The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 859 - 858: Seriously

After acquiring Xinbaihui Shopping Center, Ning Yuan immediately went to celebrate with Yan Yi over drinks.

Yan Yi wasn’t fond of bars and such, so they settled on Yan Yi’s apartment balcony.

Ning Yuan took two bottles of Romanee-Conti from his old man’s cellar, and on the way there, he also stopped by Baina to pick up some appetizers to go with the wine.

"Look at this, 180 million, isn’t this gift impressive? How can she not be moved to tears?"

Holding a wine glass in one hand and placing the acquisition contract in front of Yan Yi with the other, he was quite pleased with himself.

Yan Yi flipped through the contract, paused his gaze on the buyer’s column for half a second, put the contract back on the table, and teased, "In all my life, this is the first time I’ve seen you put so much effort into pursuing a woman."

Ning Yuan paused, then sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, "Who’s pursuing her?"

"I just did it out of respect because she gave birth to a set of twins for me. It’s the first time she ever asked me for anything; if I didn’t give it to her, it would make me look petty and stingy,"

"It’s a matter of male pride. I’m certainly not doing this to appease her."

Yan Yi said with a smirk, "If you say so, why get all worked up?"

Ning Yuan gulped down a big swig of red wine to save face, "I just don’t want you to misunderstand."

"You say you have no intentions towards Xueqi."

"What about it?"

"Some time ago, I ran into her eating out with Qin Hao."

Ning Yuan’s body stiffened, "Qin Hao? The heir of Tiancheng Group? How come she’s with him? Where were they eating? No, when did they meet? How did I not know?"

Yan Yi remained noncommittal, "If her own husband doesn’t know, how would I?"

Choking back his words, Ning Yuan asked again, "Was it just the two of them? Nobody else? It was probably just a coincidence; for all you know, Qin Hao is a friend of her friend."

"If you have no feelings for her and don’t like her, why care so much?"

Ning Yuan got up and started pacing back and forth with a self-righteous attitude, "This has nothing to do with feelings; it’s about a man’s dignity. Officially, she’s my wife, the mother of my children. She can’t just publicly embarrass me, right? Don’t I deserve some respect?"

Yan Yi offered comforting words, "Just endure it, life will be over before you know it."

Ning Yuan almost spat blood in frustration, "..."

This is bullshit. I can’t even endure it for a day!

...

By the time he got home after drinks, it was already eleven.

Reeking of alcohol, Ning Yuan knocked on Zhuang Xueqi’s door and tossed the acquisition contract at her before she could speak.

"Here!"

After glancing over its contents, Zhuang Xueqi’s expressionless face finally showed a crack of surprise.

"You bought Xinbaihui?"

"Yeah."

Ning Yuan, with a pompous tone, boasted, "Didn’t you want it? A whole shopping center, I can still afford it."

That Qin Hao, would he be willing to spend 180 million to buy a shopping center for you?

Zhuang Xueqi couldn’t hear the snide remarks in his heart, stared at him for a few seconds, and cursed, "Are you sick?"

Ning Yuan was bewildered, not understanding why he got cursed at after spending money.

"I don’t want it!"

Zhuang Xueqi slapped the contract against his chest, about to close her door.

Ning Yuan quickly blocked the door with his foot, "What do you mean? You were the one who wanted it, and I bought it, yet now you’re saying you don’t want it? Are you just toying with me?"

Zhuang Xueqi looked at him, "I was just saying it off the cuff, who knew you would take it seriously? Don’t you have a brain? Can’t you tell truth from lies?"

Ning Yuan found himself at a loss for words.

Damn it, how could he have taken it seriously?!

Although he was a wealthy heir with countless assets to his name, he didn’t actually have much cash on hand.

To gather enough money to acquire Xinbaihui Shopping Center, he sold a plot of land, four cars, and various collections of jewelry and watches.

And he did it all sneakily, like a thief.

When had such a spoiled scion ever felt this humiliated?

"Take it or leave it. If you don’t like it, donate it. There’s never been a time when this young master took back what he gave away!"

With that, Ning Yuan left in a huff.

Hearing the door close behind him, he stopped in his tracks, turned around, and glared at the now closed door, feeling even more annoyed.

That damn woman, wasn’t she supposed to be moved to tears, hate herself for not throwing her arms around him in gratitude, ready to give herself to him?

Back in the room, Zhuang Xueqi sat on the couch with her legs crossed, looking through the acquisition documents.

After a while, she stood up, locked the documents in the safe, and walked alone to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the ink-like night and cracking a smile.

...

After the National Day holiday ended, Shen Mingzhu, fully recharged, threw herself into work with heart and soul.

She gradually introduced automated production equipment into the factory, which increased productivity several times over, without the need for a large number of assembly line workers.

Instead, there was a greater need for operators with professional skills.

For this, Shen Mingzhu offered free training for the workers, signed new employment contracts, and purchased social security and pension for the employees.

The social security and pension system were still in their infancy, typically only available for state-owned enterprise employees and staff from large groups.

Shen Mingzhu’s move to pay social security for all factory workers was seen as an early response to national policy.

This initiative thrilled the current employees, while those who had left earlier slapped their thighs in regret.

They had left initially because they found the food factory’s wages too low and wanted to aim higher.

But now, not only had the food factory raised its wages, it was also providing social security and pension for its workers.

"President Shen, these past two days, quite a few former employees who had resigned are inquiring if the factory is hiring, saying they want to come back."

"You can tell them that we have no hiring plans for the rest of the year."

Watching Shen Mingzhu’s confident demeanor, Xia Wushuang suddenly had an epiphany, "President Shen, the massive wave of resignations in the first half of the year... could it also have been part of your plan?"

Shen Mingzhu smiled faintly, "What do you think?"

"I think it is! You had already planned on bringing in automated production lines and anticipated that the new lines would lead to a surplus of labor, which we couldn’t just keep without purpose. To lay them off would require paying a hefty severance and risk getting bad press as a capitalist exploiter."

"That only represents your personal opinion, not related to the food factory."

"Right right right, it’s all just my wild guess, can’t take it seriously."

Taking the document Shen Mingzhu had signed, Xia Wushuang left with a cheery grin to work outside.

Shen Mingzhu capped her pen, stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the orderly factory buildings, her face revealing a knowing smile.

To be reborn from a place of desperation.

Watching the food factory decline and allowing employees to leave were indeed part of her strategy to weed out the undesirables.

...

"President Shen’s tactics are truly ingenious, aren’t they? First, she used scheming to drive you out, and now she’s winning hearts and minds. Everyone at the food factory practically worships her. Even Su Xiangyu and the others are talking behind the scenes, regretting leaving the food factory!"

"Director Du, it’s good that you left. If you had continued to stay at the factory, how could you have competed with her constant maneuvering?"

In Du Juan’s office, Mai Qiu, as always, ranted and raved with criticism about Shen Mingzhu’s move to purchase social security and pensions for the employees.