The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 541 - 540 Zhao Dafa’s Intentions

Chapter 541: Chapter 540 Zhao Dafa’s Intentions

"Zhao Ge, what’s up?"

Zhao Dafa leaned over to grab a bag from the backseat of the car and handed it to her, "This is for you."

Shen Hongmei took it and saw it was a pager.

She looked at Zhao Dafa, bewildered, "Zhao Ge, why are you giving me this?"

"Consider it an apology from me."

"An apology?"

Zhao Dafa looked at her: "I didn’t know Zhou Hui had caused you trouble before; after I found out, I felt guilty about it."

Shen Hongmei breathed a sigh of relief without understanding why.

From the moment she took the pager until just now, her heart had been in her throat, filled with anxiety.

"It’s okay, Zhao Ge, it was also my carelessness for losing my earring in your car and causing a misunderstanding with Sister Hui."

Hearing her say that, Zhao Dafa’s gaze involuntarily fell on her ears.

On her fair earlobes hung silver hoops the size of a fingernail, quite cute.

Shen Hongmei handed the pager back to Zhao Dafa, "Zhao Ge, I can’t accept this. It’s not a big deal, and it’s been so long, I’d forgotten about it if you hadn’t mentioned it."

Zhao Dafa, the savvy man he was, could see she was lying.

If she had truly forgotten, she would not have been deliberately avoiding him.

Thinking this, Zhao Dafa stuffed the pager back into her hand, "Keep it, actually, it’s not just an apology, I..."

Meeting Shen Hongmei’s puzzled gaze, Zhao Dafa found it somewhat embarrassing to speak.

He was almost a full cycle older than Shen Hongmei, truly an old bull grazing on tender grass.

In his frustration, he rubbed his hair, sighed, "Forget it, get out of the car."

"Keep the item for now, if there’s anything you don’t understand, go ask Mingzhu."

Smart as he was, he could naturally tell that Shen Mingzhu was trying to set him up with Shen Hongmei.

And so Shen Hongmei was "chased" out of the car.

Watching the Santana drive away and then looking down at the pager in her hand, she felt utterly confused.

...

She spent a sleepless night.

...

The next day, as soon as she went to work, Shen Hongmei took the item to Shen Mingzhu.

"President Shen, Zhao Ge gave me this last night. I don’t know what he meant by it."

Noticing the obvious dark circles under Shen Hongmei’s eyes, Shen Mingzhu let out a chuckle and asked, "Did Zhao Ge say anything to you?"

"He said it was to make up for the trouble Zhou Hui caused, I said there was no need, then he stopped speaking and told me to come to you."

Shen Mingzhu picked up the pager from the desk, it was the latest model, and the receipt showed it was bought at Peiyang Store.

It showed his sincerity, and it meant something.

Shen Mingzhu toyed with the pager and asked casually, "Hongmei, what do you think of Zhao Ge?"

Shen Hongmei was not dull; her face slowly turned the color of a tomato.

Seeing her at a loss, Shen Mingzhu smiled and placed the pager back in her hands.

"It’s okay, take a good couple of days to think about it, and tell me when you’ve made up your mind."

After Shen Hongmei left, Shen Mingzhu picked up yesterday’s revenue report from Shenji.

After reading through it, she briefly assigned Pei Qiuxia the work for the day and then called Huang Ju to drive out with her.

Huang Ju had been working as an assistant for a few days without any major issues, but she was timid and would blush at the slightest thing.

The root cause was her lack of experience, so now Shen Mingzhu would take her out whenever possible, to meet more people.

Shen Mingzhu first went to Tianyin Parfume Store, taking advantage of the early meeting time to announce a few measures.

The first measure was to promote Feng Huiying and Han Zibin.

Both had ventured a thousand miles to Yangcheng Lake during Shenji’s difficult times and brought back hairy crabs, making significant contributions to Shenji’s reopening.

Feng Huiying was promoted to supervisor, and Han Zibin was promoted to Head Chef.

The second measure was a 20% increase in base salary for all staff and a 10% increase in performance pay.

The purpose of the wage increase was two-fold: first, to reward the employees for their performance and efforts during the Mid-Autumn Festival; second, due to the current economic situation, it’s difficult to retain talent with low wages.

The third initiative to take effect from next month is that Shenji will be closed every Monday for a rest day.

On this day, staff training and learning will be arranged, including but not limited to professional skills, service communication techniques, as well as English and manners, and so on.

To Shen Mingzhu’s newly enacted three initiatives, the entire staff reacted with cheers and jubilation.

...

In the evening, Shen Xiangnan finished work and went back to his place, where he was surprised to see Jia Yuemei tidying up the bed.

"When did you come back?"

"I came back in the evening, just washed the sheets and quilt covers."

As she spoke, Jia Yuemei, beaming with joy, hopped off the bed and ran over to him, "What kind of job are you planning to find for me? How much is the salary?"

Shen Xiangnan, preoccupied with thoughts of his daughter, asked, "Did Erya make a fuss when you left?"

"How could she not? She cried so loudly that the whole village heard."

Speaking of her daughter, Jia Yuemei also felt somewhat downcast.

No mother wants to be apart from her child, but she can’t go to work if she brings her daughter along.

She wanted to go to work, yearning to be as busy and fulfilled as urban women, with her own circle of friends, instead of staying at home all day long, anxiously waiting for a man to return.

Shen Xiangnan also felt uneasy, the house felt empty without his daughter.

"Wait until next year. Next year, we’ll bring Erya to the city to attend kindergarten."

Jia Yuemei quickly nodded and then asked Shen Xiangnan what kind of job he was preparing for her.

Shen Xiangnan took her out to buy steaming racks and flour, teaching her hand by hand how to knead dough, ferment dough, cut steamed buns, wrap buns, and roll flower rolls.

"Once you’ve mastered what I taught you tonight, and once you do it well, I’ll take you to find a job."

Was he teaching her to make buns and steamed bread because he wanted her to work in a bun shop?

She wasn’t keen on the idea.

She wanted to work as a server at Shenji or find employment at Shen Mingzhu’s food factory, but she was intimidated by Shen Mingzhu and didn’t dare to bring it up with Shen Xiangnan.

Forget it, the bun shop it is then.

After all, it meant not having to live at the mercy of her sister-in-law, and making buns wasn’t an overly exhausting task—it was still a craft, after all.

Once she got her head around it, Jia Yuemei learned even more eagerly, hoping to start working sooner.

Three days flashed by.

"How is it? Are they good?"

After Shen Xiangnan tasted the buns and steamed bread she made, Jia Yuemei couldn’t wait to ask.

Shen Xiangnan swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded, "Not bad."

"So does that mean I can start working?"

"Yes, come and wait for me at the shop entrance tomorrow noon, and I’ll take you there."

"Where? Is it far?"

"You’ll find out tomorrow."

"Sheesh, always playing coy."

Jia Yuemei grumbled verbally but turned around, beaming with happiness, as she opened the wardrobe to choose what clothes to wear for "work" tomorrow, clearly full of anticipation and excitement about starting the job.

The next day.

Jia Yuemei arrived at Shenji in time to wait for Shen Xiangnan to get off work, intermittently taking out a mirror to check her face while waiting.

Soon after, Shen Xiangnan finished work and came out, pausing briefly when he saw her.

Jia Yuemei felt uncomfortable under his gaze, "What, don’t I look good?"

Today, she had deliberately done her eyebrows and put on lipstick, the way she observed city women prepare for work.

Shen Xiangnan shook his head.

He was just surprised to see Jia Yuemei made up after such a long time.

When Jia Yuemei first married him, she used to love dressing up, spending all day in front of the mirror applying makeup or pestering him for colorful cloth to make skirts.

Had it been since then that she stopped caring about her appearance?

Oh, after having the child.

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