The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 50 - You Are Just Xiuzhu, She Is Mingzhu
Chapter 50: Chapter 50: You Are Just Xiuzhu, She Is Mingzhu
Chapter 50 -50: You Are Just Xiuzhu, She Is Mingzhu
Uncertain whether Wang Xiuzhu’s remark was mocking her for being a rural woman or dissatisfied with her serving plain boiled water, Shen Mingzhu looked at her without saying a word.
Wang Huizhen reproached Wang Xiuzhu with a pat, “What are you saying!”
Wang Xiuzhu gave Shen Mingzhu a slight smile, “I was just joking, you don’t mind, do you?”
Shen Mingzhu wasn’t really angry, but still felt a bit uncomfortable on the inside.
She deliberately ignored Wang Xiuzhu and turned to Wang Huizhen to explain why she couldn’t find any tea leaves.
Wang Huizhen smiled and said it was okay, mentioning she usually didn’t like drinking tea, and the matter was dropped just like that.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Wang Huizhen’s gaze landed on Pei Ziheng, who was sitting on the balcony in a daze, and couldn’t help but feel emotional, “In the blink of an eye, Ziheng has grown up so much.
I hardly dared to recognize him when I saw him; last time I saw him, he was only this tall.”
Wang Huizhen gestured at her knee, “Time really does fly.”
Shen Mingzhu smiled warmly in response.
Wang Xiuzhu, however, didn’t say much, but her eyes scanned Shen Mingzhu’s body like radar.
Though uncomfortable, Shen Mingzhu, out of consideration for Wang Huizhen, didn’t express her feelings and suffered in silence.
Wang Huizhen didn’t stay long before she got up to say goodbye.
Before leaving, she warmly invited Shen Mingzhu and Pei Ziheng to her house for dinner.
Considering Pei Yang’s relationship with the Lin Family, Shen Mingzhu accepted the invitation.
Once they left the staff dormitory gate, Wang Huizhen looked sideways at her niece, “What now?
Having seen the real person, you should give up, right?”
Wang Xiuzhu’s face showed her unwillingness to accept, “Aside from a somewhat decent face, what’s there to like?
She doesn’t even know how to entertain guests, has no manners.
When I talked to her, she totally ignored me.
She’s just a rural person with a middle school education, yet what could she possibly have to be proud of in front of me, a college graduate?”
“That’s because you brought it on yourself, criticizing people for being rural the moment you opened your mouth.
Did you think she wouldn’t notice?”
“I didn’t say anything wrong.
Who serves plain water to guests these days?”
“Didn’t she say she couldn’t find any tea leaves?”
“If there’s none at home, you can go out and buy some.”
Wang Huizhen waved her hand, “Forget it, I can’t win against you.
You just keep brooding over it.”
Wang Xiuzhu was still indignant, “She’s got nothing but her looks.
I come from a good family, have a high education, and I’m not bad-looking either.
Even a blind man should know how to choose.”
“You said it yourself, she’s got a pretty face.
Why do you think men get bewitched by seductive women?
It’s because those women are beautiful.”
“Pei Yang is not that shallow!”
Wang Huizhen snorted with laughter, “Maybe, maybe not.
Don’t think too highly of Pei Yang.
In the end, he’s just a normal man, and all men like beautiful women.”
“Even our names are pearls, but you are only Xiuzhu, while she is Mingzhu–even in names, she is ahead of you.”
Wang Xiuzhu: “…”
So annoying!
Of course, one can’t visit someone’s home empty-handed, so after lunch, Shen Mingzhu took Pei Ziheng to the department store to buy gifts.
With thriving trade at Xicheng Port, not only were the goods here cheap, but the variety was also rich, complete with many novelties that couldn’t be found in Fengcheng.
Shen Mingzhu shopped the whole afternoon, and it wasn’t until evening that she returned to the dormitory satisfied, carrying bags big and small.
After resting for a while, she changed into appropriate clothes for herself and Pei Ziheng, applied a simple makeup, and then Shen Mingzhu took the gifts and headed for the Lin Family’s home.
The Lin Family lived just down the next street; it was a five-minute walk away.
When Shen Mingzhu arrived at the Lin Family’s home, Wang Huizhen and her nephew Wang Xiuzhu were busy in the kitchen.
Shen Mingzhu offered to help, but Wang Huizhen wouldn’t hear of it, so Shen Mingzhu had to sit on the living room sofa with Pei Ziheng and wait for dinner while admiring the Lin Family’s layout and décor.
In the kitchen, though Wang Xiuzhu was washing vegetables, her eyes constantly roved to observe Shen Mingzhu in the living room.
“Just look at her, looking around like that, she’s obviously a country bumpkin with no experience,” she said.
Wang Huizhen thought her niece was being too much and couldn’t help but scold her in a low voice, “Enough, you better zip it.”
Wang Xiuzhu bit her lip and immediately ran into the living room.
Shen Mingzhu was appreciating the Lin Family’s furniture and décor, and when she saw Wang Xiuzhu emerge from the kitchen, she nodded politely in greeting.
Wang Xiuzhu approached her with a smile and said, “My aunt is swamped, I need to go help her.
Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Shen Mingzhu thought to herself how this person had suddenly become so courteous, only to hear the other party change the subject, “There’s a phonograph over there.
Feel free to play some music you like, so you don’t sit around bored.”
Shen Mingzhu glanced at the antique phonograph positioned in the corner of the room and then back at Wang Xiuzhu, faintly understanding something.
“You go ahead with your work.
Don’t worry about us.”
Wang Xiuzhu didn’t leave but stood there like a stump, pretending to be curious as she asked Shen Mingzhu, “Why don’t you go put on some music?”
Shen Mingzhu smiled politely, “Oh, I don’t feel like listening right now.”
“You don’t know how to use the phonograph, right?
You can just say so.
I won’t laugh at you.
You’re a country person; you probably haven’t even seen a phonograph before.
I understand.
What kind of music do you like?”
Wang Xiuzhu kept talking as she moved toward the phonograph, “Jazz?
Rock?
Classical?
Waltz?
Or Blues?”
Hearing the commotion, Wang Huizhen walked out of the kitchen.
Her face showed faint displeasure as she heard her niece deliberately provoking Shen Mingzhu.
Pei Yang was her husband’s favorite apprentice and also a junior she was quite fond of.
Even just for Pei Yang’s sake, she couldn’t let her niece mess around and embarrass Shen Mingzhu.
“Xiuzhu, stop chatting with Mingzhu and come help me wash some ginger.
I need it urgently.”
Wang Xiuzhu was intent on making Shen Mingzhu look foolish; even knowing Wang Huizhen was displeased, she didn’t care.
“Mingzhu doesn’t know how to use a phonograph.
I’ll put on some music for her and then come wash the ginger.”
After saying that, she looked at Shen Mingzhu with a smile tinged with a bit of aggression.
“Come on, tell me.
My aunt needs me to wash ginger, so don’t waste time.”
“Moonlight Sonata.”
The person who spoke was the silent Pei Ziheng.
When Wang Xiuzhu looked at him, he repeated with his deep, dark eyes, “Moonlight Sonata, Aunt Mingzhu likes listening to that.”
Wang Xiuzhu paused, then quickly asked Shen Mingzhu, “Since you like the ‘Moonlight Sonata’, you should know who composed it, right?”
Pei Ziheng furrowed his brow slightly, about to answer for Shen Mingzhu, but Wang Xiuzhu quickly spoke to stop him, “Ziheng, your Aunt Mingzhu is such an adult, surely she doesn’t need a four-year-old child to answer such a simple question for her?
That would be really useless.”
Shen Mingzhu did not respond to Wang Xiuzhu right away; her gaze had settled on Pei Ziheng.
How amazing, she actually saw anxiety and concern in her stepson’s face.
A mix of reassurance and a pinch of sorrow—what was going on?
