The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 380 - 379: Zhao Dafa Proposes Breaking Up

Chapter 380: Chapter 379: Zhao Dafa Proposes Breaking Up

Seeing Ou Liya’s defensive demeanor, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but flash a guess through her mind.

"Rest assured, as long as you don’t come to provoke me, I naturally won’t bother about your private affairs."

"Shen Mingzhu, you’d better keep your word, otherwise, I won’t let things slide with you!"

Having said that, Ou Liya hurriedly left.

After using the restroom, Shen Mingzhu faced the mirror to fix her appearance, secretly speculating that Ou Liya might possibly be pregnant.

However, she didn’t think too much about it, assuming that Ou Liya was just afraid of being embarrassed or it affecting her work if the news got out.

After all, in this era, getting pregnant before marriage was indeed not something to be proud of.

...

Seeing that Shen Mingzhu really did leave the Zhuang Family after coming out of the restroom just as she had said, Ou Liya, who had been hiding and watching, couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But soon after, her stomach began to churn again.

After forcefully suppressing the nausea, Ou Liya knew she couldn’t stay at the Zhuang Family any longer; her pregnancy would be revealed sooner or later.

After some thought, Ou Liya headed to the kitchen.

While no one was paying attention, she quietly snapped a piece of Chinese yam from the vegetable basket and then went to the restroom.

Ten minutes later, Ou Liya returned to the kitchen.

The other maids were startled by her appearance.

"Why is your whole body covered in red bumps?"

Ou Liya, desperately scratching the swollen areas, showed a pained expression, "I don’t know what happened, it suddenly turned like this, it’s so itchy."

The butler was also shocked by her appearance, and without a second word, approved her leave to see a doctor.

Ou Liya left and did not return to the Zhuang Family, but sent a medical diagnosis report through her mother.

The butler immediately reported the diagnosis to Zhuang Xueqi after seeing it.

Learning that Ou Liya had contracted dermatophytosis, Zhuang Xueqi was also startled.

Although dermatophytosis was not fatal, it was highly contagious, and she had a wedding to host next month; it simply couldn’t be allowed to spread to her.

Immediately, the butler took all the servants to the hospital for checks and prevention, and also hired professionals to disinfect and clean the Zhuang home inside and out.

While the Zhuang Family was busy turning everything upside down to prevent the spread of dermatophytosis, Ou Liya was comfortably lying at home, nurturing her pregnancy.

...

As soon as Zhao Dafa entered the living room, Zhou Hui and the two children, who were sitting around the dining table for dinner, all turned their gaze toward him.

"Dad."

Liang Xiaowen called out sweetly to Zhao Dafa, whereas Zhao Yun, his own son, showed little reaction, glancing at Zhao Dafa before turning his gaze away.

Zhou Hui put down her chopsticks and got up, showing concern, "Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet."

At this, Zhou Hui immediately went to the kitchen to fetch a clean set of chopsticks and bowl.

Two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a soup – by the standards of this era, that was considered quite a feast.

However, Zhao Dafa didn’t seem to have much of an appetite and after eating only a few bites, he left the table and returned to his room.

Noticing that Zhao Dafa seemed troubled, Zhou Hui also lost her appetite and followed him to the room.

"Dafa, are you tired?"

Upon entering and seeing Zhao Dafa leaning on the balcony smoking, Zhou Hui hurried forward with concern.

Zhao Dafa, seemingly in deep thought, flicked his cigarette ash, "When Mrs. Liu came to our house the other day, there wasn’t any unpleasantness, was there?"

Zhou Hui’s heart skipped a beat, "What happened?"

"The partnership with Longchang has fallen through."

"Why?"

Zhao Dafa was also at a loss.

He had been in smooth negotiations with Longchang recently and had already agreed on the partnership terms and rebates with Liu Qifeng.

They were supposed to sign the contract yesterday, but Liu Qifeng canceled at the last minute, and only today did Zhao Dafa find out that Liu had already signed a contract with his competitor.

Zhou Hui slapped her thigh, "I know why!"

She immediately told Zhao Dafa about how Shen Mingzhu had failed to show up at the birthday party, upsetting Mrs. Liu.

"It must be because of this! Mingzhu really, we had already agreed with her, if she had come, your partnership with Manager Liu wouldn’t have fallen through!"

Her words were filled with dissatisfaction toward Shen Mingzhu.

"You can’t blame Shen sister for this, she’s a woman running such a big factory and has to take care of children too, it’s normal for her to be too busy," he extinguished.

Zhou Hui felt sour about the man’s defense of Shen Mingzhu, her tone acidic, "She caused you to lose such a big deal, yet you’re still speaking up for her. If only she had considered us a bit, the Longchang deal wouldn’t have been lost."

"If it’s gone, it’s gone. In business, you can’t expect everything to go smoothly. All things considered, we’ve made a good amount of money this year."

Zhao Dafa took it well, but Zhou Hui was filled with grievances.

She had hoped to get on Mrs. Liu’s good side to help Zhao Dafa secure the Longchang deal and to show Zhao Dafa her worthiness and competence, hoping he would marry her sooner.

Now that the partnership with Longchang had fallen through, how could she bring up the marriage certificate with Zhao Dafa?

...

After a night of pondering without finding an answer, Zhou Hui sought out Shen Mingzhu the next day.

"Mingzhu, where did you go last Saturday? Didn’t I tell you to come to Xiaowen’s birthday party on time? Even if you couldn’t make it, you should have at least come by to explain, shouldn’t you?"

Zhou Hui’s tone was accusatory right from the start, causing Shen Mingzhu to show no pleasant expression either.

"Zhou sister, I remember telling you that I couldn’t make it because I had something to do."

"You’re the boss, how could taking half a day off affect anything? Do you know because you didn’t go, Dafa lost the partnership with Manager Liu and offended Mrs. Liu? Our families are relatives, after all. Normally, Dafa treats you and Pei Yang like his own sister and brother. But when it came down to it, you didn’t show any loyalty at all."

Pei Yang pulled Shen Mingzhu behind him and argued with Zhou Hui, "Zhou sister, let’s not even mention that Mingzhu doesn’t even know Mrs. Liu. Even if she did, what could she possibly say about the Zhao family’s business deal with Manager Liu as an outsider?"

"Why couldn’t she say anything? If Mingzhu had come to the birthday party and gotten on good terms with Mrs. Liu, Mrs. Liu would have helped speak up for Dafa."

Shen Mingzhu couldn’t hold back anymore, "Zhou sister, you keep insisting that I come to the birthday party; was your goal just to use me for networking?"

Zhou Hui’s face flashed with discomfort, "Our families have such a good relationship; isn’t it right to help each other out when necessary?"

"True, but you didn’t make the purpose of the birthday party clear to me in advance; can you blame me for that? Besides, I had already made arrangements with a client. Are you saying I should blow off a client for your daughter’s birthday party? What, the Zhao family’s business is business, but Shen Mingzhu’s business is not?"

Zhou Hui had no response to the retort.

Having made her point, Shen Mingzhu didn’t bother to waste more words and directly called Zhao Dafa, addressing two matters.

First was to explain why she didn’t attend the birthday party, and second was to ask Zhao Dafa to take Zhou Hui with him.

Zhao Dafa arrived promptly.

As soon as he entered, he immediately apologized to Shen Mingzhu and Pei Yang.

Just as Shen Mingzhu suspected, Zhao Dafa had no idea that Zhou Hui had come to "accuse" her.

...

"Hui,"

As Zhou Hui was about to enter the Zhao family’s doorstep, Zhao Dafa suddenly called out to her.

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