The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 435 - 434 Jia Yuemei Pregnant

Pei Ziheng miraculously reached the bird’s nest without incident.

In the nest were three bird eggs the size of fingertips, which sent Guoguo into such joy that she danced around, completely forgetting the wild rabbit that had been slaughtered.

Shen Mingzhu felt both relieved and worried.

She was relieved to see her daughter could let go and not dwell on things, but worried her daughter might develop a fickle heart, showing enthusiasm for only short bursts of time.

...

When it came time for lunch, the entire family sat around the dining table, except for Jia Yuemei and her daughter.

Shen Jianguo looked at his second son, Shen Xiangnan, "Where’s Yuemei? Call her for lunch."

"She said she’s not eating."

The whole family turned to look at Shen Mingzhu.

Jia Yuemei’s refusal to join the family for a meal was obviously due to the scolding she had received from Shen Mingzhu earlier.

Qin Jinlian said, "Mingzhu, go call Yuemei."

She wanted Shen Mingzhu to give Yuemei a way to save face.

"Eat if she wants, I’m going to start, need to head back early after eating, have things to do this afternoon."

Having said that, she picked up her chopsticks, took a piece of fish belly, peeled off the skin, and fed it to her daughter.

Seeing that Shen Mingzhu refused to go, Shen Jianguo nudged his wife’s arm, "You go, call her out to eat."

Qin Jinlian stood up and went to the west room.

It took quite a while before she came out, beaming, with Jia Yuemei holding her daughter following behind her.

"There’s good news, Yuemei is pregnant."

All eyes turned to Jia Yuemei, while Shen Mingzhu did not even lift her eyebrows, instead thoroughly focused on picking fish bones for her daughter.

Guoguo loved fish, and could eat half of a one-pound fish by herself.

The Shen family men were both quite happy, especially Shen Xiangnan, who now had a successful business and only lacked a son to carry on the family line.

"How long has it been?"

Jia Yuemei was uncertain; she had only used some physical reactions and experience to guess her condition and hadn’t yet had the chance to go for a check-up.

She also didn’t dare to get a check-up in town, afraid that JSB officials would force her to have an abortion.

Originally, she had intended to wait until after the Mid-Autumn Festival to go to the city for a proper check-up, but she couldn’t tolerate her loss of face from Mingzhu’s harsh scolding that day over her cravings, hence she had to reveal the news earlier than planned.

"Sis, it’s not that I’m the greedy one, it’s your nephew that’s greedy, he wanted to eat rabbit meat," Jia Yuemei said, finding an excuse while touching her belly.

Shen Mingzhu chuckled, "If that’s the case, you should thank me. The older generation says you can’t eat rabbit during pregnancy; doing so might cause the baby to be born with a cleft lip."

Qin Jinlian repeatedly agreed, "That’s right, Yuemei, you can’t eat rabbit meat, nor lamb."

Jia Yuemei was annoyed but could not come up with a retort.

Shen Mingzhu sneered to herself.

She did not believe in those superstitions, but she didn’t mind using them to add to Jia Yuemei’s frustration.

Today was already Mid-Autumn Festival, and with the additional good news of Jia Yuemei’s pregnancy, Shen Jianguo was the happiest of all, drinking quite a bit along with Shen Xiangnan and Pei Yang.

After finishing the meal, Shen Mingzhu left, not wanting to stay any longer at her parents’ house.

...

On the way back, Shen Mingzhu drove while Pei Yang, having drunk a lot, dozed off in the passenger seat; both children were in the back.

Once home, Shen Mingzhu first opened the rear door and carried her daughter, whose face was rosy from sleep, into the house.

Only after settling her daughter did she go to wake Pei Yang.

After calling several times, Pei Yang finally opened his eyes, glanced at her, then turned his head the other way and closed his eyes again, his cheeks faintly pink from the alcohol, looking inexplicably childish.

Shen Mingzhu couldn’t manage the heavy bulk of a man, so she simply lowered the seat, letting him take a nap in the car.

After adjusting the seat and about to close the door, her wrist was grabbed by the man.

"Are you abandoning me?"

The voice carried a heavy scent of alcohol, along with a hint of grievance.

Shen Mingzhu, bending over, tapped the man’s nose, "I called for you, it’s you who wouldn’t wake."

"Then why couldn’t you call for me longer?"

The man, with a hazy drunken look, glared at her, "Liar."

"How am I a liar?"

"You say you love me, but it’s all to coax me. In this house, the one you love most is Ziheng, then Guoguo, and I come last."

Shen Mingzhu didn’t expect the man to say these words and didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

However, Pei Yang took her silence as an affirmation, his face grew more aggrieved, and with a yank, he pulled her into his embrace, his arms clamping around her lower back like iron pincers.

"Why can’t you love me the most, am I not good enough for you? I do everything you say, never disobeying."

Shen Mingzhu suddenly realized, her earlier joke about the man being a cushion for their son had hurt him.

And in their relationship, the man always gave the most, so he wanted the same reciprocity.

She softened her voice to coax him, "Let’s go home first, okay?"

"I won’t go back, unless you say you love me the most."

"I’ll say it once we get back."

"Really? You’re not lying to me?"

"Mhm, I’m not lying to you."

After a lot of persuasion, she finally coaxed the man back home.

Turning around to make a cup of honey water, Pei Yang leaned on the couch, asleep on his own, the slight furrow in his brow revealing his unhappiness and gloom.

Shen Mingzhu returned to the room to get a pillow and a light blanket.

After settling the man on the couch, she used her slender white fingers to gently smooth out the wrinkles between his brows.

...

The first thing to do after the holiday was to hold a meeting at work.

During the meeting, Shen Mingzhu wrote up the total revenue during the Mid-Autumn Festival period on the blackboard.

Currently, the food factory’s business had three segments: first, retail snacks like Mingzhu spicy strips and potato chips; second, Mingzhu Restaurant selling fresh baked pastries; third, the sales of Ronghua mooncakes.

Among the business in the third quarter, Ronghua mooncakes’ sales were outstanding, double the combined sales of Mingzhu snacks and Mingzhu Restaurant for the first three quarters of the year.

"This year, we sold a total of 58,768 boxes of mooncakes, just a little short of the 60,000 target. That’s a 47% increase compared to last year, which is a very good result. Here, I want to thank everyone. It’s your unwavering dedication that has brought the factory to today’s achievements."

"I’m a practical person, I don’t like fuss, this month, everyone will receive an additional 10% bonus on top of their original salary. This is my sincere gesture, and my gratitude to all of you." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

The applause lingered on.

Actually, it wasn’t a lot of money, the average salary for the ordinary staff was around 60, so 10% was only 6 yuan, but it was enough to inspire and motivate people, giving everyone hope.

After the staff meeting ended, Shen Mingzhu called a smaller meeting with the office personnel.

After a year of development, the food factory’s department configuration was nearly complete.

It was divided into the General Management Office, HR Department, Finance Department, Production Department, and Marketing Department. Including the group leaders in the Production Department, there were nearly thirty people, crowding the thirty-square-meter conference room to the brim.

Looking at the joyful faces, Shen Mingzhu’s expression turned serious.

"This year, we faced an unprecedented crisis in mooncake sales, losing nearly ninety percent of our loyal customers. Part of this is due to strong competitors, but another important reason is that there was a traitor in the factory."

Shen Mingzhu’s words dropped like cold water into hot oil, and the meeting room instantly exploded.