The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 449 - 448: Stealing the Chicken Without Success and Losing the Rice

Chapter 449: Chapter 448: Stealing the Chicken Without Success and Losing the Rice

"The hospital has regulations, we can’t check that."

When Jia Yuemei heard this, she became anxious, as this was different from what had been agreed on before.

However, the next second, she heard the doctor tell her to get the test results in the afternoon, and then go find Li Bing for some folic acid tablets.

"I have folic acid tablets, I haven’t finished them yet."

"Just go if you’re told to, it won’t do you any harm."

Jia Yuemei vaguely understood something and nodded enthusiastically.

In the afternoon, after Jia Yuemei got her test results, she went to look for Li Bing in the nurses’ department.

Li Bing handed her a bottle of folic acid tablets and took the opportunity to play with Erya in her arms.

"What a pretty girl you have there, and I bet your little sister is going to be a beauty too."

Little sister?

Jia Yuemei’s full heart of expectation felt as if it had been drenched with a bucket of cold water.

She couldn’t help but grasp Li Bing’s hand, "Isn’t it a boy?"

Li Bing smiled and withdrew her hand, "Whether it’s a boy or a girl, I can’t decide, right?"

The subtext was, it’s your own baby girl, I’m just telling you the results.

Probably due to the shock, Jia Yuemei walked away in a daze, holding her daughter.

Li Bing stopped her, "Aren’t you forgetting something, Mingzhu’s sister-in-law?"

"I don’t think so, I’ve got things to do, I need to go."

Jia Yuemei knew deep down that Li Bing was talking about a red envelope, but she deliberately feigned ignorance.

Since the son she had been expecting hadn’t materialized, this pregnancy definitely could not be kept. Rather than giving away money for nothing, it was better to keep it for herself to strengthen her body and get pregnant with the next child as soon as possible.

Jia Yuemei played dumb, and Li Bing could not force her, so she had to return to the hospital with restrained anger.

...

In the rented house, Jia Yuemei sat opposite Shen Xiangnan.

"I’ll go back to town tomorrow to terminate the pregnancy."

Jia Yuemei broke the silence.

Shen Xiangnan looked up at her, "Are you sure you want to do this, really don’t want it?"

Jia Yuemei said irritably: "What’s the use of another girl? We already have one daughter, and another would just benefit outsiders. We wouldn’t get anything, not even someone to take care of us in our old age."

Shen Xiangnan looked at her visibly pregnant belly, his heart aching.

It had been over four months, and in another half a year, she would give birth.

But then again, he did indeed need a son to carry on his family line and to care for him in his old age.

"Alright, let’s just think we weren’t fortunate enough to have this baby."

After discussing with his wife, Jia Yuemei began packing her luggage.

Inducing labor was more torturous than abortion, and a confinement period was required. Shen Xiangnan didn’t have the time to look after his wife and daughter, so he had to go back to the countryside to find Qin Jinlian’s parents.

Thinking that he would not see the mother and daughter for ten days or half a month, Shen Xiangnan subconsciously picked up his daughter, then thought of something else.

"Did you give someone the red envelope?"

"I did."

Hearing this, Shen Xiangnan played happily with his daughter, "Erya, we’re going home, are you happy?"

...

In the meantime, Shen Mingzhu, having received the "complaint" call from Li Bing, arranged to have dinner with Li Bing and the doctor who performed the check-up.

The next day at noon, Ginkgo Building.

Shen Mingzhu ordered a table of fine dishes and apologised to the doctor personally with tea in place of wine, also making up the shortfall in the red envelope.

The original amount was supposed to be one hundred, but Shen Mingzhu added an extra eighteen yuan to show her sincerity. She also gave some candy and pastries to Li Bing and the doctor as gifts to smooth things over.

Back at the factory.

Shen Mingzhu called Shen Hongmei to the office, listed the expenses for the meal, the red envelope, and the gifts, and instructed Shen Hongmei to deduct these from Shen Xiangnan’s salary when preparing the wage sheet.

...

"Wages are being paid out, everyone hurry up and collect your money."

With Julie’s call, the kitchen staff put down their work and cheerfully headed to the front hall.

Shen Xiangnan strolled at the back, leisurely, his mind tallying up figures—he couldn’t help but reckon, with business booming the previous month, this month’s wages must have seen a good bump.

The more he thought about it, the merrier he felt, so much so that Shen Xiangnan started humming a tune involuntarily.

Wages were packed in brown paper envelopes, each bearing the name of an employee.

When their name was called, they’d come up to get their pay and sign the wage receipt form.

Soon, it was Shen Xiangnan’s turn.

As soon as he took the envelope, he felt something was off.

Wages always had a satisfying weight to them, with crisp notes of various denominations that felt substantial in the envelope.

But this time, it felt incredibly light, weightless, in fact.

As he opened it up, he found only a single five-yuan note inside.

"Hongmei, did you miss putting my wages in here? Look, it’s just five yuan!"

Shen Hongmei said with a smile, "Xiangnan, there’s also a piece of paper inside. Take a look at it before you say anything."

Shen Xiangnan peered into the envelope and surely, there was a small note, which he pulled out to read: Red envelope 118 yuan, meals 53.5 yuan, gifts 45.5 yuan (internal staff price).

Shen Xiangnan was baffled, "What’s this about?"

"Xiangnan, hang on a moment, let me finish handing out the wages and I’ll explain in detail," Hongmei replied.

Hearing this, Shen Xiangnan found a stool nearby and sat down to wait.

At last, everyone had received their wages.

Shen Hongmei packed everything up, then took Shen Xiangnan outside and explained Jia Yuemei’s situation in full detail—the whole misadventure about not paying after the check-up.

"...Xiangnan, Sister Yuemei really didn’t handle this well. She agreed to one thing but ended up walking away without a word, leaving President Shen to clean up her mess, having to personally apologize to people."

"What a disaster of a woman!"

Shen Xiangnan was a man with a good temper, but even he was quite angered.

By trying to save 100 yuan on the red envelope, they actually lost 217 yuan—a classic case of being penny-wise and pound-foolish, right?

If it weren’t for work keeping him tied up, Shen Xiangnan would’ve liked to head back to his hometown and give Jia Yuemei a piece of his mind.

But while he couldn’t leave, Jia Yuemei had eagerly made the trip to him.

It had been almost half a month since the induced abortion, and she was recovering quite well. Knowing that today was payday, after having lunch, she immediately took her daughter and headed for the city.

As soon as she dropped her luggage, she hurried to the Ginkgo Building’s kitchen to find Shen Xiangnan.

Xiangnan wasn’t one for smoking or drinking, but he did enjoy playing cards. Jinlian was worried he might lose all the money. It wasn’t until the money was safely in her own pocket that she felt at ease.

It wasn’t business hours, so only a couple of kitchen hands were working on food prep.

"Where’s my Xiangnan?" she asked.

"Playing cards in the dorm."

Jia Yuemei, holding her daughter, turned and rushed toward the dorm, her legs moving as fast as they could. She feared being late and the money being gone.

The two kitchen hands exchanged looks, both dropping their tasks and following to watch the drama unfold at the dorm.

The news about Chef Shen’s meager five-yuan salary for the month had already spread throughout the entire restaurant.

Given Jia Yuemei’s temperament, there was sure to be a commotion this time.

"Shen Xiangnan!"

Jia Yuemei pushed open the door and bellowed from the threshold.

Everyone around the heated kang table playing cards turned to look at her in unison.

Shen Xiangnan didn’t even raise his head; after dealing the cards, he didn’t glance at his hand but immediately threw fifty cents in the middle of the table.

"Fifty cents." ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

"Chef Shen, betting big, are we?"

Typically, bids started at ten cents.

Shen Xiangnan looked around, "Who’s in?"

"Forget it, I’m out."

One of them tossed his cards, while the other two hesitated over whether to fold or follow. Jia Yuemei, carrying Erya, stepped in, moved straight to the front of the kang.

"Where’s the wage you got?"

Shen Xiangnan fished the envelope from his pocket and flung it onto the kang.

Seeing his prompt action, Jia Yuemei was quite pleased.