The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 388 - 387: Mother’s Heartache

Chapter 388: Chapter 387: Mother’s Heartache

In the expectant gazes of everyone, Julie erased the daily menu written on the small blackboard behind her and wrote down the number 442 with chalk.

"Today’s total revenue is 442 yuan," she announced.

Everyone glanced at each other, their faces lighting up with excitement.

Before the grand opening, Shen Mingzhu had done the math for everyone, saying that a monthly revenue around five thousand would be enough to break even.

On average, each day needed to bring in at least 166 yuan to avoid a loss.

They hadn’t expected to make 442 yuan on the very first day, a promising start indeed.

"Alright, it’s getting late. Everyone should head home and rest up. Come in half an hour early tomorrow morning, we’ll have a brief meeting," Shen Mingzhu instructed.

After all the employees had left, Julie locked the doors and windows, secured the main gate, and then returned to the dormitory.

...

"I really don’t understand what those people are thinking; just a few dishes sold for 88 yuan, and the larger tables even went for 138. They were actually willing to pay up and come all the way to the outskirts of town, they must have too much time on their hands," Jia Yuemei muttered to Shen Xiangnan while soaking her feet in a tub.

Shen Xiangnan glanced at her, "I was just wondering what you were thinking. People are willing to come to our restaurant to eat, letting us earn money, and instead of being grateful, you criticize them. There’s a reason younger sister didn’t make you the supervisor."

Jia Yuemei pouted, "What money have you earned? You sold so much, but how much of that actually landed in your pocket?"

"We do all the dirty, tiring work while she just moves her lips, and the money ends up all in her pocket," she complained.

Shen Xiangnan countered, "What do you know? If it wasn’t for younger sister’s connections and favors, do you think people would bother coming here to eat?"

Seeing that Jia Yuemei was unconvinced, Shen Xiangnan added, "If you have the ability, take out ten thousand yuan and open your own restaurant. Then whatever you earn is yours; no one will compete with you for it."

Jia Yuemei, unable to retort, lifted her wet feet and rested them on Shen Xiangnan’s leg.

"What are you doing? You’re getting my pants all wet. How am I supposed to wear them tomorrow?" Shen Xiangnan protested.

Since the onset of winter, with its continuous rain, clothes washed couldn’t dry even after ten days or half a month. Shen Xiangnan didn’t bring many clothes and currently had only this set that was wearable.

"Wear them however you like, or go without if you have nothing!" Jia Yuemei retorted, dismissively.

Outside the door, Julie turned around with an empty washbasin and went back to the dormitory where the female servers stayed.

Her thermos was broken, and she had hoped to borrow some hot water from the couple for a foot bath.

...

Early the next morning, Julie rode her motorcycle into town to purchase supplies and also to report to Shen Mingzhu on the work status.

Shen Mingzhu wasn’t too surprised by the revenue figure; after all, the number of reserved tables had been set in advance.

The only exception might be customers canceling or postponing their reservations.

"Not bad, how many reservations do we have for today?" Shen Mingzhu asked.

"Three tables," Julie replied.

Shen Mingzhu nodded and then asked about the employees’ performance during the opening day.

Julie reported some minor issues that had occurred with the servers during their work to Shen Mingzhu, without mentioning Jia Yuemei’s complaints about her.

After all, eavesdropping was not a commendable act.

Moreover, Jia Yuemei was Shen Family’s daughter-in-law, and at the end of the day, this was Shen Mingzhu’s family affair, not something for an outsider like her to comment on.

...

After Julie left, Shen Mingzhu finished her work as quickly as possible, picked up her bag, and went home, planning to take Guoguo to the municipal hospital for a checkup.

With the change in seasons and the onset of winter, Guoguo tended to cough a lot at night.

She had already taken her to the pediatrician.

The doctor diagnosed that there wasn’t a major problem, possibly lung heat, and had advised her to buy Autumn Pear Cream to mix with water for the child to drink.

After drinking it for two days with no apparent effect, Shen Mingzhu decided to take her daughter to the municipal hospital again.

...

The season change between autumn and winter always saw many children with colds, and the municipal hospital was as crowded as a marketplace.

During the wait for their turn, after talking with other mothers, it seemed there were quite a few young children like Guoguo with unexplained dry coughs.

The mothers had also tried various home remedies, such as Fritillaria stewed with snow pears, salty orange water, loquat syrup, radish water, and so on, but none had been effective, ultimately leading them back to the hospital for a doctor’s visit.

After nearly two hours in line.

This time, the doctor’s diagnosis was somewhat different from the last, saying it was internal heat, a congenital constitutional issue many children have. It wasn’t anything serious and didn’t require medication; the key was to maintain a light diet, eat less meat, and have more vegetables.

It sounded simple, but for Shen Mingzhu, it was quite a difficult challenge.

Ever since Guoguo started eating solid foods, she disliked vegetables and only wanted meat, eggs, and fruit.

However, for the sake of her daughter’s health, she had to find a way, no matter how difficult.

If the cough persisted, it could easily lead to pneumonia.

...

After leaving the outpatient clinic, Shen Mingzhu carried her daughter towards the parking shed. They hadn’t walked far when she heard her daughter’s childish voice, "Mommy, car car."

"What car? Let mommy see too."

As Shen Mingzhu entertained her daughter and looked around, she saw a black Santana parked at the entrance of the maternal and child health hospital. A young woman in a beige wool coat was bending over to get into the car.

Shen Mingzhu was about to look away when she got a clear view of the young woman’s face and paused slightly.

...

To coax Guoguo into eating more vegetables, Shen Mingzhu came up with several strategies.

She made vegetable pancakes, vegetable meatballs, mini vegetable wontons, and multicolored noodles with vegetable juice.

She even added a variety of vegetables to the homemade baked cookies.

But no matter how hard Shen Mingzhu tried, creating all sorts of vegetable snacks, Guoguo still didn’t like them. She would spit them out even if fed, and in her anger, she might even knock over her bowl.

That morning, when Shen Mingzhu, after nearly an hour of effort, brought the vegetable noodles to her daughter only to have them slapped away, she was dumbfounded. She picked up the child and gave her two firm spanks on the buttocks.

It wasn’t until she heard her daughter’s heart-wrenching cries that she realized she had hit her daughter.

This was the first time she had hit her daughter.

The child cried breathlessly, and she herself was so angry that she started shedding tears.

"Why won’t you listen? Is mommy hurting you? Do you want to end up with pneumonia?"

A child barely over a year old couldn’t understand the good intentions of an adult, only feeling that her mommy was very scary, which made her cry even louder.

Father and son, one comforting the daughter, the other comforting her, and Auntie Yu cleaning up.

Watching her daughter, now quiet in her son’s arms, Shen Mingzhu suddenly felt an overpowering sense of exhaustion and defeat.

All along, she had managed to balance both family and career quite well.

Her naturally adversarial son was also growing up healthily according to her wishes.

But when it came to her own daughter, she was at a loss.

While at work in the factory, she kept thinking about this.

She reflected on whether she was too domineering, not patient enough, insisting her daughter eat food she didn’t like.

On second thought, she wondered if she had been spoiling her daughter too much, giving her whatever she wanted, leading to her daughter’s spoiled and willful behavior.

Unable to calm her mind, she couldn’t focus on her work.

After barely finishing her tasks, Shen Mingzhu left work early and went home.

"Guoguo’s upstairs, Ziheng is playing with her."

Auntie Yu was picking vegetable leaves in the yard; seeing her come home early, she smiled and spoke before Shen Mingzhu could ask.

As someone who had gone through it all, how could she not see that Shen Mingzhu was worried about her daughter?

Shen Mingzhu went to the second floor, and through the study window, seeing her daughter happily playing with toys heart was a twist of emotion.

She stepped into the study.

Pei Ziheng saw her first, his dark and shiny eyes calling out "Mommy."

Guoguo looked at her with a slight delay.

Just when she thought her daughter would be angry and ignore her because of the morning’s incident, her daughter reached out her little hands with cheer—

"Mommy, hug!"

Shen Mingzhu’s eyes welled up as she walked over and held her soft and fragrant daughter in her arms, letting her tears fall.

All the displeasure and heartache she had felt were soothed and healed by her daughter’s tender call for "Mommy."

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