The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 725 - 724: Birthday Feast

Chapter 725: Chapter 724: Birthday Feast

Shen Mingzhu wasn’t too surprised by her son’s idea.

From a young age, her son displayed an extremely high IQ and a maturity beyond his peers, so compared to finishing elementary school in two years, starting a business before the college entrance examination didn’t seem too outlandish.

For most parents in this era, they might prefer their children to follow a conventional path—school, college, job.

But as a modern individual, Shen Mingzhu had a very tolerant mindset and knew that a person’s achievements aren’t directly related to their educational background, as there are countless examples of successful dropouts and entrepreneurs from abroad.

"You refused your father this morning because you wanted to work on this product yourself?"

"Yes, Mom."

Pei Ziheng didn’t hide his true thoughts from her, "Apart from cell phones, pagers, computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, intelligent robots, autonomous cars, and so on—every high-tech product from your world, I will create them all so that you won’t have to miss that place anymore."

Looking at the young boy’s clear and handsome face, Shen Mingzhu felt as if something was about to burst out of her chest.

From the day she arrived here, she had been determined to straighten out her son, who was handed the script of a villain, and turn him into an upright and outstanding young man.

She had succeeded, much quicker and earlier than she anticipated.

She felt moved, happy, and also experienced a kind of emptiness that comes after achieving a goal.

"Erza, congratulations on finding your life’s purpose."

"Thank you, Mom. I will work hard to make this world as beautiful as your original world."

That way, you would always stay here.

Shen Mingzhu was unaware of her son’s true feelings; instead, she praised and encouraged him greatly, "Now that you have set your goal, go ahead and do it boldly; even if you fail, it’s not a problem. Just your thoughts and goals alone have beaten 99.9% of the people in the world."

"Yes."

Pei Ziheng leaned his head on her shoulder and murmured softly.

Pei Tang returned from playing outside, saw mother and son leaning together, and happily bounced over and wedged himself between them, resting his head sweetly in Shen Mingzhu’s lap, smiling blissfully.

...

The birthday party in the evening was held at the Shenji Qinyuanchun Restaurant.

In addition to family and friends, all the staff from Pei Yang Company also attended; they were told in advance not to bring gifts, and it was considered a pre-New Year’s dinner.

Nearly two hundred guests packed the eighteen private rooms full.

The menu was personally prepared by Shen Mingzhu - eight meat dishes, four vegetarian dishes, plus two types of dessert, snacks, and soups, totaling eighteen dishes.

Dinner started at seven-thirty and continued until almost nine.

After the banquet concluded, Shen Mingzhu and Pei Wenping went from room to room to see off the guests, arranging accommodations for those who couldn’t return home, not resting until ten o’clock.

Pei Qiuxia considerately served them both cups of hot water.

"Where are the kids?"

"Zheming had to return to his unit for something and took them home on the way."

Hearing this, Shen Mingzhu made calls to both the house and the family compound to ensure all four children arrived home safely.

To attend Pei Yang’s birthday party, Chen Yi specially brought his twins back to Fengcheng early.

After drinking her water, Pei Wenping asked Pei Qiuxia, "Has Little Yang’s table not broken up yet?"

"Not yet, they just opened another three bottles of wine. Those people really can drink; they’ve already gone through two boxes of red wine alone," Pei Qiuxia shook her head.

The private room where Pei Yang was, was the largest and most luxurious in the Qinyuanchun Restaurant—set up with a round table for twenty people. Along with Chen Yi, Zhao Dafa, Pei Ke, and a few other close relations, the rest were either significant clients or government officials with whom they had dealings.

Various statuses of people gathered together, adding a substantial business networking aspect to the birthday banquet.

Worried about the twins, Pei Wenping, hearing that they were still drinking, decided to take her leave early, and Pei Qiuxia also prepared to head home.

Shen Mingzhu had seen the two guests into a taxi and after returning, made a round through the various private rooms, passing on some work matters to the waitstaff.

Finished with her tasks, she heard from a waiter that no more wine had been opened inside; guessing that the guests had had enough to drink, she went to the kitchen and asked the chef to prepare two pots of hangover soup.

"These folks really can drink, I just brought in two pots and they’ve already finished them."

The chef efficiently heated up water in the pot, muttering to Shen Mingzhu as he did so.

Upon hearing this, Shen Mingzhu told the chef to hold off on making more soup, and went to check on the situation herself.

Approaching the private room, she indeed saw on the large round table in the center, two pots of steaming hot soup, surrounded by neatly arranged clean porcelain bowls.

Manager Peng Ling was methodically ladling soup into each bowl, while another waiter was responsible for handing the soup to each guest.

In addition, a young female employee from Hengxin was also helping to serve the soup.

Pei Yang, evidently having drunk too much, was holding his forehead and napping with his head down.

Just as Shen Mingzhu was about to enter, she saw the young woman walking straight towards Pei Yang with a bowl of soup.

While Pei Yang was the main person of today’s birthday banquet, there were guests at the same table of notable status and seniority who had not yet been served soup; logically, the female employee should have served these people first.

"Brother Pei, have some hangover soup."

After setting down the bowl, Dai Mingfang bent over and lightly patted Pei Yang’s shoulder, her hair tips brushing his cheeks because she was too close.

Tickled by the touch, Pei Yang rubbed his cheeks and, seeing it was her, mumbled vaguely, "Xiao Dai?"

"Yes, it’s me. Brother Pei, have some soup."

Saying this, she smoothly picked up a bowl of soup from the table and brought it to his lips.

Pei Yang raised his hand to decline, perhaps due to the drunkenness his strength was not well controlled, and he ended up knocking the soup bowl over, causing Dai Mingfang to cry out.

The commotion caught the attention of everyone at the table.

"Hey, has Xiaopei drunk so much that he can’t hold a soup bowl?"

"Mingfang, are you alright? Did you get burned?"

Some teased while others expressed concern.

"It’s alright, I didn’t hold it steady."

Observing Dai Mingfang’s flushed cheeks and then looking at the drunken Pei Yang still sitting, expressions around the table turned speculative.

"Pei Yang has had too much to drink, I’ll take him out to sober up."

Chen Yi began to stand and move towards Pei Yang, but after a few steps, he saw Shen Mingzhu at the doorway of the private room and quickly said, "Mingzhu, you’re just in time. Pei Yang has had too much to drink, maybe you should take him back first."

Seeing Shen Mingzhu enter the room with her elegant stride, Dai Mingfang’s face flashed with nervousness and discomfort and she moved back to put some distance between herself and Pei Yang.

Clearly, she knew in her heart that as a female subordinate, being too close to her boss was inappropriate.

"There have been many people and much activity today, I apologize if the hospitality was lacking. I have instructed the kitchen to make some more hot dishes; everyone please continue to drink and eat at your leisure. I’ll take Pei Yang out now, so as not to dampen the spirits here."

After the pleasantries, Shen Mingzhu, with the help of Chen Yi and Zhao Dafa, led Pei Yang to the car.

After closing the car door, Shen Mingzhu also told the two men to drink less before driving away herself.

The car drove smoothly.

Shen Mingzhu, her face expressionless, watched as Pei Yang slumped in the passenger seat, deeply asleep.

When they reached a turning point, Shen Mingzhu didn’t slow down.

"Bang."

Due to inertia, Pei Yang’s head knocked sharply against the car frame.

"Hiss, that hurts!"

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