The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 351 - 350: Strive to Make Money

Chapter 351: Chapter 350: Strive to Make Money

Hearing footsteps, Pei Ziheng turned around and his dark eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Shen Mingzhu. He then got up and ran towards her.

"Mommy."

Shen Mingzhu squatted down to embrace him, her voice gentle and full of concern, "Why haven’t you gone to sleep yet? Aren’t you tired?"

"Mhmm."

Pei Ziheng rubbed his little head against her neck, like some adorable young animal, filled with dependence and trust for her.

"Mommy, I had a really happy birthday today, extremely happy."

Shen Mingzhu’s hand gently stroked his tender spine, "As long as you’re happy, mom’s efforts in preparing the celebration weren’t in vain."

Pei Ziheng hugged her tightly, his youthful voice filled with shy joy, "Mommy, thank you, thank you for being my mommy. I love you so much, forever and always."

"Mommy loves you too, very, very much."

"I will work hard in the future, earn a lot of money, and be filial to you."

Hearing this, Shen Mingzhu let go of the person in her embrace, held his face in her hands, and said earnestly, "Son, everything mom has done is out of a hope that you will be happy and joyful, not for any repayment."

"When you grow up, no matter what job you take on, whether you earn a little or a lot, it’s not very important. Mom just hopes you will be an upright person, never give up on yourself at any time, and to live life earnestly, optimistically, and positively. Can you promise mom that?"

Pei Ziheng had never felt the profoundness of a mother’s love as much as he did at this moment.

It’s selfless, pure, devoid of any ulterior motive, and the most precious emotion in the world.

Something you stumble upon but can’t search for.

How lucky he was to possess such beautiful and fervent maternal love.

"Mommy, I will."

Though being a good person was a challenge for him, he would try his best, not to let mommy down.

Shen Mingzhu extended her pinky, "Then let’s make a pinky promise, swear on a hook, a hundred-year vow never to change, and if you change, you’re a tortoise and a soft-shelled turtle."

Mommy is so childish, but also so adorable.

Hopefully, his sister could be as cute as mommy in the future.

...

After Pei Ziheng went upstairs, Shen Mingzhu glanced at the clock on the wall and suddenly remembered something. She hurriedly sat down on the couch and picked up the phone from the side table.

Ever since Pei Yang went to Rongcheng, the couple talked on the phone every night.

But to avoid disturbing her daughter, Shen Mingzhu always waited until she finished her evening tasks before calling him.

"Hello, wife?"

The phone was picked up after just one ring.

"Mmh, it’s me. How was your day?"

"Not too bad, the goods I brought over have almost sold out, and the floral cakes and snowflake crisps sell out every day."

After discussing work, Pei Yang asked about his daughter, "Has Guoguo slept yet? I haven’t heard her cry for several days, I’m getting unused to it."

Shen Mingzhu laughed, "All you think about is your daughter, have you forgotten what day it is today?"

"How could I? I’ve been waiting for your call early to talk to our son, but you didn’t call, so I kept waiting."

"We went out for dinner tonight, and I was busy until now. Ziheng has gone upstairs; we can talk about whatever you have to say tomorrow."

"Fine, wife, I might come back a few days later. After the sugar and liquor conference ends, I’m thinking of taking big brother and sister-in-law to explore the market here. You don’t know, people here especially love spicy food. Our spicy strips and dried tofu are very popular here."

"Mmh, put in the effort, earn more money, we have uses for it at home."

Pei Yang became a bit anxious when he heard that, "Has something happened at home?"

Although Shen Mingzhu managed the household finances, Pei Yang had a rough idea of how much money they had.

If two thousand was not enough, something big must have happened, right?

Shen Mingzhu calmly picked at her nails, "It’s not much, just that, I bought Ziheng a house."

"Why did you buy Ziheng a house?"

"Well, his birthday came, and I wasn’t sure what gift to give, so I bought him a house. It’s that white foreign-style house just 50 meters in front of ours, it cost one hundred and twenty thousand."

Pei Yang: "..."

"Wife, you really have the heart to do this!"

The tone was a bit sour, with a hint of teeth-gritting.

"You didn’t even discuss such a big thing as buying a house with me."

"If I had told you in advance, would you have opposed it?"

"... Well, I wouldn’t have."

"There you go."

Pei Yang was silent for two seconds, "Where did you get the money?"

Although there was some savings at home, it was definitely far from enough to buy a house.

When he learned that Shen Mingzhu had sold the handbag she couldn’t even bear to touch, just to buy a house for her son, Pei Yang’s silence lasted a bit longer this time.

After a while, he sighed, "Wife, I’ll work hard to make money."

So that next time you set your eyes on something, you won’t have to indirectly sell things around you to raise funds.

...

"Pei Yang, let’s forget it, we’ve made so many attempts already, they won’t even meet with us, they probably look down on our stuff, let’s switch to a different place."

In front of Rongcheng Department Store, Shen Chaobei spoke up to persuade Pei Yang.

Pei Yang looked up at the five-story "Rongcheng Department Store," determination shining on his handsome and profound face.

Rongcheng had a total of two state-owned department stores, with the Department Store being the busiest and ranking within the top ten key department stores in the provincial capital city.

Securing a spot in Rongcheng Department Store was crucial for them to break into the southwestern market.

Whether it was the fighting spirit honed on the battlefield and the high seas, or his innate nature, he wasn’t one to shrink back in the face of difficulties.

On the contrary, he quite enjoyed the process of conquest.

...

That evening, returning to the hotel, Pei Yang called together Du Juan and her husband, as well as the employees who came with them, for a brief meeting, as usual.

During their stay in Rongcheng, Du Juan also kept busy, running the markets everywhere with Shen Hongmei.

The results weren’t bad; in the past few days, they had signed with five grocers.

But since Fengcheng was too far from Rongcheng and collecting payments was inconvenient, they didn’t use the method of consignment, but rather persuaded the grocers to place orders.

Ordering required an initial investment, which brought certain difficulties and risks, so it was quite an achievement for Du Juan to sign with five stores.

Although Du Juan had decent business progress here, Fengcheng was their main base, especially since many orders had been signed during the liquor and sugar fair, and these all needed to be followed up on.

Thus, Du Juan, along with Shen Hongmei and the employees, went back to Fengcheng first.

Pei Yang, Shen Chaobei, and the pastry chef stayed behind.

Three days passed.

"Why are you here again? Didn’t we tell you, our manager is on a business trip, hurry up and leave, don’t hinder our work."

That morning, as soon as Pei Yang and Shen Chaobei stepped into the entrance of the Department Store, they were impatiently herded out by a security officer trying to maintain order.

As Shen Chaobei stepped back, he accidentally bumped into an elderly lady.

Fortunately, Pei Yang was quick to support her, preventing her from falling.

"Old lady, are you alright?"

The old lady didn’t say much, just waved her hand at Pei Yang and continued walking toward the Department Store.

She didn’t seem very old, around sixty, but her body appeared to be in poor condition, trembling as she walked.

With nothing else to do, Pei Yang went forward eagerly to help her, "Old lady, did you come shopping alone? Why didn’t you ask someone from your family to accompany you?"

The old lady looked him up and down, and probably seeing that Pei Yang didn’t look like a bad person, she finally responded.

"I came to get the keys from my granddaughter. I went out for a walk this morning and locked the keys inside the house."

"Does your granddaughter work here in the Department Store?"

"Yes, right ahead, she sells candy."

Pei Yang’s heart stirred, and he quickly turned to signal Shen Chaobei to hand over the samples they had brought.