The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 504 - 503: The Date

Chapter 504: Chapter 503: The Date

Arriving at the factory, Shen Mingzhu saw a young woman in a printed dress walking ahead of her, her waist supple, her dress fluttering attractively in the breeze.

Shen Mingzhu was wondering who she was when the woman turned around.

"President Shen."

Shen Mingzhu hurried forward, her eyes appraising Shen Hongmei from head to toe, teasingly asked, "Dressed up so beautifully today, do you have a date?"

Shen Hongmei’s cheeks flushed lightly, "Mm, Kean asked me to go see a movie after work."

"Kean, that’s quite intimate."

Shen Hongmei’s face turned even redder, "Oh come on, stop teasing me."

Shen Mingzhu wrapped her arm around her and continued towards the office, "All right, I’ll stop teasing you. Leave work an hour early this afternoon, go get your hair done; it’ll go well with that dress of yours."

"It’s not necessary, is it? It’s just a movie, not like I’m getting married."

Shen Mingzhu was noncommittal, "Up to you."

Shen Hongmei hesitated, "Well, maybe I’ll take your advice and wash my hair, after all, I was planning on washing it tonight anyway."

Shen Mingzhu laughed but didn’t expose the fact that Shen Hongmei had already washed her hair the night before.

The scent of shampoo lingered, and she could smell it from two meters away.

...

Knock knock.

"Come in."

With the sound of footsteps drawing nearer, her vision was suddenly filled with a large bouquet of fragrant red roses.

She looked up to meet Pei Yang’s smiling face and was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Why are you here?"

Pei Yang shook the roses slightly, "What do you think?"

Shen Mingzhu took the flowers, held them to her chest and smelled them; a pleased smile appeared on her face, "Out of the blue, what made you think of buying flowers?"

"Isn’t today Qixi? Everyone else has gifts, of course you should have one too. Besides..."

Pei Yang suddenly leaned forward with a suggestive tone, "I’m here to apologize. I accidentally hurt you last night. It won’t happen again."

Shen Mingzhu glared at him, stood up, and strode to the coffee table, where she shoved the wilted tulips and the crystal vase into his arms.

"Go throw these flowers out and wash the vase. Then fill it with half a vase of clean water."

"As you wish."

Pei Yang left with the vase, still grinning.

Shen Mingzhu sat down on the sofa, counting the roses and finding fifty-two of them, which brightened her mood further.

By the time Pei Yang returned, she had unwrapped the paper and started arranging the roses in the vase.

After inserting half of them, the vase was full. Shen Mingzhu wrapped up the remaining roses and placed them at the corner of her desk, planning to take them home after work.

When she finished, it was almost lunchtime. Shen Mingzhu was about to suggest lunch with Pei Yang, but he stood up to leave.

"I have a lunch appointment with someone from the telecommunications bureau. There’s word that new regulations targeting the telecommunications industry will be introduced next year. Maintaining a good relationship with the bureau is beneficial for the company."

After his explanation, the minor disappointment Shen Mingzhu felt instantly dissipated.

She handed him the car keys, "Take my car, and while you’re at it, bring two bottles of Maotai from home."

Shen Mingzhu would set aside some savings every year for investments, which included buying real estate, gold, and Maotai.

Gold and Maotai were not just solid assets but could also be used as dowries and wedding gifts.

"Thanks, wife."

Pei Yang took out his motorcycle keys and exchanged them with her, "Are you busy this afternoon? If not, get off work early. We’ll go for dinner and then watch a movie. I’ve already bought the tickets for eight o’clock."

Shen Mingzhu held the car keys in her hand, "With Uncle and you not around, what if something happens at the store?"

Pei Yang laughed, "I’ve already posted a notice; the shop closes at six today. We’ve been so busy lately; it’s time to give them a break and let the single ones have a chance to arrange a little rendezvous if they want."

Shen Mingzhu said, "Then you should pick up Ziheng and Guoguo after work."

"We’re having a rare date, we’ll not take them."

"With just the two kids at home, how could you relax and have fun out there?"

"Don’t worry, I’ve already talked to Sister. She’ll head over after work."

Hearing that he had everything arranged, Shen Mingzhu didn’t press further. She bent down to take a small handbag out of the cupboard and handed it to him.

Pei Yang glanced at the contents of the bag while asking, "For me?"

"Yeah, a Qixi festival gift."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yang excitedly opened the bag and found a tie.

The navy blue silk fabric, adorned with an H pattern, was both businesslike and possessed a stately, luxurious air.

After admiring it, Pei Yang handed the tie to her, "Help me tie it."

Shen Mingzhu slapped away his hand, "It’s so hot, and you’re not even wearing a jacket, why wear a tie?"

"Doesn’t matter, I still want to wear it, I want to go out and show off that my wife gave this to me."

Shen Mingzhu was speechless, "If you want to wear it, tie it yourself."

If I have to tie it myself, then so be it.

Pei Yang walked to the filing cabinet and, using the reflection in the glass door, flipped up his shirt collar and wound the tie around it.

"How about that? Handsome or not?"

Shen Mingzhu looked up and found that her taste was indeed good, this tie’s color and texture suited a man well, making him look full of presence, calm, and composed.

"Not bad."

Pei Yang happily left.

Shen Mingzhu, propping her chin, watched the red roses on the table for a while, feeling inexplicably good.

At lunchtime, when going to the cafeteria, she noticed quite a few employees looking at her and whispering to each other.

Shen Mingzhu quickly learned the reason.

"Pei has gone too far with the flirting, wearing the tie you gave him, he visited every department, and even Chen Damei who washes dishes in the cafeteria knows that you bought Pei a new tie."

Shen Mingzhu: "..."

What a show-off!

...

"It’s all your fault, I told you to come buy the tickets earlier, but you didn’t believe me, now look, they’re all sold out!"

"Next time, I’ll definitely buy the tickets in advance."

Chu Yinxui complained discontentedly while Ma Chao consoled his wife verbally, but inside he was overjoyed.

He never wanted to watch the movie in the first place.

It’s not that he didn’t like movies, but that he minded spending the money.

Two movie tickets cost five yuan, which was equivalent to several days of wages for him.

He couldn’t understand the appeal of movies, wouldn’t it be better to spend that money on some pork chops?

"Let’s go, let’s go home."

"We finally have some free time, I don’t want to go back so early, let’s go for a walk on the street, we haven’t done that for a long time."

Ma Chao’s heart tightened.

Walking on the street, what if she took a fancy to something? Wouldn’t that mean spending even more?

He was thinking about how to dissuade his wife from wanting to stroll through the streets when he saw Shen Hongmei walk by in front of him.

Shen Hongmei was laughing and chatting with a young man next to her and hadn’t noticed him.

Ma Chao couldn’t help but follow Shen Hongmei with his eyes.

For no other reason than today’s Shen Hongmei was simply too beautiful.

Her shoulder-length hair was blow-dried straight and smooth, shining like satin under the light, her lips painted a bright red, dressed in a beautiful printed dress, feet in white leather shoes.

"What are you looking at? You’re so transfixed by the beauty you’ve lost your soul!"

Ma Chao winced back to reality, meeting his wife’s fiery gaze, his lips moved, but he didn’t speak of having seen Shen Hongmei.

Chu Yinxui was aware of Shen Hongmei’s existence, having watched from the shadows on a couple of occasions when Shen Hongmei brought him gifts and money, and even mocked Shen Hongmei in front of him for her low education and being a country girl.

Chu Yinxui had a city household registration.

This was also one of the main reasons he chose Chu Yinxui initially.

If he married Shen Hongmei, his and Shen Hongmei’s children would also be rural people just like them.

Marrying Chu Yinxui was different, his children would be born urbanites, entitled to rationed grain.

Any man should know how to choose.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.