The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 11 - Not to Torment Him, but to Embrace Him
Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Not to Torment Him, but to Embrace Him?
Chapter 11 -11: Not to Torment Him, but to Embrace Him?
After breakfast, Pei Ziheng hopped off the stool and prepared to return to his room as usual, when he had barely taken two steps before he heard the wicked woman calling him.
“Put on some clean clothes, we’re going out in a bit.”
Pei Ziheng stopped in his tracks and turned around, “I can’t dress myself.”
Shen Mingzhu teased, “You can’t dress yourself, yet you can sneakily open my safe?”
Pei Ziheng: “…”
Seeing her stepson puff up like a pufferfish, Shen Mingzhu chuckled, “I’ll help you find some clothes after I finish eating.”
Pei Ziheng sat on the bed, watching the wicked woman rummage through the wardrobe, filled with confusion.
Of course he knew how to dress himself, saying otherwise was just a test, curious about the wicked woman’s reaction, yet she was actually going to help him change.
Pei Ziheng had quite a lot of clothes, the double-door standing wardrobe was crammed full, but there weren’t many he could wear.
Either the size was too small or the style was outdated, but that was understandable, as old folks tend to be thrifty, probably picking up second-hand clothes worn by relatives and friends’ children.
Wearing old clothes at home was fine, but now that Pei Ziheng was about to start kindergarten, continuing to wear others’ hand-me-downs out and about seemed a bit inappropriate.
Strangers might think she, the stepmother, was mistreating her stepson.
After much picking and choosing, Shen Mingzhu finally found a presentable blue short-sleeved shirt and paired it with dark blue shorts.
“How about this set?
Come here, let me help you change.”
Shen Mingzhu was just asking out of habit and wasn’t actually seeking her stepson’s opinion — what opinion could a four-year-old child have?
She swiftly stripped off her stepson’s tank top and shorts, only to discover a hole in the crotch of his little underwear.
Noticing her gaze, Pei Ziheng blushed and covered his crotch.
“Pervert!”
Seeing her stepson glaring at her with embarrassed annoyance, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t resist teasing him, “You’re so tiny and you’re already shy?
Little Douya has nothing to show off.
If you wanted to see something, you should see your dad’s…”
Shen Mingzhu’s face heated up, suddenly realizing it was inappropriate to say such things in front of the child, and quickly changed the subject.
“You haven’t bathed in a few days, you smell sour.
I’ll heat up some water for you to take a bath.”
With that said, Shen Mingzhu put the clothes she had taken off back onto her stepson and then went to the kitchen to boil water.
During the wait for the water to heat up, she ran to the bathroom to look for a bathing basin.
There were two basins there, one red and one green; she called her stepson over to ask which one he normally used for bathing.
Concerned about his own hygiene, Pei Ziheng didn’t play coy and pointed to the green basin.
Shen Mingzhu thoroughly cleaned the green basin inside and out with soap, poured the heated water into it, and added some cold water to adjust the temperature.
After testing the water, she signaled to her stepson.
“Come here, I’ll help you bathe.”
Pei Ziheng immediately backed away in resistance, “I can bathe myself.”
“You can’t wash yourself clean.”
“I can wash clean!”
Looking at her stepson’s flushed face, Shen Mingzhu understood, “Are you embarrassed?
Afraid I’ll see your little ding-ding?”
Seeing her stepson’s face turn red in an instant as if about to catch fire, Shen Mingzhu didn’t tease any further.
“Alright, then you can wash yourself.
Just make sure to wash every part of your body, like your neck, armpits, and butt — don’t forget these spots.”
“I know!”
Watching the bathroom door slam shut, Shen Mingzhu touched her nose, thoughtfully considering that indeed the temperament of a villain was unpredictable.
In the bathroom, Pei Ziheng sat in the warm and comfortable bath basin, and apart from feeling embarrassed and annoyed, he was mostly confused.
The wicked woman was really different from the last life.
In his previous life, the wicked woman would only think to bathe him every ten or fifteen days, leading to him smelling awful and his classmates not wanting to play with him.
Moreover, the wicked woman was utterly careless, the bath water always being too hot or too cold, he couldn’t even complain — if he did, she would pinch his flesh and scold him as a demanding debt-collecting ghost.
Seeing her stepson had been alone in the bathroom for over ten minutes, Shen Mingzhu was a little worried and was about to knock on the door when it opened.
Seeing her stepson walk out of the bathroom neatly dressed, Shen Mingzhu was both surprised and pleased.
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t dress yourself?
But you’re dressed just fine now.”
Pei Ziheng ignored her and fetched a hairdryer from the living room cabinet.
He still knew to blow-dry his hair.
Shen Mingzhu leisurely watched her stepson walk to the socket, stand on tiptoes only to find he couldn’t reach it, and then she saw the stepson turn around, bring a small stool over, and step on it to plug in the hairdryer.
Shen Mingzhu quickly stepped forward and snatched the plug, “Little kids are not allowed to mess with sockets, it’s very dangerous, you could get roasted like a pig, do you want to become a little roasted pig?”
Pei Ziheng: “…”
The roar of the hairdryer soon filled his ears, and the warm wind carrying heat swept over his head back and forth, the tips of the woman’s fingers gently running through his hair.
In a daze, Pei Ziheng felt as if he had returned to the time when his grandmother was still around.
His grandmother always gently helped him blow-dry his hair, cleaned his ears for him…
“All done.”
Watching the bad woman bend over to put down the hairdryer with her back to him, Pei Ziheng silently chastised himself, for there was a moment when he actually thought the bad woman was as gentle and kind as his grandmother.
After locking the front door, Shen Mingzhu turned and extended her hand to her stepson standing by the wall.
Meeting her stepson’s confused and blank gaze, Shen Mingzhu bent over, pulled his little paw, and walked downstairs.
She was holding his hand.
In his previous life, the bad woman always complained that his hands were too sweaty and never agreed to hold them.
They descended to the first floor one after another, and when they met people who knew Shen Mingzhu, greetings were exchanged, “A visit to the Pei’s, where are you taking the child?”
Shen Mingzhu smiled in reply, “School is about to start, I’m taking the kid to buy a desk.”
Pei Ziheng was very surprised inside.
In his previous life, the bad woman never took the matter of him starting kindergarten seriously.
Not to mention a desk, she didn’t even buy him a school bag, and she even forgot the day school started.
It wasn’t until the teacher came to their home that the bad woman finally took him to kindergarten.
Because of this, he was mocked by his kindergarten classmates for a long time.
It was a considerable distance from the residential compound to the bus stop, and with the hot weather, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t be bothered to walk and directly called for a tricycle taxi.
Furniture stores were not abundant at the time, and after a long search, they found an old brand furniture store.
Once inside, Shen Mingzhu let go of Pei Ziheng’s hand and allowed him to pick out his favorite desk while she went to look at dressing tables.
With the owner’s recommendation, they both quickly picked out their favorite desks and dressing tables.
There was no need to haggle, since Shen Mingzhu was using purchase coupons.
Furniture under one meter required one purchase coupon, while mid-sized furniture between one and one and a half meters required two coupons.
And they still had over ten such coupons at home.
After making arrangements with the owner for delivery, Shen Mingzhu went to a stationery store to buy Pei Ziheng a school bag, stationery, a small desk lamp, and a plastic water bottle.
Exiting the stationery store, Shen Mingzhu then headed to the department store.
At the entrance of the department store, Pei Ziheng refused to go any further, which puzzled Shen Mingzhu.
“What’s wrong?
Tired?”
Pei Ziheng pursed his lips, kept silent, his little face flushed and sweaty at the hairline.
Shen Mingzhu understood something and, looking into his eyes, said, “If you don’t speak up I won’t know, the one feeling uncomfortable and suffering is yourself, think about it.”
Despite his reluctance to admit it, he had to acknowledge that the bad woman was right.
Even though he was reborn, his body was indeed that of a real four-year-old child, and walking for so long had already pushed him to his limit.
“I’m tired, I can’t walk anymore.”
“Here, carry this.”
Pei Ziheng stared at Shen Mingzhu in disbelief, filled with anger in his heart.
He was so exhausted he could barely walk, and yet she was still asking him to carry things!
Despicable!
Shen Mingzhu naturally did not realize what her stepson was thinking.
When he was stunned, she simply stuffed the school bag into his arms and then bent down to pick him up.
As his feet lifted off the ground, Pei Ziheng was shocked once more.
Was she asking him to carry something not to torment him, but to make it easier to carry him?
