A very ordinary day.
Zhong Rong's mother sent WeChat messages to Lu Chenchen two days in a row. One time she said they were making dumplings at her house and asked her to come eat. Lu Chenchen declined, saying she couldn't leave her post without permission. Yesterday she said the bank had given her daughter lots of small gifts and she wanted to send some to Lu Chenchen. Lu Chenchen thanked her but said it was inconvenient to keep things in her employer's home, and suggested she give them to someone else.
At the time, the information Lu Chenchen got from Zhong Rong's mother was substantial and explosive. But afterwards, Lu Chenchen thought that given her status, no matter what happened she could only be a bystander eating melon seeds. She couldn't get involved with the various characters in this scandal. It was a pity that Zhong Rong was one of the main characters in this affair, which meant Lu Chenchen could no longer interact with Zhong Rong's mother.
Their little boat of friendship capsized before even leaving the harbor. What a shame.
In plain terms, Lu Chenchen hadn't gotten much information before losing this channel. Too upsetting!
Today was uneventful. After eating lunch with Mother-in-Law, Mother-in-Law went upstairs for a nap. Lu Chenchen washed the dishes, then started steaming glutinous rice to make some steamed buns for breakfast tomorrow.
Back in her room, she saw a missed call on her phone from Le's Mother.
Lu Chenchen hurriedly called back.
The other end was picked up quickly. The old woman sounded rather panicked. "Are you busy? I'm in no rush."
Lu Chenchen softened her voice and slowly said, "I'm not busy, I didn't hear the phone before because I was in the bathroom."
She heard a sigh of relief from the other end of the phone. Not wanting to alarm her by asking directly, Lu Chenchen just asked about the weather there, and complained that the weather here was so unpredictable she had almost caught a cold.
As soon as the old woman heard this, her condition escalated to Lu Chenchen already having a cold. She advised Lu Chenchen not to overwork herself, to drink plenty of warm boiled water, and pay attention to keeping warm, blah blah blah.
Lu Chenchen patiently listened to her rambling before finally asking, "Did you want something from me?"
She hesitated for a moment, her voice dropping lower. "Actually it's nothing much, just wanted to chat. Le... Le has been tutoring some kids in English, and the progress of one of them has been unsatisfactory. The parents... reported him."
Lu Chenchen's heart lurched. Were they still going to give him a way to survive?
"Did this just happen? What's the situation now?" Anger was bubbling up in Lu Chenchen, but she dared not let her voice betray any emotion, since the old woman was timid to begin with. She didn't want to startle her from afar and then scare her even more later.
"......Last month. They pestered him until now. Considering his illness, they said they'll go easy on him and just make him refund all the money." The old woman mumbled.
This had happened last month? Yet when they were in touch around the Spring Festival he hadn't said a word about it! He had worked so hard to earn some tutoring fees, but now the money had to be returned. And yet in WeChat he had told Lu Chenchen that he had money, enough money to support her...
In essence, Lu Chenchen was quite hot-tempered, she was just forced to be docile because of her job as a nanny.
That was because the employer paid her. Le Hai, you didn't pay me anything.
Calling him with murderous rage, she said, "I heard that Sun Yang's mother reported you?"
He chuckled. "To be honest, I really deserved it. Before the tutoring, the kid could get 60 points on the English exam. After the tutoring, guess how much he got on the April mock exam?"
Lu Chenchen stared straight at the snow white wall, face stiff, voice cold. "Did you sign a score improvement agreement?"
On the other end, Le Hai made exaggerated tsk tsk sounds of admiration. "Are you going to take the bar exam? Asking so professionally, you've got me stumped."
Lu Chenchen said lightly, "Mr. Le, deflecting like that doesn't work on me."
He laughed again.
Lu Chenchen didn't speak, biting her lip to maintain her solemn indignation.
He had no choice but to get serious again, sighing. "Actually about this thing, I was in the wrong too. The country has declared over and over that extra tutoring and cram schools are prohibited..."
"You deserve to be caught, to be punished. But her reporting you was unacceptable," Lu Chenchen interrupted impatiently. "Let's not beat around the bush. Give me her information."
Le Hai laughed again. He coughed twice to stifle his laugh, then pretended to be serious. "What do you plan to do to get back at her for me? Tell me, let me learn a thing or two."
What could Lu Chenchen do?
With Lu Chenchen's true unrefined and uncouth personality, she would take the crude approach of an eye for an eye. She would call the woman and curse her out. She would dox the woman and her husband's workplace and home address. She would report the woman's despicable and immoral character to their employers, neighborhood committee, and local authorities. She would start online discussions on the rights and wrongs of the woman's actions, only changing the surname in the woman's name to "XX", but exposing all the other information... Lu Chenchen wanted to learn from hornets - even if stinging would kill her too, she would still buzz furiously first to drive the woman crazy, then sting her till she was utterly devastated and regretful.
Of course, Lu Chenchen had received some education in Wuhan, the city that Chairman Mao described as "a thread piercing through China, sinking deeply north and south", and had been influenced by its grand atmosphere and outlook. So Lu Chenchen could also accept the "gentleman's revenge" of slowly gathering more private and detailed information about her target, then striking her down mercilessly like a horsefly.
"From the end of the Spring Festival till now, I didn't give the kids more than a few lessons. With around 1,000 yuan per student in fees, the oversight department didn't make too much trouble, just asked me to refund the money to the parents. Of the few parents, only this one took the money back, the rest refused and even scolded her for being shameless right to her face. Most people in this society are good. As our elders said, 'good deeds have good returns'. So," Le Hai spoke slowly, his voice gentle and soothing. He paused here, as if recalling something wonderful, and laughed. "I'll be a good person and get good returns. You're a good person too, so you've made your own place now. We don't need to regress for the sake of the few who refuse to live better lives. Right?"
His voice was like a gently flowing clear spring deep in the summer mountains, slowly washing over Lu Chenchen's body that had been scorched by the raging sun, gradually calming her down and restoring her reason.
He was right, it would be so worthless to waste time and energy on people who refused to live better lives.
But rather than being persuaded by his wise words, Lu Chenchen was more convinced by his character.
That was why Lu Chenchen liked him. He had a charm that could move people and make them aspire to nobility and beauty.
But...
Le Hai, you're not an immortal after all.
Remembering what Le's Mother said about him not touching any of the money she had given him over the past two years, Lu Chenchen's mouth felt as bitter as if she had chewed on a piece of Chinese goldthread. She could vent her anger and curses freely when he was reported, but with him not taking money, who could she yell at? How could she yell? Would yelling make him take it? If she said any more, would he draw a line with her?
Her intestines were tied up in ten thousand knots, leaving her depressed and sad, yet she couldn't unload all this to him in whispered words for him to gently resolve. She could only pretend to have been cheered up by his consolation, then say as if in passing: "Oh right, for May 1st our company gave out rice and cooking oil. Some of my single colleagues don't cook, so they gave all their stuff to me..."
Before he could admonish her, Lu Chenchen quickly headed him off. "Don't worry, I'll find a chance to repay these favors from my colleagues. I've already accepted the things, so I'll look for a courier in the next couple days to send them back to you guys. Oh, Children's Day is coming up on June 1st too. I got clothes, shoes, everything for Little Le. Kids need summer clothes too. You men are careless about these things, just leave it to me. I'll send them all back in one trip. Oh, and stuff for you and mom too..."
No response from the phone. Lu Chenchen said suspiciously, "Hello? Are you listening?"
"Almost fell asleep listening. " Le Hai said languidly. "Thank you, just make sure to pay enough for delivery to our house. I definitely won't go pick them up myself, you'd probably work me to death."
Lu Chenchen giggled.
How could she not love this man, bending and straightening as he pleased, finding scenery in everything, his words always wrapping her in spring winds and tender feelings!
