The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 97 Jealousy

Chapter 97: Chapter 97 Jealousy

Although many women at the birthday banquet eyed Pei Yang eagerly, none were quite like Shen Baolan, who stared fixedly, her eyeballs not even rolling, almost as if she wanted to swallow Pei Yang whole.

This prompted quite a few people to snicker behind her back.

"Look at her, not knowing to restrain herself in front of her in-laws and her own man, she’s utterly shameless."

"Pei Yang doesn’t even bother to glance at her, yet she dares to stare. Look at Pei Yang’s wife, beautiful and capable. They’re from the same village, so why is there such a big difference?"

Seeing Shen Baolan’s eyes almost glued to Pei Yang, Shen Mingzhu sneered inwardly without showing any reaction, and gently led Pei Ziheng forward, decisively blocking Shen Baolan’s view.

"Stop ogling, wipe your mouth, you’re drooling."

Hearing Shen Mingzhu’s words, Shen Baolan actually thought she was drooling and hurriedly lifted her sleeve to wipe it, only to find no drool after much wiping. Looking up, she saw Shen Mingzhu with a half-smirk and realized she had been mocked, feeling humiliated and angry inside.

"Mingzhu, bought yourself new clothes again? You, don’t just care about your own well-being. Spare some time to visit your parents’ home. Your family has become the laughingstock of the entire village now."

Shen Mingzhu retorted, "Are you sick? Which family’s married daughter still meddles in her parents’ affairs?"

"If you don’t meddle in your parents’ affairs, then why did you push your elder and second brothers to split the household?"

"None of your damn business!"

"You..."

Hearing the two squabbling, Pei Yang couldn’t help but turn his head.

As soon as Shen Baolan saw Pei Yang’s handsome and profound face, her throat seemed to seize up.

Pei Yang glanced at Shen Baolan and when his gaze fell on Shen Mingzhu, his expression instantly softened. With a long arm, he pulled Shen Mingzhu closer, enclosing her partially in his embrace in a protective gesture, shielding her from Shen Baolan’s bullying.

Shen Baolan stared at Pei Yang’s hand across Shen Mingzhu’s waist, driven to madness with jealousy.

----

The birthday banquet soon commenced.

The Pei Family and the Zhou family were close allies, so the seats for Pei Yang and his family of three were next to the main table.

Considering it was a sixtieth birthday, the dishes were quite lavish, with chicken, duck, fish, and shrimp, and the taste was also quite decent.

The only downside was that the tables for the banquet didn’t have a lazy susan, which meant some of the farther dishes couldn’t be easily reached unless one stood up and stretched out to grab them.

Doing so would look a bit unsightly, so those with shorter reach had to settle for the dishes placed in front or at the center of the table.

But Shen Mingzhu didn’t have this concern.

Whether Shen Mingzhu liked them or not, as soon as those dishes out of reach were served, Pei Yang would quickly get a couple of chopsticks full for her.

Pei Yang, being tall with long arms, easily stretched his chopsticks across the table, grabbing dishes with ease.

Shrimp was served at today’s birthday banquet as well.

Not wanting to dirty her hands, Shen Mingzhu intended to bite the shrimp shell open, but just as she picked one up to bite, Pei Ziheng placed a peeled pink shrimp meat in her bowl.

She turned her head in surprise, only to see him take the shrimp from her chopsticks and continue to peel intently.

"Thanks, Erza!"

Shen Mingzhu was delighted, blurting out, then picked up the shrimp in her bowl to eat, deliberately exclaiming loudly, "So sweet."

Pei Ziheng glanced at her, his lips pressed tight. Although his pretty little face remained expressionless, his ears slowly turned a shade of red.

She had just called him son.

Despite the odd accent, he was certain she was calling him her son.

She couldn’t be expecting him to call her mom, could she?

But he had never called anyone mom, nor had he ever had a mother.

It seemed very difficult for him to utter those two words.

But if he never called her "Mom," wouldn’t she be hurt and upset?

Despite the storm in his mind, there was still no expression on Pei Ziheng’s young face, and the motion of peeling shrimp in his hands didn’t even pause.

Soon, another perfect shrimp tail meat was placed into Shen Mingzhu’s bowl.

"Thank you, Erza."

Shen Mingzhu happily ate the shrimp meat, with not the slightest guilt or unease about enslaving a child.

If one wanted to straighten out a stepson and turn him into a good person with correct principles, one had to let him experience the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that came from helping others.

He needed to know that doing good deeds would bring praise and bring joy and happiness to others.

Pei Ziheng was really happy, not because of the crap about the joy of helping others, but because of Shen Mingzhu’s calling him "Erza."

He thought "Erza" sounded much nicer than Ziheng.

He really wanted to always hear her call him "Erza."

But there were no more shrimp on the plate.

Every one of them was so fond of shrimp that they ate it all up.

Pei Ziheng scanned the other people at the table who were happily enjoying their shrimp, and irritation was brewing in his dark eyes.

"Erza, eat the carrots; they’re good for your eyes."

There were many vegetables that Pei Yang had picked in the bowl, and Shen Mingzhu, picking and choosing, shuffled all the ones she didn’t like into Pei Ziheng’s bowl.

She wasn’t really treating Pei Ziheng like a trash can; she merely wanted to use his bowl for the leftovers.

Pei Ziheng was young, and no one would say anything about leftovers in his bowl; after all, it’s normal for children to be picky.

But if she left food in her bowl, people in the family courtyard would surely gossip again about how she was delicate, picky, wasteful, and so on and so forth.

But to Shen Mingzhu’s surprise, Pei Ziheng actually picked up his chopsticks and ate all the food she had transferred.

Shen Mingzhu thought to herself how unusually obedient her stepson was today and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Don’t eat what you don’t like."

Pei Ziheng tilted back his lovely, fair face, and his dark, clear eyes blinked, "I like it."

Shen Mingzhu was charmed by her stepson’s cuteness and couldn’t help but ruffle his fluffy head.

"If you like it, eat more. Don’t just eat vegetables; eat some meat."

Shen Mingzhu transferred all the ribs and beef from her bowl into her stepson’s, only to find that he stopped using his chopsticks.

Could it be he was full?

Shen Mingzhu didn’t give it much thought and started eating herself.

Pei Ziheng looked at the meat in his bowl, then at Shen Mingzhu savoring her ribs, and his little face was filled with gloom and unhappiness.

Why hadn’t she called him "Erza" anymore?

Although Pei Yang was engaged in conversation and drinking with a few elders at the table, he was always keeping an eye on the mother and son.

Seeing the warm and intimate manner between the mother and son, joy touched the corners of his eyes and brows, and his already handsome face became even more lively and enchanting.

At the opposite table, Shen Baolan had barely touched her food since the beginning of the meal, engrossed in watching Pei Yang and Shen Mingzhu.

Seeing Pei Yang consistently helping Shen Mingzhu with her food, watching Pei Ziheng peel shrimp for Shen Mingzhu, the two showing such intimate mother-son affection as if they were biological, green with jealousy, she felt like a dark, twisted maggot crawling on the ground.

The thought that she had personally let such a handsome and considerate man slip through her fingers, giving her rival Shen Mingzhu such an advantage for nothing, made her want to slap herself in the face.

Lost in her own thoughts, Shen Baolan was completely unaware of the grim and ugly expressions on the faces of her in-laws and her husband, Zhou Shuhuan, sitting at her table.

Having a pregnant daughter-in-law (daughter-in-law) staring at another man in public is utterly shameful!

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