The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 448 - 447: Donating Five Hundred Coats

Shen Mingzhu found Xu Dani’s homeroom teacher and inquired about her academic situation. Afterward, she left a phone number, asking the teacher to notify her promptly if anything came up with Xu Dani.

Exiting the office and seeing the students gathered outside peering in curiously, Shen Mingzhu couldn’t quite describe the feeling in her heart.

In such cold weather, most of them were thinly dressed, with only a handful wearing padded jackets.

Each of them with running noses, yet they all looked at her cheerfully.

Their longing for the prosperous big city was as beautiful as brilliant flowers blossoming from barren soil.

...

After leaving the school, Shen Mingzhu drove to Chishui Town. She contacted the village head of Xu’s village through the town government and briefly relayed the issue of Xu Shengli condoning his son’s bullying of Xu Dani.

She hoped the village head could restrain Xu Shengli and his wife and prevent them from troubling Xu Dani again.

Now somewhat renowned in the region, Shen Mingzhu’s words carried weight; the village head went to Xu Liang’s house after returning to the village and fiercely scolded Xu Shengli and his wife, who had just come back from the clinic.

"...Even the town leaders are aware now. Your son Xu Liang stole from a little girl. Do you have no shame? Huh? It’s so embarrassing that the whole town knows. Will you ever be able to show your faces or meet people when you go out?"

Xu Shengli and Liu Guilin, who were typically defiant at home, were shocked to hear that the incident had escalated to involve town leaders and felt compelled to drop their vendetta against Xu Dani.

...

Returning to the city, Shen Mingzhu drove to the grain and oil station, where she bought a thousand jin of noodles and five hundred jin of vegetable oil. Then she went to the chicken farm and ordered five hundred jin of eggs.

After taking care of these things, she went to the family compound and located Feng Huiying.

"Feng sister, please rustle up four or five people to help me with something these next couple of days."

"What is it?"

Shen Mingzhu handed Feng Huiying the ration tickets for the rice, vegetable oil, and eggs.

"Go around to the various residential buildings and courtyards and collect five hundred old jackets for me. The condition or style doesn’t matter, as long as they fit the students. For one old jacket, they’ll get two jin of noodles, one jin of vegetable oil, and one jin of eggs."

All these items combined were worth about two yuan.

These days, everybody had some old jackets lying around at home. Trading them for grain, oil, and eggs was a great deal.

When Feng Huiying learned that Shen Mingzhu was exchanging these old jackets to do good at the school, she wholeheartedly admired her and gave her a big thumbs up.

"Just for your noble character of not forgetting where you came from, you deserve to prosper!"

Shen Mingzhu didn’t consider herself to be particularly noble; she was simply doing something that was rewarding in its own right.

Within her means, she helped those who were vulnerable, and by benefiting others, she found her own inner peace and happiness.

By the time Shen Mingzhu finished discussing the matter with Feng Huiying, it was already evening.

She drove straight home.

No sooner had the car stopped than she saw a tall figure standing by the door.

Shen Mingzhu opened the car door, a bit surprised to see the man, "You’re off work so early today?"

Pei Yang was in charge of marketing and sales, often busy with entertaining and socializing; coming home before it was fully dark was already early for him.

Pei Yang took the bag from her hand, "I was worried you got lost, you’ve been out of sight all afternoon."

From Fengcheng to Anping Town was only a half-hour drive. Shen Mingzhu had left at eleven, and even at a slower pace, she should have been back by now.

Having experienced the kidnapping incident before, Pei Yang had become somewhat anxious. Seeing that Shen Mingzhu hadn’t returned to the factory by three in the afternoon, he grew worried.

The evening was colder than the day.

Shen Mingzhu slipped her hands into the pockets of the man’s coat as they entered the house, and told Pei Yang about what had happened at the school.

"...On such a cold day, many of the students didn’t even have socks to wear; it was pitiful to see."

The hand Pei Yang had in his pocket tightened its grip on hers, and his deep gaze settled on her face.

Shen Mingzhu was baffled, "Why are you looking at me like that? Did I become more beautiful?"

"It’s because you look a bit silly." freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Shen Mingzhu huffed, "If I weren’t silly, would you have gotten me so cheaply?"

Pei Yang was amused by her way of speaking, "That’s true. I still remember when we went to get our marriage certificate, you were like sleepwalking, all dazed and confused, doing whatever I told you like a soft dumpling, making one want to bully you."

She had thought it was all a dream at the time, otherwise...

If she had known from the beginning that it wasn’t a dream, she probably would still have gotten the certificate.

After all, only by getting married could she escape from the trap that was the Shen Family.

...

Feng Huiying was very efficient, managing to collect five hundred used cotton-padded jackets in just three days.

Shen Mingzhu didn’t delay and delivered the five hundred used jackets to the school that very day.

To prevent any omissions or embezzlement, Shen Mingzhu brought Pei Qiuxia and Shen Hongmei along, personally handing out each cotton-padded jacket to every student.

The students who received the old cotton-padded jackets were beaming with joy, while those who didn’t were rubbing their hands together in eager anticipation.

After all the old jackets were distributed, led by the principal, all four hundred and thirty-three students at the school thanked Shen Mingzhu in unison.

"Thank-You-Mingzhu-Auntie!"

Their neat chorus of children’s voices echoed in the air above the school for a long time.

Invited up to the flag-raising platform by the enthusiastic principal, Shen Mingzhu looked at the young and simple faces and spoke with a smile: "Study hard, and grow up to be someone useful to society and the country, alright?"

"Yes!!!"

Applause thundered.

Xu Dani stood in the crowd, clapping her hands so much they were nearly swollen, but she couldn’t bear to stop.

Despite the bitter winter cold, she felt as though there was a roaring flame burning hotly within her.

One day in the future, she too wanted to stand tall on a platform like Aunt Mingzhu did today, looking down upon all living beings.

For the remaining jackets, Shen Mingzhu had the class teachers compile a list of exceptionally needy students.

The students on that list could each receive another old cotton jacket.

Additionally, Shen Mingzhu announced that under the name of the food factory, they would sponsor twenty students each year to go to school.

There were three conditions for sponsorship: first, the student had to be a girl; second, the family had to be in particularly difficult circumstances; and third, the student had to have a combined score of over one hundred and sixty in two subjects.

The principal was puzzled by the first condition.

"Ms. Shen, there are several boys in the school who have good grades and come from very difficult backgrounds. How about we make the ratio half boys, half girls to be fair?"

Shen Mingzhu rejected the principal’s suggestion, "Girls in the countryside are not well treated from the moment they are born. They are always at a disadvantage, always the ones to be sacrificed."

"Boys may suffer because of their family circumstances and birth, but girls suffer simply because of their gender. Just because they are female, they have to endure discrimination and injustice. I detest such feudal dregs of thought."

"So, I hope to do my best to give these ambitious girls a chance to change their lives."

After hearing her thoughts, the principal expressed his respect and understanding.

If among these benefitted girls someone like Shen Mingzhu emerged, it would be a blessing for the whole of Anping Town.

...

In the ultrasound room.

Jia Yuemei asked the doctor who was moving the ultrasound transducer over her belly in a low voice, "Dr. Yuan, how is it, is it a boy or a girl?"