The Female Nanny of the Male Lawyer's Family-Chapter 8: The Middle-aged Neighbor Who gossips.

Just before 6 am, the faint morning light coming through the thin curtains woke up Lu Chenchen.

Alright, if I'm awake, I might as well get up, she thought.

At 6:30 am, Lu Chenchen was eating a steamed pork bun while changing shoes to take Li Li out for a walk. Grandma came downstairs.

"Morning," Lu Chenchen greeted her.

Smiling, Grandma asked, "Haven't finished the bun yet?"

Lu Chenchen sighed to herself. Why is it that dignified elders become so mischievous once you get familiar with them? They seem to enjoy watching others struggle.

She had to admit she had steamed a whole bag of pork buns, full of hope. But the kids got tired of them after just two days.

Now she had to steam two every morning to reward herself for working hard.

Just after putting on Li Li's leash, Mao Yuanning also came downstairs.

"Morning. Going grocery shopping?" he asked her.

Lu Chenchen respectfully replied, "Taking Li Li out for a walk."

"Great, I'm going for my morning run too," he said.

Damn it! Lu Chenchen secretly rolled her eyes. She had never felt so disrespectful towards her employer.

This family was really something. Except for the kids, no one liked to sleep in. She thought she got up early enough. Grandma got up around the same time, which was understandable. But now Mao Yuanning also went jogging early. He had told her before that Mrs. Mao liked early mornings too. So... was it possible Mrs. Mao had already been up for a while, standing by the bedroom window watching them downstairs?

Her wild imagination sent chills down her spine. In the soft morning light of early summer, she shivered and subconsciously glanced up at the window of Mrs. Mao's bedroom on the second floor.

All she saw was the thick opaque curtain.

Lu Chenchen put on an expression of "Thank goodness" and walked out with Mao Yuanning, showing great delight.

Just a few steps out, before they got far from the view of Mrs. Mao's bedroom window, Lu Chenchen yelped "Ow!"

"What's wrong?" Mao Yuanning asked.

Lu Chenchen scratched her head awkwardly, "Oh, I suddenly can't remember if I turned off the stove after steaming the buns. Can't joke about this. No, I need to go back and check. Mr. Mao, please go ahead first. I'll take Li Li out later."

Mao Yuanning nodded with a grin, "Yeah, can't joke about that. Go check it out."

Lu Chenchen suddenly felt like he knew she was lying.

So what if he knew. A person nearly scammed to death shouldn't resist or get mad, right? Couldn't she avoid them? She didn't want any trouble.

Just as she headed back, she bumped right into Mrs. Mao coming downstairs. Her timing was perfect, making Lu Chenchen highly suspicious that Mrs. Mao had indeed been standing by the bedroom window watching her interaction with Mr. Mao.

If Lu Chenchen had gained anything working for the Maos, overcoming her fear of Li Li was one of them. She had made great efforts, like staring contests with Li Li to see who would look away first, making it chicken cakes, and plucking up courage to pet it... Now the once imperious big guy had become tame towards her, sometimes even proactively nudging her with its snout to take it out.

While enjoying the walk with Li Li, a middle-aged woman caught up to them from behind and slapped Lu Chenchen hard on the shoulder, extremely excited. "I knew you looked familiar! You're the housekeeper for Lawyer Mao's family?"

Lu Chenchen exaggerated rubbing her shoulder, grunting in pain to show the woman had hit her too hard.

The middle-aged woman didn't care at all. Still agitated, she said, "I've seen you walking the dog and taking the kids out. I live right across from them. You must have seen me too, right?"

In her mind, Lu Chenchen recited the "housekeeper lessons" she had summarized:

Housekeepers must not gossip about employers with their attractive neighbors!

Housekeepers must not gossip about employers with their attractive neighbors!

Housekeepers must not gossip about employers with their attractive neighbors!

When Lu Chenchen had worked for an employer in Hanyang and took care of their kid, she would always run into an older housekeeper who also took a child out. The woman loved to chat, telling everything about her employer's family situation first before asking the other housekeepers about theirs. Most housekeepers knew where to draw the line, but some would gossip about their employer's troubles at home.

Through their chats, they found out one employer's grandfather was having an affair with a grandma in the neighborhood.

After the older housekeeper spread this out, it not only caused a huge fight between the two families, but also implicated the housekeeper who leaked the information and her employer...

It almost became a bloody incident.

Afterwards, many familiar housekeepers disappeared. Lu Chenchen heard that after the older housekeeper's lady employer went door to door to apologize, she not only fired her without pay, but her husband also went to the domestic company to hold them accountable.

Since then, "Speech is silver, silence is gold" became Lu Chenchen's motto.

How could she let this attractive middle-aged neighbor pry open her mouth after so much conditioning?

No matter what the woman asked, Lu Chenchen just smiled without answering.

On the way back walking Li Li, the neighbor still wouldn't give up. She changed her approach, chattering away many trivial things she knew about the Maos.

Although unimportant, it still piqued Lu Chenchen's interest.

Turned out Mao Yuanning was a lawyer. Grandma was his mother's younger sister. When he was very little, his mother passed away. His father sent him to live with his maternal grandma and went to Australia himself. It was his aunt who raised him up.

The neighbor's daughter worked at a joint-stock bank where Mao Yuanning happened to be the legal counsel. So she knew a thing or two about his family.

Hmm, that was a lot of inside information!

This middle-aged neighbor really went all out, didn't she? Just how much did she think she could get out of Lu Chenchen?

Reason told Lu Chenchen to be vigilant and steer clear of her employer's matters. But her ears couldn't help leaning towards the neighbor while her mouth felt like a cotton swab was poking inside: Open up, open up! Ask her what else, what else?

Both the neighbor and Lu Chenchen were reluctant to part ways.

"Let's add each other, so we can keep in touch if anything comes up." The middle-aged woman took out her phone.

Lu Chenchen instantly sobered up.

"Um, next time, next time. I'm in a rush. Haven't made breakfast yet. See, Grandma is waiting for me..." Lu Chenchen smiled awkwardly and hurried away from her, breathing out in relief.

"What were you chatting about with Zhong Rong's mom?" Grandma asked sinisterly when Lu Chenchen got back.

Lu Chenchen smiled wryly. On the walk over, the Zhong Rong's mom had done most of the chatting while she only contributed two "huh's": Is that so, really?