The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 46 - The Unfilial Son Brings Her Too Much Honor!
Chapter 46: Chapter 46 The Unfilial Son Brings Her Too Much Honor!
Chapter 46 -46 The Unfilial Son Brings Her Too Much Honor!
At nine o’clock, the activity for the small class of the kindergarten officially began.
The head teacher, Teacher Sun, started with an enthusiastic speech before taking on the role of host to declare the start of the activities.
The first to perform on stage was Wa
Shiting from the family courtyard.
Wa
Shiting sang and danced, performing “Little Swallow.” Once the performance ended, Shen Mingzhu gave a resounding round of applause, clapping so hard her palms turned red.
After the second talent performance ended, Wa
Shiting’s score was revealed: 95 points.
One after another, the talent performances went on, some quite impressive, but most were just for show, occasionally eliciting a laugh or two, which was also enjoyable.
Anyway, Shen Mingzhu watched with great joy.
Soon, it was Zhou Hao’s turn to go on stage.
Zhou Hao’s talent performance was reciting the multiplication table, and he stood straight on the podium, his hands by his seams, chest proud and head held high, his diction clear.
He recited flawlessly from beginning to end, obviously having practiced countless times in private to achieve such an effect, which also clearly showed the effort Shen Baolan had put into teaching her stepson.
Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but silently reflect on whether she had been neglecting her stepson’s studies too much.
Zhou Hao’s talent naturally received a round of enthusiastic applause from the audience.
Before long, Zhou Hao’s score was announced: 99 points.
It was, so far, the highest score, and, unsurprisingly, Zhou Hao would be the champion of this class activity.
As the score was announced, the surrounding parents started congratulating Shen Baolan.
“Your Zhou Hao is definitely going to be first.”
“Ah, Zhou Hao’s mom really knows how to teach her child.
I must ask you for some tips sometime.”
Shen Baolan’s face bloomed like a sunflower with her smile, “No problem, come over to my place for a chat whenever you’re free.”
Then, she cued Shen Mingzhu, “We live so close; if you have time, bring your Ziheng to my place too.
For the sake of being from the same village, I’ll share some tips with you.”
“Thank you so much for that.”
“Just talking is no fun.
Bring over some of those cakes and pastries you bake next time, so we can all have a taste.” ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
This suggestion was met with agreement from the other parents, “Why don’t we get together after New Year’s Day?
The children from our family courtyard can gather and have a fun party.”
Shen Mingzhu had no interest, firstly because it was too cold, and secondly because she was about to have an exam.
She didn’t even have enough time to study, let alone the mood to organize a party.
However, she didn’t want to dampen everyone else’s spirits, so let the others discuss it and asked them to inform her of the date when it was decided.
A few of the moms stopped watching the talent shows, whispering among themselves to plan the upcoming party.
Across the way, after Zhou Hao’s score was announced, all the other kids looked at him with eyes full of envy and admiration.
“Zhou Hao, you’re so awesome; my mom also tried to teach me the multiplication table, and I just can’t memorize it.”
“Zhou Hao, how long did you take to memorize it?”
Asking him was Wa
Shiting.
Wa
Shiting was cute and had a soft, sweet voice, as pretty as a porcelain doll.
She was not only the prettiest girl in the family courtyard, but also in the kindergarten.
The boys in the kindergarten were always happy to play with Wa
Shiting, but she always liked to follow around Pei Ziheng, and today, exceptionally, she looked at Zhou Hao with admiring eyes, which pleasantly surprised him.
He purposely glanced at Pei Ziheng and said loudly, “I memorized it in just two months.”
“Wow, Zhou Hao, you are so amazing!”
Wa
Shiting’s voice was soft and crisp, like cotton candy, sweet as if Zhou Hao had just drank honeyed water when he heard her.
He grew increasingly proud and began to show off, “My Aunt Lan said that if I get first place this time, she will buy me a toy gun!”
“Wow!”
All the boys around him issued envious exclamations of admiration.
Many of the boys even made reservations with Zhou Hao in advance, saying they wanted to borrow the toy gun to play with after he got it.
Zhou Hao had no intention of lending the toy gun to others to play, as he himself couldn’t get enough of it.
What if it got broken?
But when he caught Pei Ziheng staring at him intently, he changed his mind.
He agreed to everyone who wanted to borrow the toy gun and then just waited for Pei Ziheng to ask to borrow it.
He would definitely refuse Pei Ziheng loudly, making him lose face in front of Wa Shiting.
But Pei Ziheng didn’t ask; instead, he got up and left the classroom.
Zhou Hao followed him out and said, “Pei Ziheng, if you give me your magic cube, I might consider letting you play with the toy gun for a while.”
Pei Ziheng stopped, turned to look at Zhou Hao, and said with sympathy, “You’re still in the mood to play with toy guns?
Next year, your stepmom is going to have a baby brother for you.
Once the little brother is here, your stepmother, your dad, and grandma will only dote on the little brother and not on you.
While your stepmom and grandma still love you, you should get them to buy you more toys.”
Pei Ziheng quickly returned to the classroom, while Zhou Hao, who had chased after him, did not come back, but no one seemed to notice.
As the event neared its end, it was finally Pei Ziheng’s turn to perform.
By this time, the parents’ spirits and emotions had noticeably waned, and given that Pei Ziheng’s talent was nothing special, when he took the stage, there were only a few scattered claps in the classroom.
However, among the sparse applause, one was particularly loud and distinct, naturally coming from Shen Mingzhu.
Not only was she clapping vigorously, but she was also mouthing words of encouragement to Pei Ziheng without making a sound.
Looking at the enthusiastic and whole-hearted Shen Mingzhu, Pei Ziheng bowed his head and took the cube out of his pocket.
After scrambling the colors on the cube, Pei Ziheng opened his mouth and began to count.
The very first word he uttered shocked everyone present.
Because Pei Ziheng was counting in English.
In this era, English lessons only started in middle school; they weren’t even offered in elementary school, not to mention that Pei Ziheng was just a four-year-old child attending kindergarten.
A few mothers who didn’t understand English whispered to Shen Mingzhu, “What is Ziheng reciting?
I can’t understand at all.”
“English, English!”
Before Shen Mingzhu could reply, other mothers rushed to answer for her.
At the end, they didn’t forget to give her a thumbs up, praising her for how impressive it was.
Shen Baolan was full of doubt and confusion, as if someone had overturned a bottle of spices in her head.
She had a middle school education and was supposed to have English classes in middle school, but they could never find an English teacher, so she never had those lessons.
If Pei Ziheng recited the multiplication table, she could still teach Zhou Hao at home.
But with Pei Ziheng reciting English, how could she teach that?
“…seven, eight, nine…ninety-nine, hundred.”
As the final number was called out, Pei Ziheng had also completed the cube.
In the three seconds following Pei Ziheng’s performance, the entire classroom was silent as the grave.
“Clap clap…”
It wasn’t until Shen Mingzhu led the applause that everyone else came to their senses and started clapping along.
Over time, the applause didn’t fade but grew loud and persistent, like thunder rolling unabated.
“Oh my, Pei Ziheng’s mom, your Ziheng is incredibly impressive!
He’s even learned English and speaks it so fluently.
We need to learn from you!”
Shen Mingzhu modestly responded with something like it’s just okay, but deep down, she was both shocked and overjoyed.
This child, no, this boy, had really made her proud!
