycle, I kicked him off, put a sack over his head, and targeted the soft flesh on his body, so it hurt without leaving marks."

Hearing Pei Yang describe the event so vividly, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but mock, "You sound pretty practiced at this."

Of course, Pei Yang would not admit that he had done this sort of thing often since he was a child – he had his pride.

"Wife, you’re not still mad at me, are you?"

Saying this, he moved to get close to Shen Mingzhu but was pushed away with disgust, "Get off, you’re covered in dust."

"Then I’ll go wash up."

"Wait."

Shen Mingzhu stopped him, "Bring me the medicine kit."

Pei Yang cheerfully went to the living room and brought back the medicine kit into the bedroom.

The couple sat at the foot of the bed, and Shen Mingzhu disinfected the wound on Pei Yang’s hand with iodine and covered it with waterproof bandage.

After dealing with the wound, she looked up to meet the man’s direct gaze.

She reached out to pull up her slipping neckline, covering the exposed view, and the next second, she was pinned down on the bed by the man.

"Wife..."

"Waah..."

"Guoguo is crying."

Watching as Pei Yang resignedly and helplessly got up from her and picked up their daughter from the crib to gently soothe her, shooting melancholic little glances at Shen Mingzhu from time to time, which caused Shen Mingzhu to stifle her laughter.

By the time Little Guoguo was soothed back to sleep, it was nearly one o’clock.

Both of them lost the mood and energy, and so they turned off the lights to sleep.

...

The next day, Pei Yang went to the People’s Shopping Mall extra early, and just before the announcement of the bidding results, Wang Hongcheng finally arrived.

Seeing Wang Hongcheng with a bruised face, Pei Yang struggled to suppress his laughter as he stepped forward to apologize, "President Wang, my wife got carried away yesterday and attacked you. I apologize on her behalf; please don’t take it to heart."

Wang Hongcheng snorted coldly.

With feigned concern on his face, Pei Yang asked, "President Wang, what happened to your face? Did you fall off your bike?"

The mention of it just made Wang Hongcheng’s face turn even darker.

"It’s none of your business!"

After saying that, Wang Hongcheng turned and walked away to the other side, obviously not wanting to engage in conversation with Pei Yang.

Seeing the situation was under control, Pei Yang did not pursue any further.

Shortly after, the mall posted the list of companies that won the bids.

Pei Yang was tall and had good eyesight, so he didn’t need to push through the crowd; he simply stood at the back and could see the list clearly.

When he saw that his food factory was on the list, his face lit up with delight, and he casually glanced over the rest, not seeing the name of Fushun Cake Factory, he cheerfully walked away.

"Wife, two pieces of news, which one do you want to hear first?"

Looking at her husband’s excited face, Shen Mingzhu could probably guess what it was about.

"Our factory made the cut!"

"Fushun Cake Factory didn’t make it again!"

No wonder the man was smiling so happily.

Pei Yang also took the opportunity to tell her about Wang Hongcheng’s bruised and battered embarrassing situation, which brought Shen Mingzhu great joy.

After celebrating, Shen Mingzhu started preparing for the move into the two major state-owned shopping centers.

Since they were a small factory and it was their first time entering, the locations provided by the two state-owned shopping centers were quite inconspicuous.

Good wine also fears a deep alley, and although Shen Mingzhu couldn’t interfere with the internal sales of the mall, she could help promote from the outside.

In an era when communication networks were not well-developed, the best marketing strategies were none other than tastings and handing out flyers.

After three continuous days of promotional events, the sales at both state-owned malls were steadily rising.

Shen Mingzhu calculated that, if this trend continued, by the end of the year, the food factory’s monthly profit should be able to maintain at over two thousand.

However, as the business developed, the production capacity and the number of workers increased, and the factory space was becoming insufficient.

Just as she was considering whether to move the entire factory or set up a branch, she suddenly received a phone call from Liu Yuehua—

"Mingzhu, to make a long story short, the bureau received a report that the spicy strips and dried tofu produced by your food factory do not meet food safety standards. The bureau has already sent people to the sales points for inspections. Get ready early."

Liu Yuehua hung up after speaking.

Although Shen Mingzhu was caught off guard, she did not panic.

She first had Shen Hongmei look for Pei Yang to come back, then she called together the quality inspectors, several group leaders, and an old employee acting as the workshop manager for a meeting.

After confirming there were no errors in the production process of the spicy strips and dried tofu over this period, she inspected and taste-tested all the finished products, raw materials, spices, and seasonings in the warehouse one by one.

There were no problems.

Shen Mingzhu’s uneasy heart relaxed slightly, thinking that maybe it was another false accusation, like the previous two times?

Pei Yang returned to the factory quickly and immediately decided to recall the spicy strips and dried tofu from various sales points after learning the full story.

There were nearly a hundred small shops and grocery stores selling their spicy strips and dried tofu in Fengcheng, which made the recall challenging.

The couple split up to tackle the task.

Shen Mingzhu stayed in the office, explaining the situation to each of the shopkeepers over the phone and issuing a notice to pause sales.

Pei Yang took Shen Hongmei and Du Juan, along with several old employees familiar with Fengcheng’s roads, to carry out the recall separately.

It was only by the next day that they had managed to collect back all the spicy strips and dried tofu from every sales point in the city.

Among the mountain of spicy strips and dried tofu, Shen Mingzhu quickly found the source of the problem.

"This package of spicy strips is wrong!"

Shen Mingzhu picked up another package of spicy strips and compared it with the one in her hand; the packaging of the problematic spicy strips was not only blurry but even the trademark was printed askew.

She tore open the seal and tasted a piece, Shen Mingzhu immediately spat it out.

"The taste is wrong too!"

The spicy strips from the food factory were salty, fragrant, chewy, and grew more delicious the more one ate, but these spicy strips had a faint sour and rancid taste, which was masked by an overpowering blend of salt, oil, and spiciness.

"These are counterfeit and substandard products."

Having discovered the root of the problem, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to pick up the phone to call the police, the law enforcement officers from the Industrial and Commercial Bureau and the Public Security Bureau showed up at their door.