In the Years When I Was a Father-Chapter 126: The Hypocritical Stepfather (5)

Qi Sheng had always been decisive. The day after returning, he immediately started scouting locations for his store and even went to his workplace to resign.
Now completely free, Qi Sheng devoted most of his energy to the shop’s renovations. By the time the first batch of inventory arrived, the store was already fully prepared.
The shop was about 100 square meters, divided into sections for women’s clothing and children’s clothing—after all, these were the easiest markets to break into.
He also hired two female sales assistants to help customers with any questions on-site.
With everything ready, Qi Sheng began working on advertising. While this era wasn’t as information-saturated as a decade or two later—when everything needed strong branding to succeed—some degree of promotion was still necessary to attract large crowds before the holidays.
To this end, he even rented a camera and had his two sons model the store’s featured children’s clothing for the promotional posters.
Qi Wenle, the younger son, naturally loved excitement. When he heard that people passing by would get to see how handsome and cute he was, he immediately got interested.
On the other hand, Qi Chenghao was initially a bit shy.
“Haohao, just relax. No need to be nervous. Just walk a few steps casually. Leave the rest to Daddy,” Qi Sheng encouraged.
Qi Chenghao walked back and forth a couple more times, but still felt stiff and unnatural. Just as he was starting to feel frustrated and disappointed, he heard Qi Sheng call over his younger brother.
Trying to hide the sadness in his eyes, he watched as his dad whispered something to his brother, and silently encouraged himself: Next time, I must do better. I can’t let Dad down!
Then, just as he stiffly resumed posing like a serious model, he was suddenly startled by his silly younger brother making a goofy face.
The little one ran up and hugged him, launching into his usual antics of rolling around, acting cute, and being silly. In less than ten seconds, Qi Chenghao, who had been annoyed at being interrupted, couldn’t help but break into laughter.
The brothers played together, needing no further direction from Qi Sheng—the candid shots he captured hit every mark.
After roughhousing with his brother, Qi Chenghao tried to collect himself to resume modeling properly. But before he could wipe the smile off his face, he heard his dad say, “Alright, today’s shoot is done.”
He froze in surprise, thinking his dad had decided not to let him model anymore and felt a bit disappointed. Just then, a familiar arm wrapped around him.
“Haohao, Lele, you guys worked hard today. Look, here are the photos Daddy just took. You two can pick your favorites. I’ll print a few to hang up at home.”
Qi Chenghao’s disappointment quickly vanished as he looked through all kinds of photos of himself—being made to laugh by his silly brother, glaring, looking serious, and even making silly faces.
Next to him, his goofy brother chimed in again: “Brother, this one of you is so ugly!”
Qi Chenghao retorted angrily, “Still want to hear bedtime stories or not?”
The threat made Qi Wenle immediately cover his mouth and frantically shake his head.
After bickering while selecting photos, the final result of their choices left Qi Sheng speechless.
“Daddy, can you print all of them for us?”
Since they rarely took photos, the kids were fascinated like they had discovered a new toy, loving every single picture.
Unable to rely on their help, Qi Sheng had to go through the pictures one by one himself. In the end, he realized the boys were right—every one of them needed to be printed!
Proud and amused, Qi Sheng couldn’t help but marvel: his sons were just too adorable. Being a parent meant suddenly facing these strange but sweet burdens.
He planned to head to the photo studio right away to print them all. Taking advantage of the rented camera, he also did a photo shoot for his wife.
When all the photos were printed, Qi Sheng picked a few suitable ones for promotional posters and put them up in the store.
After school, when Qi Chenghao was brought to the store and saw that only photos of him and his brother were displayed, he asked in confusion:
“Daddy, why aren’t there any photos of Mommy?”
Qi Sheng smiled and explained to both curious sons, “Mommy’s shy and doesn’t like her pictures displayed.”
Seeing his sons nod with understanding, Qi Sheng snickered inwardly: Yeah right—my sons’ looks I can share, but my wife’s beauty is for my eyes only!
At that moment, Qi Sheng realized—maybe he did have a bit of a chauvinistic streak.
Of course, since women’s clothing was their main product, and due to budget constraints, Qi Sheng didn’t hire a female model. Instead, he styled a few key pieces himself and used his solid photography and editing skills to make them look great in the store.
He printed flyers featuring these women’s outfits and gave them to the two saleswomen to distribute at high-traffic intersections. Once the grand opening date was set, Qi Sheng’s new business venture in this world officially began.
On opening day, Misheng Clothing, which had already received plenty of promotional attention, got off to a roaring start.
Many fashion-loving women had been drawn to the styles on the flyers and had already looked up the store location. Seeing that the opening day featured discounts, they had been eagerly awaiting the store’s launch.
So on this day, the number of female shoppers far exceeded Qi Sheng’s expectations.
The two saleswomen were swamped the entire time, and even Qi Sheng barely had a moment to rest. The top three featured items were in such high demand that he had to run back and forth from the stockroom several times just to keep up.
At first, the customers coming to buy clothes mostly focused on the women’s section. Only after addressing their own wardrobe needs did they start paying attention to the children’s section in the corner.
When they saw the display window with two adorable and handsome little boys, they immediately thought of their own sons, nephews, or grandsons… And of course, after browsing through the store, they realized—they absolutely had to buy something for their daughters too! The dresses for little girls were just too beautiful!
The children’s clothing in Qi Sheng’s store included both boys’ and girls’ styles. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a daughter to model the girls’ clothes. With photos of his two sons already on display, he didn’t consider finding another girl to model them.
Fortunately, the customers in the store had an eye for beauty, and the sales of girls’ clothing were just as strong as the boys’.
The grand opening was a huge success. When Qi Sheng tallied the accounts that evening, he found that the net profit for just one day equaled three months of his previous salary! While the high foot traffic on the first day contributed to that, the numbers were enough to make him very happy.
He kept up a pace of releasing four new outfits every ten days. Though that speed couldn’t compare to future trends, in this era of limited logistics and barely any internet, it was more than fast enough.
The frequent releases kept regular customers coming back, and new customers kept arriving. As the New Year approached, business at Misheng Clothing Store reached its peak for the year.
Before that, Qi Sheng made another trip down south. This time, he personally selected ten new styles and even designed two coat styles himself.
When Manager Xie saw the not-so-professional sketches, he clicked his tongue in amazement: “Brother Qi, you’ve picked this up so fast! Now you’re designing your own clothes!”
Qi Sheng chuckled shyly. “Please don’t tease me. I’ve been flipping through magazines from Hong Kong and Taiwan whenever I had time. After seeing so many, I just wanted to give it a try. But I don’t have any drawing skills, so the sketches are pretty rough. I’ll need your help to find someone who can polish them up. I plan to produce fifty of each coat.”
Director Xie studied the sketches and frowned slightly. “Only fifty of each? Isn’t that a bit too few? Brother Qi, I’m telling you—you really have a knack for this industry. You’ve come up with such unique designs in such a short time. I honestly think these are just as good as anything coming from Hong Kong or Taiwan!”
Qi Sheng smiled. “I’m planning to sell them as limited-edition items for the New Year, so fifty pieces is already quite a lot. I originally wanted to make even fewer.”
After hearing that, Director Xie got an idea. He hesitated briefly before saying, “How about this—you sell me the designs. Aside from the fifty you plan to make, I’ll make sure no other finished products hit the mainland market. I think they’re great and would like to test them in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets.”
Qi Sheng had no objections to making money. He didn’t have his own brand yet, and fashion copyright awareness was very weak at the time. The fact that Director Xie even suggested buying the designs showed Qi Sheng’s vision had been spot-on.
The two completed the copyright transfer. Once Qi Sheng confirmed the styles and quantities he wanted, he returned to Su City. It was the peak of the holiday shopping season, and he needed to oversee the store.
Qi Sheng wasn’t actually new to doing business, so everything in the store was well-organized. Still, even he hadn’t anticipated the small sensation his two coat designs would cause among the elite women of Su City.
Because the coats were priced high, only the truly wealthy could afford them. But even so, they sold quickly. Once the saleswomen made it clear there were only fifty pieces of each, sales sped up even more.
Those who bought them were thrilled. Those who didn’t initially felt a little regret but eventually convinced themselves the high price wasn’t worth it. That is, until the New Year visits began—and they discovered those exact coats had become a huge hit in Hong Kong! And they were being sold for even more than at Misheng!
Those who had bought the coats were stunned that their fashion was ahead of Hong Kong’s. Those who missed out were not only curious about the background of Misheng’s owner but also full of regret—if they had just gritted their teeth and bought it back then, they’d be flaunting their look among relatives and friends by now!
At that time, Qi Sheng was still unaware of the popularity of his coats in Hong Kong. He was already on his way back with his wife and children to a small, ordinary village in Su City’s county-level area—his hometown, Taoyang Village.
On the way, Mi Fei tried hard not to show her reluctance. After last year’s New Year visit, she had resolved to stay with her own parents this year, even if it meant upsetting him. But in the past six months, Qi Sheng had been so kind to her and Haohao that she didn’t want to ruin his face during the holidays.
Thinking of the unpleasant encounters she might have to endure, Mi Fei comforted herself: it’s only a few days, just endure it.
She even used the same words to encourage Haohao before they left. But the thought of her mother-in-law’s face still filled her with dread.
Their family of four traveled together. Qi Sheng had wanted his older son to sit with him and the younger one with his wife—not because he wanted to bond with the older one specifically, but because it would be easier if either child got tired. He could hold the older one while his wife looked after the younger. But this time, the usually affectionate older son quietly chose to sit with his mother.
Qi Sheng watched the mother and son trying to act normal and felt a deep pang of heartache as he remembered how they had been treated.
In the past, Qi Sheng was a fairly promising young man by the village’s standards, and it caused quite a stir when he suddenly married a divorced woman with a son. However, when he and Mi Fei first got married, his parents didn’t show any strong disapproval—especially his mother, Li Lilan, who had seemed polite toward Mi Fei.
That’s what reassured Mi Fei and made her confident enough to marry him after a visit to his hometown.
Unfortunately, what she didn’t know was her future mother-in-law’s real intentions. It wasn’t until after she gave birth to Lele that Li Lilan’s true attitude gradually revealed itself.
That was when Mi Fei began to suspect that Qi Sheng had only pursued her for superficial reasons. But by then, it was too late.
Lele had already been born, and she didn’t want this new baby to grow up without either a father or a mother. Plus, her suspicions were just that—suspicions. Maybe it was only her mother-in-law plotting things, and Qi Sheng wasn’t as bad as she feared.
Luckily, after Lele’s birth, Qi Sheng still treated Haohao kindly. So even though Mi Fei endured harsh words every time she saw her in-laws, she gritted her teeth and stayed in the marriage. But the relationship between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law continued to deteriorate.
Qi Sheng understood what the original “he” had been thinking. He knew his mother’s intentions. And to be fair, he himself had likely married Mi Fei more for future prospects than love. So whenever conflict arose between his mother and wife, he would pretend not to notice and avoid taking sides. Then he’d show affection toward Qi Chenghao to ease his wife’s doubts.
Now, with the past in mind, Qi Sheng completely understood why mother and son were feeling low. He had originally considered leaving them behind, not wanting them to endure more hurt. But knowing the way the original Qi Sheng would have acted, he couldn’t have made that choice back then. And avoiding the issue wouldn’t solve anything either.
Since their trust had already been damaged by past visits to his hometown, the only way to restore it was to confront the issue directly.