The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 878 - 877: Retribution

Despite her suspicions, Shen Mingzhu didn’t plan on discussing further with Shen Baolan.

After all, it was just her speculation without any evidence, not to mention she didn’t want to be involved in Shen Baolan’s messy affairs.

"Shen Mingzhu, I regret it."

Over the phone, Shen Baolan was crying her heart out, "I’ve been thinking over these last few days, we’re all from the same village, you and Shen Hongmei have both found good lives, becoming wealthy wives that everyone envies, why did I end up like this?"

"I’ve thought and thought about it, and I finally understand, this is divine punishment, retribution for me! I never should’ve stolen your marriage prospect."

"If I hadn’t stolen your match, I wouldn’t have married Zhou Shuhuan, that heartless jerk, and I wouldn’t have ended up in this situation."

"I regret it, if I could do it all over again, I definitely wouldn’t compete with you."

Once Shen Baolan finished speaking, Shen Mingzhu finally spoke, "Shen Baolan, you’ve never understood, your failure isn’t because you chose the wrong marriage or man. When you snatched the marriage, didn’t you firmly believe that Zhou Shuhuan was the best choice for you at the time?"

"To be honest, the Zhou family treated you well, with a dowry, a wedding, a job, they didn’t deprive you of anything, but did you cherish and feel content? No. You were always seeking something higher, coveting the unattainable, always believing that the path you didn’t choose was the better one."

"With an attitude and mindset like yours, no matter what path you choose in life, whom you marry, you’ll never be happy!"

Shen Baolan broke down sobbing even more, "You think I don’t want to have a good life? You don’t know anything, do you think I competed with you for the marriage for no reason? It’s because I had a dream!"

Shen Baolan didn’t hide anymore and spilled everything about the night before the blind date, how she dreamt that the original bride married Zhou Shuhuan, became a wealthy wife, lived in a mansion, drove a car, with three housemaids waiting on her.

"We’ve been at odds since we were little, if I really married Pei Yang and became a widow, wouldn’t you laugh at me to death! We’re from the same village, eat the same food, drink the same water, why should you, Shen Mingzhu, get a better marriage than me?!"

After hearing about Shen Baolan’s dream, Shen Mingzhu felt a sense of inevitable realization.

For a long time, she had guessed that Shen Baolan had some sort of fortune that allowed her to foresee the future, unexpected that it was through a dream.

Knowing the future in advance, objectively speaking, can be considered a divine gift.

If Shen Baolan had used this gift wisely and managed her life well, her life would surely have been different.

Unfortunately, she took the wrong path and squandered a good hand.

"Shen Mingzhu, stealing the marriage was wronging you, but I’ve received my retribution, so we’re even now."

"I can’t win against you in this lifetime, but if there’s a next one, we’ll compete again, and I definitely won’t lose to you."

After hanging up the phone, Shen Mingzhu felt an indescribable feeling of melancholy.

Pei Yang, seeing her not coming upstairs for a while, came down to look for her, "What’s wrong? Whose call was that?"

"Shen Baolan, her brother died."

Upon learning that Shen Hao had been killed during a robbery, Pei Yang couldn’t help but sigh, "There are a lot of outsiders in Fucheng, a mix of all sorts, it wasn`t easy for Shuhuan to gain a foothold there."

Shen Mingzhu scoffed inwardly but kept her suspicions to herself.

...

After finishing the call with Shen Mingzhu, Shen Baolan limped back to the motel.

The moment she entered, she was scolded by Tian Wenfang, "Where have you run off to again? Aren’t you causing enough trouble? I told you to stay put in the motel, did you just ignore it? Do you need to ruin the whole family before you’re satisfied?"

Since Shen Baolan had been rescued and brought back home, Tian Wenfang had been picking on her, and now that her husband had an accident, her demeanor towards Shen Baolan had worsened.

"I was hungry, so I went out to eat something."

Shen Baolan’s explanation not only failed to appease Tian Wenfang but fueled her anger even more.

She had just retrieved her husband’s ashes from the funeral home, so one could imagine her mood.

She grabbed whatever was at hand and hurled it at Shen Baolan,

"Eat, eat, eat, just knowing how to eat; how have you not starved to death, you scourge! Your brother was ruined by you, yet you still have the appetite to eat, are you even human? Why didn’t you die instead?"

Shen Baolan curled up in the corner, cradling her head, allowing various objects to hit her without trying to dodge.

It wasn’t until Tian Wenfang picked up an ashtray that Tian Hu, fearing serious harm would come to Shen Baolan, stepped in to stop his sister.

Having vented her rage, Tian Wenfang demanded furiously that Shen Baolan pack her belongings and go back with her immediately.

"The tickets are already bought; we’re leaving this afternoon!"

"I’m not going."

Tian Wenfang’s suppressed anger surged again as she glared at Shen Baolan as if she wished fire would spew from her eyes, "What did you say? You’re not going?"

Shen Baolan looked at the urn on the bed and spoke solemnly, "My brother can’t have died in vain; I can’t go back like this."

"Your brother died because of you, don’t be so pretentious!"

Shen Baolan didn’t argue and instead addressed Tian Wenfang and Tian Hu, "Take my brother’s ashes back; I want to stay."

Tian Wenfang could barely contain her anger, "What do you want to do by staying? Huh? What can you, a cripple, possibly achieve?"

Shen Baolan looked at her, "Sister-in-law, I owe you and my brother; I admit it. As long as you don’t remarry and raise Niudan well, all my money is yours and your son’s."

Tian Wenfang’s expression wavered uncertainly, "All of it? Including the 200,000 yuan the police are compensating us with?"

"Hmm."

Tian Wenfang exchanged a glance with her elder brother Tian Hu; astonishment and joy filled their eyes.

Two hundred thousand yuan, for a rural family, that could mean a lifetime of no worries about food and drink.

"How do I know you’re not lying to me? Don’t think you can fool me."

Tian Hu, ever wary, chimed in, "Sister-in-law, you can’t just make such claims without proof."

Shen Baolan looked at them, "I’m not making this up; if you don’t believe me, I’ll write an IOU."

Holding the freshly written IOU, Tian Wenfang treasured it as though it were a golden nugget; not only did her attitude towards Shen Baolan improve significantly, she even apologized for the rough treatment over the past few days.

Having cooled down about Shen Baolan’s refusal to go home, she could only try to persuade her:

"Baolan, let’s not make a fuss. Your brother is gone; if something happens to you too, what will our parents do? Come home, let’s close the door and live a good life quietly."

Tian Hu also urged, "Let’s leave the past behind and look forward, right?"

Shen Baolan didn’t join in the conversation, instead caressing the urn, she asked Tian Wenfang, "Sister-in-law, let’s have a talk."

Tian Wenfang asked her, "What do you want to talk about?"

"How did I end up in this state?"

It’s because you brought it upon yourself, made stupid decisions, abandoned a good life to play sugar mama to some young man, were duped for money and seduced, and almost lost your life.

These thoughts, naturally, Tian Wenfang wouldn’t voice them, after all, one does not bite the hand that feeds.

She expressed her regret, "If only you hadn’t divorced back then, look how prosperous Zhou Shuhuan’s business is now, he lives in a villa more grand than the town’s government building."

After Shen Hao’s incident, she and Tian Hu visited the Zhou family and raised a fuss, which compelled Zhou Shuhuan to fork over another ten thousand yuan and cover Shen Hao’s cremation costs.

Just thinking about Zhou Shuhuan’s luxurious villa filled Tian Wenfang with remorse, "If you hadn’t divorced Shuhuan, you could be the one living in that big villa as a rich lady, not that Qiao woman. You really are such a fool!"

"Sister-in-law, so you think too, that I ended up like this today, all because of that despicable Qiao Ya, right?"