The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 842 - 841: Loquat

Yan Ruili replied first, "It doesn’t matter if it starts off crooked, you can change it later, turning a bad sapling into a high-quality good one."

Yan Ruize replied, "It’s lucky to have someone willing to help it."

Pei Tang crisply said, "If you want a small sapling to grow into a towering tree, you need to care for and nurture it thoroughly."

After hearing the three children’s responses, Yan Yi concluded, "From this, it can be seen that nothing in the world is difficult for those who set their heart on it; even a sour tree can bear sweet fruits."

At that moment, Shen Mingzhu’s call came from a distance: "Guoguo?"

Pei Tang happily stood up and ran to a visible spot, waving in the direction of Shen Mingzhu, "Mom, I’m here~" freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Shen Mingzhu quickly arrived and, seeing Yan Yi and his sons, smiled and greeted them before curiously examining the loquat tree, sprawling like a giant umbrella.

"This loquat tree is indeed bearing fruit well."

Yan Yi smiled, "You could pick some to try."

Without hesitation, Shen Mingzhu stepped forward and picked a large, round, golden-yellow loquat.

As she peeled it, the rich juice immediately spilled over her hands, and with a light bite into the flesh, sweetness filled her heart.

"Mmm, so sweet."

Seeing her enjoy the fruit, Yan Yi said, "If you like, you can pick more to take home and eat slowly."

Shen Mingzhu smiled and nodded, "Then I won’t be polite."

"Mm."

Soon, Zhong Qing and Yan Su also came over.

Knowing to step back, Yan Yi left, leaving his sons Yan Ruili and Yan Ruize to stay and pick loquats with them.

The three adults used scissors to cut the mature, golden-yellow large loquats while the three children filled their baskets with the fruits.

While picking, Pei Tang vividly narrated the story he had heard from Yan Yi to Shen Mingzhu and the others.

After listening, Zhong Qing was the first to remark emotionally, "That’s how the world is, unreasonable; seeds thrown carelessly grow into shaded willows, the person who planted them hardly realizing that they’ve grown into towering trees, laden with fruits."

Yan Su added, "Perhaps the person doesn’t even know of its existence."

Shen Mingzhu said, "Not knowing is fine; it saves us some trouble."

This comment had the group of six, both adults and children, laughing uncontrollably.

The loquat tree not only had a vast canopy but also bore large and numerous fruits; within a few minutes, the baskets were full.

The group comfortably moved some stools under the loquat tree and sat down to rest while continuing to pick and eat the fruits.

Among the entire tree of loquats, there were inevitably a few sour ones.

Shen Mingzhu was lucky enough to bite into a sour one, finding it unbearably sour; instinctively, she used the tip of her toe to dig a small pit on the ground, intending to discreetly bury the sour loquat.

Suddenly, the long-forgotten memory surged forth.

She turned her head incredulously towards the loquat tree, unable to believe that this was indeed the sour loquat she had once casually buried in the grass.

After he returned home from a social engagement in the evening, Pei Yang saw the loquats on the coffee table, picked up two, and began peeling them as he headed upstairs.

Shen Mingzhu was in the study, teaching Pei Tang how to type with a five-stroke method.

"Daddy."

Seeing Pei Yang, Pei Tang excitedly called out.

Pei Yang walked over, split the peeled loquat flesh into two halves, one half for his daughter and the other for Shen Mingzhu.

"I’m not eating."

Having eaten loquats all day, she felt a bit nauseous at the sight of them.

Seeing that she wouldn’t eat, Pei Yang ate it himself.

"Dad, are the loquats sweet?"

Before Pei Yang could answer, Pei Tang happily said, "Today, Mom and I went to pick them at Uncle Yan’s farm, and we picked several baskets."

Pei Yang originally thought the loquats were quite sweet, but upon hearing they were from the Yan family,

"Totally sour."

Pei Tang’s beautiful almond eyes filled with confusion, "Sour? They tasted sweet to me."

Pei Yang reached out and tapped her forehead, "That’s no kind of sweet. Wait, Dad will buy you even sweeter ones tomorrow."

"Oh."

Shen Mingzhu saw through it but chose not to call him out, just pretending not to know the pettiness of men.

For several days that followed, Pei Yang searched all the fruit stands in Fengcheng until the loquats were out of season, yet he couldn’t find any sweeter loquats.

...

As June began, under Shen Mingzhu’s strong initiative, the employees at the food factory gradually accepted and started to enjoy the convenience and efficiency brought by computerized offices.

However, the operation of the food factory was less than optimistic.

Not only was performance continuously declining, but the number of employees had also sharply reduced to less than 400.

At its peak, the factory had once employed as many as 800 workers.

Such a severe loss of staff sufficiently demonstrated how dire the current situation of the factory was.

However, operational issues weren’t under Shen Mingzhu’s responsibility.

After successfully implementing the computerization system at the office, she initiated the next phase of reforms aimed at improving and enhancing employee welfare.

Shen Mingzhu’s reform focused on three aspects.

First was improving the employees’ accommodation.

Previously, staff members lived in old Tube Buildings, where dozens of employees shared one communal bathroom and bathhouse on each floor.

After the improvements, the new dormitories not only came with private bathrooms, but also had individual wardrobes, balconies, and ceiling fans.

Second was enhancing the food provisions for employees.

The meal supplement was increased from forty yuan per person per month to fifty yuan, and rather than issuing uniform cafeteria meal tickets, cash was provided instead.

This change allowed employees to freely choose whether to dine in the cafeteria or eat out.

The third aspect was increasing the ordinary employees’ salaries, with the raise ranging from 20-30%, but the management levels above managers were initially excluded from this salary increase.

Apart from these three reform measures, Shen Mingzhu also proposed the establishment of a workers’ union.

The main responsibility of the union, besides disciplining and managing ordinary workers, was to protect their lawful rights and interests.

Additionally, the chairman of the union would represent the ordinary employees in participating in the management and operation of the food factory and even involving a portion of the factory’s stock ownership.

Without surprises, Shen Mingzhu’s reform measures, once introduced, stirred a big wave throughout the factory.

The rank-and-file employees naturally applauded, while the management unanimously opposed.

As the assistant to Du Juan, Mai Qiu severely criticized her proposals, "Deputy Director Shen, what the factory lacks most right now is capital and resources. What we need to do is figure out how to raise performance and sales, not increase expenses with these reforms."

"Director Du is the general manager, the highest manager responsible for the entire factory’s operation and management. You, suddenly creating a workers’ union and directly giving them the power to participate in management, make others think, if they didn’t know any better, that you are trying to weaken Director Du’s power!"

"Mai Qiu, what nonsense are you spouting!"

Although Mai Qiu was reprimanded by Du Juan, the atmosphere in the meeting room unavoidably became awkward and tense.

"Let’s do this, let’s vote by a show of hands."

Shen Mingzhu didn’t take Mai Qiu’s retort to heart but spoke up to break the ice.

Following her lead, Du Juan spoke, "Let’s go through them one by one, starting with those in favor of renting the new dormitory building, raise your hands."