The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 377 - 376: Makeup VS Disguise

Chapter 377: Chapter 376: Makeup VS Disguise

"Mrs. Liu, do you have time this weekend? It’s Xiaowen’s birthday, and I would like to invite you and your child to our house for the birthday party."

Mrs. Liu opened her mouth to decline but saw Zhou Hui pointing at Shen Mingzhu, who was surrounded by other parents, "Mingzhu and Ziheng will be there too. You might not know, but Ziheng and my stepson have been close since they were little. They even became sworn brothers, and it’s thanks to Ziheng that Xiaoyun was able to get into junior high."

Indeed, upon learning about Zhou Hui’s relationship with Shen Mingzhu, Mrs. Liu immediately agreed with a smile.

...

After work, Shen Mingzhu returned home and went straight upstairs.

In the study, her daughter sat on the floor mat playing with toys, while her son was next to her at the coffee table doing his homework.

"Brother, look."

Guoguo was playing with her favorite snowflake building blocks, and whenever she managed to assemble a model she liked, she would hold it up for her brother to admire.

Despite the fact that the models her little sister put together looked weird and grotesque, Pei Ziheng didn’t even blink before he praised, "That looks great, Guoguo is amazing."

"Giggles~"

Having received her brother’s praise, Guoguo happily grabbed another snowflake block and struggled to fit it onto the model.

Watching his little sister play with her toys with a tender expression, Pei Ziheng looked up and his eyes brightened upon noticing Shen Mingzhu by the window.

"Mom."

Hearing him call out, Guoguo also looked towards the window, and when she saw her mother, she was no longer interested in her toys and stretched out her little chubby arms for a hug.

Shen Mingzhu bent down to pick up her daughter, giving her a customary kiss, before sitting next to her son and ruffling his hair.

"How was your first day of classes today, did you understand the teacher’s lecture?"

Pei Ziheng nodded, "Yeah, I understood."

Shen Mingzhu asked many detailed questions, like whether his seat was in the front or back, whether his deskmate was a boy or a girl, what subjects they had covered, and if he could manage the homework.

Pei Ziheng answered each one, and looking at her, his eyes shone brightly like a newborn calf, clearly in high spirits.

Seeing his mood, Shen Mingzhu could tell he must have had a good day at school and felt relieved.

All of a sudden, Pei Ziheng stretched out his arms to hug her, "Mom, thank you."

With her daughter still in her arms, Shen Mingzhu could only free one arm to embrace her son.

She asked tenderly, "What’s brought this on? Did something happen at school? Do you want to talk about it with Mom?"

Pei Ziheng nuzzled his head into the crook of her shoulder with a soft, tender voice, "Mom, when I grow up, I’ll protect you just like you protected me today."

"You are Mom’s child, it’s only right for Mom to protect you. Even when I grow old and can’t walk anymore, I will still love you."

"Mhmm."

In his previous life, after his granduncle had taken him to Hong City and arranged for him to attend junior high, he didn’t really look out for him.

He was left to be bullied at school, beaten and scolded by others.

Back then, he lived like a lone stray dog that anyone could kick around.

Luckily, in this life, he had a mother.

It was wonderful; his mother was so kind, and he loved her so much.

"Mommy, hug~"

Guoguo was at the age of imitating others. Seeing her brother hugging their mother, she wanted a hug too.

Shen Mingzhu, one child in each arm, hugged both her children close, kissing one and then the other.

"Ah~ Giggles~"

Guoguo’s cheerful laughter filled the study.

...

"Miss Zhuang, what brings you here?"

Zhuang Xueqi let out a light hum, "What, not welcome?"

"I wouldn’t dream of it, let’s go to the office, it’s cooler there."

Although autumn had arrived, the ferocity of the autumn tiger had not diminished, and the daytime was still sweltering with heat waves, stultifyingly hot.

On the way to the office, Zhuang Xueqi looked around while walking, "The environment of the new factory is not bad."

Shen Mingzhu replied with a smile, "It’s decent, much more spacious than the old factory."

Shen Mingzhu made Zhuang Xueqi a cup of hand-brewed coffee.

The coffee beans were a gift from Yan Su, neither she nor Pei Yang liked to drink coffee, so she simply used it to entertain guests in the office.

"I didn’t see that coming, you can actually make coffee."

Zhuang Xueqi didn’t directly compliment that the coffee was good, but the words "can make" were indeed a form of affirmation.

Shen Mingzhu joked, "To be able to serve Miss Zhuang a cup of coffee brewed by myself, I specially learned how to do it."

Zhuang Xueqi rolled her eyes but was visibly in a good mood.

"I’m getting married next month."

Shen Mingzhu was a bit surprised, "Congratulations, um, is it with Young Master Ning?"

After asking, she got another eye roll from Zhuang Xueqi, "Nonsense."

Marriages among the wealthy were all about interests, and switching brides and grooms wasn’t anything unusual.

But Shen Mingzhu only dared to think this to herself.

Zhuang Xueqi had come specifically to request Shen Mingzhu design her wedding makeup.

In return, all the wedding candies and pastries needed for the banquet would be supplied by Shen Mingzhu’s food factory.

Shen Mingzhu naturally wouldn’t reject such a good deal and immediately took out the catalog of wedding candy packaging designs for Zhuang Xueqi to choose from.

While custom-making wedding candies was not the main business of the food factory, Shen Mingzhu often used her spare time to add designs to the catalog.

Over the course of more than a year, she had accumulated three to four dozen styles of wedding candy packaging and gift boxes in her catalog.

Zhuang Xueqi selected five styles and asked Shen Mingzhu to produce samples within a week for her to review.

Time was tight, Shen Mingzhu rode her motorcycle all day, looking for materials and manufacturers for the gift boxes, and spent her evenings at home researching bridal makeup.

For this, she even found a model with facial features and shape similar to Zhuang Xueqi’s to design the makeup on.

Every time she did the makeup on the model’s face, Pei Yang and the two children would sit and watch.

After she completed the model’s makeup, Pei Yang would exclaim, "You call this makeup? It’s more like a disguise."

...

On Friday night, after dinner, Shen Mingzhu was pondering new makeup ideas and took her daughter out in the yard for a walk to aid digestion when she heard someone knocking. She thought it was the model, but when she opened the door, it was Zhou Hui.

"Mingzhu, tomorrow my Xiaowen is holding a birthday banquet, come over early with the kids," Zhou Hui said.

Her tone did not consider whether Shen Mingzhu had time at all.

"Sister Zhou, I’m really sorry, I have plans tomorrow, but I’ll send Ziheng over."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hui urged, "Come along too. I’ve invited some other people as well, I can introduce you. They’re all wealthy ladies. Meeting more people could help your business, right?"

"Sister Zhou, thank you for your kindness, but I really do have plans tomorrow."

Zhou Hui, as if not understanding human speech, said, "Oh come on, it’s decided then, you must come tomorrow, I’ll be waiting for you."

Without waiting for Shen Mingzhu to refuse, she turned and left.

Shen Mingzhu was speechless.

...

The next day, after breakfast, Shen Mingzhu quickly put on some makeup and changed into a decent outfit before grabbing her bag and heading out the door.