The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 354 - 353 Establishing a Branch Office

Chapter 354: Chapter 353 Establishing a Branch Office

A call for "Daddy" left the three people in the dining room somewhat stunned.

This was the first time Little Guoguo had ever tried to call someone since she was born.

Over the past month or so, Shen Mingzhu and Pei Ziheng had tried all sorts of ways to coax her into speaking, but she remained stubbornly silent.

Consequently, her very first word was dedicated to Pei Yang who had just returned home after a month away.

Pei Ziheng, who came home that evening, was moved to tears.

Pei Yang quickly recovered, his brows lifted and eyes smiling as he took his daughter from Shen Mingzhu’s arms and kissed her generously.

Guoguo, kissed until she was dazed, stared at Pei Yang with her large, grape-like eyes for a long while. When she turned her head and realized she wasn’t in her mother’s arms, her little mouth pouted, and she began to shed tears.

Pei Yang tried to comfort her, but Little Guoguo was not impressed.

In the end, it was Shen Mingzhu who took her back and slowly stopped her crying.

After the two had finished eating, Sister Yu cleared the dishes and went to the kitchen to wash up, while Shen Mingzhu fed her daughter supplementary food with a small bowl and bamboo spoon.

The supplementary food consisted of a white porridge, made from rice cooked until soft and mushy, accompanied by minced beef that had been tenderized in a pressure cooker.

Little Guoguo ate spoonful after spoonful, and it was delicious.

Besides a small amount of staple foods and meat and eggs, Shen Mingzhu also fed her fruit and vegetable purees every day to ensure a balanced diet.

However, she fed them separately, rather than blending everything together into an odd-tasting "dark cuisine" that even a dog wouldn’t eat.

Pei Yang sat beside them, watching her feed their daughter while hooking his finger on her tender and soft fingers.

Whenever he touched her, Guoguo would immediately move her little hand away.

Pei Yang annoyingly leaned in again, and Guoguo dodged once more.

After several attempts, Little Guoguo became annoyed, her small mouth downturned and she was about to cry with a look of grievance.

"Don’t bother her; she won’t want to eat again later," Shen Mingzhu chided Pei Yang. He sulkily withdrew his disruptive hand, a look of grievance appearing on his handsome face.

"I was only away for a month, and Guoguo has forgotten me," he lamented.

Shen Mingzhu glanced at him, "Be content. I attend to her day and night, feed her, clothe her and I haven’t heard her call me ’Mom’ once."

Detecting the sour tone in her voice, Pei Yang turned his head to coax her, "Wife, you’ve worked hard while I was away. I’ve brought you a birthday gift this time."

"What gift?"

"Let’s talk about it after you’re done feeding."

Shen Mingzhu didn’t ask further, but she couldn’t help guessing what kind of gift the man had bought this time.

Previously, it had always been jewelry. It couldn’t be jewelry again this time, could it?

After their daughter was full, Pei Yang had Sister Yu take her out to the yard to digest. He then went to the room to get the purchase contract he had signed with Ren Ping.

All the merchandise in the Rongcheng Department Store was uniformly procured by the purchasing department, placed on shelves, and then payment was made to the suppliers based on actual monthly sales.

Shen Mingzhu knew Pei Yang had gone to Rongcheng to develop sales channels, but she hadn’t expected him to secure a deal with the largest state-owned department store in Rongcheng.

The popularity and reputation of the Rongcheng Department Store were among the best in the nation’s state-owned department stores.

Having the opportunity to enter the department store meant that they had taken a successful and crucial step in expanding into the southwestern market.

"How about it? This birthday gift isn’t bad, right?" he teased.

Confronted with the man’s clearly "praise me" expression, Shen Mingzhu didn’t hesitate to lean in and plant a kiss on his face.

"Not bad, I am very satisfied."

Pei Yang, not fully content, his eyes shining with eager anticipation, "Is there nothing else?"

Shen Mingzhu pretended not to understand the hint, "Keep up the good work. I’ve already prepared our son’s marriage house; it’s up to you, Dad, to prepare Guoguo’s dowry."

Pei Yang’s thick fingers were tickling her palm.

"Wife, I am not talking about that."

Shen Mingzhu felt her cheeks warm, stood up, and playfully tousled his hair. "Let’s go, it’s time for work."

Pei Yang reclined back on the sofa and reached out towards her, "I’m tired and can’t get up."

Shen Mingzhu said, "Since your body isn’t up to it, you should just stay at home and rest."

How could a man admit to being unwell?

Pei Yang immediately stood up, "Wife, I can do it."

Shen Mingzhu chuckled and kicked him lightly, "If you can, then go."

"Alright."

...

Although the trip to the Sugar and Alcohol Fair was quite expensive, the returns were extremely gratifying.

Not only were all the goods they brought sold out, but they also signed orders close to fifty thousand yuan and developed a total of seven distributors, including the department stores.

The success in the southwestern market was also a signal, the coming of the domestic consumer goods market economy!

The urgent matter at hand was to establish the Southwest branch company as soon as possible to preempt the market.

But who to send to Rongcheng was a question.

The cooperation with the department store was negotiated by Pei Yang, who also had a certain familiarity with the area, making him the perfect fit to handle the branch company there.

But as a woman, Shen Mingzhu did not want to live in a different place from her husband for an extended period.

The child also needed his father.

After much deliberation, Shen Mingzhu thought of the right candidate.

...

"...Sister-in-law, the adjacency of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Chongqing offers considerable development potential. Moreover, we’ve already secured the cooperation of Rongcheng department store, which is an excellent start. With your ability and skill, I believe within two years, the Southwest branch’s performance won’t lag behind Fengcheng."

The person Shen Mingzhu picked as the head of the branch was Du Juan.

With two years of hard work and experience, Du Juan was no longer the submissive rural woman of the past.

The current Du Juan was tenacious and bold, unquestionably capable of holding her own.

"Sister-in-law, the choice to go or not is yours, I won’t force you, but I still want to say that this really is a great opportunity."

Additionally, if you’re willing to go there, besides the share you’re entitled to, I’ll give you an extra 20% of the branch’s annual profits."

This meant that Du Juan could take 40% of the branch’s profits.

"Mingzhu, I will go."

Although Shen Mingzhu had guessed that Du Juan would agree, she still reminded her kindly, "Sister-in-law, why don’t you go back and discuss it with my brother? It’s alright to give me your answer tomorrow."

With a smile, Du Juan said, "Don’t worry, he listens to me."

...

That night, Du Juan discussed with Shen Chaobei about going to Rongcheng to set up the branch.

"If you’re willing, come with me. Let’s work hard there and achieve something. If you don’t want to come, then stay here by yourself. I’ll take Daya with me."

Upon hearing this, Shen Chaobei immediately became anxious, "Wherever you and the child are, naturally, I will be there too!"

Hearing her husband’s words, Du Juan smiled with satisfaction. The next second, she covered her mouth and took out the bedpan from under the bed.

"Ugh—"

After Du Juan finished vomiting, Shen Chaobei promptly offered her water, "Juan’er, what’s wrong with you? Did you eat something bad?"

After rinsing her mouth, Du Juan looked up at her husband’s anxious expression and scoffed, "You fool!"

Shen Chaobei, finally catching on, cautiously approached her as if afraid someone would overhear.

"Juan’er, you couldn’t be pregnant, could you?"

Without saying a word, Du Juan just nodded gently, her cheeks flushing with joy.

She had been feeling it for the past couple of days, worrying about how to secretly nurse and protect the pregnancy. Suddenly, Shen Mingzhu arranged for her to go to Rongcheng to set up the branch.

Going to Rongcheng, she could both focus on her career and have a peaceful second pregnancy without the worry of being backstabbed by people around her.

It was indeed killing two birds with one stone.

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