The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 364 - 363 Shen Baolan Sabotages Secretly

Chapter 364: Chapter 363 Shen Baolan Sabotages Secretly

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Shen Mingzhu looked Shen Hongmei up and down, "Find time to get yourself a decent suit and buy a pair of leather shoes. Once you’ve bought them, come find me for reimbursement. Consider it my gift to you for your promotion."

Shen Hongmei stared blankly at her, "President Shen, what do you mean?"

"What do you think?"

"I don’t know."

Shen Mingzhu found it amusing and stood up, walking over to her, "Well then, I’ll formally notify you now. Starting from the first day of next month, you will serve as the director of the office, mainly responsible for employee management, logistics, and administrative reception."

"As a manager, you’ll need to lead by example in everything you do and also get yourself a couple of decent outfits; don’t tarnish the company’s image. Understand?"

Shen Hongmei was still befuddled, "President Shen, did you promote me just so my parents wouldn’t force me to get married?"

"Of course not." Shen Mingzhu patted her shoulder encouragingly, "Your promotion is because you have the capability. Didn’t you ask me if a woman has no other path but to get married? Now, the other path you want is laid out before your feet. Whether you take it and whether you can keep going down that path is up to you."

Shen Hongmei nodded excitedly, "President Shen, I definitely won’t let you down in nurturing me and meeting your expectations!"

"You’re wrong; your responsibility is to yourself. Talent is abundant. Without you, I could train another ten or eight. But your life has no second chances; think carefully about every step. Understand?"

Shen Hongmei quickly nodded.

...

As the weather warmed, Shen Baolan’s cold drinks stand became busier by the day.

She now had experience and would set up her stand near the school from Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays and Sundays, she would go where the crowds were larger, in the bustling market.

On good days, she could earn up to seven or eight yuan, and on slower days, still four or five.

Her mother-in-law, Ma Sufen’s attitude toward her improved more each day.

And she herself, with a fuller purse, spoke with more confidence at home, her voice the loudest in the household.

One day, shortly after she opened her stand, her sister-in-law Tian Wenfang came running frantically to find her.

"Hongmei’s family is calling off the engagement; what should we do? We had an agreement; you help me take care of Yuanbao, and I help your brother get married."

Shen Baolan’s son was notoriously a crybaby, and once he started, it was non-stop.

It was not just irritating, but also caused Tian Wenfang’s son to cry along.

In a few days, Tian Wenfang could no longer bear to continue taking care of the baby for Shen Baolan and insisted on sending Yuanbao back to the Zhou family.

To persuade Tian Wenfang to keep helping her with her son, Shen Baolan took the initiative to help Tian Wenfang’s older brother find a wife.

Tian Dayong, Tian Wenfang’s older brother, was 26 years old and from the next county. Due to his unattractive appearance, he had remained a bachelor.

Shen Hongmei had been close to Shen Mingzhu and had often opposed the Shen Family these past years. In the last two years, she had also made a fair amount of money following Shen Mingzhu, which made Shen Baolan rather envious.

With the mix of new grudges and old resentments, Shen Baolan set her sights on Shen Hongmei.

She wanted to marry Shen Hongmei off to Tian Dayong, the unwed man.

First, she diligently persuaded the Tian Family to offer a high bride price, then found a matchmaker to sing Tian Dayong’s praises to Shen Hongmei’s parents, claiming he was an unmatched and excellent prospective son-in-law.

Thus, the two families quickly settled on the marriage and even set a wedding date.

But what Shen Baolan didn’t expect was that Shen Hongmei’s family would eventually break off the engagement.

"...Aunt Jin’e said that now Hongmei is a manager at the food factory, earning over a hundred yuan a month, claiming my Dayong isn’t good enough for Hongmei."

Learning the reason behind Shen Hongmei’s family calling off the marriage, Shen Baolan felt extremely jealous.

With Shen Hongmei’s current situation, it probably wouldn’t be hard for her to marry into the city.

Originally, in the entire Shenjiagou, only she and Shen Mingzhu had married into the city, but both as stepmothers.

If Shen Hongmei also married into the city, and to a man on his first marriage, wouldn’t she be putting Shen Baolan beneath her?

"Sister-in-law, this marriage cannot be called off. Think about it; with the money Hongmei makes monthly, if you marry her off, wouldn’t Dayong be set for life with good days ahead?"

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Tian Wenfang said, "If they refuse to marry off their daughter, can we really go to their doorstep and forcibly take her?"

Shen Baolan snorted, "They accepted the dowry, so Hongmei is already your Tian family’s daughter-in-law! How can they just decide to call off the marriage whenever they want? It’s not that easy!"

Shen Baolan’s eyes darted around, and she leaned in to whisper something to Tian Wenfang’s ear.

As she listened, Tian Wenfang kept nodding his head.

...

Just as Pei Ziheng had anticipated, his interview, once published, greatly boosted the food factory’s business.

Especially the spicy strips and dried tofu, which sold out at the distribution points around several schools in the city.

Luckily, Shen Mingzhu had prepared in advance, working overtime to produce spicy strips and dried tofu, and had timely restocked the distribution points.

At the same time, the sales of pastries at Mingzhu Restaurant also saw a significant increase.

Especially the snowflake crisps—Pei Ziheng’s slogans, "Good learning comes from good health" and "Nuts help with body development and improve memory," hit right at the parents’ hearts.

Now, with mostly only children, parents from every family spare no effort to provide their children with the best material conditions.

Just as Shen Mingzhu was busy with the soaring business to the point of hardly touching the ground, the Tian family came knocking.

...

Early in the morning, Shen Mingzhu was organizing a morning meeting when suddenly, a clamor of gongs and drums could be heard outside the factory gates.

Accompanied by shouting that reached the ears of the people inside—

"Picking up the bride!"

"Where’s Shen Hongmei? Come out, your man is here to take you back to get married!"

Facing everyone’s astonished or curious gazes, Shen Hongmei blushed with embarrassment and quickly got up to run out.

Shen Mingzhu signaled for the meeting to be paused, and immediately selected a few people to follow her to the factory entrance.

Upon going out, they saw two middle-aged women trying to drag Shen Hongmei onto a tractor, and she immediately led her team to intervene.

"Let go, what are you doing?"

"I am Tian Dayong, Shen Hongmei’s man. I have come to take her back to get married," said a short man with a pockmarked face and buck teeth, stepping forward.

Shen Mingzhu sized up the man, feeling that he looked vaguely familiar, "Your surname is Tian? Do you know Tian Wenfang?"

"She’s my sister."

Something clicked in Shen Mingzhu’s mind.

Tian Dayong grinned at Shen Mingzhu with his buck teeth and said, "You are Hongmei’s boss, right? Her family took a dowry of five hundred yuan from me. She is my wife now. I’m here to take her to get married, and after we consummate the marriage, I’ll send her back to continue working."

Not to mention Shen Hongmei shaking with anger, even Shen Mingzhu felt like picking up a brick and smacking him with it.

Ugly as sin, but dreaming of beauty!

"You’re full of it, who’s your wife? My father has already returned the dowry money to you; our families have annulled the engagement!" Shen Hongmei yelled furiously.

"What annulment? That was clearly the dowry your family gave. Hongmei, don’t worry, I’m keeping the money safe for you. When you need it, you can ask me for it."

The thickness of Tian Dayong’s skin was indeed an eye-opener.

While he was speaking, the two middle-aged women forcefully tried to drag Shen Hongmei onto the tractor.

Shen Mingzhu and her people tried to step forward to stop them but were blocked by the other people from the Tian family who had come along.

The Tian family had come prepared, bringing a bunch of strong farmhands who worked the fields, and they stopped Shen Mingzhu and several employees from intervening.

During the scuffle, Shen Mingzhu suddenly felt a pain in her chest.