The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 357 - 356: Deliberately Contrary, Inflating the Price

Chapter 357: Chapter 356: Deliberately Contrary, Inflating the Price

Hearing Sun Feifei call out a new bid, Cai Kunda suddenly became anxious and, after giving Sun Feifei a covert glare, had no choice but to raise his hand and add another thousand.

Sun Feifei did not raise her bid again, but only looked at Shen Mingzhu with a provocative gaze.

Seeing that she could no longer hide her identity, Shen Mingzhu stopped pretending and raised her hand to bid directly.

"Eighty thousand."

Sun Feifei immediately raised her hand, "Eighty-one thousand."

Cai Kunda, furious and exasperated, threw daggers with his eyes at the faces of Shen Mingzhu and Sun Feifei, "Eighty-two thousand!"

Sun Feifei didn’t take up Cai Kunda’s bid but kept her gaze fixed steadily on Shen Mingzhu.

She had the air of someone who would not let go of Shen Mingzhu without a fight.

After a brief thought, Shen Mingzhu directly increased the bid by three thousand, "Eighty-five thousand."

"Eighty-six thousand."

As expected, Sun Feifei raised the bid again.

By this time, Cai Kunda had noticed something and, after his gaze darted several times between the two of them, gave up bidding and turned to watch the drama unfold from a safe distance.

Shen Mingzhu’s throat tightened slightly, "Eighty-seven thousand."

"Eighty-eight thousand!" Sun Feifei followed closely.

"Ninety thousand."

This time, Shen Mingzhu added two thousand more.

The whole place was astir.

The factory’s valuation was sixty-five thousand, and a bid of eighty thousand had already been inflated.

In such a scenario, Shen Mingzhu actually dared to recklessly add thousands more to the bid.

Sun Feifei was clearly shocked by Shen Mingzhu’s boldness and hesitated, not daring to bid further.

Shen Mingzhu threw Sun Feifei the smile of a victor, "You can concede if you’re scared; after all, it’s not the first or second time you’ve lost to me."

Sun Feifei’s face instantly soured.

But soon, she turned her anger into a smile, "Shen Mingzhu, do you think you can provoke me? Dream on, I won’t fall for your tricks again."

After speaking, she was the first to stand up and applaud, "I concede. Congratulations to Shen Mingzhu for securing the Fushun Cake Factory for ninety thousand."

The entire audience followed with applause.

Especially Cai Kunda, whose claps were particularly forceful and loud, his face unable to hide his schadenfreude.

Without any need to guess, it was clear he was mocking Shen Mingzhu for her foolishness in spending ninety thousand to purchase Fushun Cake Factory.

The rest of the crowd did the same.

The audience regarded Shen Mingzhu’s acquisition of the cake factory, valued at only sixty-five thousand, for ninety thousand with scorn and derision.

After the auction ended, the participants gradually left the venue.

Sun Feifei moved against the crowd to approach Shen Mingzhu, her heavily made-up face showing unrestrained pleasure, "Shen Mingzhu, how does it feel to lift a rock only to drop it on your own foot?"

"This broken factory is worth at most sixty-five thousand; you’ve spent an extra twenty-five thousand on it. I guess you’ll be in hot water once you get back."

Shen Mingzhu smiled easily, "Sun Feifei, I guess you’ve never read ’The Art of War,’ have you? Warfare is the way of deception. This means in life and in managing affairs, you need to surprise your opponents, feign strength when weak, and weakness when strong. How do you know I wasn’t deliberately tricking you into giving up?"

Sun Feifei’s expression changed, followed soon by a cold laugh, "Shen Mingzhu, keep telling yourself that."

"Think what you want."

Having said that, Shen Mingzhu didn’t waste any more words with her adversary and went straight to the staff to complete the procedures.

...

After completing the procedures and stepping out of the courthouse, Shen Hongmei couldn’t help but voice the doubt in her mind.

"President Shen, does that Sun Feifei hold a grudge against you?"

Shen Mingzhu shrugged, "Obviously."

"Then why did you fall for her trap? She clearly raised the price on purpose to pit you. In my opinion, it would be better to cancel the bid. Cancelling would mean losing the deposit of five thousand, but that’s still better than spending an extra twenty thousand to buy the factory."

"You’re thinking too simply. Cancelling the bid would get you blacklisted, and you could never participate in court auctions again. For a measly ten or twenty thousand, ruining your reputation and credibility is not worth it."

"You have to believe that I would not make a losing deal. Fushun Cake Factory is absolutely worth the price."

Although the location of Fushun Cake Factory is somewhat remote, in no more than ten years, the area where the factory is located will develop into a commercial district. By then, with the land worth its weight in gold, she would make a fortune.

Shen Hongmei naturally didn’t know about Shen Mingzhu’s long-term plans, and was extremely anxious, "The initial five thousand was already borrowed. Now we need to pay an additional eighty-five thousand. Where are you going to find so much money?"

Shen Mingzhu teased on purpose, "If we can’t gather the money, then I’ll have to sell you."

"How much could I possibly sell for? If I could fetch eighty-five thousand, I wouldn’t wait for you to act; I’d tidy up and sell myself."

Shen Mingzhu couldn’t stop laughing at this.

After her laughter subsided, she spoke to Shen Hongmei in a serious tone, "Don’t mention eighty-five thousand; even if it was a million, I wouldn’t sell you. Hongmei, you are a capable assistant that I’ve cultivated with my own hands. If I were the Emperor, you would be a minister of the first rank in my court. In my heart, your value is far more than a million."

Shen Hongmei was very happy to be sweet-talked, "President Shen, you’re the first person to say I’m valuable. Even my parents think that I’m a loss, unwilling to support me through high school."

Her last sentence was filled with regret and melancholy.

Unlike the academically challenged original owner, Shen Hongmei’s grades were exceptionally good, and she had been admitted to high school.

It was only because of her family’s poor conditions that she couldn’t continue her education.

"Hongmei, you should register for self-study exams. Once the new factory’s affairs are settled, I’ll study with you."

Guiding Shen Hongmei through her self-study college degree was also something Shen Mingzhu had promised her.

However, over the past two years, she had been delayed by work and pregnancy and hadn’t managed to take care of Shen Hongmei’s studies.

Shen Hongmei naturally wanted to continue her studies, and immediately agreed upon hearing this.

"Then what major should I enroll in?"

"It’s up to you. If you just want a diploma, you can study Chinese language and literature with me, which is a bit simpler. If you want to learn some useful skills, you could consider accounting or English..."

Shen Mingzhu pedaled her bicycle, earnestly discussing self-study matters with Shen Hongmei, completely unaware that a silver Xiali car was speeding towards her from behind.

By the time Shen Mingzhu realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

She was struck on the arm by the rearview mirror of the Xiali, causing her to swerve and fall to the ground, bike and all.

The Xiali car didn’t stop, kicking up a cloud of dust as it sped away.

From the car, Sun Feifei looked through the rear window and saw Shen Mingzhu’s disheveled state, her face breaking into a smug smile.

"Does this person even know how to drive, are they blind? Hitting someone and then fleeing, are they in a rush to reincarnate?"

While cursing after the Xiali car’s backside, Shen Hongmei helped Shen Mingzhu up.

Shen Mingzhu didn’t utter a word, only mentally noting down the license plate number of the Xiali.

...

When she got home, Shen Mingzhu started busy with raising money.

With a promising outlook for the food factory and holding the land of Fushun Cake Factory, the bank approved a business loan of fifty thousand for her.

She obtained a mortgage loan of thirty thousand using her home’s three properties.

All together that was eighty thousand, still short by ten thousand.

Shen Mingzhu intended to ask Zhong Qing and Yan Su for help, to borrow five thousand from each, which would make up the full ten thousand.

However, before she even went to Zhong Qing and Yan Su, Pei Wenping took the initiative to bring money to her, wanting to invest in the food factory.