The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 338 - 337: Sisters-in-law Quarrel

Chapter 338: Chapter 337: Sisters-in-law Quarrel

"Yuemei, when you speak or behave, you should check your conscience first. Don’t just blurt out things that can hurt people and chill their hearts!"

Jia Yuemei hadn’t expected that a casual complaint would infuriate the usually amiable Du Juan.

She didn’t dare to make a sound for a moment.

Shen Xiangnan stood up to smooth things over, "Elder sister-in-law, don’t take Yuemei’s words to heart. She just said it casually and didn’t mean any harm."

But Du Juan didn’t want to gloss over the matter.

This wasn’t the first time Yuemei had accused Shen Mingzhu of favoring them.

Whether it was intentional or not, she had been holding back for a long time, and she had to speak her mind today.

"At the beginning, we followed Xiangnan to the city one after another. Xiangnan got a job at the textile mill, and we set up a small stall selling egg crepes. Everyone had their own path."

"Later, when the younger sister wanted to start a factory, Chaobei and I put all our savings on the line to join her venture. She asked Xiangnan too, but Xiangnan didn’t want to quit his stable job to take the risk. Could Mingzhu really force a knife to Xiangnan’s throat to make him quit?"

"You only see the factory’s success now, but do you have any idea how many issues it faced? Several times it nearly shut down."

"If the factory had failed, not only would we have lost all our money, but our younger sister would owe the bank a debt of five thousand. Did you ever think about that?"

"You didn’t take any of the risk, yet when you see money being made, you want a share. The younger sister didn’t let Xiangnan join the food factory, so your elder brother withdrew his shares and used all his money to help Xiangnan start over with a noodle shop. The noodle shop received an investment of over a thousand, and you only contributed two hundred—your elder brother paid one thousand."

"That was a thousand in hard cash thrown in there. Have your elder brother and I ever said a word to you about it? How do you have the face to claim our younger sister favors us?"

"Yuemei, remember this, if anyone in the Shen Family is truly favored, it’s Xiangnan. The mother, the younger sister, and even Chaobei, who hasn’t tried their utmost to help you, wanting you to settle down in the city?"

Du Juan’s words were logical and delivered with force.

Jia Yuemei’s face changed colors rapidly as if a palette had been overturned.

She left without even eating.

Not long after the couple left, Shen Chaobei returned.

Seeing the noodles with the fried egg lying on the small dining table, he assumed they were cooked for him and was delighted, barely able to close his mouth.

Du Juan didn’t allow Shen Chaobei to eat the noodles.

She served him the food left for Jia Yuemei from the pot and set the noodles aside for Shen Xiangnan to eat the next morning.

She certainly wasn’t going to let her man eat Jia Yuemei’s leftovers.

Du Juan also didn’t plan to tell Shen Chaobei about the incident.

Given Shen Chaobei’s good-natured character, knowing she had scolded Jia Yuemei, he’d probably rush downstairs to smooth things over immediately.

...

Downstairs.

As soon as Jia Yuemei entered, she started crying loudly, "I just said one thing, and your elder sister-in-law jumped on me as if she had swallowed explosives. What’s so great about her? Isn’t she just good at sucking up to the younger sister?"

"Always pretending to be kind and benevolent, but she’s actually judgmental. The moment she sees mother turning against me, her true colors show immediately."

Although Shen Xiangnan was easily persuaded, he could tell right from wrong.

"Yuemei, don’t talk about the elder sister-in-law like that. What she said might have been harsh, but it wasn’t wrong. It’s my fault for being useless and not able to stand firm. I lost the job the younger sister found for me, even making my elder brother lose a thousand. Don’t say the younger sister favors the elder brother anymore; I don’t like hearing it."

Jia Yuemei was always smart and knew that making more of a fuss wouldn’t do her any favors.

So she backed down, reigning in her temper, "Fine, I won’t say it. Anyway, I’m going back to the countryside tomorrow, and later on, I won’t be in their way!"

Hearing Jia Yuemei’s pitiful words, Shen Xiangnan softened again and comforted her, "Just listen to the younger sister and live peacefully in the countryside until the baby is born. When our restaurant takes off in the future, we’ll have good days ahead, won’t we?"

Only then did Jia Yuemei break into a smile.

...

Deep into the night.

Shen Chaobei had gone to bed early and was snoring loudly, but Du Juan was having trouble sleeping.

In this era, especially for rural women, having a son meant they could stand a little straighter as they walked.

For several years in the past, she had been weighed down by the inability to have a son.

Now that she had the means, of course she wanted to try again.

But she worried, what if the second child was also a daughter?

Although she would love the daughter just the same, the villagers would surely laugh at her, saying she went through so much effort and expense only to fail to produce a son.

Du Juan stretched out her hand and pushed her husband twice, "Wake up."

Shen Chaobei opened his eyes, thinking his wife was soliciting him for some work, and started fumbling to take off his pants quietly.

Usually, this is how the couple did things, waiting until the daughter fell sound asleep at midnight before quietly doing some adult things.

But tonight, Du Juan wasn’t in the mood to do anything with her husband, "After the New Year’s over, I want to have my contraceptive ring removed."

Shen Chaobei stopped taking off his pants, "Remove it for what?"

Du Juan rolled her eyes, even though in the pitch dark Shen Chaobei couldn’t see, "What do you think for, of course to have a baby."

"Have a baby? You want to have a baby."

"I’ve already decided. I want a second child, whether you agree or not I’m going to have one."

Shen Chaobei scratched his head, "I didn’t say I disagree, but this isn’t a small matter. We should ask our sister-in-law first."

"I’ve already asked her, she agrees."

Shen Chaobei was taken aback for a while, then suddenly became excited, turned over, and hugged Du Juan by the waist, "Wife, let’s try hard this time to have a son."

As he said this, he wanted to get down to business with Du Juan, but she pushed him away.

"The ring hasn’t been removed yet, what are you gonna generate."

Right.

Shen Chaobei had no choice but to pull up his pants and continue sleeping.

In his dreams, there was everything.

...

...

The sound of firecrackers echoed, and red lanterns were hung.

In the blink of an eye, it was the Chinese New Year again, with each household saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.

Early in the morning, after breakfast, Pei Yang began to clean the house with his son.

The cleaning inside the house had been done by Aunt Yu two days ago, and today was mainly about sweeping the yard and the entrance.

The not yet melted snow was piled up in the corners, branches were pruned, and weeds cleared.

Spring Festival couplets were pasted, and lanterns were hung.

After lunch, Pei Ziheng was responsible for watching Little Guoguo, while the couple started preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner in the kitchen.

By 5:30 PM, a table laden with sumptuous New Year’s Eve dishes was finally ready.

Roasted duck, squirrel fish, crispy meat, four happiness meatballs, assorted cured meats, mushroom chicken soup, and the father-son duo’s favorite sweet and sour pork and potato stewed ribs.

In reality, a family of four couldn’t eat very much, but the process of all the family members working together to prepare this meal was supremely happy and joyous.

A lavish New Year’s Eve dinner signified the perfect end of a year.

And the infinite hope and blessings for the coming year.

In order for the family of four to have a proper meal together, Pei Yang simply held his daughter and ate with her.

Before they had finished eating, Zhao Yun came running over with Liang Xiaowen, oh, now called Zhao Xiaowen.

Seeing Pei Ziheng eating calmly, impatient Zhao Yun urged him, "Ziheng, stop eating, come to my place. My dad bought me lots of fireworks, all new styles this year, they’re really beautiful when lit."

Pei Ziheng snorted, "My mom bought me some, too."

Zhao Yun scratched his head, "Then how about we start with yours, and after that, we go to my place?"

Pei Ziheng was noncommittal.

Shen Mingzhu was concerned about the three children’s safety and asked Pei Yang to take the family’s fireworks to the Zhao Family to be lit together, with Pei Yang keeping an eye on them.

After the father and son went to the Zhao Family’s home, Little Guoguo began to feel sleepy.

Shen Mingzhu then carried her daughter into the bedroom and sang her a lullaby to coax her to sleep.

As she sang, Shen Mingzhu herself started to feel drowsy and began to doze off.

In those two to three minutes of dozing off, she suddenly remembered a plotline in the "original book" she had forgotten.

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