The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 10 - The Bad Woman Has Changed from Her Previous Life
Chapter 10: Chapter 10 The Bad Woman Has Changed from Her Previous Life
Chapter 10 -10 The Bad Woman Has Changed from Her Previous Life
Watching the bad woman approaching him step by step, Pei Ziheng trembled all over, his little face deathly pale.
Would she slap him viciously, lock him in the closet, or punish him by not letting him eat for three days…
In just a few seconds, the various abuses he had endured in his past life flashed through his mind like a viewing of fleeting scenes, his heart cramped with pain as if in spasm, and his breathing became rapid.
He wanted to run, but his body was as though it had been bewitched to stay immobile.
All he could do was close his eyes in despair and fear, waiting for the raging torment to descend upon him.
One second, two seconds…
Time seemed to stop.
He felt a warm hand on his head and a familiar, gentle, and smiling voice in his ears.
“You little rascal, who did you learn this from?”
Pei Ziheng slowly opened his eyes and saw the bad woman looking at him with surprise and a smile.
What was happening?
She didn’t lose her temper or hit him?
After discovering that the cash in her purse wasn’t missing, Shen Mingzhu realized she had misunderstood her stepson, and she convinced herself that the boy’s tampering with the safe was just him being mischievous.
As a child, she too liked to rummage through things at home, even secretly trading her mother’s jewelry with friends for snacks.
But when she was little, she could get to her mother’s jewelry because it was all laid out on the dressing table; she wasn’t clever enough to steal keys to open a safe.
Thinking this, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but pinch her stepson’s smooth, baozi-like cheek, “You’re quite clever, huh?
Even know how to open a safe.”
Was she praising him?
Pei Ziheng hardly dared believe his own ears.
Shen Mingzhu, unaware of her stepson’s mental turmoil, began to lecture with a stern face, “You must never steal the keys to the safe again.
It contains important items of the household.
If you lose anything, your Dad will surely spank you hard.”
Pei Ziheng stared blankly at the bad woman’s fair and beautiful face, watched her pink lips moving, and felt as if he was in a dream.
Shen Mingzhu relocked the safe and noticed that her stepson was still sitting on the floor, fooling around looking at her, so she bent down and picked him up to the living room sofa.
Someone was knocking at the door.
Shen Mingzhu went to open the door, and it turned out to be her older sister-in-law Pei Wenping.
Shen Mingzhu was still hesitating on how to receive her guest when Pei Wenping started speaking first, walking in without any hesitation.
“Sister-in-law, I came to check on Xiaohuan, is his cold getting better?”
“Much better, just one more dose of medicine left.”
“That’s good.”
Pei Wenping said, promptly went over to Pei Ziheng, checked his forehead, touched his face, and seeing that his cheeks were rosy and his eyes sparkled, she turned around satisfied and chatted with Shen Mingzhu with a smile.
“Sister-in-law, you’ve worked hard these past few days.”
“It’s no trouble, it’s what I should do.”
Pei Wenping’s gaze swept around the living room quickly, then she made an excuse to wash her hands and went into the kitchen.
Coming out of the kitchen, Pei Wenping slapped her forehead and laughingly said to Shen Mingzhu, “Oh, look at my memory.
Sister-in-law, I brought you some beef, it’s in my scooter’s trunk.
Go and get it, it’s hot today, don’t let it spoil.
My scooter is red, with a black helmet on the front.”
Once Shen Mingzhu had left, Pei Wenping sat down next to Pei Ziheng and asked him quietly, “Xiaohuan, has Auntie Shen been treating you well these last few days?”
If it had been just yesterday that Pei Wenping had asked, he would have unhesitatingly answered “no”.
But the events just before, along with various other indications over the past few days, made him realize the bad woman was different from his previous life.
Not only had her cooking skills improved, but her temper had too, and she even seemed willing to sleep with him.
Seeing her nephew not speaking, Pei Wenping tried a different approach, asking him what he had eaten in the past few days and whether he had taken his medication on time.
Shen Mingzhu was not a fool, and guessed that Pei Wenping had sent her away because she definitely wanted to talk to the stepson alone.
Shen Mingzhu was guilt-free anyway.
If the stepson spouted nonsense, she might as well let her older sister take the boy back to raise.
That way, she’d be left in peace.
Although Shen Mingzhu had only been married into the Pei family for a few days, she went out to buy groceries daily, and many people in the residential compound recognized her.
Seeing her carrying beef around, they cast envious glances her way.
“Oh, Pei Yang’s wife, having beef for lunch?”
Shen Mingzhu didn’t hide it and replied with a smile, “Yes, my sister-in-law brought it specially for us.”
“You’re so lucky to have such a good sister-in-law.
Unlike mine, she keeps coming back to her parents’ house every few days to get spoiled, and doesn’t stop at just eating; she takes things too!”
Knowing it’s taboo to get too personal in shallow relationships, Shen Mingzhu just laughed it off and changed the subject to talk about the other person’s newly permed hair.
By the time Shen Mingzhu returned home, Pei Wenping treated her much more warmly, talking her ear off and even taking out a few movie tickets from her bag to give to her before leaving.
It seemed that this time, her stepson hadn’t deliberately bad-mouthed her.
This realization put Shen Mingzhu in a good mood, and she decided to prepare two special dishes for lunch to reward her stepson.
As soon as Pei Wenping got home, she called her brother Pei Yang and told him everything she had seen and heard in great detail.
“…The house was tidied up neatly, not even a footprint on the floor tiles, and the stove and cabinet were wiped clean.
I asked Xiaohuan, and he said that he has had fresh meals every time.
I’ve noticed Xiaohuan’s cheeks have gotten plump.
You can rest easy now, right?”
Pei Yang was indeed reassured.
He had rushed into marriage so his son would be taken care of.
Now, he could go out to sea with peace of mind.
——
Today was the large market day that occurred once every half month.
Early in the morning before the dew had even evaporated, Qin Jinlian hurriedly left the house with her shoulder bag, ready to procure wedding essentials like red paper and pillowcases and quilts at the market.
But just as she left the village, she heard someone calling her from behind.
Looking back, it was Liu Cuihua.
Liu Cuihua had ditched her worried look from the past few days and caught up to Qin Jinlian with a beaming smile, “Heading to the market?
Let’s go together.”
Qin Jinlian eyed Liu Cuihua while probing, “You look so happy.
Has Baolan’s wedding date been set?”
“It’s settled, on the 30th this month.
Come for the wedding banquet.
I won’t come to your house to notify you separately.”
“That soon?”
“Can’t help it, the Zhou family is in a hurry.”
Seeing Liu Cuihua beaming, Qin Jinlian pursed her lips in secret, thinking to herself that Zhou Shuhuan was far inferior to Pei Yang, having been married twice and even imprisoned.
Yet she acted as if she had stumbled upon a treasure.
“When is your family planning the occasion?”
When she heard Liu Cuihua ask, Qin Jinlian answered offhandedly, “The twenty-eighth next month.”
Liu Cuihua was surprised, “Will Pei Yang be able to make it back by next month?”
Qin Jinlian then realized Liu Cuihua was asking about her daughter Mingzhu, “Oh, you mean Mingzhu, she’s not in a rush.”
Liu Cuihua laughed with an unclear meaning, “It’s best to get the wedding done early.
You can’t keep dragging it on, with things not being upright and proper.”
“What do you mean not upright and proper?
Mingzhu and Pei Yang are legally married!”
“Just being legally married without holding a wedding ceremony…
Ah well, I was just saying.
Don’t take it to heart, Jinlian.”
Qin Jinlian said nothing much in response, but felt uncomfortable inside.
Soon, she ran into others heading to the market from a different village and took the opportunity to part ways with Liu Cuihua by chatting with them.
Liu Cuihua wasn’t offended, watching Qin Jinlian walk ahead, she felt a secret sense of delight.
Qin Jinlian, Qin Jinlian, you think you’ve snagged a good son-in-law, but what you don’t know is that he’s marked by a short life.
In another half a year, your daughter will become a widow, a single mother, doomed to never marry into a good family.
And her son-in-law will become a multimillionaire in a few years.
Baolan will become a wealthy lady, and her entire family will bask in the glory and enjoy prosperity.
Liu Cuihua’s thoughts grew more delightful as she smiled so broadly her lips almost reached her ears.
