The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 368 - 367: Shooting Oneself in the Foot

Chapter 368: Chapter 367: Shooting Oneself in the Foot

Shen Baolan’s stall was on Bat Street.

Before Qin Jinlian arrived, the whole street, including Shen Baolan, had a total of three stalls selling cold water and drinks.

One mainly sold shaved ice and cold shrimp, another sold eight-treasure porridge, mung bean soup, tremella soup, and the like, while Shen Baolan’s offerings were the most basic and lacked distinction.

However, with her smooth-talking, she always managed to attract customers, so her business was pretty good.

That was until Qin Jinlian showed up and completely disrupted the peaceful coexistence of the three vendors.

Qin Jinlian’s cold water, shaved ice, cold shrimp, and frozen yogurt pops not only tasted good but also came in generous portions at affordable prices, quickly becoming a favorite among patrons.

The stall selling cold porridge wasn’t much affected since it offered a different product from the others.

But for Shen Baolan and the other shaved ice stall, business plummeted under Qin Jinlian’s competition.

The shaved ice vendor, being an old hand at the business, promptly switched locations upon sensing the downturn.

Shen Baolan, however, was not willing to give up so easily. The school had just let out for summer vacation, and during the break, Bat Street was at its busiest.

Before Qin Jinlian came, Shen Baolan could make at least seven or eight yuan a day.

After Qin Jinlian arrived, not only did Shen Baolan fail to make money, she actually started losing it.

Shen Baolan wanted to team up with the cold porridge vendor to drive Qin Jinlian away, but the latter was unwilling to cooperate.

The old lady selling cold porridge had been setting up her stall in the area for several years and had her own set of loyal customers, so Qin Jinlian’s presence had little effect on her.

Left with no other choice, Shen Baolan took it upon herself to confront Qin Jinlian and arrogantly demanded that she move elsewhere.

Not to mention that Qin Jinlian’s cold drink stall was doing great business with no reason to leave all that money on the table, their mutual animosity alone guaranteed that Qin Jinlian wouldn’t budge.

Liu Cuihua mocked her in the village for not being able to produce a grandson, so she wanted to create trouble for Liu Cuihua’s daughter in the city.

Seeing that playing nice didn’t work, Shen Baolan decided to play rough.

She stopped caring about her own business and just stood watch in front of Qin Jinlian’s stall, telling any customers who came to buy that Qin Jinlian’s food was unhygienic and would make them sick.

In a short while, she had driven several groups of customers away.

Qin Jinlian was furious and cursed at Shen Baolan loudly.

Shen Baolan was not one to take insults lying down; she put her hands on her hips and shouted back, and the argument escalated until it turned into a brawl and trashing each other’s stalls.

In the end, both of them ended up in the police station.

...

When Shen Mingzhu received the call, she wasn’t in a hurry. After handling what she was doing, she picked up her bag, mounted her Mulan bike, and headed to the police station to bail someone out.

By the time Shen Mingzhu arrived at the police station, Qin Jinlian and Shen Baolan were still arguing fiercely.

Both of them felt they were in the right, blaming the other for the conflict.

Shen Mingzhu didn’t beat around the bush. She straightforwardly gave Shen Baolan two choices: either spend the night in the police station or reconcile and go home.

For scuffles like these, as long as both parties reach a settlement, the police wouldn’t pursue any further investigation or punishment.

Shen Baolan set conditions for Shen Mingzhu: "I’ll agree to reconcile, but you have to sign for me."

Shen Baolan had been in the police station before and was afraid of being scolded by her in-laws, thus she hadn’t dared to call them for help.

Shen Mingzhu almost laughed with exasperation, "Am I your mother? Even if you wanted to be my daughter, I wouldn’t take you."

With that, Shen Mingzhu directly told the police officer, "If the other party doesn’t want to reconcile, then go ahead and enforce the public security regulations. However much the fine is, I’ll pay it."

The police officer looked at them, "Are you sure you don’t want to reconcile? The fine starts at fifty yuan."

As soon as Shen Mingzhu said she would pay the fine, Shen Baolan immediately rejoiced at her misfortune, "I won’t reconcile, fine her!"

The police officer looked at Shen Baolan as if she was a fool, wanting to say something but was interrupted by Shen Mingzhu, "Alright, go ahead and fine me then. Fifty yuan, right? I’ll go pay it now."

Seeing this, the police officer didn’t try to convince them any further. Someone was eager to pay the fine, which they were more than happy about.

After paying the fine and signing the papers, Shen Mingzhu took Qin Jinlian away.

Shen Baolan sneered at their retreating figures. She turned and made a phone call to the town, asking someone to send a message to her brother Shen Hao.

The message did get relayed, but it reached Tian Wenfang instead.

Tian Wenfang held a grudge against Shen Baolan and deliberately didn’t tell her in-laws.

...

After leaving the police station, Shen Mingzhu turned around to size up Qin Jinlian.

Feeling guilty under her gaze, Qin Jinlian defended herself in a pitiful tone, "It was Shen Baolan who provoked me first and drove all my customers away."

"Are you hurt?"

Qin Jinlian, who had braced herself for a scolding, found going to the police station to be a humiliating affair and had also been fined fifty yuan, thinking about it made her heartache.

Unexpectedly, her daughter didn’t scold her but instead showed concern for her.

Feeling touched and surprised, Qin Jinlian grabbed Shen Mingzhu’s hand with tearful eyes, "I knew it, raising you as my daughter wasn’t in vain."

Shen Mingzhu scoffed, "That’s not what you used to say."

Qin Jinlian was embarrassed.

Shen Mingzhu didn’t say much more and told Qin Jinlian to clean up her stall before she went back to the factory to work.

...

Shen Baolan waited and waited until the sun was almost setting, and finally, her family came to bail her out.

But it wasn’t Shen Hao who came; it was Zhou Shuhuan.

"Why did you come?"

Zhou Shuhuan ignored her and turned to find the officer to sign the paperwork to take Shen Baolan home, only to be informed that he needed to pay a fine of fifty yuan.

Shen Baolan didn’t understand, "Didn’t Shen Mingzhu already pay the fine? Why do I have to pay again?"

The officer looked at her as if she was foolish, "Since you refused to reconcile, we have to punish you according to the Public Security regulations; both you and Qin Jinlian are fined fifty each."

Hearing she also had to pay a fine, Shen Baolan was dumbfounded.

"Why didn’t you say so earlier? I’ll reconcile now, if we reconcile, we don’t have to pay the fine, right?"

"Too late, pay up."

Upon hearing this, Shen Baolan was overwhelmed with regret.

Zhou Shuhuan’s expression was equally unpleasant and very awkward.

He had received a phone call from Pei Yang, who informed him that his wife and his brother’s mother-in-law had gotten into a fight and ended up in the police station.

After work, he came straight over, without bringing that much money with him.

With no other choice, he had to call someone from home to bring the money over.

When Shen Baolan returned home that evening, she was greeted by Ma Sufen’s dark and gloomy face.

This was Shen Baolan’s third time in the police station.

One could imagine that once the news spread, people in the family quarters would laugh at the Zhou family.

It would be strange if the Zhou family showed her a pleasant face.

...

After the fighting incident, Qin Jinlian continued her stall selling cool water and ice jelly, and her business kept improving day by day.

On the other hand, Shen Baolan’s business languished due to her uncompetitive products.

After several days of not making money, Ma Sufen’s attitude towards her worsened, either being sarcastic or criticizing her for not being as capable as Shen Mingzhu.

Shen Baolan was so depressed and jealous of Qin Jinlian making a killing selling ice jelly and cool shrimp that she too wanted to sell ice jelly, but alas, she lacked the skill. She thought about learning from someone, but the tuition was too expensive, and she was reluctant to spend the money.

She was a piece of work, actually setting her sights on Shen Mingzhu.

"As long as you teach me the craft, I’ll give up my spot on Bat Street to your mother, and I’ll set up my stall somewhere else."

Shen Mingzhu was so angry she laughed and told her bluntly to get lost, "If your brain is sick, go get treatment. Don’t come here making a fool of yourself."

Seeing no hope of learning the trade, Shen Baolan lashed out in frustration, "Shen Mingzhu, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? When you saw my cool water stall earning money, you got your mother to compete with me for business. You just can’t stand to see me do well, can you? Why are you so malicious?"