The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 423 - 422 Sun Feifei’s Backer

The night was deep and quiet.

"Can’t sleep?"

In the darkness, a man’s voice rang out.

Shen Mingzhu turned her head and, borrowing the dim moonlight filtering through the window screen, could vaguely see the gleam in the man’s eyes.

"Did I disturb you? If so, you can go sleep in the next room," she replied in a muffled voice.

Click.

The table lamp was turned on.

Pei Yang rolled over on top of her, bracing his arms on either side of her shoulders, his gaze enveloping her, "If you don’t want to sleep, we can do something else."

Shen Mingzhu pushed and shoved, "Stop it."

"Really don’t want to?"

"Mhm."

Pei Yang lay back down beside the bed with a bit of regret, and with a stretch of his long arm, he gathered her into his embrace.

It was already summer, and although the nighttime temperature was lower than during the day, embracing like this was still stuffy, especially since the man’s body temperature was like a furnace.

But Shen Mingzhu didn’t want to move away, for at this time, only the man’s embrace could offer her some solace and support.

She understood all the reasoning, yet she couldn’t help but feel anxious.

From Hengxing to Xinxing, Sun Feifei had snatched away eighty percent of her mooncake orders.

In preparation for this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, she had signed a contract in advance with the paper box factory, stockpiled thirty tons of materials, and hired two hundred temporary workers for mooncakes.

These temporary workers were all mooncake-making veterans, working only 45 days, 10 hours per day, at a daily wage of 3 yuan.

Whether they were working or not, the wages for these temporary workers had to be paid.

In short, if she couldn’t find a way to recoup the lost mooncake orders, the food factory’s loss would amount to a six-figure sum.

How could she sleep?

"Don’t think too much, I’m tall, and if the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you."

"Fengcheng is so big, there are plenty of customers, how could she possibly snatch them all? Even if worse comes to worst, we still have the Rongcheng market, it’s not like we’d be locked down just within this little territory of Fengcheng."

The man’s voice was deep and resonant, like the distant tolling of a bell, striking Shen Mingzhu’s eardrums one note at a time.

Her tumultuous thoughts slowly settled, and her eyelids began to feel involuntarily heavy.

"Sleepy?"

"Mhm."

"Goodnight."

Shen Mingzhu didn’t speak, unconsciously snuggling into the man’s embrace.

Pei Yang lowered his gaze to look at her, his eyes tender as water.

Click.

The table lamp was turned off, and the room plunged into darkness, with a sense of tranquil peace permeating the silence.

...

"Mingzhu, what’s going on?"

Just as Shen Mingzhu finished listening to Julie’s work report and was looking over the restaurant’s income statement for the past few days, Pei Wenping hurriedly entered the office.

It was hot, and Pei Wenping was sweating profusely. As soon as she entered, she turned on the electric fan and blew it towards herself.

Shen Mingzhu stood up, turned off the fan, and handed Pei Wenping a small hand fan.

"What’s the matter, can’t even afford to use the fan? Look how stingy you are," Pei Wenping teased as she took the fan and fanned herself with it.

Shen Mingzhu chided, "You’re all sweaty, I was afraid you’d catch a cold from the fan, you don’t recognize a kind heart."

Pei Wenping, after her surgery, was saved, but her body had become much weaker and she frequently suffered from headaches and fevers.

"Alright, alright, my bad. But seriously, what’s going on? I heard from Old Wang today that the factory isn’t ordering those Meixin mooncakes this year and isn’t going with our company?"

"Yeah."

"And you’re not thinking of a way to address it?"

"If they don’t want to buy, I can’t exactly force them, can I?"

Pei Ziheng looked at her, the fan in her hand stopping, "What’s wrong with you? Just giving up like that, it’s not like you."

Shen Mingzhu sighed and briefly explained how Sun Feifei had been stealing her customers.

Upon hearing this, Pei Wenping exploded, "Sun Feifei, that troublemaker, I was too lenient with her back then!"

Shen Mingzhu: ???

Who’s the troublemaker?

Wait, "Big sister, you’ve dealt with Sun Feifei before?"

Pei Wenping slapped her mouth and awkwardly said, "Well, there’s still work to do in my factory, so I’m going to head off now."

Shen Mingzhu chuckled, "Alright, big sister, you’re busy, I’ll go ask Sun Feifei then."

Pei Wenping, about to leave, had no choice but to retract her steps.

He recounted the incident where she and Yan Yi had caused trouble at Sun Feifei’s workplace.

After listening, Shen Mingzhu didn’t know what to say for a long while.

No wonder Sun Feifei hated her so much, relentlessly targeting her.

However, she didn’t think Pei Wenping was wrong in what she had done; it was the law of cause and effect—everything Sun Feifei encountered was deserved.

It was just...

Unexpectedly, Yan Yi had personally gone to the school to slap Sun Feifei publicly, defending her reputation; that was beyond her expectation.

...

"Mr. Ning."

Not far from the meeting room, he heard someone call him, and Ning Yuan turned around reflexively.

"Who are you?"

Sun Feifei’s expression stiffened, her face sardonic, "Mr. Ning really is a great man who forgets the trivial."

Ning Yuan turned and walked away.

Sun Feifei bit her lip, resigned, and turned to leave.

Only when he returned to his office did Ning Yuan recall the woman he had just encountered.

He had been in meetings all morning and felt dizzy; he had only a vague sense of recognition upon seeing Sun Feifei and couldn’t for the life of him remember where he had seen her before.

Why had she come?

It wasn’t long before Ning Yuan found out why Sun Feifei had come.

After joining Hengxing, he was assigned the role of deputy general manager, overseeing human resources, logistics, and procurement.

And the procurement documents presented to him for signature included the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake purchase list for the year.

"What’s going on? Why are this year’s mooncakes not from Ronghua?"

Meng Yan was inwardly groaning.

He was well aware of the close relationship between Ning Yuan and Shen Mingzhu; his predecessor had lost his job over it.

But as a mere department manager, with orders from above, how could he dare to defy?

"It was General Manager Liang’s decision."

Upon hearing this, Ning Yuan stood up, intending to find Liang Xuyun, but Meng Yan stopped him.

"Deputy General Manager Ning, please hear me out..."

When he learned who was backing Sun Feifei, Ning Yuan too began to worry.

It was not that he couldn’t confront the issue.

Sun Feifei’s man was named Qiang Tai, who was in the import trade, holding exclusive agency rights for several foreign brands.

Hengxing had very close cooperation with Qiang Tai, with profits reaching millions each year.

If he forcefully intervened in the mooncake procurement and affected cooperation between Hengxing and Qiang Tai, whether internally at Hengxing or with Ning Wenqian, he wouldn’t be able to please anyone.

"...Mingzhu, that’s the situation, but don’t worry, I’ll think of a way to find you other clients."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Ning."

"It’s a minor matter. I’m off then."

Although Shen Mingzhu had guessed that Sun Feifei had someone backing her, learning of the magnitude of that backing still surprised her.

But another question lingered in Shen Mingzhu’s mind.

Not only had Sun Feifei snatched away ninety percent of their old clients, but she had also precisely intercepted potential new ones they were in discussions with.

The only explanation was that Sun Feifei had an inside agent by her side.

...

"Old Yan, are you listening to me?"

"My ears aren’t deaf."

"Then how come you’re not reacting at all? Shen Mingzhu is almost being bullied to death by Sun Feifei, aren’t you going to do something?"

Yan Yi put down the pen in his hand, took off his glasses, and took out a handkerchief to clean the lenses.

While wiping, he said indifferently, "I don’t think she needs my help."

"But Sun Feifei is no easy target, and I have a feeling Shen Mingzhu might really fall hard this time."

"Want to bet?"

Ning Yuan was intrigued, "Bet on what?" ƒreewebɳovel.com

"I bet she’ll win. If she does, you’ll spend the rest of your life not touching any woman besides Xueqi."

"Fuck, you want to play it that big?"

Ning Yuan was both hesitant and curious, "So, what if you lose?"

"You can make any demand you want."

Yan Yi put on his glasses and smiled lightly, "Dare to bet?"

Ning Yuan clenched his fist, then relaxed it, repeating this several times before ultimately deciding, "Deal!"