Chapter 731



.

“No, Roger Hunt put us here so we could snoop around for news, but who would have thought that Mr. Hunt’s supervision would be so strict? We’ve been here for three years, but we haven’t found any useful news, Geez! If we get fired, he won’t necessarily protect us.”

“Don’t worry needlessly. It will only embarrass you if you don’t protect us. Even if it’s just to keep him from being embarrassed, he’ll protect us anyway. Besides, everything we said was favorable to Pete. I don’t think he’ll spread any nonsense.”

The two, oblivious to the people walking toward them from behind, continued to speculate in hushed tones. “Besides, Mr. Hunt can hardly protect himself now. Now that his father has returned to fight him for ownership of the company, he can’t be bothered to confront us. We’re safer than we’ve ever been at this point.”

“You’re right, heh heh. I wonder who will win, Mr. Hunt or his father. In the end, it’s all down to Mrs. Hunt.”

“Have you seen Mrs. Hunt, she doesn’t look like a fifty-something at all. You can easily tell she’s thirty; and even if you say she’s twenty, there will probably be people who believe it! How can anyone be so beautiful?”

“Women are a problem. Precisely because she’s so beautiful, things have gone wrong. Besides, she doesn’t even look old, what else is she, if not a slut?”

“Shut up!”

Nora intended to listen and see what else the two were talking about, but eventually they changed the subject and started talking about Iris.

This was intolerable.

Her fierce shout made the two men startle. They turned in unison to see Nora approaching them as she held Pete’s hand.

Nora’s pretty face was tense, and in her eyes was a faint anger as well as an aura of pressure. Add to this her tall, slender figure, which allowed her to stand at the same height as the two men, and her aura was getting stronger and stronger.

They were so frightened that they were quick to lower their heads. “Miss Smith,” they said.

Nora narrowed her eyes and stared at them. “Bad-mouthing your employers behind their backs? Is that what your contracts asked of you?”

The Hunt’s servants were mostly veterans whom the Hunts were already used to having around. Some of the veterans’ relatives also worked there. Although there was no such thing as indentured servitude today, their employers never abused them. In fact, they treated them very well, so most of the family servants were very loyal.

There were some veterans who received even better treatment, such as Fanny, who served Elder Mrs. Hunt. She had served Elder Lady Hunt all her life, so the two were as close as sisters.

However, the servants also knew they had to protect each other, so they were all hired through a contractual employment system.

When the two servants were hired to clean the backyard garden three years ago, they had also signed employment contracts. Therefore, the scope of their work and job requirements would definitely be laid out in detail in the contracts.

The two servants looked at each other in fright. One of them said boldly, “Miss Smith, you must have misheard. We have not spoken ill of our employers.”

The other man also recovered from his fright and stammered, “Y-yes, you are right. We didn’t talk about our employers behind their backs. We were talking about another family, you must have misheard!”.

Nora: “?”

They really were so… Were they pretending nothing had happened when they’d already been caught red-handed?

She narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t be bothered to say anything more to the two of them, so she immediately said, “You must know very well whether or not you talked about your bosses behind their backs just now. As for Pete and I, we were right here. Are you going to take the initiative to resign? Or do you want me to have someone fire you?”

Nora was very aggressive. “If it’s the latter, I’m afraid you’ll both end up on the blacklist. You don’t need me to explain the consequences of that, do you?”

If they were blacklisted, no one would hire them when they went looking for jobs in the future.

Besides…

Pete raised his head. In his big eyes, which resembled Cherry’s, there was not the latter’s scoundrelishness, but an intriguing look. In her young, tender voice, she said, “Mommy, why are you letting them go? If we tell Daddy, you’ll both get a hard time!”.

What Nora said had already intimidated the two servants a moment ago, so when they heard what Pete said, they both immediately fell to the ground in fright.

One of them said, “Mr. Pete, now we realize our mistake, sob!”.

Nora stroked Pete’s hair. “Forget it, everyone makes mistakes. Let’s forgive them whenever possible!”

Hearing what she said, the two servants looked at each other, both swallowing saliva with difficulty. One of them said, “Thank you, Miss Smith. We’ll be on our own…”

Nora nodded and pointed to the door. “Go.”

They both nodded. Then they turned and walked out.

As they disappeared from the garden, Xander’s voice carried through the place. “Hmph, you let them go so easily? You’re such a pushy wimp.”

Nora looked down and let out a quiet sigh.

She squatted down and looked up at Xander. “You’re still young, so you don’t understand how important jobs are to people. Now that you’ve both lost your jobs, even feeding yourselves will be a problem for you. This is already a very severe punishment.”

Xander had grown up with Trueman. Nora didn’t want him to have such a narrow view. She wanted him to learn to be kind to others.

Xander scoffed, “Still, that won’t do! Your punishment is too light.”

Cherry blinked. She didn’t understand the ins and outs of what happened, but still, she immediately responded, “Don’t talk nonsense, Mom must have her reasons for doing what she did! Mom will definitely punish them for you!”.

Pete explained, “Xander, don’t worry, do you think they’ll have it easy after they quit? Mommy has already said that jobs are very important to them. Do you think people who can’t find a job again in the future will be able to enjoy life?”

To be honest, the punishment for speaking ill of others behind their backs should not have been so severe.

However, given that they were Roger’s pawns, how could Nora be so kind?

Besides.

Explained Pete, “Mom can’t do anything to them openly because this is a society governed by laws! They’re just people our family has hired, they’re not our slaves! Besides… We have no right to fire them!”

Her last sentence stunned both Cherry and Xander. They both asked in unison, “Why?”.

“Because…”

Before he could finish, footsteps sounded again from the garden entrance and Roger entered with the two servants.

Roger had a smile on his face, as always. As soon as he entered, he said cheerfully, “Oh, who’s this, isn’t she Justin’s fiancée, what’s the matter, how did these two bastards make you so angry that you lost your temper?”

The rest of Pete’s words were cut off by him. He looked at Cherry and Xander, took them by the hand and whispered, “That evil Uncle Roger will tell you why!”.

Both Cherry and Xander looked at Roger in confusion.

Roger’s eyes narrowed, but he had a very gentle and kind expression on his face. He said, “Nora, you haven’t even married into the family, and you’re already making decisions at the Hunt residence? Isn’t that rather inappropriate? Besides, what have these two people done wrong? They kept crying, so I couldn’t understand what they were saying. After all, they are people I recruited into the family, so you have to give me a reason to fire them no matter what, right? The Hunts are reasonable people, we shouldn’t bully them just because they’re weak and powerless!”

At the sight of him, Nora narrowed her eyes slightly. She said dispassionately, “They badmouthed their bosses behind their backs – isn’t this reason enough?”

Roger immediately replied, “What, they really had the audacity to badmouth their employers behind their backs? The reason is sufficient, of course. It is clearly written in the employees’ contract that they are not allowed to talk about their employers behind their backs, Let alone divulge news and information about them to outsiders!”

After saying this, he looked directly at the two servants. “How can they make such a mistake when they know perfectly well that they shouldn’t? If they have really spoken ill of their bosses behind their backs, they will certainly have to be fired. Besides, they will also have to pay back the salaries they have been paid for the past three years as compensation!”

As soon as Lionel and Greg heard this, they noticed the look Roger was giving them, they took the hint. They shouted, “Mr. Roger, we are innocent!”.

Roger snorted coldly. “Are you innocent? What’s the use of you shouting here? Since my sister-in-law has said that you two spoke ill of your employers, surely she has evidence to back it up! Otherwise, I would never make baseless accusations.”

He then looked at Nora with a smile and said, “Nora, where is the proof? If you can produce the evidence, I’ll take care of these two people right away!”

Pete sighed quietly and explained to Cherry and Xander, “You’ve seen it, haven’t you? America has labor protection laws. Even if you want to fire an employee for misconduct, you have to present evidence of misconduct first.”

Xander was perplexed. After all, he had grown up in a basement and didn’t know much about human relations. He asked, “But didn’t you and Mom hear them?”

Cherry, however, had already understood. She stomped her foot and said angrily, “Tsk, Xander, why are you so stupid? Yes we heard them, but they can also contradict us by saying we’re lying! We have to present factual evidence as proof! No wonder Mom threatened those two to quit. Turns out it was because Mom didn’t have any real proof.”

By now, Xander had also understood. A look of deep reflection appeared on his countenance. “So that’s how it is!”

On the other side, Roger was still staring at Nora. Seeing that she was keeping quiet with narrowed eyes, he smiled and said, “Nora, where’s the proof, show us the proof! Surely you have proof, don’t you?”

Lionel and Greg instantly changed their tone. “Mr. Roger, we really don’t speak ill of others behind their backs! Miss Smith is only slandering us because she doesn’t like us! You shouldn’t fire us – if you really do, we’ll sue you and go to court arbitration! Labor law will protect us.

Hearing what they were saying, Roger looked at Nora smugly.

Seeing this, Xander whispered, “We’re just going to drop the whole thing just like that?”

Xander may not have understood anything else, but he did understand one thing, and that was – Nora wanted to take action against those two people, and if she failed, it would be very embarrassing for her!

However, Cherry blinked and said with a smile, “No way! Does Mom look that weak to you?”.

Xander: “???!”

.

.

.