The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 29 - Sending You Away, A Thousand Miles Away, Scram
Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Sending You Away, A Thousand Miles Away, Scram
Chapter 29 -29: Sending You Away, A Thousand Miles Away, Scram
The next day, Shen Mingzhu was sending Pei Ziheng to kindergarten.
After going downstairs, she ran into Ma Sufen, who was also sending Zhou Hao.
Seeing Shen Mingzhu, Ma’s already cold face stretched longer than a donkey’s.
After Ma Sufen and Zhou Hao had walked away, a mom who got along well with Shen Mingzhu whispered into her ear, “After you left last night, she was scolding her daughter-in-law all night long; the whole building heard her.
She still has the nerve to scold her daughter-in-law when her own mouth is much worse, always gossiping about everyone.
She even used to mock me behind my back, saying I was a hen that couldn’t lay eggs.
She thinks everyone’s a pushover, but she met her match this time, good for her!”
Knowing that Shen Baolan was scolded by her mother-in-law, Shen Mingzhu felt quite pleased.
After talking about the Zhou family, the mom started talking about Pei Wenping.
“Your eldest sister-in-law is really nice, at least she protects you, unlike mine…”
She began to complain about all the faults of her own sister-in-law.
Shen Mingzhu found it very awkward and subtly shifted the topic with other subjects.
After this incident, Shen Baolan finally quieted down and didn’t run over to Shen Mingzhu’s place constantly anymore.
Shen Mingzhu, as scheduled, baked the thirty kilograms of egg cake ordered by Wang Defa’s relatives and made a profit of fifteen yuan.
After finishing the egg cakes, Shen Mingzhu didn’t remain idle.
The Mid-Autumn Festival was just a few days away, and she planned to bake and sell mooncakes.
She made a small survey beforehand and found out that people here loved the five-nut mooncake, so she definitely needed to prepare that filling.
Next was her own favorite, the Ice Skin Mooncake, and finally the mung bean and lotus seed paste with egg yolk.
Once she had decided on the flavors and varieties, Shen Mingzhu started getting busy.
Buying ingredients, ordering mooncake molds, seeing her bring home bags of supplies every day, the residents of the compound stopped gossiping about her being extravagant, instead, they praised her for being capable.
“Pei Yang really has a good eye, look at the daughter-in-law he married, how capable she is, earning money right from home!”
“Exactly, wonder what she’s up to this time…”
After two days of hard work, Shen Mingzhu’s mooncake stall was finally open.
Setting up the stall was something Shen Mingzhu was familiar with.
Back when she was a host, she had livestreamed herself setting up a stall selling various street snacks.
The first step in setting up a stall is having a thick face.
Once her stall was set up, Shen Mingzhu, holding pieces of mooncakes cut into small pieces, warmly invited passersby to taste.
The passersby couldn’t stop praising the taste of the mooncakes, but once they heard the price, they all shook their heads.
Too expensive.
Shen Mingzhu wasn’t discouraged and continued to warmly invite passersby to try.
By evening, a third of her prepared mooncakes were gone from tastings, but she hadn’t sold a single one. frёewebnoѵēl.com
An ordinary five-nut mooncake usually costs around one yuan and fifty cents, but Shen Mingzhu’s were priced at three yuan each.
One yuan and fifty cents more expensive for just one, and one yuan and fifty more for ten, for a family, eating a box of her mooncakes would be significantly more expensive than others—why not use the money to buy pork for a meal?
Would her mooncakes make them fly or what?
“Yo, Mingzhu, what good stuff are you selling here again?”
Seeing Shen Baolan, who seemed to have come out of nowhere and wouldn’t leave her alone, Shen Mingzhu didn’t have a good expression.
“Do you have eggs hanging below your eyebrows?
You can only blink and can’t see?”
Shen Baolan pouted her mouth, “Oh, it’s mooncakes.
Let me try some.”
Saying so, she reached out to grab one, and Shen Mingzhu picked up a fly swatter and smacked it onto Shen Baolan’s hand with a loud “smack.”
“Why are you hitting people now?
Over just letting me try a piece of mooncake?” Shen Baolan was annoyed.
Shen Mingzhu wasn’t really so petty as to not let Shen Baolan try the mooncake; there were pieces already cut for tasting on the plate, yet she insisted on grabbing a whole one.
Spoiled her!
“It matters!
I refuse to let you try!
If you want to eat, pay for it!”
Shen Baolan, holding her reddened hand, mocked, “You haven’t sold a single one all afternoon, don’t know why you’re so smug.
You made a bit of lucky money the other day and now you think you’re cut out for business?
You think business is easy?
The money you earned, you’ve dumped into these mooncakes, and now you can’t sell even one, and all your efforts have been in vain, hilarious.”
Shen Mingzhu rolled her eyes, “Whether I sell them or not is none of your business.
If I can’t sell them, I’ll take them home to give away to whoever I want.”
“It’s all going to be given away anyway, so you might as well give them to me.”
“I’m giving you the gift of leaving, as far away as thousands of miles, scram.”
Seeing she couldn’t get any benefit from Shen Mingzhu, Shen Baolan walked away sulkily.
After Shen Baolan left, it wasn’t long before Pei Ziheng showed up at her stall.
Shen Mingzhu’s stall was right next to the entrance of the family courtyard.
Today was Saturday and kindergarten was closed, so Pei Ziheng was at home by himself.
“When are you planning to sell until?”
Pei Ziheng asked, looking at the mooncakes on her stall.
Shen Mingzhu teasingly replied, “Are you hungry?
If you’re hungry, just eat some mooncakes.
Anyway, they won’t sell out, we shouldn’t waste them.
How about we each eat two mooncakes tonight and skip cooking dinner?”
Hearing her say this, Pei Ziheng scowled so deeply he could have trapped a mosquito.
Just then, someone pushing a bicycle approached.
Shen Mingzhu immediately picked up a sample plate to attract customers, but upon getting closer, she recognized that it was Shen Baolan’s husband.
Compared to Shen Mingzhu’s embarrassment, Zhou Shuhuan seemed quite natural.
He graciously tasted a mooncake, then went to Shen Mingzhu’s mooncake stall and took two of each kind.
“How much is it all?”
“Three Yuan and twenty cents, but let’s round it down.
You can give three Yuan.”
Zhou Shuhuan, who was paying, was taken aback, possibly thinking he had misheard, and asked again.
When he learned the price was indeed three Yuan, his expression was quite indescribable.
“How’s business?”
“Not great, you’re the only buyer.”
“…”
So, he was the only sucker.
Never mind, it wasn’t easy for the mother and daughter, and it was getting dark, yet they were still selling mooncakes.
He decided to support his brother’s family by buying some.
At this moment, Pei Ziheng finally understood why such delicious mooncakes weren’t selling.
So you’re fishing like Jiang Taigong, waiting for those willing to bite the hook?
Having successfully made a sale, Shen Mingzhu was satisfied and started packing up to go home.
At the Zhou family home, Shen Baolan was mocking Shen Mingzhu to her mother-in-law, “If it weren’t for Pei Wenping’s sake, no one would have approached her to buy her sponge cakes.
She really thinks she’s capable, but now she must feel foolish, not a single mooncake sold, wasting all that flour and sugar.
How embarrassing.”
After Pei Wenping had come to yell at her, Ma Sufen was very angry that evening, but after Shen Baolan initiated reconciliation, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law quickly made up, demonstrating a kind of unity in this joint front.
Hearing that Shen Mingzhu hadn’t sold a single mooncake, Ma Sufen was too delighted, and she and Shen Baolan incessantly berated Shen Mingzhu for deserving it.
As they were gleefully railing against her, Zhou Shuhuan came home, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law immediately fell silent.
“Daddy!”
“I want to eat a mooncake!”
Hearing his grandson shouting in the living room, Ma Sufen came out of the kitchen, staring at the mooncakes in her son’s hand and asking where they were from.
Zhou Shuhuan handed over the mooncakes to Ma Sufen and casually replied that he bought them downstairs before heading back to his room.
The mooncakes were individually packaged in clear plastic bags, each labeled with the flavor.
As the grandson kept fussing, Ma Sufen took a red bean mooncake, broke off a small piece, and gave it to her grandson.
Smelling the sweet fragrance of the red bean, she couldn’t resist tasting it herself.
At that moment, Shen Baolan also walked out of the kitchen, seeing her daughter-in-law and grandson eating mooncakes, she couldn’t help but swallow hard.
“Mom, let me try some too.”
With reluctance, Ma Sufen broke off a small piece and passed it over.
Shen Baolan took a bite and her eyes lit up.
Although she had eaten mooncakes before, she had never tasted a mooncake as delicious as this.
The unique smoothness of the bean paste and its rich flavor were irresistibly delicious, making one crave for more.
“Mom, these city mooncakes are way too delicious, a hundred times better than the ones in our village!”
“Well, of course, who do you think bought them?”
Just then, Zhou Shuhuan came out of his room, and Ma Sufen asked her son where downstairs he had bought them, planning to buy more tomorrow.
However, when they heard that these mooncakes were bought from Shen Mingzhu, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were nearly furious.
