The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 550 - 549: After being the younger brother for so long, he also wants to stand up and be the big brother!

Chapter 550: Chapter 549: After being the younger brother for so long, he also wants to stand up and be the big brother!

In the mayor’s office.

Ruan Shengdong looked at Shen Mingzhu sitting next to him, his face full of smiles, "I really didn’t expect it. Boss Shen is so young, and over the past two years, you’ve donated quite a lot to your Shenjiagou and the town’s elementary school. The deeds have already spread throughout Anping Town, and there’s even talk of you being the reincarnation of Guanyin, haha!"

Shen Mingzhu replied modestly, "Mayor Ruan, you flatter me."

"I’m merely stating facts. Actions leave traces, voices echo, your contributions to Anping Town are something that people and their descendants will remember."

"That’s for sure."

Wang Feng chimed in with her agreement, and took the opportunity to steer the conversation back to the main topic, "Sister, I was so caught up in excitement earlier that I didn’t ask for details about what you mentioned—could you please elaborate for us again?"

Shen Mingzhu nodded, "Mayor Ruan, our Anping Town’s streets become incredibly muddy when it rains or snows, greatly affecting everyone’s travel. I am willing to fund and convert all the streets in town into concrete roads."

Mayor Ruan got so excited that he stood up, "Boss Shen, you’re not joking, are you? All the streets in the entire town?"

Shen Mingzhu nodded.

Mayor Ruan, Wang Feng, and Tong Gang who sat aside taking notes were all ecstatic.

In the surrounding towns, Anping Town had always been at the bottom regarding GDP. This also meant that Ruan Shengdong, as the mayor, couldn’t hold his head up high among other mayors, being a regular target for criticism at meetings.

And yet, even so, none of the other towns had set a precedent for laying concrete, they all used waste coal slag and broken stones.

If Anping Town were to lay concrete streets, it would suddenly become the big brother among these towns!

At the county-level working meetings, he would no longer be criticized but instead celebrated.

Having been the little brother for so long, he also wanted to stand up and be the big brother for once!

Ruan Shengdong stepped forward quickly, grasping Shen Mingzhu’s hand tightly, "Boss Shen, I can’t thank you enough! On behalf of all the folks in Anping Town, I express our gratitude for your generous act!"

Shen Mingzhu felt her arm was almost shaken off, she hurriedly said, "Mayor Ruan, please let go of my hand first, I haven’t finished speaking."

"Ah, please speak, continue."

A trace of tension visibly surfaced on Ruan Shengdong’s face, likely worrying that she would make some excessive demands.

"Besides donating to repair the streets, I also plan to renovate and expand the farmers market at the east entrance of the town, and to create a separate wholesale fruit area on its foundation."

"Going forward, all the fruit farmers from the surrounding towns and villages can bring their produce here to sell, and fruit vendors from outside, or fruit shop owners in the city, won’t have to go down to the countryside to buy stock anymore."

"That’s excellent, truly excellent!"

Ruan Shengdong was so happy that he slapped his thigh enthusiastically, his eyes burning so intensely when he looked at Shen Mingzhu, it was as if he could melt her.

In the towns and villages for miles around, over half of their GDP came from fruit. If all this was brought to Anping Town’s farmers market, the annual GDP of Anping Town...

Unthinkable, simply unthinkable.

"Mayor Ruan, I will cover all the costs for transforming the streets and the farmers market, including materials and the construction team. I will need your assistance with the related paperwork and approval procedures."

"No problem at all. Leave it to me. I’ll report to the county first thing tomorrow morning—no, I’ll go as soon as we finish here."

Ruan Shengdong patted his chest so vigorously that Shen Mingzhu worried he might break a rib.

After finalizing the street renovation and market upgrade projects, Shen Mingzhu also expressed her desire to secure a plot of land to build a charity snack shop.

"...once the charity snack shop is built, it will be able to provide a free lunch for fifty students from poor families every year, with a meal standard of two buns, a bowl of porridge, and a dish of pickles."

The mayor didn’t hesitate, presenting several vacant plots of land for Shen Mingzhu to choose from.

Shen Mingzhu chose a spot in the southern outskirts of the town, a place far from the bustling market and close to mountains and water.

Once everything was settled, Ruan Shengdong personally escorted Shen Mingzhu out, with Wang Feng and Tong Gang in tow.

"Mayor, we have a cultural performance at our town’s junior high school on the 5th of next month. How about we also invite Boss Shen to have a look?"

Wang Feng picked up the conversation, "Right, Shen girl, it’s your alma mater after all. It would be good to go see if anything has changed."

Shen Mingzhu gladly agreed.

"Mayor Ruan, please wait for me to get the proposal ready, and then we can sit down and have a good talk.

"Ah, alright! Take care, Boss Shen, and keep in touch!"

At the entrance of the town government building, Qin Jinlian watched in surprise as Ruan Shengdong and his entourage personally saw Shen Mingzhu off.

Especially when she saw Ruan Shengdong taking the initiative to shake hands with Shen Mingzhu with a beaming smile, her heart was both shocked and touched.

She knew her daughter had grown a lot of skills over the years.

But she hadn’t realized her daughter’s capabilities were even greater than she had imagined.

That was the mayor, after all.

In the previous years, when the mayor visited Shenjiagou, Village Chief Shen Dequan would call for a village-wide meeting, insisting everyone clean their homes and even tie up their dogs with ropes to avoid scaring the leaders from the town.

For a moment, Qin Jinlian seemed to understand Shen Mingzhu’s actions.

"Beep—"

It wasn’t until the car horn sounded that Qin Jinlian snapped back to reality, hurrying to pull her granddaughter onto the vehicle.

On the vehicle, Qin Jinlian kept turning to look at Shen Mingzhu, "That thing, how much will it cost?"

"Which thing are you asking about? For opening your snack shop, it will be about fifty thousand or so."

Qin Jinlian was startled, "Why does it cost so much?"

Shen Mingzhu swung the steering wheel and parked the car by the roadside, signaling Qin Jinlian to get out.

This was the southern exit of the town. Just beyond it was the town’s outskirts, to the left an old and dilapidated tile house, and to the right a stretch of overgrown wasteland continuing toward the forested areas.

About fifty meters outside of the town, there was a river three to four meters wide.

Shen Mingzhu pointed to the overgrown land, "I asked the mayor for this piece of land to build your snack shop."

Qin Jinlian could hardly believe her ears.

In her mind, renting a 40–50 square meter shop, installing a stove, and setting up a few tables would be more than enough.

Shen Mingzhu paid no mind to Qin Jinlian’s dumbstruck expression, continuing to share her vision as she looked at the wasteland in front of her—

"This plot is a total of one hundred and fifty square meters. I plan to build it three stories high, with the first floor for your business and the second and third floors for living."

"Each floor will have two suites with a bathroom. You and Dad, my eldest brother, second brother, and I—each of us will have one suite for when we come back to stay."

Qin Jinlian looked at the expanse of wasteland before her and then back at Shen Mingzhu, her lips quivering.

"How, how much will this cost?"

After asking, she remembered what Shen Mingzhu had said in the car, about spending fifty thousand.

Her daughter was going to spend fifty thousand yuan to build her a tall building and open a snack shop?

Was she dreaming?

Qin Jinlian pinched her thigh fiercely, tears streaming from the pain.

"What good fortune have I accrued in my past lives to deserve this?"

As she wiped her tears, she mumbled with joy and lifted Erya up, pointing to the wasteland in front, "Erya, look, your aunt is going to help our family build a tall building!"

Erya, still too young to understand the significance of a tall building to rural people, could nevertheless sense Qin Jinlian’s happy emotions and laughed with sheer delight.