The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 519 - 518: Tang Jinshui Disavows Responsibility

Chapter 519: Chapter 518: Tang Jinshui Disavows Responsibility

By the time the jar of raw marinated crabs was ready, it was already midnight.

Through the transparent glass jar, they could clearly see the crabs soaking in the dark red sauce, curiosity filling both their faces.

"So raw crabs just need to be soaked like this and they can be eaten? Won’t that cause diarrhea?"

Before Shen Mingzhu had the chance to respond, Pei Ziheng hurriedly spoke up, "Mom, I’m not afraid of diarrhea, when can we eat the marinated crabs?"

Pei Yang: "..."

You little rascal!

Shen Mingzhu instructed the man to move the jarred crabs to the refrigerator’s cooler compartment.

After closing the fridge door, Shen Mingzhu turned around and looked at the father and son with the feeling of her mood lifting without reason.

"Alright, off to sleep."

Seeing the smile on her face, the father and son both breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

"Mom, good night."

Pei Ziheng affectionately hugged her and turned to go upstairs.

Shen Mingzhu walked into the bedroom and opened the wardrobe to find some clothes to change into.

Following her closely, Pei Yang casually said, "You go to sleep first, I’ll take a shower."

"I haven’t showered either, how about together?"

After being glared at by Shen Mingzhu, and fearing that he had irritated her again, Pei Yang didn’t dare to tease any further and pushed her toward the bathroom.

"You shower first, I’ll stand guard outside for you, and after you’re done, I’ll take my shower."

Shen Mingzhu gave him a stern look and slammed the bathroom door with a "bang."

After finishing her washing up and returning to the bedroom, Shen Mingzhu quickly applied some face cream before getting into bed and falling asleep.

In between dreams and wakefulness, the bed beside her slightly dipped.

Subconsciously, she leaned towards the side.

As she leaned over, Pei Yang stretched out his arm and pulled her into his embrace.

A warm kiss tinged with the flavor of mint toothpaste landed on her lips.

"Good night."

"Mmm."

At sunrise, we rush off to our careers.

At sunset, we embrace and fall asleep.

Day after day, year after year, morning and evening, age after age, until the end of our days.

This is the meaning of having a loved one.

...

The next day, as soon as Shen Mingzhu arrived at the factory, she instructed Pei Qiuxia to deliver the items she had prepared to Jingcai Electric Appliance Factory and hand them over to Chen Jun.

Chen Jun was a regular customer of Shenji and had helped her out of a tight spot the day before. It was only proper and courteous for her to show some gratitude.

She had also prepared a small gift for each of the two female public relations associates who had accompanied them the day before.

It might not seem like much, but these female public relations associates held certain connections and relationships in their hands. Maintaining good relations with them had no downside for her.

After Pei Qiuxia returned, she brought back a message from Chen Jun—

"Secretary Li had a great time last night and went back to Yecheng this afternoon; Lou Wenyi from SJ will be visiting P Province the day after tomorrow, and he needs to accompany him."

In just a few words, quite a lot of information was conveyed.

It informed her of Secretary Li’s background and let her know about his upcoming movements.

With Yecheng being several hundred kilometers away from Fengcheng and given Secretary Li’s position, he would likely have neither the desire nor the need to trouble her.

Shen Mingzhu felt relieved.

After finishing the matters at hand, Shen Mingzhu drove to the seafood market.

When she arrived at Rixing Marine Products Shop, Tang Jinshui was busy discussing business with a client, so Shen Mingzhu did not disturb him, she just walked around in front of the various seafood tanks with her hands behind her back.

As soon as Mingzhu arrived, Tang Jinshui noticed her.

He had been worried that Mingzhu would come directly to confront him, not because he was afraid of her causing trouble, but because he feared it would affect his clients.

This was a major customer who owned several seafood restaurants.

Seeing that Mingzhu did not come over to make trouble, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After he saw off his clients, he immediately walked over to Mingzhu with a smile on his face.

"Boss Shen, what brings you here today?"

Mingzhu smiled thinly in response, "I suppose I should be asking you that, Boss Tang."

Tang Jinshui tried to divert the subject with a nonchalant act, "We got a fresh batch of East Star today; Boss Shen, would you like to have a look? Take one home to try."

Mingzhu moved her gaze from the seafood tank to Tang Jinshui’s face, "Boss Tang, let’s not beat around the bush, the goods you delivered yesterday were quite problematic."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Out of four king crabs, two were dead. Because of those two dead crabs, I’ve lost all the profit from the first two months of my new store’s opening. Boss Tang, I trusted you so much, out of more than thirty stores in the entire seafood market, I chose only yours to partner with. It’s not right for you to deceive me like this, is it?"

Tang Jinshui’s eyes widened in surprise, "How could that be? They were all lively and jumping around when I delivered them, absolutely no problems. If there had been any issues, you wouldn’t have accepted the delivery, right?"

Mingzhu smiled faintly, "Boss Tang, we’re both in business, and there’s one thing in trade that matters most, integrity, don’t you agree?"

Tang Jinshui nodded, "That’s correct, integrity is important. Boss Shen, I can understand how you feel, losing so much money must be hard, but it’s not right for you to make me take the blame for it."

"If you ask me, it’s definitely your staff who didn’t take good care of them and caused the crabs to suffocate. Such employees who don’t work properly should be fired."

Tang Jinshui’s refusal to acknowledge the issue was within Mingzhu’s expectations.

Fortunately, when she signed the agreement, she had taken precautions. They signed a new contract every month, and there were only five days left until the current one expired.

"Boss Tang, I’ll take the loss this time. Due to some adjustments in subsequent dishes, my restaurant temporarily won’t need products from Rixing, so after five days when the contract expires, we’ll not renew it."

Tang Jinshui forced a smile, "Alright, transactions are all voluntary after all, Tang here would never coerce anyone."

Mingzhu nodded and added, "For the remaining five days, I’ll send someone to pick up the goods; there’s no need for you to arrange delivery, Boss Tang."

Tang Jinshui responded with a laugh, "I’m afraid that won’t be possible. If everyone did it your way, choosing whatever they like from my tanks, how would I continue my business?"

"Fine, we’ll do it your way, Boss Tang."

Mingzhu smiled and walked away.

Tang Jinshui watched her retreating figure and, without anyone noticing, he spat on the ground.

...

The next morning, a laborer pushed a water tank to stock up the various restaurants and diners.

The order for Shenji that day included Australian lobsters, mantis shrimps, large yellow croakers, and some shellfish.

As the laborer preparing to catch the goods for Shenji approached the tank with the Australian lobsters, holding a fishing net, Tang Jinshui, who was eating a bun, walked over and kicked the water tank next to him.

"Catch them from this one."

The laborer hesitated but then followed Tang Jinshui’s orders.

After watching the worker catch Shenji’s order, Tang Jinshui went back to the resting area to continue his breakfast.

The laborer continued his work, muttering quietly to a colleague nearby.

"The boss’s heart is really too dark, selling lean, substandard stock as top-quality goods."

"Don’t make waves. However, the boss tells us to do it, that’s what we do; it’s none of our business anyway."

After being admonished by his colleague, the laborer did not say any more.

After finishing stocking up and reporting to Tang Jinshui, the laborer drove the delivery truck out.

Just as the truck left the seafood market’s gates, it was blocked by a white car.

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