The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 61 - Pei Yang Suspended from Duty
Chapter 61: Chapter 61 Pei Yang Suspended from Duty
Chapter 61 -61 Pei Yang Suspended from Duty
“Pei Yang!
Pei Yang!”
In the early morning, while the sky was still dimly lit, the dormitory door was being pounded with a thunderous noise.
By the time Shen Mingzhu opened her eyes and sat up in bed, Pei Yang had already thrown on a coat to open the door.
It was Lin Guofu.
He glanced through the dorm door at Shen Mingzhu, who was still bleary-eyed in bed, and said to Pei Yang, “Let’s talk outside.”
“Okay.”
As the dormitory door closed with a clang, the sound of their conversation was cut off from the inside.
Shen Mingzhu turned to look out the window; the dawn was breaking, and a touch of dark red appeared on the horizon.
Something stirred beside her—it was Pei Ziheng waking up.
He sat up squinting, confusion evident on his delicate face, and with two tufts of hair sticking up on his head, he looked particularly adorable.
“What happened?”
Shen Mingzhu reached out to tousle her stepson’s fuzzy head, “It’s nothing, go back to sleep.”
“Okay.”
Pei Ziheng obediently lay down, closed his eyes, and continued to sleep.
But Shen Mingzhu could no longer sleep; Lin Guofu coming all the way back from the countryside early in the morning to find Pei Yang surely meant that something had happened.
She donned her coat and sat in the wooden chair waiting for Pei Yang to return.
Pei Ziheng quietly opened his eyes, a glint of mischief rather than sleepiness in his dark pupils.
The smile on his face was eerie.
Shen Mingzhu waited a good while before the dormitory door opened, and Pei Yang walked in, damp with morning dew.
He paused when he saw her.
Not wanting to wake the child, the two of them went to the balcony to talk.
“What happened?”
Pei Yang looked at her with a rare expression of solemnity on his face, “Mingzhu, the master has been reported by someone…”
It was the seafarer’s certificate that had caused the trouble again.
Yesterday afternoon, someone had phoned the head office, accusing Lin Guofu of dereliction of duty and using his position to help Pei Yang evade the company’s internal disciplinary action.
Now, both the master and the apprentice had received notices of suspension pending investigation.
Pei Yang looked at the distant horizon, his expression somewhat heavy, “I was the one who lost my seafarer’s certificate, and it’s right that I should be punished.
What I regret is that my master is implicated.
He’s been a sailor for most of his life, worked his way up from an unskilled laborer to a regular position, and climbed to where he is now.
Now he’s about to retire but is tainted by this blot, and I feel guilty.”
Shen Mingzhu didn’t know what to say for a moment and could only try her best to comfort him.
Three days later, the Ocean Shipping Company’s punishment came down.
Lin Guofu received a warning and was suspended for three months, while Pei Yang was demoted to third officer.
Due to the investigation, both the master and the apprentice had missed this shipping route and would have to wait two more months for the next assignment.
Lin Guofu was rather calm about his own punishment; after all, he had weathered the storms of a lifetime.
He did not blame Pei Yang at all and instead comforted him with kind words.
“You’re still young, you have plenty of opportunities ahead.
Use these two months to get some good rest and get yourself back into shape.”
“Yeah.”
Actually, Pei Yang wasn’t too disheartened about being demoted; in fact, he was somewhat glad.
With no work for two months, he could go home and spend quality time with his wife and son.
As for the lost position, he could just work harder for a couple more years.
He’d make it back up eventually.
Back at the dormitory, Pei Yang told Shen Mingzhu about the outcome and asked her to pack their bags while he went to the station to buy tickets.
No sooner had Pei Yang left than Wang Xiuzhu came yet again.
“Pei Yang being demoted this time, it’s all your fault!”
“Wang Xiuzhu, if you’re sick, go get treated, don’t come here and go crazy!”
After saying that, Shen Mingzhu tried to close the dormitory door, but Wang Xiuzhu forcibly wedged her body into the door frame.
“Shen Mingzhu, the day Pei Yang came back, it was you who carried his luggage, wasn’t it?
If you’d been a little more careful, he wouldn’t have lost his seafarer’s certificate!”
Shen Mingzhu’s heart skipped a beat.
“People like you, stupid and ignorant villagers, only hold Pei Yang back.
I truly feel he doesn’t deserve this!”
After unleashing her tirade, Wang Xiuzhu ran off, but Shen Mingzhu was left feeling troubled.
She wasn’t sure if Pei Yang would also think this way, believing that she carelessly lost his seafarer’s certificate.
“Dad doesn’t blame you.”
Looking at her stepson’s pretty and fair little face, Shen Mingzhu teasingly said, “What if he does blame me?
What if he wants to divorce me because of it, would you follow him or stay with me?”
Pei Ziheng pursed his lips in thought, then tilted his head and said, “We could just break his legs so that he can’t leave you, right?”
Shen Mingzhu: “…”
“You really are a chip off the old block.”
Though Ziheng didn’t express it explicitly, his actions were equivalent to protecting her, willing to live with her—a realization that left Shen Mingzhu in a rather good mood.
——
It took Pei Yang quite an effort to get hold of three train tickets, one sleeper, and two seaters.
The train was at 5 p.m.
Clutching the tickets, he walked jauntily back to the dormitory, only to be stopped at the entrance by Wang Xiuzhu, who had been waiting for some time.
“Pei Yang.”
Wang Xiuzhu’s voice was quivering, and she made as if to throw herself into Pei Yang’s arms.
This time, Pei Yang was prepared; he quickly stepped back several paces as Wang Xiuzhu lunged at him.
“Don’t come any closer!”
Wang Xiuzhu’s attempt fell flat, and she nearly took a nasty tumble.
She gazed at Pei Yang with a reproachful look, “Do you really dislike me that much?”
After saying this, she took two steps closer to Pei Yang.
Pei Yang backed away, frowning, “Xiuzhu, if you have something to say, just say it.
Don’t be pulling on a married man like this.
It’s not good for your reputation.”
“I don’t care!”
“I do.
Mingzhu is sensitive and gets jealous easily.
She’s hard to appease once she’s upset.”
Speaking of Shen Mingzhu, Pei Yang’s tone softened, but this change was like rubbing salt in Wang Xiuzhu’s wounds.
She couldn’t understand what she lacked compared to Shen Mingzhu?
In terms of family background and scholarship, she was leagues ahead of Shen Mingzhu.
The only thing Shen Mingzhu had to her credit was a delicate and beautiful face, which was just a facade that misled people.
In reality, Shen Mingzhu was a woman of deep schemes.
“Pei Yang, I truly like you.
I understand your dreams and ambitions; I will support your career fully.
I’m willing to be your strongest support, allowing you to fight and strive without any worries.
Why can’t you give me a fair chance?”
“Xiuzhu, I appreciate your affection and support, but I’m sorry, my heart is already taken.
Let’s end it here.
You’re an excellent girl, and you’ll surely find your own happiness in the future.”
“No, I only like you, I’ll marry no one but you in this lifetime!”
Shen Mingzhu did not expect to encounter a grand declaration of love when she simply went downstairs to buy something.
As she hesitated whether to leave, Wang Xiuzhu saw her.
“Pei Yang, I have just one final question, and I hope you can answer it honestly.
If the person you met for the arranged marriage had been me, would you have married me?”
Shen Mingzhu stalled.
Pei Yang replied without hesitation, “No.”
Shen Mingzhu smiled, Wang Xiuzhu cried.
“I don’t believe it!
If you had no feelings for me, why would you agree to meet me for an arranged marriage in the first place?”
Pei Yang thought to himself that he wasn’t married at that time.
When someone introduced him to a girl with good qualifications, of course, he wouldn’t refuse.
But things are different now.
He was already married and naturally had to stand firmly by his wife’s side, giving no hope to this interloper.
“I agreed to the arranged marriage just to not offend my mother-in-law.”
Wang Xiuzhu couldn’t hold back any longer, sobbing as she ran away.
Pei Yang breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to find his wife standing a few meters away.
He strode towards her, quickly reviewing the conversation in his mind to make sure there were no slip-ups before relaxing.
When he reached her, he took the initiative, “Were you eavesdropping on my conversation?”
Shen Mingzhu snorted, “If you have no guilty conscience, why fear my eavesdropping?”
Pei Yang’s eyes sparkled with mirth, “Indeed, I do have a ‘ghost’ in my heart—a beautiful one at that.
She’s as far as the horizon and as close as my eyes.”
Shen Mingzhu, teased, blushed, gave him a glare and stepped aside as she walked past him.
Pei Yang turned and followed her, “Where are you going?”
“To buy a luggage bag.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“No need.”
“Yes, I insist.”
Childish!
Shen Mingzhu turned her face away, but the corners of her mouth involuntarily curved upward.
