To be honest, Lu Chenchen was just a nanny whose only goal was to earn more money, and she had no other aspirations.
After a busy day, she also enjoyed lying in bed reading palace intrigue and family infighting stories from online novels, not afraid that others would laugh at her. Being a nanny really was an extremely laborious job, and she often found her upper eyelid stuck to her lower eyelid as soon as she opened the app to read those novels.
What does this all mean? Namely, she didn't know how to "plot" or "scheme", nor could she afford to.
Yesterday morning, Mao Yuanning ate a bowl of dan dan noodles that he had ordered, drank a cup of coffee, and then went out.
As soon as he went out the door, Lu Chenchen sat down next to Mrs. Mao, who was eating bird's nest soup. Disregarding whether she would disrupt Mrs. Mao's meal, Lu Chenchen explained earnestly that she understood very clearly that she was just a nanny, and could only earn money within the scope of a nanny's duties. No matter which employer she worked for, she only relied on her own effort instead of tricks. She hoped that Mrs. Mao could trust her, and if there was anything she didn't do well, to tell her directly. She would definitely improve.
This was the "lifesaving" method that Lu Chenchen had tossed and turned all night to come up with.
Rather than passively waiting to get fired, she might as well take the initiative to confess in order to seek a lifeline.
To put it this way: although the Mao family had its "stories", in her two years of working as a live-in nanny, she was no stranger to families with "stories" and people with "stories". One could even say that "every family has a sutra that is hard to recite", or "every family has an ineffable story".
Lu Chenchen had once worked for a family of three where both the husband and wife were high-ranking corporate executives. It was said that the wife used to be the husband's client. The husband had tried very hard to not only win the project, but also win over the client herself.
They had a son who was a little over two years old. Lu Chenchen's main job was to take care of the young master.
Lu Chenchen worked for them for four months. The hosts and the guest were very satisfied. The wife even said that she wanted Lu Chenchen to take care of the child until he graduated from kindergarten, and that she would give Lu Chenchen a raise every year.
Although the “prospects” were painted a little ambitiously, they both believed that actualizing them wouldn’t be too difficult. Lu Chenchen considered herself reliable, and the hosts weren’t short on money either.
But alas, the good times didn’t last. No one knew if it was because the wife was too overbearing after being used to being the client, but the husband couldn’t take it anymore. When she was not at home, he brought back a gentle and quiet girl.
The husband stuffed Lu Chenchen with 200 RMB and a cartoon Ni entertainment card, asking her to take the child to the Yongwang mall to play for a day and come back to make dinner.
In the flash between accepting or refusing, Lu Chenchen made a lightning fast circle and took the money, taking the child to Yongwang as instructed..
The second time...
The third time...
Two months later, the affair was exposed.
The wife was hysterical, asking Lu Chenchen why, why did she shield that bad man, why didn't she tell her?
Lu Chenchen let her vent her anger and sorrow until she collapsed limply on the sofa and quieted down. Only then did she explain in one sentence: "I'm sorry, I just don't have the qualifications to judge betrayal."
From the moment the husband brought a woman home, Lu Chenchen getting fired had already become inevitable. The only difference was whether the husband or the wife did the firing. If Lu Chenchen didn’t take the money, the husband would fire her on the spot. If she did take it, it would happen when exposed by the wife.
She was just a nanny. Where did she have any decision-making power or the qualifications to judge right from wrong? Not to mention she didn’t even have the right to choose loyalty.
Because any one of them was her employer. Even if she reported the husband, that would not be called loyalty, but foolishness.
What nanny had the right to expose her employer?
That time, she had no way to save herself and could only await her ending.
This time was different. She could explain and guarantee that she would conscientiously stay within her station and not get involved in any disputes.
It just remained to be seen whether Mrs. Mao believed her or not.
Luckily, Mrs. Mao's expression gradually softened from stern to gentle. In the two weeks they interacted, Lu Chenchen spoke little and worked diligently, all observed by Mrs. Mao.
In the end, she pulled out a tissue and handed it to Lu Chenchen, who had explained herself into a sweat, and said in her usual gentle tone: “Wipe off your sweat!”
Phew! It seemed that Lu Chenchen had passed this hurdle unscathed.
What was even better was that neither of them were stupid. Lu Chenchen didn’t have to spell things out too bluntly, and Mrs. Mao also didn’t need to tell her that she already understood.
But for Mao Yuanning, Lu Chenchen would be holding this grudge.
This man was truly sinister, malicious and unreasonable. Not to mention the past, even just looking at the present: Lu Chenchen neither owed him anything nor had any recent enmity with him. Yet as soon as he came back he shaded her, acting as if he couldn’t wait for her to be laid off immediately so he could arrange for his own person. Had he never considered that even if she really was laid off, would Mrs. Mao let his person in the door?
She had just barely, by a hair's width, avoided getting shaded out of her job. If she hadn't decisively chosen to explain things face-to-face with Mrs. Mao...
Smashing someone's rice bowl was akin to killing someone's parents. Lu Chenchen felt that if he dared to bring a woman home like the previous husband, she would dare, professional ethics and qualifications be damned, to tell on him to Mrs. Yao even if she had to pay money to do it, letting him know that although Lu Chenchen was just a small nanny, she also liked swift revenge.
These rich imaginings made Lu Chenchen feel psychologically balanced to some degree.
In the afternoon, Second Mao and Little Ming came back first, yelling that they were hungry as soon as they got back. Lu Chenchen quickly served them each a small bowl of eight treasure congee to fill their stomachs.
When Big Mao got back, heedless of hunger, he put down his schoolbag and immediately wanted to go out to play. This led Second Mao and Little Ming to also push aside their eight treasure congee to follow along.
With three children, an adult definitely had to go along to supervise. Mrs. Mao was unwilling to go, so Lu Chenchen had no choice but to step up.
As soon as Big Mao saw that someone would go with him, he was elated, yelling that he wanted to play badminton.
Lu Chenchen thought for a bit, then asked him, “Have you learned before?”
Big Mao shook his head.
“Alright then.” Lu Chenchen nodded in agreement.
Big Mao didn’t understand, and asked her why she had to first ask if he had learned or not.
Lu Chenchen moved next to his ear and whispered, “If you had learned before, then I definitely wouldn't be able to beat you. Losing to a child is quite embarrassing for an adult, so of course I wouldn't have agreed.”
A little ten-year-old rascal, when truly happy, would laugh until his entire body shook. He also moved next to Lu Chenchen's ear and said, “Even if I haven't learned, I can still beat you.”
Lu Chenchen snorted and asked Second Little Mao and Little Ming, “Why do oxen fly in the sky?”
They answered in unison, “Because Big Mao is blowing on the ground.”
