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Chapter 456: Chapter 446 My Nine Yin White Bone Claw is Not to be Trifled With
After seeing Ma Liguo off, Shen Yunfang organized the several thousand couplets and put them in the study for the time being, planning to find time to take them to the courtyard house.
If she actually printed a hundred scrolls of couplets, she’d really need a dedicated place to store them. The courtyard house was empty at the moment, just perfect for the purpose.
Having finished these tasks, she heaved a sigh of relief and rolled twice on the bed.
She was thankful for Ma Liguo’s help; otherwise, she wouldn’t even dare to think about doing this business at the moment—not to mention issues of safety. Even getting things done with the printing factory wasn’t that easy.
People talk about gender equality, but in reality, when it comes down to getting stuff done, many still look down on women. Some are even disdainful of dealing with women, so sometimes, before you’ve even stated your business, you’re shown the door.
So to say, for a woman to succeed, the effort needed is much more than that of a man.
Shen Yunfang had two children to care for and her studies to complete; she simply didn’t have time to run around doing these things. If it weren’t for Ma Liguo’s help, she wouldn’t think of starting a business and making money at this time at all.
She was quite satisfied with the current arrangement; Ma Liguo handled the social interactions and appearances in public, and all she needed to do was provide some advice from behind the scenes. It wouldn’t disrupt her current life’s routine, and neither her schooling nor her children would be affected.
Shen Yunfang lay down and thought through the next steps of her plan, then called out, "Babies, have you finished your homework? Mommy is coming to check."
Pangpang had been moved up to the middle class since the last parent-teacher meeting at the nursery. In the middle class, it wasn’t only about the caregivers taking care of their basic needs, but also teachers instructing them on simple characters and addition and subtraction. Every day the child brought home a little homework. It wasn’t much, but Shen Yunfang still checked it every day, hoping that they would develop a good learning habit from a young age.
Because her brother had moved up to the middle class, Manman, the little tailgater, had also become an auditing student in the middle class. She was too young for homework from the teachers, but perhaps she was naturally brighter. She had learned everything taught by the teachers, she just couldn’t write yet.
"Mommy, I know more than brother does," Manman hurried over to hug her mother’s leg, seeking praise as soon as she saw her coming over.
"Really? Manman is so amazing? Come on, tell Mommy, what did you and brother learn today?" Shen Yunfang automatically switched to speaking English.
Manman naturally replied in English as well, "Today, Teacher Ma taught twenty new characters, and I recognize all of them. Brother doesn’t."
"That’s not true; I know them too," Pangpang, not wanting to be outdone, how could he be worse than his sister?
"No, you don’t. You got that character wrong just now," Manman frowned, wrinkling her little nose.
"I made a mistake by accident; I was just about to erase it," Pangpang was frustrated.
"Still wrong, it’s still a mistake."
Listening to her children argue with their sweet, soft voices, Shen Yunfang watched them tenderly with a smile. Such incidents had become frequent in the past month or two, and inevitably, Manman ended up winning the arguments.
Indeed, after a little while, the children determined a winner and loser, with Manman lifting her little head, looking like the ultimate champion, and joining her mother to point out her brother’s errors.
After the chirpy chatter for a while, the homework was finally checked, followed by the unchanging story time.
Shen Yunfang usually alternated between Chinese one day and English the next. Having finished "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," they were now conquering "Water Margin." Both Pangpang and Manman loved listening to their mother’s stories, listening intently without a peep, waiting until after she finished to start asking questions.
Children’s questions are always fanciful and strange, and Shen Yunfang does her best to answer them. If she really can’t, she tells them to wait for their father to come back and ask him.
Yeah, seems like it’s the same in every household, questions mom can’t answer get kicked to dad, and if dad doesn’t know, he tells the children to go ask mom.
Finally, after coaxing the two kids to sleep, Shen Yunfang sat at the head of the bed, looking at the cute little faces of her own children, her heart melting.
For her two children, no matter how much she had to suffer as a mother, she never felt it was hard, she was always willing.
The next day, Shen Yunfang took her two treasures to the daycare, then went to school.
With the end of the semester approaching, the academic atmosphere at school grew even denser. Shen Yunfang wasn’t worried about the upcoming final exams. She always paid attention in class, and she had never aimed to be first or win a scholarship, so for her, the end of the term was practically like a vacation.
As soon as she entered the classroom, she saw the monitor waving at her. Shen Yunfang walked over and asked softly, "Monitor, what’s up?"
"Nothing big, just wondering if you wanted to do work-study during the winter break?" the monitor whispered back.
Everyone in the class was engrossed in revision, and speaking loudly at such a time would be quite unethical.
Shen Yunfang glanced at the form on the monitor’s desk and shook her head, indicating her lack of interest.
"Okay, got it. I was just asking. Your kids are so young, and you’re not short on money, better you stay at home," the monitor said, quickly coming up with excuses for her before Shen Yunfang could speak.
Every winter and summer break, the Agricultural University would conduct this survey, helping students from underprivileged families find temporary jobs through the school, earning a bit of money to help complete their educations.
With a large campus and numerous students, there were even more impoverished individuals. The school had limited resources, and the jobs it could provide were not many. Each holiday period, only a dozen lucky ones managed to secure work, so competition in this area was quite fierce. By never applying or participating, Shen Yunfang inadvertently became a good person in some people’s eyes. Of course, this also earned her some envy, as others would accuse her behind her back of feigning poverty.
Shen Yunfang was of course unaware of these behind-the-scenes talks. Even if she had known, she would still do the same, but she would definitely have retorted, as she had never pretended to be poor, though she certainly had disguised herself as poor before.
"Oh, I heard that Zhang Feng and Dai Zhifei are already back at school preparing for final exams. Be careful, do you need me to assign someone to protect you?" Suddenly remembering this, the monitor quickly added as Shen Yunfang was about to leave.
After the incident where Dai Zhifei harbored unreturned feelings for Shen Yunfang and Zhang Feng made a scene over her rejected love, Shen Yunfang’s opportunities to attend exchange meetings were halted, and Dai Zhifei and Zhang Feng received their respective punishments.
It was tricky for the school to deal with matters of the heart, especially since Shen Yunfang was a military wife, and she hadn’t misbehaved in any way during the whole affair. To avoid damaging her reputation, the school leaders decided to treat it as a common fight after careful deliberation.
The entire incident was sparked by Dai Zhifei, who bore an undeniable responsibility, while Zhang Feng was a participant. She could be said to be the most baffling figure in the event. However, without her, the situation would not have escalated as it did.
In the end, the school decided to give both of them a major demerit and ordered them to go home and reflect.
Now that it was the end of the term, they had found reasons to return to school.
Shen Yunfang smiled and said, "No need, if there’s anyone who’s not afraid of death and dares to provoke me, I’ll let her see that my ’Nine Yin White Bone Claw’ is not so easy to deal with."
Her words caused laughter among the classmates in the room, as everyone remembered how Zhang Feng had shown her claws.
