The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 865 - 864: New Year’s Eve

This Chinese New Year’s Eve, Mingzhu planned to return to Shenjiagou.

At the beginning of the year, Chaobei and Xiangnan, the brothers, pooled their money together to build a new house on the original homestead. Including the interior and exterior decorations and new furniture, the construction had only been completed at the end of the last month.

Coming back to Shenjiagou was partly to celebrate the Spring Festival and partly for the housewarming.

To make it convenient to drive her car right to the house, Mingzhu had even paid out of her own pocket to have a five-meter-wide concrete road built for the village.

On the day of Chinese New Year’s Eve, Mingzhu ate breakfast at home before heading back to Shenjiagou.

When she arrived, the entire place was bustling with excitement.

Chaobei and Xiangnan were slaughtering chickens and ducks by the well while Jianguo stood by with his hands behind his back, directing them, and the Husky circled around the father and sons nonstop, excited like a total fool.

On the open ground outside the yard gate, Du Juan was surrounded by a group of village wives, eagerly trying to curry favor with her.

Jia Yuemei stood a bit further away, watching her son and eating sunflower seeds, occasionally glancing over at Du Juan with a look of disdain and resentment.

As Mingzhu returned, the village wives shifted their attention and surrounded Mingzhu so tightly she couldn’t slip away.

"Mingzhu is back."

"Tut tut, looks like you’ve eaten the elixir of youth, you seem to grow younger with age, virtually no different from a twenty-year-old girl!"

"Mingzhu, why didn’t you drive your new car worth millions back here? We were all looking forward to seeing it."

"The car is in for maintenance, you’ll get a chance to see it later."

Hearing what Mingzhu said, everyone couldn’t help feeling disappointed. A car worth millions was something they usually only saw on television.

Even if they couldn’t afford one in this lifetime, it would have been nice to feast their eyes on it.

Knowing Mingzhu was impatient with such scenes, Pei Yang got out of the car with the candy he had prepared early on, dispersing them, and everyone grabbed a big handful.

Understanding the cue, they all happily took their sweets and went home.

...

"Sister-in-law, you really have good fortune."

While the three sisters-in-law were sitting in the yard by the fire, Jia Yuemei suddenly said this.

Following her gaze, Pei Tang and brother Chaobei were squatting by the well, cleaning the chicken and duck innards.

Ten years ago, both Chaobei and Xiangnan were considered handsome men in the village.

Chaobei resembled Jianguo, with a typical square and firm face, while Xiangnan looked more like Qin Jinlian, with a more delicate and handsome facial features.

The two brothers were both tall and big, much to the liking of the young women in the village.

Unfortunately, time is a butcher’s knife.

Nowadays, both brothers had put on weight to different extents, with Chaobei’s square face ballooning into a big round one, while Xiangnan sported a round beer belly.

In comparison, Pei Yang faced none of the typical middle-aged man’s troubles with weight.

His temples were neatly trimmed, his bangs styled with gel to the sides, revealing a full forehead, and his deep-set, chiseled features looked like they had been carved with a knife, while the Rolex gold watch on his wrist shone brightly.

Even wrapped in Jianguo’s old jacket, his maturity and charm were unmistakable.

"All these years have passed, and you and Pei Yang haven’t changed a bit, sister-in-law. If you have any beauty secrets, you must teach us," Jia Yuemei said ingratiatingly.

Mingzhu gave her a side glance, "You really want to know, Second Sister-in-law?"

"Ah, yes, I do."

"Mind your own business, talk less nonsense, and read more books."

Even though she could tell Mingzhu was mocking her, Jia Yuemei still chuckled, "I don’t have many books at home. Maybe one of these days I’ll come over to your place and borrow some?"

"Wanting to read isn’t hard; just go to the city library and get a library card, then you can read whatever you want from the entire library."

Jia Yuemei, persistent, wanted to keep wheedling, but her son’s cries from outside the courtyard made her get up in a hurry to check on him.

"After all these years, she hasn’t changed, still playing the same little schemes, thinking nobody can see through her."

Watching Jia Yuemei’s retreating back, Du Juan whispered to Mingzhu, sharing a complaint.

Shen Mingzhu smiled and deftly changed the topic to something else.

After lunch, the rare sunshine made the yard warm and cozy.

Pei Tang and several cousins went up to the mountain, hoping to get lucky and find some frozen wild rabbits or pheasants, while the men were busy in the kitchen preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Shen Mingzhu moved a rocking chair into the courtyard, ready for a nap.

Just as she was about to lie down, she saw someone standing at the gate.

The person was holding onto a bamboo cane, trembling, and struggling to lift their foot to step over the threshold.

Shen Mingzhu stepped forward to help, to prevent the person from falling at her doorstep, which would have been hard to explain.

"Aunt Liu, do you need something?"

Liu Cuihua had aged a lot, her hair almost entirely white, her frame skinny and bent, looking as old as someone in their eighties or nineties.

Looking into her eyes, which were murky as disturbed silt, "Mingzhu, you’ve come back?"

The tone was unexpectedly kind and ingratiating.

Shen Mingzhu nodded, "Mhm."

Whether it was because she sensed Shen Mingzhu had no intention of inviting her in, or simply because she lacked the strength to cross the threshold, Liu Cuihua leaned on the stone lion sculpture at the door, her wrinkled face filled with sentiment and envy.

"I’ve been at odds with your mother our whole lives, and in the end, neither of us got any good from it. She didn’t get to enjoy her grandchildren, and I lost my daughter—both of us suffering the same hard fate."

"Do you think my Baolan is still out there?"

Seeing that Shen Mingzhu didn’t join in the conversation, she asked again.

"With Shen Baolan’s capabilities, she should be doing quite well wherever she is," Shen Mingzhu offered an insincere reassurance.

Despite her dislike for Liu Cuihua, as a mother, she couldn’t help feeling sympathy and sorrow over the other woman’s lost daughter.

"Then why doesn’t she come back? It’s killing me, thinking about her, missing her."

"That wretched girl, never gave me peace of mind from the moment she was born..."

Apparently hearing the answer she wanted, Liu Cuihua rambled on, walking away with the support of her cane.

The interruption by Liu Cuihua had robbed Shen Mingzhu of her desire to sleep.

After lying in the rocking chair for a while, she got out her mobile phone and called Pei Qiuxia.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, she handed the phone over to She Zheming.

"Are you guys at the police station still planning to continue investigating Gao Hualiang’s case?"

"It’s tough. There are countless old cases like that one, and unless there’s some new evidence, it’s probably going to stay as it is."

"What are you doing sitting here daydreaming? Didn’t you say you wanted to take a nap in the sunshine?"

Looking at the man squatting in front of her, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t help but mention Aunt Liu asking about her daughter.

Pei Yang sneered, "She’s done nothing but give you trouble in the past, and you still care about her well-being?"

"It’s not about that; it’s just that I feel there should be some closure, whether the person is dead or alive."

"Alright, let’s not talk about her. Today’s ducks are quite plump. Dad wants to eat roast duck, so would you mind roasting one?"

Shen Mingzhu said, "You let your second brother do it."

"He can’t roast as well as you do. Come on, I’ll help you out, and you can just give the orders."

Persuaded and cajoled by him, Shen Mingzhu reluctantly stood up and headed for the kitchen.

After toiling for an entire year, she really wanted to take a good rest during the New Year and was not in the mood to cook the New Year’s Eve dinner.

...

Time flies, in the blink of an eye.

Three years later.

"Newlyweds, look this way..."