The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 795 - 794 Pei Tang’s Life Goal

The rapid growth of Pei Yang Company had made Pei Ziheng the busiest person in the family.

Even during the summer vacation, he left early and returned late every day, never getting a moment’s rest.

Pei Tang clung to him tightly, running to the company with him every day.

Pei Ziheng was too busy with work to take care of her, so she quietly did her own thing in the rest area.

She wrote her summer vacation homework, drew pictures, read extracurricular books, and played on the game console.

But it’s always dull to be alone for long periods, and she still wanted her brother to play with her.

She ran to Pei Ziheng’s office, found no one inside, and learned after searching around that he was in a meeting in the conference room.

Standing outside the conference room door, she boredly counted how many leaves there were on the Green Vine Pillar.

By the third count, the doors of the conference room finally opened.

Before Pei Tang could stand up, Pei Ziheng walked briskly toward the R&D lab, surrounded by employees, and didn’t even see his sister squatting beside the Green Vine Pillar like a little mushroom.

Staring as his slender and straight figure disappeared around the corner, Pei Tang sullenly plucked a green vine leaf, using it as a fan to fan herself, listlessly heading back to the rest area.

In the afternoon, Shen Mingzhu drove over to deliver some afternoon tea desserts to the siblings.

Seeing how busy her son was, Shen Mingzhu didn’t disturb him and left after setting down the items.

But Pei Tang slung on her little backpack and decided to leave with Shen Mingzhu, "Mom, I want to go home with you."

Shen Mingzhu was surprised.

During the little over half a month of her son’s summer vacation, her daughter had stuck close to him from morning till night, as if she couldn’t even bear to leave him to go to the bathroom, which even made her, the mother, feel somewhat jealous.

Today was unusual—it was like the sun had risen from the west, as she wasn’t sticking to her brother.

"What’s the matter, did you quarrel with your brother?"

"He’s too busy."

Seeing her daughter’s dejected look, Shen Mingzhu comfortingly pinched her chubby cheeks, "There’s nothing that can be done about that, your brother has his dreams and goals to achieve, so he naturally has to give it his all."

"Oh."

Shen Mingzhu took her daughter’s hand, "Let’s go, we’ll visit your dad’s company and see if he’s been slacking off."

"Okay, good."

In the car.

Seeing her daughter leaning against the car window with a downcast mood, Shen Mingzhu suddenly realized that what her daughter might need was not just companionship but also the richness and nourishment of the spirit.

"Baby, besides wanting to be a painter, what else do you want to do when you grow up?"

Hearing Shen Mingzhu ask, Pei Tang blinked her big eyes, "Isn’t being a painter enough?"

"It’s not just about being able to paint that makes you a painter. You should know, many of the world’s famous artists only became well-known after they’d passed away. They mostly had unsatisfactory lives, even to the point of poverty and not having enough to eat."

"You can take becoming a painter as your dream, but a person can’t live on dreams alone. You need to live, to eat, to wear clothes. Only when you can support yourself will you have the energy to achieve your dreams."

"Just like your brother, his dream is to create various high-tech electronic products, but invention requires a lot of money, so he has to earn it."

Pei Tang appeared thoughtful, "Then Mom, can you make money by painting?"

"Of course, once you become a real artist, people will be willing to pay for your artwork. But before you become an artist, you need another profession, a stable income, to support yourself."

Pei Tang’s interest was piqued by this conversation, "Mom, then what can I do?"

"There’s a lot you can do. You like fine arts, so you could consider being a designer, illustrator, sculptor, photographer, makeup artist, muralist, and so on."

Pei Tang thought about it and asked crisply, "Can I do them all?"

The car had just arrived downstairs at Pei Yang Company’s building.

After parking the car, Shen Mingzhu affectionately ruffled her daughter’s hair, "That will depend on your abilities, multitasking is for the capable."

Pei Tang excitedly fantasized, "Then I want to do all of them so I can earn more money. Mom, when I have money, I’m going to buy you lots and lots of bags."

"Okay, Mom will be waiting~"

...

Having set her own goals, Pei Tang no longer ran to Pei Ziheng’s company every day. Instead, she followed Shen Mingzhu to various design studios to explore professions that interested her.

Somehow, children seemed to naturally have a preference for mud and doodling on walls. After learning about different professions and their work environments, Pei Tang developed a strong interest in becoming a muralist.

Murals were a niche and less common profession, and there were no hobby classes available for it.

Shen Mingzhu called in a favor and found a retired professor from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, hiring him to teach her daughter mural painting for fifty yuan an hour.

...

"What are you doing?"

Hearing the familiar and deep voice above her, Pei Tang looked up with a surprised face, "Brother? Why did you come back so early today?"

Lately, Pei Ziheng had been the one to come home the latest every day. Sometimes when he returned, Pei Tang was already asleep.

Today the sun hadn’t even set.

Pei Ziheng sat down beside her, a soft tenderness swirling in his black, ink-like pupils, "I finished my work, so I came back early."

"Brother, look!"

Pei Tang happily showed Pei Ziheng the plaster relief she had been practicing.

On a drawing board half the size of a table, there was a profile of a human face.

"Do you recognize it?"

Sensing the excitement and anticipation on his little sister’s face, something stirred in Pei Ziheng’s heart, "Is it me?"

"Yep, does it look like it?"

To say it looked exactly like his face would be a stretch—more accurately, it bore no resemblance at all.

"Yes, it looks very much like me."

He raised his hand and affectionately touched his sister’s head, "You’ve learned well, keep it up."

"Yep, I’ll become the greatest muralist!"

Besides Mom, Brother was the greatest person. If she could receive praise from Brother, that meant she too was excellent.

Watching his sister’s head shake joyfully, a smile couldn’t help but spread across the bottom of Pei Ziheng’s eyes.

"Guoguo, do you want to go out and play?"

"Yes, yes, where shall we go? Let’s go to McDonald’s!"

She nodded like a pecking chicken while starting to pack her things, ready to head out the door at a moment’s notice.

Pei Ziheng held down her ’paws’, "I’m not talking about right now."

"When then?" Her face quickly went from joyful to downcast and gloomy.

Pei Ziheng soothingly coaxed, "How about in a couple of days? Brother will work hard to wrap up the work he has, and then he’ll take you to see Elsa, Kona, and Brother Zhao Yun. Would you like that?"

Pei Tang’s eyes rounded with surprise, "Really?"

"Yes."

"Is Mom going too?"

"Of course."

"I’ll go tell Mom!"

Watching his sister run out of the study, high-spirited, a smile emerged on Pei Ziheng’s face.

The reason he had been working so intensely recently was to make time for a trip abroad with his mother and sister, and also, to fulfill the promise he made to Zhao Yun last year.