The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 881 - 880: Perishing in a Sea of Flames

Hearing the cacophony of smashing from the living room, Qiao Ya turned and immediately her face lit up with joy.

Zhou Shuhuan and his son Zhou Quanxiong were wielding tools, trying to smash through the anti-theft netting of the living room balcony, with Ma Sufen also helping, attempting to pry the netting open with a rolling pin.

This apartment was bought by Zhou Shuhuan for Ma Sufen and the old couple to retire in, not situated on a high floor, and for the sake of safety and security, all doors and windows were fitted with sturdy anti-theft nets.

As long as they could smash the anti-theft netting, the whole family could jump and escape.

At the same time, the alarm of the fire brigade could be heard from afar.

Seeing a chance to escape, Qiao Ya didn’t bother about Shen Baolan anymore, grabbing her two children one by one and running towards the living room.

Seeing Qiao Ya about to run, Shen Baolan hurriedly fidgeted with the lighter in her hand.

Watching the flickering flames, Zhou Fu, who was still standing there, was outright dumbfounded.

He had not expected Shen Baolan to really go through with it, actually wanting to set fire and burn them all to death.

He wanted to run too, but his feet seemed to have taken root, and he couldn’t move a bit!

"None of you will escape! Go to hell, all of you!!"

With Shen Baolan’s hysterical screams, a pale yellow tongue of flame raced toward Zhou Fu’s feet with lightning speed.

In an instant, he became engulfed in a massive fireball.

"No, ah! Save me, I don’t want to die! I was wrong, mom, I was wrong, ah ah ah—"

The piercing screams echoed through the hallway.

...

"...As of now, the fire scene has been preliminarily controlled, the blaze at the entire residential building has been extinguished, and firefighters are carrying out intense rescue efforts..."

Watching the news report on the TV screen, Shen Mingzhu felt a chill run down her spine.

She had always known that Shen Baolan was crazy, but she had not expected her to go to such insane lengths.

Pei Yang came in from the balcony holding a phone, with a heavy expression, "Shuhuan has been resuscitated, but the burns cover a large area of his body, his life is still not out of danger, and he is currently under observation in the ICU."

"And the others?"

Pei Yang shook his head, "The fire was too fierce, the entire Zhou family was engulfed in flames, there was simply no way to save them."

This man-made arson claimed the lives of seven people in the fire, including Zhou Shuhuan, Ma Sufen, Zhou Quanxiong, Qiao Ya, Zhou Fu, Qiao Ya’s and Zhou Shuhuan’s pair of children, and even Shen Baolan herself.

When Shen Baolan poured gasoline onto the Zhou family’s house, she also got quite a bit on herself, and when the flames rose, she couldn’t escape either.

It was said that when the firefighters went into the fire scene after the flames were extinguished, they were overwhelmed by the gruesome scene and the smell of charred flesh, causing them to vomit incessantly.

Fortunately, there were no casualties among the other residents of the same building, but the entire building was declared unsafe.

For the average family, it was an undue disaster.

Although Zhou Shuhuan was lucky enough to save his life, he wasn’t much better off, with severe burns on his lower body leading to amputation and disfigurement of his face, spending the rest of his life confined to a bed and needing care.

...

"Mom, when will those reporters outside finally leave?"

Pei Tang complained to Shen Mingzhu, looking at the reporters camping at the entrance of the community.

Shen Baolan’s act of setting her ex-husband’s family on fire caused a sensation throughout the country and made the little Shenjiagou famous. Reporters from various TV stations and newspapers swarmed in, all wanting to get firsthand reports about the arsonist murderer Shen Baolan.

Somehow, the news had been leaked that Shen Mingzhu and Shen Baolan had been at odds since childhood. Many media outlets came looking for her, trying to get an interview with her.

Shen Mingzhu had not gone to the factory for several days, working from home through QQ online and telephone conferences.

To prevent her daughter from media harassment, Shen Mingzhu also had her daughter take leave to study at home.

During the first two days at home, Pei Tang was quite happy, able to sleep in every day and not have to drill or attend PE classes.

But children in their teens are lively and love to play, how can they stay cooped up at home.

Shen Mingzhu was looking at documents and heard her daughter’s complaints, she casually responded, "Why don’t you go out and ask them?"

Pei Tang’s head shook like a rattle-drum, "I don’t want to, with my tiny frame, the moment I show my face I’d be devoured alive."

Shen Mingzhu didn’t even lift her head as she patted her daughter’s head, "Not bad, very self-aware."

Seeing her busy, Pei Tang didn’t continue to harass her and stood up to go back to her room to play on her computer.

She logged into QQ and opened her brother’s chat box to leave a message, typing furiously:

[Bro, when are you coming back? It’s so boring being at home alone.]

To her surprise, she received a reply, [Soon]

[You’re not busy today? When will you be back?]

Until she had replied to all other friends’ messages on QQ, and had still not received a response from her brother, Pei Tang sullenly closed the QQ window, opened the new adventure online game developed by Pei Ziheng’s company, donned her headphones, and immersed herself in the gaming world.

"Are you all blocks of wood? You don’t even dodge when the boss uses skills, might as well die for all I care, what’s the point of playing games, go home and eat walnuts to boost your brain!"

After yet another team wipe on the final level, Pei Tang couldn’t help but curse out loud.

Mid-scold, the headphones on her head were taken off by someone.

She turned around in a huff, only to meet her brother’s deep eyes with a hint of a smile.

Her face immediately beamed with a smile, her eyes curving up like a little wild cat retracting its sharp claws to reveal a cute, harmless side, "Bro, when did you get back?"

Pei Ziheng glanced at the computer screen which was reloading the game and lightly chuckled, "I thought you were bored being at home alone? But you seem to be having quite a bit of fun."

"Wrong, I play games to relieve boredom, okay?"

Pei Ziheng, dressed in a pure black shirt, leaned lazily against the desk with his tall figure, looking down, he gently asked her, "Do you want to go out?"

Pei Tang nodded like a pecking chicken but quickly began to worry, "How can we go out? There are reporters at the entrance to the neighborhood. They even followed me to school last time, buzzing around non-stop like flies."

Pei Ziheng affectionately rubbed the top of her head, "Change your clothes, I have a way."

"Okay!"

Inside the kitchen, Shen Mingzhu was pondering what delicious food to make for lunch to treat her son whom she hadn’t seen for some days.

When she heard her son say he was taking his daughter out, she was a bit annoyed, "Just got back and running off again, don’t you get tired."

Pei Ziheng explained with a good-natured smile, "I’ve booked a nice restaurant. We’ll eat out at noon, saving you the trouble of cooking."

Shen Mingzhu looked at her watch, "Alright then, you guys go. I have a phone conference in a bit."

"Mom, I’ve grown up now, I have the ability to let you enjoy your later years. You don’t have to work as hard as you used to."

Looking at her tall, handsome, and heartwarming son, Shen Mingzhu felt an indescribable sense of gratification and satisfaction.

"Even when I’m busy, I always come home and eat on time. But you, Lin Fei told me, your stomach ached again a few days ago? Don’t assume that just because you’re young you can neglect your health. If you truly mess it up, all the money in the world can’t cure it."

Perhaps it’s an age thing, but Shen Mingzhu had become quite nagging. Pei Ziheng, however, didn’t find it annoying at all; on the contrary, he enjoyed the care and listened very attentively.

"There are reporters at the entrance to the neighborhood, be careful when you go out."

"Okay."

As the mother and son were talking, Pei Tang, who had changed clothes, bounded downstairs from upstairs.

The fifteen-year-old girl was already blooming gracefully, her red pleated skirt swirling as she moved, like the blossoming red roses at the corner of a courtyard.

Upon learning that Shen Mingzhu wasn’t going out with them, Pei Tang grabbed her brother’s hand and was ready to leave, "Bro, let’s go."

Pei Ziheng pulled back the wrist of his sister with a lazy tone, "Hold on, wait a bit."

"Wait for what?"

As soon as she finished asking, they heard a rumbling noise coming from outside.