The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 705 - 704: Moral Kidnapping

Chapter 705: Chapter 704: Moral Kidnapping

Pei Yang also harbored doubts regarding Zhou Shuhuan leaving most of his fortune to Shen Baolan.

Zhou Shuhuan had wanted a divorce for a long time, but Shen Baolan had always refused until she met Gao Hualiang. Not only did she agree to the divorce, she also walked away with most of Zhou Shuhuan’s assets.

If Shen Mingzhu’s guess was right, then the whole affair made sense.

Pei Yang let out a complicated sigh, "Wife, can we hold off on this matter for a bit? The day after tomorrow is Shuhuan’s wedding. After it’s over, I’ll talk to him properly. Is that alright?"

Shen Mingzhu looked at him, "You also think this matter involves him?"

"I don’t know, Shuhuan has changed a lot."

"Then you handle it on your own, I won’t interfere anymore."

"Thank you."

"Thanking me for what?"

Pei Yang looked down at her, a soft light shimmering in his eyes, "Thank you for choosing to accommodate and support me between morality and conscience."

Shen Mingzhu teased, "I have no choice, I’m just a mortal with my own emotional preferences. Maybe one day if you commit a crime, I’ll be even more emotional than you."

"I won’t."

Pei Yang pulled her into his embrace, gently resting his chin on top of her head, "Even if it’s for you, for the children, I’ll try my utmost to be a law-abiding good citizen."

For Shen Mingzhu, these words meant more to her — far more reassuring and comforting than a man’s promise to work hard to provide a good life.

...

The next day, after breakfast, Shen Mingzhu drove her husband and sons to the airport.

Pei Tang was like a bird about to be freed from its cage, chirping away excitedly all the way.

Influenced by her daughter’s mood, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but smile, yet she couldn’t shake off her concerns for their travel safety, nagging them repeatedly with warnings.

After dropping off her husband and sons, Shen Mingzhu drove back to work at the food factory when Liu Cuihua stopped her at the entrance.

Liu Cuihua had lost a lot of weight and her hair had turned white, aging her seemingly by more than a decade.

Wondering why Liu Cuihua was there, she then saw her kneel down towards the front of the car with a thud.

"Mingzhu, please save my Baolan! We’re from the same village after all. I’m begging you, facing the Buddha for the sake of the monk, Auntie is kneeling for you!"

After saying this, she indeed began knocking her head on the ground, thumping loudly, swelling her forehead with a bump in just a few hits.

Shen Mingzhu got out of the car and pulled her up, "Stand up and talk."

Liu Cuihua refused to stand, continuing to weep on her knees, "Although you and Baolan don’t get along, this is a matter of life and death, you can’t stand by and watch her die!"

So, she came for moral blackmail?

An unidentified anger rose in Shen Mingzhu, "The police have already filed the case and are working hard to investigate. You should trust the police, not come to me. I’m powerless to help."

"You can, you can help!"

Liu Cuihua clutched at the hem of her pants, her face full of hope, "You know so many influential people, you can ask them to help find my Baolan."

"And where do you think we should look for her, where should we go to find her?"

"Deploy search dogs, their noses are incredibly sharp for tracking people and objects. We could also have helicopters search through the whole city, set up checkpoints on every road, offer a reward—this way, we’re sure to find my Baolan."

Shen Mingzhu narrowed her eyes skeptically.

Liu Cuihua, an old woman from the countryside, was not supposed to know these professional investigative techniques.

"Who told you all this?"

Liu Cuihua was caught off guard, "It doesn’t matter who said it, what’s important now is to find my Baolan—you can’t just stand by and watch her die! I know you must hold a grudge against Baolan for her past wrongdoings. I’ll kowtow to you and apologize on her behalf."

With that, she attempted to kowtow again.

Shen Mingzhu reacted promptly to hold her back and called for the doorman to help her up from the ground.

However, Liu Cuihua refused to rise and started shouting towards the gathering crowd, determined not to give up until her goal was met:

"Help me, please! My daughter has been missing for days, and if we can’t find her soon, I’m afraid she might be in mortal danger. I have no other desire than to beg her to help me find my daughter."

"Shen Mingzhu, please, be kind and help find my Baolan, I beg you! I beg you!"

Among the onlookers, there were many parents who sympathized with the universal concern of all parents, and Liu Cuihua’s tears and sobs moved them to tears.

"Just help her out. Saving a life is more important than building a seven-story pagoda."

Shen Mingzhu looked towards the benevolent speaker, speaking earnestly, "I greatly admire your charitable spirit, madam. How about this, you help arrange for some search dogs and helicopters, get the police to blockade the city’s exits, and also provide a reward of, let’s say, a hundred thousand or so. I’ll shut down my factory immediately; all orders be damned, I’ll get my workers to search the whole city."

The person nearly exploded in anger, "Are you kidding me? I’m just an ordinary old woman; I don’t have such power."

Shen Mingzhu smirked, "So you do understand that ordinary people are incapable of this, right? So it’s easy for you to suggest when you’re not the one to do it? I’m just a small private business owner, not the Chief of Public Security, and I don’t have such power either."

"Even if I were the Chief, I wouldn’t have the right to abuse public power. There are strict regulations for how police conduct their investigations. How could a common citizen like me have any influence over that?"

The individual was left sheepishly silent and dared not make another sound.

Shen Mingzhu then looked at the other onlookers, "Anyone who thinks I should help, please step forward. My abilities are limited, but if you all join in with your money and effort, then this matter will be much easier to handle."

As she spoke, she encouraged Liu Cuihua, who was still kneeling, "Hurry up, why don’t you kowtow to them too and beg? They might have kind hearts and agree to help you."

As soon as her words dropped, the crowd quickly scattered like birds and beasts, keeping their distance.

Liu Cuihua had not expected Shen Mingzhu to react this way and she stammered, "But, I don’t know them..."

Shen Mingzhu said, "What are you afraid of if you don’t know them? You’re not here to find relatives. The more people we have, the more help we can get. Maybe someone among them has the capability, right?"

Seeing Liu Cuihua still kneeling without action, Shen Mingzhu continued, "Aunt Cuihua, you’ve already knelt and kowtowed. I thought you were ready to give up your pride for Baolan, especially since our families are like sworn enemies."

"If you can kneel and ask me, surely you can do it for others too. You can’t possibly be fixating and imposing on me alone, right? If that’s the case, then you’re bullying me, huh? Or is it that someone sent you to come after me? If so, that person either has ill intentions, or they’re deliberately causing trouble."

Liu Cuihua stared blankly at Shen Mingzhu for a while, then suddenly burst into tears:

"All you’re doing is finding excuses not to help. How can you be so heartless? I might as well die kneeling here today! If Baolan can’t come back, I don’t want to live either!"

With that, she lay down on the ground and sobbed.

Did she really think she could impose on her?

Shen Mingzhu took out her cell phone and called Officer She Zheming, who was in charge of the investigation into Shen Baolan’s disappearance.