The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 78 - I’m not planning to continue with Zhou Shuhuan
Chapter 78: Chapter 78 I’m not planning to continue with Zhou Shuhuan
Chapter 78 -78 I’m not planning to continue with Zhou Shuhuan
“Mingzhu!”
Pei Yang was tall and had long legs, so he ran fast.
He had just reached the door when he saw Shen Mingzhu sitting on the ground and Qin Jinlian standing beside her, fuming with rage.
It looked like a mother and daughter having an argument.
Without a word, Pei Yang picked up his wife and looked her over with concern, “Mingzhu, are you okay?
Did you get hurt anywhere?”
Qin Jinlian was bewildered by Pei Yang’s anxious demeanor.
It was just a matter of the daughter not standing steady and taking a fall, not like tofu that breaks upon a single drop.
Was there a need for such preciousness?
At that time, Shen Jianguo and his two sons, along with Du Juan and Yang Lizhen, also rushed back.
With nothing to do in the winter and not wanting to disturb Shen Mingzhu’s rest, the two sisters-in-law had finished their chores and went to someone else’s house with their knitting wool, chatting and knitting sweaters to pass the time.
They hurried back only after hearing that Qin Jinlian had a fallout with Shen Mingzhu.
Seeing Pei Yang holding Shen Mingzhu so tenderly, everyone thought that Qin Jinlian had really hit Shen Mingzhu, and Shen Jianguo was the first to lash out at Qin Jinlian.
“What on earth are you doing during the New Year?
Can’t you give Mingzhu some peace on her rare visit home?
If you’re that bored, go pick up some donkey dung eggs!”
Shen Chaobei also blamed Qin Jinlian, “Mom, really, if little sister isn’t feeling well, just let her rest.
Why are you making such a fuss?”
Shen Xiangnan chimed in, “Mom, can’t you talk things out nicely?
Little sister is married now, and you still resort to hitting; that’s not appropriate.”
Qin Jinlian was angry and anxious, with tears practically pouring down like beads.
“What did I do?
Mingzhu was clinging onto me, and I only pushed her a bit.
She fell because she wasn’t standing stable.
What’s the big deal?
Do you all need to point fingers and curse at me like this?
Did I commit murder or set a fire?”
At that moment, Pei Ziheng waddled through the door with his little short legs.
Shen Mingzhu immediately nudged Pei Yang, “Go pick up Ziheng and bring him here.”
Pei Yang was puzzled, but he still promptly picked up his son and brought him to Shen Mingzhu’s side.
Shen Mingzhu then started to explain the misunderstanding to the Shen family.
After realizing it was just a trivial matter, the three Shen men felt somewhat sheepish.
But what Shen Mingzhu said next made all three men’s hearts hang high again.
“Mom, why did you hit Ziheng just now?
Did he do something wrong?”
Shen Jianguo glared at Qin Jinlian with eyes wide like copper bells, “You hit Ziheng?
What for?
You foolish woman, have you lost your mind?”
Compared to hitting his daughter, the act of hitting his grandson obviously made Shen Jianguo more anxious and enraged.
After all, the daughter was his own flesh and blood, and disciplining her was a family matter, but the grandson belonged to someone else’s family, and the son-in-law was still there.
To have hit their child, how would he explain it to the son-in-law?
Shen Jianguo was so anxious he felt like taking off his shoe and giving Qin Jinlian a slap across the face.
Pei Yang was even more concerned about his son in his arms, asking him where he was hurt.
Pei Ziheng hung his head low, pressing his lips together and not making a sound, looking displeased.
Qin Jinlian was so agitated she was hopping mad, “I didn’t hit him!
I was going to, but Mingzhu stopped me, I didn’t even touch a single finger of his.”
Hearing this, Shen Jianguo and his sons all heaved a sigh of relief.
Shen Mingzhu continued by asking Qin Jinlian why she had raised her hand against Pei Ziheng.
Qin Jinlian immediately began to cry and complain, “…He lied to me, saying that Daya had fallen into the ditch.
The ditch is so deep and the surface is frozen.
If Daya had fallen in, could she have survived?
I was so scared I nearly lost half my life, rushing out to save her, but there she was, perfectly fine, playing at the doorstep…”
Hearing this, the Shen family members all instinctively looked towards Daya.
Daya, led by Du Juan and looking utterly bewildered, clearly didn’t understand what had happened or why everyone was staring at her.
Shen Mingzhu approached Pei Ziheng, “Why did you lie and deceive grandma?”
Pei Ziheng pointed towards the drain that ran from the yard to the outside, her delicate and lovely face filled with innocence and confusion, “I didn’t lie to grandma, Daya was standing in that ditch by the door earlier.”
Only then did everyone realize there had been a misunderstanding.
It was a drainage ditch used for rain and meltwater, only about ten centimeters wide and a few inches deep, running from the Shen family home all the way to the water storage tank outside the gate.
The child didn’t know any better, calling the drainage ditch a “ditch” wasn’t really a mistake.
And with that, the matter was put to rest.
Shen Jianguo and his sons continued to take Pei Yang out for a stroll.
Shen Mingzhu decided not to sleep, sitting on the kang with her two sisters-in-law learning to knit sweaters, while Pei Ziheng continued to play with Daya in the courtyard, seemingly as if nothing had happened.
Only Qin Jinlian, lying in the east room, was full of resentment and grievances with nowhere to vent.
——
Shen Dashan and his son Shen Hao both loved playing cards.
After lunch, the father and son duo planned to go out and look for a game, also inviting their son-in-law Zhou Shuhuan to join them.
Zhou Shuhuan also loved cards, but he had been tight on money recently, unable to scrounge up five yuan, so he made up an excuse to decline.
Shen Dashan and his son did not bother him any further.
After eating, Shen Baolan went back to her room to lie down, and Liu Cuihua, after finishing the household chores, also crawled into her daughter’s room.
Zhou Shuhuan, left alone and feeling stifled, decided to go out for a walk.
Leaving Shen Baolan’s house, he hadn’t walked far when he saw a crowd gathered at the village entrance, with the tall figure in a gray woolen coat, Pei Yang, standing out prominently.
Pei Yang was eloquently sharing something, captivating the surrounding villagers who listened with enthralled and smiling faces.
One could guess that Pei Yang was surely recounting his experiences in battle and at sea.
He and Pei Yang had grown up together, wearing open-crotch trousers as children, but their life paths had diverged completely.
Before graduating from junior high school, he had always been the model child praised by parents, obedient, sensible, progressive, with excellent grades.
Pei Yang, on the other hand, was the problem child that gave teachers and parents headaches, mischievous and naughty, uninterested in studying, and perpetually failing exams.
Their junior high graduation marked the watershed of their lives.
He had been admitted to high school and later to a vocational school, becoming a teacher for a few years until he was lured into business by the promise of wealth, which led to a stint in prison instead of riches.
After his own junior high graduation, Pei Yang joined the military, later fought in wars and earned military distinctions; upon discharge, he had effortlessly taken over his father’s position and joined the Ocean Shipping Company as a sailor.
At the same age, Pei Yang’s life was so thrilling it could be turned into a book, while his own life lacked notable achievements, even to the point of embarrassment.
Although he regarded Pei Yang as a true brother, sometimes he couldn’t help feeling envious of him.
“Shuhuan, come over!”
Lost in thought, Pei Yang spotted him from the head of the village and called out loudly for him to come over.
As he approached, the villagers’ eyes turned to him as well, their faces showing curiosity and envy.
He and Pei Yang were the only two sons-in-law from the city in Shenjiagou.
How desirable a city residence registration was, allowing one to eat state-supplied grain and hold an iron rice bowl job.
The coats and leather shoes they wore were rare items that even wealthy villagers could not purchase.
Inside Shen Baolan’s house.
After learning that Zhou Shuhuan had left the house, Shen Baolan struggled to sit up from the kang, her legs swollen like radishes, and said to Liu Cuihua with a serious expression, “Mom, I have decided I don’t want to stay with Zhou Shuhuan anymore.”
Liu Cuihua was startled, exclaiming anxiously, “What nonsense are you up to again?
With your belly so big, can’t you just live peacefully?”
