The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 98: Mom’s Feeling, It’s Really Good

Chapter 98: Chapter 98: Mom’s Feeling, It’s Really Good

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The weather was nice in the afternoon, with the sun shining warmly upon us.

The Zhou family arranged several tables in the residential compound’s courtyard and brewed several pots of tea for guests to enjoy playing cards and drinking tea for leisure.

Pei Yang was pulled into a card game by Zhou Shuhuan and some friends, Pei Ziheng was playing with other children in the courtyard, and Shen Mingzhu sat at the tea tables set by the Zhou family, sipping tea and cracking sunflower seeds while listening to gossip.

Out of the entire residential compound, the Zhou family undoubtedly stirred up the most laughter.

The most talked-about topic was the spectacular mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo, Ma Sufen and Shen Baolan.

Ma Sufen truly detested her daughter-in-law Shen Baolan from the bottom of her heart. Even though Baolan was pregnant with a child from the Zhou family and was due to give birth in a few months, Ma Sufen had set her heart against wanting this daughter-in-law and urged her son Zhou Shuhuan daily to divorce Shen Baolan.

However, the father and son of the Zhou family thought the opposite.

Both disagreed with the idea of divorce.

In their view, daughters-in-law were all more or less the same. Although Shen Baolan had been rather disgraceful during her pregnancy, they believed that everything would get better once the child was born.

Moreover, marrying off a daughter-in-law was no small expense.

Before, marrying Shen Baolan had cost them just shy of a thousand, and later she caused troubles that cost them over a thousand more. If she were truly to be divorced, wouldn’t all that money be wasted?

This goes to show that both of the men were inherently selfish.

Because in the struggle between Ma Sufen and Shen Baolan, the daily lives of these men were actually not much affected.

No matter how fierce the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law fought, they still had food to eat, clothes to wear, and a bed to sleep in.

If things got really bad, they could just sneak out, one to chat with old friends over tea, and the other to drink and play cards with brothers—there were always ways to pass the time and places to go.

But Ma Sufen and Shen Baolan had no choice but to stay at home, glaring at each other with loathing, and sometimes getting into physical altercations.

The Zhou father and son never once stood in Ma Sufen’s shoes to sympathize with her troubles, nor did they consider reconciling the differences between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

It’s true what they say—you never know how much it hurts until the knife is in your own flesh.

When Shen Baolan returned to her mother’s home, Ma Sufen didn’t mention her once, as if she didn’t exist in their household, and Zhou Quanxiong acted as if he couldn’t care less.

As for Zhou Shuhuan, with his wife not at home and no arguments with his mother, he was more than happy to enjoy the peace.

So much so that Shen Baolan stayed at her mother’s house for an entire month, and nobody from the Zhou family thought to bring her back.

It was only for this birthday banquet, for fear of being laughed at by relatives and friends and for the sake of saving face, that Zhou Quanxiong had his son go to Shenjiagou to bring Shen Baolan back.

After drinking her fill of tea and hearing an afternoon’s worth of gossip, and seeing the sun about to set, Shen Mingzhu satisfyingly took Pei Ziheng back home.

Having had a bit too much fish and meat at noon, Shen Mingzhu decided to have porridge for dinner to cleanse her stomach.

She cooked the white rice until it was soft and blooming, added finely shredded white radish, and simmered until the radish became translucent and merged with the porridge. Then, she seasoned it with ginger, scallions, salt, sesame oil, and just a touch of pepper powder.

The sweet and fragrant radish porridge, with a hint of spicy pepper, was served hot. Eating a bowl made one break out in a light sweat, feeling wonderfully relaxed all over.

By the time the porridge was ready, it was already pitch dark outside, and Pei Yang hadn’t come home.

Shen Mingzhu didn’t go down to urge him; she left half a pot for him and she and Pei Ziheng each had a bowl of porridge, squatting in front of the coffee table as they ate and watched TV.

Recently, the TV station had been broadcasting "Journey to the West."

Although Shen Mingzhu was very familiar with the story, she had never watched the old version, so she turned on the TV every day on time, following it with great interest.

Watching the series alone was not as fun, so she also pulled Pei Ziheng to watch together.

The reason she gave was indisputable, "Journey to the West is so popular, all your classmates have watched it but you. When they discuss the plot, you won’t know a thing and won’t be able to contribute, which would really dent your image as a top student."

Having established the image of a diligent, sensible, and independent stepson, Shen Mingzhu had now also crafted a new image for Pei Ziheng—that of a top student.

Shen Mingzhu firmly believed that as long as her stepson aligned himself with the image she set and made changes, he would eventually become a righteous and outstanding young man.

After dinner was finished and "Journey to the West" had ended—it was just one episode per day and done for the night—Shen Mingzhu carried the bowls to the kitchen to wash. There were just two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks, but before she had finished washing, the telephone in the living room rang.

"Ziheng, answer the phone."

After calling out several times and receiving no reply from Pei Ziheng, the phone continued to ring, so Shen Mingzhu had to wipe her hands and go answer it herself.

The call was from Pei Yang, saying he had gone out with some friends for the evening and wouldn’t be coming home for dinner, telling them not to wait up for him.

Shen Mingzhu responded directly, "We haven’t waited for you, we’ve already eaten, and the dishes are washed."

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"..."

After hanging up the phone, Shen Mingzhu turned and went to Pei Ziheng’s room.

The door to the room wasn’t locked, slightly ajar, but she still knocked twice before pushing it open.

"Ziheng, what are you doing? I called you to answer the phone just now, why didn’t you respond?"

Even though she was asking, Shen Mingzhu’s tone was very gentle, and it even carried a hint of jest, to avoid making the child feel rebellious or resistant.

Pei Ziheng turned his head, his dark eyes gazing solemnly at her.

"I don’t like you calling me Ziheng."

Shen Mingzhu paused, then walked into the room, pulled up a stool, and sat beside her stepson, ready for a chat.

"Come on, talk to me, why don’t you like ’Ziheng’ all of a sudden? Did someone say something to you?"

"Anyway, I just don’t like it."

After speaking, Pei Ziheng grabbed the Rubik’s Cube on the table and started to fiddle with it.

Shen Mingzhu thought for a moment, then tentatively suggested, "Then how about I call you ’Hengheng’ from now on?"

"It sounds bad."

"Peipei?"

"Even worse."

"Baobao?"

"Xiaobao?"

After suggesting several nicknames, all of which Pei Ziheng looked upon with disdain, Shen Mingzhu had no choice but to say in resignation, "Then how about I call you ’Erza’ from now on?"

Click.

The Rubik’s Cube was solved.

Pei Ziheng placed the solved Rubik’s Cube back on the desk, with a somewhat reluctant tone, "That one, slightly less ugly."

Shen Mingzhu observed her stepson’s pretty and fair little face, couldn’t help but laugh, but after the laughter, her heart soured, and her eyes began to well up with warmth.

She had carefully nurtured him for so long, and finally, he was responding a bit.

The emotions of happiness, relief, and joy were swelling in Shen Mingzhu’s chest to the brim.

She opened her arms and embraced her stepson, gently kissing the top of his soft head.

"Erza, you are so cute."

Pei Ziheng let her hold him, his long black lashes trembling slightly.

So this was the feeling of being hugged by a mother; it was warm, fragrant, and soft, as comfortable as sinking into clouds. He had been sleeping with his father for so long but never experienced anything like this.

No wonder they say that mothers are the best, and a child with a mom is treasured.

The feeling of having a mother, it was really good, so good.

——

In a small restaurant not far from the family quarters, Pei Yang was drinking and chatting eagerly with Zhou Shuhuan and a few other brothers, who had grown up playing together.

As they drank merrily, someone began the topic, and the brothers started discussing Shen Mingzhu one after the other.

They complimented her beauty, gentle character, capability, and virtuousness, envying Pei Yang for his good fortune in finding a treasure and marrying such an excellent wife like Shen Mingzhu.

Listening to his brothers praise his wife, Pei Yang naturally felt happy.

But his happiness was only superficial, deep inside he felt incredibly bitter.

His wife was wonderful, so wonderful that he liked her to an unbearable extent, but this amazing wife was like the moon reflected in the water, visible but untouchable.

They had been married for a full eight months, and he had done no more than hold his wife’s hand, lie on the bed under the quilt having pure conversations with her, and he hadn’t even kissed her lips.

Nobody would believe it if he told them, and he didn’t have the courage to say it out loud.

The pent-up bitterness, grievances, and melancholy all turned into glass after glass of alcohol, which Pei Yang swallowed down into his stomach.

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