Chapter 6: The Minor Antagonist More Plentiful Than Honeycomb Briquettes

Liu Cuihua was stunned by her daughter's words and asked reflexively, "Who told you Pei Yang is short-lived?"

"I saw it in my dream..."

As it was just the two of them at home, Shen Baolan recounted her dream to Liu Cuihua in full detail.

After listening, Liu Cuihua wished she could crack open her daughter's head to see if it was filled with tofu dregs.

Dreaming was not unusual; everyone dreams, but who would take dreams seriously? Wouldn't that be foolish?

Just because of a dream, to throw away a watermelon for a sesame seed?

"You little wretch, you might as well kill me with anger! Oh, my head hurts from the anger..."

Shen Baolan was very unhappy.

She had revealed her biggest secret, and her own mother didn't believe her.

"Mom, if you don't believe me, you can go to the Pei Family yourself and ask if Pei Yang left right after they finished the marriage certificate yesterday, and if Shen Mingzhu is still an unmarried girl!"

Liu Cuihua's voice turned hoarse with a mix of belief and doubt as she looked at her daughter, "Is that also something you saw in your dream?"

Receiving an affirmative answer from Shen Baolan, Liu Cuihua started to feel unsettled as well.

If it was true as her daughter said, that Pei Yang was short-lived, then he definitely was not a suitable match.

And as for Zhou Shuhuan, looking so frail, could he really become a wealthy tycoon in the future?

Ugh, her head hurt even more.

——

Watching the clock hands about to strike twelve, and Shen Mingzhu, who went out early in the morning, hadn't returned, Pei Ziheng's dark eyes brimmed with scorn.

He had thought this mean woman had changed from her previous life, but it seemed he was expecting too much.

In his previous life, this woman left the house early in the morning just like today, didn't come back to cook at noon, and only returned home in the evening with her arms full of packages, completely disregarding the life and death of him, her sickly stepson.

Pei Ziheng opened the fridge, which contained nothing but two eggplants.

He decided to cook some noodles.

"Clang!"

Right as she entered, Shen Mingzhu heard the sound of a bowl shattering and paused for a second before calmly putting down what she was holding and heading towards the kitchen.

Looking at the broken noodles and bowl, Pei Ziheng was frustrated.

At only four years old, he was still too weak to even hold a bowl steadily.

Fortunately, that mean woman wasn't at home, or she would have taken this opportunity to berate and hit him.

As he was thinking, he heard footsteps, and upon looking up, he saw the mean woman standing at the kitchen doorway.

Pei Ziheng's heart clenched with fear, a reflex from being abused in his previous life.

Shen Mingzhu was unaware of these things, assuming her stepson was simply afraid because he had dropped a bowl.

Was she surprised that her four-year-old stepson could cook noodles?

The current Pei Ziheng was only one meter tall, not even as high as the stove. He had to stand on a little wooden stool to reach the cooking area, and moreover, he knew how to use a gas stove?

"Sorry, I'm late. You must be hungry; I bought some egg cakes, have these to tide you over."

Pei Ziheng was stunned, so much that he didn't react even when the mean woman carried him to the living room sofa.

He had broken a bowl, and not only did she not scold him, she even apologized to him?

He must be dreaming.

Pei Ziheng pinched his own face to check.

Ouch! He was not dreaming.

Shen Mingzhu didn't see him pinching his face, only noticing that there was a red patch on his left cheek, mistaking it for a burn from the noodles.

"Does it hurt? Let me see if I have any burn ointment," she said.

Watching Shen Mingzhu search for burn ointment around the living room, Pei Ziheng pursed his lips and remained silent.

The burn ointment had already been hidden by him, the wicked woman wouldn't find it.

It wasn't just the burn ointment. He had also hidden all the other common household medicines in his room. He even stashed away some biscuits in case she tried to starve him by locking him in his room like she did in his past life.

Shen Mingzhu searched for a long time but couldn't find the burn ointment; she only found a box of cooling oil that hadn't been used up.

"There's no burn ointment, let's just use this for now."

Pei Ziheng kept his eyelashes lowered, allowing Shen Mingzhu to dab the cooling oil on his face with the tip of her finger.

After applying the cooling oil, Shen Mingzhu handed him a piece of egg cake.

Was the wicked woman actually being kind now? Could it be that the egg cake was poisoned?

Thinking this, Pei Ziheng took the egg cake and then offered it back to Shen Mingzhu's mouth, sparingly uttering two words, "You eat."

Shen Mingzhu was puzzled but somewhat pleased, feeling that the child had some conscience. To save face, she broke off a small piece and put it into her mouth.

If the wicked woman had eaten it, it should be safe from poison.

Seeing her stepson quietly eating the egg cake with his head lowered, Shen Mingzhu got up and went to the kitchen.

Since it was already past mealtime, Shen Mingzhu simply cooked a bowl of noodles and made a tomato and egg topping.

After mixing the noodles with the topping, she ladled a bowlful and placed it in front of Pei Ziheng.

"Is one bowl enough?"

Pei Ziheng didn't speak. He just stared at her with his dark eyes.

Shen Mingzhu secretly surmised that maybe all villains were silent and uncommunicative, as she started eating on her own.

Seeing her eat, Pei Ziheng finally picked up his chopsticks to start his meal.

"Two new basins— the big red one is mine, and the small blue one is yours. From now on, use it to wash your face."

"This is your cup, made of light and durable potter's clay. From now on, use it for drinking water."

"And your towel, toothbrush, toothpaste..."

Shen Mingzhu bought all household items. Even though Pei Ziheng already had these things, she still bought him a new set anyway. After all, it was his father's money she was spending, and she didn't feel bad about it.

Pei Ziheng stared blankly at the blue basin filled to the brim, feeling as if he was dreaming.

Things were different; this wicked woman was completely unlike how she was in his past life.

In his past life, she had also bought many things like she did today, but they were all for herself.

Clothes, shoes, face creams, shampoo, and so on.

No, she bought face cream today too, but it wasn't the pearl cream she consistently used in the past life; it was snow cream instead.

Shen Mingzhu unscrewed the lid of the snow cream, dabbed a little on the back of her hand to try the scent, then turned to see her stepson staring straight at her. So, with bad intentions, she applied some of the snow cream onto his face.

"Putting on the cream will make you smell nice and look pretty."

After applying it, and seeing her stepson still staring straight at her, Shen Mingzhu waved her hand, "Are you sleepy? Ah, I forgot to give you your medicine. Eat your medicine first, then take a nap. Be good."

Lying on the bed, Pei Ziheng could not figure out why the wicked woman was different from his previous life.

But he didn't think about it for long before he fell asleep under the effect of the medicine.

Early the next morning, the safe Shen Mingzhu bought at the furniture store was delivered.

After the installation workers had left, Shen Mingzhu took out a metal box, put her passbook and all the ticket-like papers into the safe, leaving only a small part in the metal box for daily expenses.

Just as she had hidden the metal box away, she caught a glimpse of her stepson standing outside her bedroom door, not knowing how long he had been there.

Before she could approach and ask if he needed something, the stepson turned and ran back to his room, locking the door behind him.

He had been this way for the past two days, almost never communicating with her, and locking himself in his room whenever he could.

Shen Mingzhu didn't pay much attention to it, grabbed her purse and keys to go out and buy groceries. As she was changing her shoes, she heard someone knocking at the door.

After opening the door and seeing two familiar faces, Shen Mingzhu quickly recognized them from her memory as Liu Cuihua and her daughter Shen Baolan.

"Ah, it must be said that Mingzhu, you're really fortunate. Look at this residential building in the compound—spacious and bright. You've got a fridge, TV set, washing machine, everything. From now on, you're going to live the good life!"

"Mingzhu, if it weren't for my matchmaking, you wouldn't have landed a husband with as good conditions as Pei Yang. Don't you think you should give me a reward for arranging the marriage?"