The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 407 - 406: A Breakdown

Chapter 407: Chapter 406: A Breakdown

After dinner, when they were leaving, Zhong Qing offered to drive Shen Mingzhu and her family of four home, but she refused.

Zhong Qing tried to persuade her, "It’s cold out, adults can withstand it, but children may not be able to endure."

The Zhong Family lived in a wealthy neighborhood, and the nearest bus stop was a ten-minute walk away.

"If we don’t let the children suffer a little now, the world will make them suffer even more when they grow up."

After she finished speaking, Shen Mingzhu picked up her daughter and turned to leave.

Pei Yang simply bid farewell to Zhong Qing and Yan Yi, then quickly took his son’s hand and followed Shen Mingzhu’s pace.

"Give Guoguo to me."

Shen Mingzhu, without ceremony, turned and handed her daughter over to Pei Yang.

A one-and-a-half-year-old child, she was much heavier than when she was just born, and she was wearing a lot, making it truly difficult for her to carry while walking.

Probably because she was a bit sleepy, Guoguo quietly and obediently rested her little head on her daddy’s shoulder, her long eyelashes fluttering like tiny fans, her cheeks reddened from the cold.

Shen Mingzhu felt a pang in her heart and some guilt.

What was she proving, riding in the Zhong family’s car wouldn’t have killed her.

Seemingly sensing her regret, Pei Yang unwrapped half of his scarf to wrap around his daughter’s little head before saying to her, "Let’s go, it’s not far to the bus stop, we’ll be there in a moment."

Shen Mingzhu nodded and took Pei Ziheng’s hand to continue forward.

"Did you have a fight with Zhong Qing?"

The atmosphere at dinner was off; Zhong Qing had been attentive to them, but Shen Mingzhu was cold and didn’t reciprocate at all. Her words just now were not polite in the slightest.

Seeing Shen Mingzhu’s silence, Pei Yang didn’t ask further and changed the subject.

The Zhong family’s doorway.

Not until the family of four’s silhouettes disappeared into the night, did Zhong Qing drop her feeling of loss and turn to Yan Yi to express her gratitude, "Thank you for your help today."

"Don’t mention it, it’s part of what I should do."

The two were business partners, and maintaining the pretense of an engaged couple in front of each other’s relatives and friends was also part of their partnership.

Zhong Qing didn’t say much more, "If you’re not in a rush to get home, come in for a drink."

Yan Yi nodded.

"Try it."

Looking at the steaming milk tea on the table, Yan Yi instinctively declined, "I don’t like sweet drinks."

Zhong Qing took a light sip from her cup, "I didn’t like it before either, but after having it a few times, I grew to like it."

Yan Yi was clearly more concerned about the issue between her and Shen Mingzhu than the milk tea.

"Was there an unpleasantness between you two upstairs?"

"Yes, but it was my fault. I didn’t manage things properly and she has every reason to be angry at me."

"She’s a kind woman, and that kind of person often has a common problem, which is being too softhearted."

Zhong Qing smiled, "Thank you, I know what to do now."

Seeing it was getting late, Yan Yi stood up to leave.

Zhong Qing walked him out and once outside, suddenly said, "Actually, the milk tea from earlier was taught to me by Mingzhu. She said that when you’re feeling down, drinking sweet milk tea will lift your spirits."

"After the milk tea and your advice, I’m feeling much better now."

Yan Yi paused: he wondered if it was too late to have some now.

...

Shen Mingzhu lay on the bed, rhythmically patting her daughter, humming a lullaby under her breath.

Pei Yang came to the bedside, saw that his daughter was already asleep, and bent down to pick her up to move her to the crib, but Shen Mingzhu slapped his hand away.

"It wasn’t easy to get her to sleep. Don’t wake her up."

Perhaps because she caught a chill when they went out, Guoguo had been fussy after getting home, having just settled down a short while ago.

Seeing Pei Yang sitting on the edge of the bed, Shen Mingzhu said to him, "You sleep in the next room tonight; Guoguo and I will sleep here."

Pei Yang of course objected—it was too cold to sleep alone.

"Let Guoguo sleep with Ziheng."

"Why don’t you go sleep with Ziheng?"

"He’s not my wife."

Having said that, without waiting for Shen Mingzhu’s response, he directly picked up his daughter with blankets and all and headed out the door.

Seeing that her daughter didn’t cry or make a fuss, Shen Mingzhu just let him be.

A few minutes later, Pei Yang returned to the room happily, jumped onto the bed, and his large body slid into the blankets. Wrapping his arms and legs around her, his face was filled with excitement.

"Still upset? Tell me, what were you two arguing about?"

Shen Mingzhu initially didn’t want to talk about it, after all, the incident had passed, but Pei Yang kept asking, and she eventually spilled the beans.

After speaking her mind, she actually felt relieved, but Pei Yang became sullen with anger.

He was angry that she had gone through such an important incident and hadn’t told him.

Shen Mingzhu, with great patience, explained, "I was going to tell you that night, but then I received a call that Qingqing was in the hospital and I didn’t get the chance."

"What do you mean ’didn’t get the chance’? Couldn’t you have talked on the way to the hospital? Fine, let’s assume you were so worried about Qingqing that you couldn’t focus, but these past few days, we’ve been sleeping under the same blanket every night. When couldn’t you have told me?"

"How could I tell you about something I wasn’t even sure of myself?"

Pei Yang said indignantly, "What was her mother trying to do?"

"I don’t know."

"How can you not know? Are you a fool? To go out to eat with her without even knowing what kind of person she is, aren’t you afraid she might sell you out?"

"I’m not a worm in her belly, how could I have known her malicious intentions? If I had known, do you think I would have gone with her?"

The air gradually filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Shen Mingzhu was already in a bad mood, and the argument with this insufferable man was the last straw, making her blood boil with anger.

She gathered the blankets and pushed him out, "Go sleep in the next room!"

"This is my room too, and I’m going to sleep here."

As he spoke, he struggled with her for the blanket, and the two began a tug-of-war on the bed.

With Pei Yang’s height and strength, Shen Mingzhu naturally couldn’t win.

"If you won’t go, then I will!"

She threw the blankets over him and turned to head for the adjacent room.

However, after only a couple of steps, Pei Yang caught her around the waist and pulled her back onto the bed.

"Let go of me!"

"I was wrong, my wife."

Shen Mingzhu, still furious, didn’t listen to any of it. When she saw that she couldn’t break free from his grip around her waist, she kicked out instead, only for her leg to be swiftly caught by him.

"I’m sorry, I was wrong."

Pei Yang whispered in her ear, "You have to think about me too. I was so scared when I heard about it, afraid that someone was bullying you."

"If something really happened to you, I don’t know what I would’ve done."

Shen Mingzhu gradually calmed down.

The two of them held each other silently, their shallow breaths intertwining.

After a while, Shen Mingzhu broke the silence, "It’s all over now, and Qingqing has promised me that it won’t happen again."

"You have to be more careful yourself, and don’t go off with people you don’t know well."

"I know."

Suddenly, the sound of firecrackers erupting outside the window.

Another Spring Festival was drawing near.

Shen Mingzhu turned around and hugged the man, pressing her face against his warm chest.

"Let’s go out for Chinese New Year’s Eve this year."

Pei Yang hugged her tender body tightly, his eyes and brows soft with tenderness, "Okay, we’ll do as you wish."