Chapter 731 - Making False Counter-charges
Chapter 731 Making False Counter-charges
“No, Roger Hunt put us here so that we can snoop around for news, but who would have thought that Mr. Hunt’s supervision would be so strict? We have been here for three years, but we haven’t found any useful news at all, sigh! If we are fired, he may not necessarily protect us.”
“Don’t worry needlessly. It’ll only embarrass him if he doesn’t protect us. Even if it’s just to prevent himself from being embarrassed, he will still protect us. Besides, everything we said was favorable towards Pete. I don’t think he will spread any nonsense!”
The two, who did not notice the people walking towards them from behind, continued speculating in low voices. “Furthermore, Mr. Hunt can barely protect himself now. Now that his father has returned to fight for the company’s ownership with him, he can’t be bothered to deal with us. It’s the safest for us right now!”
“You’re right, heh heh. I wonder who will win, Mr. Hunt or his father? At the bottom of it all, it’s all just because of Mrs. Hunt.”
“Have you seen Mrs. Hunt? She doesn’t look like a fifty-year-old at all. You can easily say that she’s thirty; and even if you say she’s twenty, there will probably still be people who would believe it! How can someone be so beautiful?!”
“Women are trouble. It’s precisely because she is so pretty that things went wrong! On top of that, she doesn’t even look old at all. What else is she, if not a vixen?”
“Shut up!”
Nora was originally planning to listen and see what else the two of them would talk about, but in the end, they changed the subject and started talking about Iris instead.
This was intolerable.
Her fierce bark gave the two men a shock. They turned back in unison to see Nora come up to them while holding Pete’s hand.
Nora’s pretty face was tense, and there was faint anger and a pressurizing aura in her eyes. Added to this her tall and slender figure, which allowed her to stand at about the same height as the two men, her aura became increasingly strong.
They were so scared that they hurriedly lowered their heads. “Ms. Smith,” they said.
Nora narrowed her eyes and stared at them. “Badmouthing your employers behind their backs… Is that what your contracts asked of you?”
The Hunts’ servants were mostly old-timers whom the Hunts were already accustomed to having around. Some of the old-timers’ family members would also work there. Although there was no such thing as indentured servitude these days, their employers would never abuse them. In fact, they treated them very well, so most of the servants in the family were very loyal.
There were some old-timers who received even better treatment, such as Fanny, who served the elderly Mrs. Hunt. She had served Mrs. Hunt her whole life, so the two were as close as sisters.
However, the servants also knew that they should protect themselves, so all of them were hired on a contractual employment system.
When the two servants were hired to clean the garden in the backyard three years ago, they had also signed employment contracts. Thus, their job scope and job requirements would definitely be stated in detail in the contracts.
The two servants looked at each other in fright. One of them said boldly, “Ms. Smith, you must have misheard. We didn’t badmouth our employers.”
The other man also recovered from his shock and stammered, “Y-yes, he’s right. We didn’t talk about our employers behind their backs. We were talking about another family, you must have misheard!”
Nora: “?”
They were really just so… Were they pretending that nothing had happened when they had already been caught red-handed?
She lowered her eyes. She couldn’t be bothered to say anything else to the two, so she immediately said, “You should know very well whether or not you’ve talked about your employers behind their backs just now. As for Pete and I, we were standing right here. Heh, are you going to take the initiative to resign? Or do you want me to get someone to fire
you?”
Nora was very aggressive. “If it’s the latter, then I’m afraid the two of you will end up being blacklisted. You don’t need me to explain the consequences of that, right?”
Should they be blacklisted, no one would employ them when they went job-hunting in the future.
Besides…
Pete raised his head. In his big eyes, which looked just like Cherry’s, was not the latter’s cheeky cuteness but instead a scheming look. In his young and tender voice, he said, “Mommy, why are you letting them off? If we tell Daddy, the two of them will be in for it!”
What Nora said had already intimidated the two servants just now, so when they heard what Pete said, the two immediately fell onto the ground in fright.
One of them said, “Sir Pete, we realize our mistake now, sob!”
Nora stroked Pete’s hair. “Forget it, everyone makes mistakes. Let’s forgive them wherever
possible!”
Upon hearing what she said, the two servants looked at each other, both swallowing hard. One of them said, “T-thank you, Ms. Smith. W-we will leave by ourselves…”
Nora nodded and pointed at the door. “Get
out.”
The two nodded. Then, they turned around and walked out.
When they disappeared from the garden, Xander’s voice traveled over. “Hmph, are you letting them off so easily? You are such a weakling and a pushover!”
Nora cast her eyes down and heaved a silent sigh.
She squatted down and looked at Xander. “You are still young, so you don’t understand how important jobs are to people. Now that the two of them have lost their jobs, they will find even feeding themselves a problem. This is already a very severe punishment.”
Xander had grown up with Trueman. Nora didn’t want him to become too narrow-minded. She wanted him to learn to be kind to others.
Xander sneered, “Even so, that won’t do! Their punishment is too light!”
Cherry blinked. She didn’t understand the ins and outs of what had happened, but even so, she immediately retorted, “Don’t talk nonsense, Mommy must have her reasons for doing what she did! Mommy will definitely punish them for you!”
Pete explained, “Xander, don’t worry. Do you think they will have it easy after they resign? Mommy has already said that jobs are very important to them. Do you think that people who can never find a job again in the future will be able to enjoy life?”
To be honest, punishment for talking ill of others behind their backs shouldn’t have been so severe.
However, since they were Roger’s pawns, how would Nora possibly be that kind?
Moreover!
Pete explained further, “Mommy can’t openly do anything to them because this is a society governed by laws! They are just people that our family had hired, they are not our slaves! Besides… We don’t actually have the right to fire them!”
His last sentence stunned both Cherry and Xander. Both of them asked in unison, “Why?”
“Because…”
Before he could finish, footsteps came from the garden’s entrance again and Roger walked in with the two servants.
Roger had a smile on his face as usual. As soon as he entered, he said cheerfully, “Oh my, who is this? Isn’t this Justin’s fiancée? What’s wrong? How did these two bastards make you so angry that you lost your temper so badly?”
The rest of Pete’s words were cut off by him. He looked at Cherry and Xander, held their hands, and whispered, “That mean Uncle Roger will tell you the reason!”
Both Cherry and Xander looked at Roger in confusion.
Roger’s eyes were narrowed, but he had a very gentle and amiable expression on his face. He said, “Nora, you haven’t even married into the family, yet you are already throwing your weight around in the Hunts’ residence? Isn’t that quite inappropriate? Besides, what exactly have these two people done wrong? They kept crying and crying, so I couldn’t understand what they were saying. They are, after all, people whom I recruited into the family, so you have to give me a reason for dismissing them no matter what, right? The Hunts are reasonable people, we mustn’t bully them just because they are weak and powerless!”
At the sight of him, Nora cast her eyes down slightly. She said dispassionately, “They badmouthed their employers behind their backs. Isn’t this reason enough?”
Roger immediately replied, “What? They actually had the audacity to badmouth their employers behind their backs? The reason is enough, of course. It is clearly written in the employee 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 straight at the two servants. “How can you make such a mistake when you know full well that you’re not supposed to do that? If the two of you have really badmouthed your employers behind their backs, then you will certainly have to be fired. In addition, you will also have to return the wages paid to you during the past three years as compensation!”
The moment Lionel and Greg heard this and noticed the look Roger was giving them, they got the hint. They shouted, “Mr. Roger, we are innocent!”
Roger snorted coldly. “You’re innocent? What’s the use of you crying foul here? Since my sister-in-law has said that the two of you did badmouth your employers, then she definitely has evidence to back it up! Otherwise, she would never make any baseless accusations.”
He then looked at Nora with a smile and said, “Nora, where’s the evidence? If you can produce the evidence, then I will deal with these two people right away!”
Pete sighed silently and explained to Cherry and Xander, “You saw that, right? America has labor protection laws. Even if you want to fire an employee for misconduct, you have to produce evidence of their 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 Mommy hear them?”
Cherry, however, had understood by then. She stamped her foot and said angrily, “Tsk, Xander, why are you so stupid? We did hear them, but they can also counter us by saying that we are lying! We have to produce factual evidence as proof! No wonder Mommy only threatened those two into resigning just now. As it turns out, it’s because Mommy doesn’t have any actual evidence!”
By this point, Xander had also understood. A look of deep thought appeared on his countenance. “So that’s how it is!”
On the other side, Roger was still looking at Nora. Seeing that she was keeping quiet with her eyes narrowed, he smiled and said, “Nora, where’s the evidence? Show us the evidence! Surely you do have evidence, right?”
Lionel and Greg changed their tunes at once. “Mr. Roger, we really didn’t speak ill of others behind their backs! Ms. Smith is just slandering us because she doesn’t like us! You mustn’t fire us. If you really do so, then we will sue you and go for judicial arbitration! The labor law will protect us!”
Upon hearing what they said, Roger looked at Nora smugly.
Seeing this, Xander whispered, “Are we going to drop the whole thing just like that?”
Xander might not understand 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!
Cherry, however, blinked and said with a smile, “No way! Does Mommy look like such a weakling to you?”
Xander: “??!”