The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era

The next day, Shen Mingzhu took Pei Ziheng to kindergarten and bumped into Ma Sufen, who was also sending Zhou Hao, on her way downstairs. The other woman, who always wore a frosty expression, managed to stretch her face even longer upon seeing Shen Mingzhu.

After Ma Sufen left with Zhou Hao, one of the mothers who got along with Shen Mingzhu whispered in her ear, "After you left last night, she had a full night's rant at her daughter-in-law, everyone in the building heard it. She has the nerve to criticize her daughter-in-law—it's she who's got the sharper tongue, always gossiping about everyone.

She even mocked me behind my back for being a hen that can't lay eggs, thinking everyone's an easy target. Well, she hit a brick wall this time, serves her right!"

Knowing that Shen Baolan had been scolded by her mother-in-law put Shen Mingzhu in a very good mood.

Having finished talking about the Zhou family, the other woman started on Pei Wenping, "Your eldest sister-in-law is really nice, at least she has your back, not like mine…"

The woman began to complain about her sister-in-law's shortcomings, causing Shen Mingzhu to listen awkwardly, as she steered the conversation to other topics without showing any reaction.

After this incident, Shen Baolan finally quieted down and no longer ran to Shen Mingzhu's place at every turn.

As scheduled, Shen Mingzhu baked the thirty pounds of egg cake ordered by Wang Defa's relative, making a hefty profit of fifteen yuan.

After finishing the egg cakes, Shen Mingzhu didn't rest, as the Mid-Autumn Festival was just around the corner, and she planned to bake mooncakes to sell.

After a bit of investigation, she found that the people around her favored the mixed nuts mooncakes, so she made sure to include that variety.

Secondly, she planned to offer her personal favorite, Ice Skin Mooncakes, and lastly, bean paste and lotus seed paste mooncakes with egg yolk.

Once she had settled on the flavors and varieties, Shen Mingzhu got busy.

She bought ingredients and ordered custom mooncake molds. Seeing her lugging large and small packages into her house every day, the neighbors in the residential compound stopped gossiping about her squandering money and instead praised her for being capable.

"Pei Yang really has good judgment, look at the daughter-in-law he married, so capable, earning money by staying at home every day."

"Exactly, who knows what new thing she's up to this time…"

After two days of hard work, Shen Mingzhu was finally ready to set up her mooncake stall.

She was no stranger to running a market stall since she'd previously sold various street snacks during live broadcasts as a host.

The first step to setting up a stall is to have thick skin.

After setting up her stand, Shen Mingzhu enthusiastically invited passersby to sample the small pieces of mooncakes she offered.

The passersby couldn't stop praising the taste of the mooncakes, but as soon as they heard the price, they all shook their heads.

Too expensive.

Undeterred, Shen Mingzhu continued to warmly invite passersby to try them.

By the evening, a third of her prepared mooncakes had been sampled, but not a single one had been sold.

Ordinary mixed nuts mooncakes were priced around fifteen cents each, but Shen Mingzhu was asking for thirty cents apiece.

An extra fifteen cents per piece, that's an extra one yuan and fifty cents for ten, what kind of family would pay so much more for a box of mooncakes when they could buy pork for a stir-fry and still have money left over? Do her mooncakes make people fly or something?

"Hey, Mingzhu, what are you selling this time?"

Seeing Shen Baolan, who appeared out of nowhere, Shen Mingzhu was not in the least bit pleased.

"Are you blind or something? Can't you see with those eyes under your eyebrows?"

Shen Baolan pouted, "So it's mooncakes, huh? Let me try some."

As she reached out to grab one, Shen Mingzhu snatched up a fly swatter and smacked her hand, resulting in a sharp "snap".

"Why are you hitting people now? You're making such a fuss over a piece of mooncake?" complained Shen Baolan, extremely annoyed.

Shen Mingzhu was not really too stingy to let Shen Baolan taste the mooncake, especially since there were samples cut into small pieces on the plate, but Shen Baolan had to reach for a whole one.

Spoiled rotten!

"Of course, I am! I won't let you taste it! If you want to eat, pay for it!"

Shen Baolan, rubbing her hand that had turned red from the slap, sneered, "You haven't sold a single one all afternoon, no idea why you're so full of yourself. You made a bit of money before, and now you really think you have a knack for business, huh? Do you think it's that easy to do business?

The money you made, sounds like you plowed it all into these mooncakes and now you can't sell a single one. It's a complete waste, how ridiculous."

Shen Mingzhu rolled her eyes, "Whether I sell them or not is none of your business. If I can't sell them, I'll just take them home and give them away if I want to."

"Since you're giving them away anyway, you might as well just give them to me."

"Fine, I'll give you a send-off, a thousand miles away. Scram."

Seeing she couldn't get anything out of Shen Mingzhu, Shen Baolan walked away sullenly.

Shen Baolan left, and it wasn't long before Pei Ziheng came to her stall.

Shen Mingzhu's stall was right next to the gate of the residential compound, and since it was Saturday and the kindergarten was closed, Pei Ziheng was originally staying at home alone.

"How long are you planning to sell?"

Pei Ziheng asked, looking at the mooncakes on her stall.

Shen Mingzhu deliberately teased him, "Are you hungry? If you're hungry, just eat the mooncakes. We can't sell them anyway, don't waste them. Tonight, we can each eat two mooncakes instead of cooking dinner."

Hearing her say that, Pei Ziheng's brow wrinkled enough to kill a mosquito.

Just then, someone pushing a bicycle approached, and Shen Mingzhu immediately picked up the sample plate to attract customers, but upon getting closer, she recognized that it was Shen Baolan's man.

Compared to Shen Mingzhu's awkwardness, Zhou Shuhuan seemed very natural, and he graciously tasted a bite of the mooncake. Then, he approached Shen Mingzhu's mooncake stall and asked for two of every variety.

"How much in total?"

"Three Yuan and twenty cents, but I'll round down for you. Just give three Yuan."

Zhou Shuhuan, who was taking out his money, was taken aback, perhaps thinking he had misheard, and asked again. When he confirmed the price was indeed three Yuan, his expression spoke volumes of his feelings.

"How's business?"

"Not so good, you're the only buyer."

"..."

So he was the only sucker.

Forget it, mother and daughter had it tough. It was almost dark and they were still selling mooncakes. He could think of this as looking after his brother's family business.

At this point, Pei Ziheng finally understood why such delicious mooncakes wouldn't sell.

So you're trying to catch willing fish with your bait, aren't you?

Having successfully sold some goods, Shen Mingzhu was satisfied and ready to close up and go home.

At the Zhou family's home, Shen Baolan and her mother-in-law were making fun of Shen Mingzhu, "…If it wasn't for saving Pei Wenping's face, no one would have bought those sponge cakes from her. She really thought she had some skill. She's going to look foolish now, not selling a single mooncake. What a waste of all that flour and sugar, how embarrassing."

After the last confrontation with Pei Wenping, Ma Sufen was very angry that night, but Shen Baolan made the first move to make amends, and mother and daughter-in-law quickly reconciled, sharing a silent understanding of presenting a united front.

Learning that Shen Mingzhu's mooncakes hadn't sold at all, Ma Sufen was overjoyed and she and Shen Baolan gleefully berated Shen Mingzhu for getting what she deserved.

As they were enjoying their tirade, Zhou Shuhuan came home, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law promptly fell silent.

"Dad!"

"Mooncakes, I want to eat mooncakes!"

Hearing his grandson shouting in the living room, Ma Sufen walked out of the kitchen and eyed the mooncakes in her son's hand, asking where they came from.

Zhou Shuhuan handed over the mooncakes to Ma Sufen and dismissively answered that he bought them downstairs, then went to his room.

The mooncakes were individually wrapped in transparent plastic bags, each labeled with the flavor.

As the grandson continued to make a fuss, Ma Sufen handed him a piece of the red bean paste mooncake, and the aroma made her sample a taste as well.

At that moment, Shen Baolan also came out of the kitchen and seeing her grandson eating mooncakes, she couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Mom, give me a taste too."

Reluctantly, Ma Sufen broke off a small piece and passed it over.

Shen Baolan took a bite and her eyes immediately lit up.

Although she had eaten mooncakes before, she had never tasted one as delicious as this. The unique smooth texture of the red bean paste and the rich flavor were irresistible, making her want more after just one bite.

"Mom, these city mooncakes are too delicious; a hundred times better than those in our village!"

"That's right, who do you think bought it?"

Just as Zhou Shuhuan came out of his room, Ma Sufen asked her son where he got them and said she would go buy some more tomorrow.

However, when they heard that the mooncakes were from Shen Mingzhu, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were nearly choking with anger.