The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 867 - 866: Loss-making Goods

"Oh, isn’t that Ziheng?"

Following Jia Yuemei’s cue, Shen Mingzhu looked over and saw the siblings strolling on the lawn, a smile involuntarily rising in her eyes.

She hadn’t seen her son for a while and missed him a lot.

Watching the siblings walking hand in hand, Jia Yuemei teased, "They’ve grown up as childhood sweethearts and are very close. After all, Ziheng isn’t your biological child, why not let them..."

"Nobody would think you’re mute if you didn’t speak; did you eat so much that you spoiled your brain?"

In the public’s eye, Shen Mingzhu didn’t save face for Jia Yuemei at all, even though Jia had thick skin, it couldn’t bear this.

"It was just a joke. Do you really need to get so angry?"

"A joke? What’s funny about it? If someone else made a joke about your children, would you find it funny?"

"How could it be the same, Ziheng isn’t your..."

"Shut your mouth."

Shen Mingzhu’s eyes were fierce, forcing Jia Yuemei to swallow the words "biological child".

Hearing the commotion, Du Juan came over and took Jia Yuemei away, finally putting an end to the matter.

"What did I say wrong? Did she have to publicly humiliate me? Those siblings have been inseparable since childhood, just like wearing split pants—anyone would murmur. She spoiled them herself, and now she won’t let anyone talk?"

Away from the crowd, Jia Yuemei couldn’t help but complain to Du Juan about her grievance.

Seeing that Jia still didn’t realize her inappropriateness, Du Juan also got angry, "Guoguo is just a little girl, what does she know? The things you said today, how would outsiders view her and Ziheng?"

"Is that how an aunt should act? Throwing dirt on your own niece, it’s a miracle Mingzhu didn’t slap you. Go somewhere alone and think about what you’ve said!"

Pressured by Du Juan being her older sister-in-law, Jia Yuemei dared not talk back.

But once Du Juan left, she reverted to her true self, scoffing softly, "Lackey, what’s so great about her? It’s my tongue; I’ll say whatever I want. What can you do about it?"

Shortly after noon.

"Second sister-in-law had an accident."

While Shen Mingzhu and Shen Hongmei were leading the bride to propose toasts, Du Juan suddenly came over and informed Mingzhu about Jia Yuemei’s injury.

The wedding banquet was high-class, and each table was served by waiters to distribute and arrange dishes.

Jia Yuemei was unlucky, eating braised pork that contained a broken needle, piercing her tongue.

"...She was already taken to the hospital, it shouldn’t be a problem, just some blood-stopping and anti-inflammatory medication needed."

Shen Mingzhu didn’t take the matter to heart.

Until evening, when Shen Xiangnan called from the hospital, Jia Yuemei’s vocal cords had been damaged.

It turned out that when Jia went to the hospital to treat her tongue, she was found to have tonsil stones.

Thinking since she was already there, she also had the stones removed while at it, considering it a minor surgery.

Unexpectedly, this minor surgery had complications, injuring Jia Yuemei’s vocal cords.

The injury wasn’t severe; it would heal over time. The hospital agreed to cover all medical expenses and even added twenty thousand yuan as compensation.

Jia Yuemei readily accepted the settlement, even feeling she had made a profit.

...

After a chaotic day, the wedding ended successfully amidst the congratulations from many esteemed guests.

...

At one in the morning, just after finishing a conference call, Pei Ziheng prepared to wash up and rest, but his room door was knocked.

"Something wrong?"

Seeing Zhao Yun outside, he instinctively raised an eyebrow.

"I can’t sleep, guessed you weren’t asleep either, and it turns out I was right."

While speaking, the person had already squeezed through the door.

His dark eyes lingered for two seconds on the bottle of red wine Zhao Yun was holding, and Pei Ziheng silently closed the door, his voice tired and low as he sneered,

"On your wedding night, why are you running to me?"

"I’ve done all the proper things needed, came over to keep you—this lonely guy—company. Wouldn’t want you to feel lonely and cold. I’m a good brother, right?"

"Get lost, I don’t need it."

"Don’t be like that."

Zhao Yun, grinning, set the red wine on the central island and turned to face Pei Ziheng, whose aloof demeanor rejected him completely. Zhao Yun couldn’t help but scratch his head.

"Okay, actually, I can’t sleep. Just came to chat with you."

"You got your beautiful bride, what could you possibly be dissatisfied with?"

"It’s not dissatisfaction, it’s just I’m too happy to sleep."

Zhao Yun opened the wine, poured two glasses, and joined Pei Ziheng on the balcony to drink and talk.

"Ziheng, I’ve achieved all my dreams in this life—becoming an NBA player, marrying Jingshu, and having a good brother like you. I feel like I could die with no regrets now."

After waiting a long while without a response, he turned to look at Pei Ziheng on the other side of the balcony.

The man was dressed in black, his excessively refined profile hidden in the dark of the night, his piercing black eyes twinkling coldly.

Although they had grown up together, having known each other for over a decade, Zhao Yun felt he had never truly understood his friend’s thoughts.

"What about you, Ziheng? Have your dreams come true?"

"Yes."

"I don’t even know what your dreams are."

"You don’t need to know."

"I tell you everything about me, yet you tell me nothing. Are we still brothers?"

Pei Ziheng gave him a look and slowly said, "I’m doing it for your own good."

"What do you mean?"

"Your brain capacity is limited. Knowing too much might make you stupid."

"..."

What a high-class insult.

There’s a saying—treat me like your first love, no matter how many times you torment me as a brother.

So, even though he was subjected to Pei Ziheng’s sharp tongue and belittling, Zhao Yun earnestly and sincerely expressed his wish for Pei Ziheng:

"Actually, I have another wish. I want to see you get married, have kids, and build your own happy family, just like me."

Pei Ziheng was silent for a moment before replying, "You’re talking about four wishes, and I’ve already fulfilled two. The other two are unnecessary."

I have a family, and I am happy.

This life is enough.

...

In the evening, as the setting sun bled red, smoke curled up from the rooftops of every household in the village, and farmers, tired from a day’s work, carried their tools home.

Suddenly, a harsh and sharp scolding broke the village’s harmony and peace:

"Are you trying to kill yourselves, eating up such a large bowl of meat! All day long, just like that lazy donkey, never working, always eating, producing a bunch of liabilities. The Yang Family is cursed with such ill fortune..."

The sound of beating, a woman’s screams, and children’s cries echoed endlessly throughout the village.

The people of Mountain Village were used to this and discussed it with a chilling indifference:

"The Yang Family is beating that crippled daughter-in-law again."

"That cripple is lucky; after so many years of beating, she’s not dead yet."

"Producing four liabilities, who wouldn’t be angry? It’s a mercy she isn’t dead."

"It’s said the Yang Family plans to send the eldest and the second away for money, to buy a new bride for Yang Fei."