Chapter 41: Neighbors

This housekeeper naturally couldn’t be kept. Mr. Hua dismissed her on the spot, telling her to pack her things and leave.

The housekeeper was not convinced by this outcome. She knew the employer would be angry, but she never expected him to be this angry, to the point of directly firing her.

Fire her for a dog?

Her comprehensive and excellent professional skills had made her the company’s golden senior housekeeper, and she had been thanked and praised by many families she had served.

The children she had looked after would express their reluctance when she left their families, and some employers would even argue over who got to hire her.

Now, she liked and was willing to stay here, but the employer wanted to fire her because of a dog.

As the old saying goes, dogs are inherently insatiable. Feeding them too much wouldn’t make them good guard dogs.

Didn’t the employer also dislike this dog for tearing up the house?

What she did was just solve the employer’s problem.

Mr. Hua had no desire to communicate with her further when she brought up these points.

He couldn’t understand the housekeeper’s twisted sense of right and wrong, just as the housekeeper couldn’t understand his regard for Coffee Snow.

Mr. Hua complained about the housekeeper’s actions to the housekeeping company.

All the housekeeping company could do was apologize to him and offer some meager compensation, promising to punish the unsatisfactory housekeeper.

From the housekeeping company’s routine and templated responses, Mr. Hua could already foresee that this housekeeper would not receive any truly damaging punishment.

No matter how much he regarded Coffee Snow as family, legally, pets are just a type of property.

The physical and emotional harm inflicted on Coffee Snow, in the eyes of outsiders, was merely a slight damage to one of his possessions.

Mr. Hua was annoyed that, legally, such minor property damage wasn’t even enough to constitute a case.

Furthermore, this property damage was not irreversible, so the person who damaged this property would receive a negligible punishment, perhaps not even enough to terminate their employment contract.

In his anger, Mr. Hua pressed the customer service representative, asking what specific action would be taken against this housekeeper.

The customer service representative on the other end of the line stated in a mechanical, emotionless voice that the housekeeping company had its own disciplinary rules, and after verifying the truthfulness of his report, they would impose punishment according to the relevant rules.

Mr. Hua: “Verify the truthfulness? How do you verify? I’m right here. What needs verifying? You can ask me directly.”

“I’m sorry, sir. Plot verification is not within my scope of work. My colleague will follow up on this matter shortly. Please rest assured, if it is indeed our employee’s fault, you will receive appropriate compensation.”

Mr. Hua wanted to curse: “No, did you not understand? She hurt my dog. This isn’t about compensation; this is cruelty to a living being.”

The customer service representative’s tone was calm, and her speech was rapid: “If that’s the case, please prepare the purchase invoice and various medical bills. Our company will evaluate them and provide you with a certain amount of financial compensation. By the way, sir, have you purchased pet insurance? If not, we recommend you consider buying one.”

“That’s not what I want!”

“Then what is your request, sir? I can record it for you here.”

“I want to complain about your employee’s terrible conduct. I want you to know how much harm such an employee can cause to clients. I want you to take it seriously so that no other families are harmed in the future.”

Customer service: “But you’ve already complained, sir. Your complaint will also result in our employee having corresponding credit points deducted. Besides complaining about our employee, is there anything else we can help you with?”

“Harm, harm, harm, the key is harm, don’t you understand human language?”

“I apologize that our service did not satisfy you. I sincerely apologize to you on behalf of the company.” After a moment, she asked again, “Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?”

Mr. Hua: “…”

He was now very calm, unable to even muster anger.

The customer service representative waited for a while, hearing no reply from him.

Then she said, “Okay, it was a pleasure serving you today. Please rate my service after you hear the beep.”

Mr. Hua finally understood a saying he had heard before.

His friend, who had changed housekeepers more than ten times, said, “Housekeepers circulating in the market are basically those who have been returned multiple times. Those with good resources will only hoard them and make a fortune in silence, not releasing these resources. At most, they will circulate among very close friends.”

Mr. Hua deeply agreed.

Feeling dispirited, he went to Mingjia to pick up Coffee Snow and also brought back the ‘found’ business card Qin Qing had left.

Mr. Hua personally washed Coffee Snow’s designated dog bowl. The spoiled, sticky residue made him feel even more guilty towards his furry child.

He couldn’t believe that his beloved furry child was eating such things every day right under his nose.

While the housekeeper’s mischief was certainly a reason for this incident, his own lack of attentiveness was also to blame.

Things he valued and cared about should not be entrusted to others.

He threw away the previous bag of dog food. He opened a new bag and poured a full bowl for Coffee Snow.

The silly child was starving, eating from the dog bowl like a bulldozer, making him later have to forcibly pull it away to prevent it from overeating.

After a full meal, the silly dog was like a seal unleashed. Soon, it started wagging its tail, sniffing here and there around the house.

That bad guy who invaded its territory was gone, and even the scent of her belongings had faded!

Though it didn’t know why, it didn’t stop it from being happy.

It ran around, panting and smiling at its owner.

Its paws stretched and stretched, and it dug out a small round ball from under the sofa that had rolled in at some unknown time.

It nudged it forward with its nose, chasing after it.

The sand inside the small round ball made a rustling sound when it moved.

Coffee Snow chased the sound, running happier and happier.

That vitality, so different from before, made Mr. Hua feel a pang of sadness.

As much as he loved his dog, he hated the housekeeper.

He picked up the business card for the Found studio and dialed the number on it.

After completing the payment for this service, Mr. Hua asked, “Does your studio offer curse services? I’d like to place another order.”

“No.” It was Qin Fanghao who answered the phone, and she immediately refuted him almost as soon as Mr. Hua finished speaking.

Even a second’s delay would be disrespect to the law.

Qin Fanghao: “Cursing and other means of harming others are illegal. The purpose of our studio is to solve various difficult problems for clients. We abide by the law and social public order and good customs.”

Perhaps she had received such requests before, and some clients were being unreasonable. She added an emphatic sentence: “Not even for extra money.”

From her solemn tone, it was clear.

It was genuinely “no,” not a hint for a higher fee.

Mr. Hua said “oh” and didn’t seem too disappointed. This answer was within his expectations.

There are just some things in the world that rules and laws cannot restrain. They simply make one feel disgusted and pained.

When one cannot take effective measures to protect one’s rights, nor retaliate against those who wield the butcher’s knife, all one can do is ensure that fewer people are harmed in the future.

Mr. Hua organized the sequence of events and posted it in the community’s owner group.

A very high percentage of families in this community employed nannies and housekeepers.

However, Mr. Hua’s message did not cause much of a stir. Only neighbors he knew well, who also owned pets, inquired about Coffee Snow’s current situation.

Other than that, the group was very quiet.

No one commented on the housekeeper’s actions, nor did anyone become wary of their own housekeepers.

Mr. Hua’s lips curved slightly downwards, and he exhaled a stifled breath, sighing silently.

He put down his phone and played fetch with Coffee Snow.

There was nothing more he could do; he could only manage his own life.

It was just a repetitive, mechanical game of fetch, and he and the dog played it tirelessly for over an hour.

Sweating, he took Coffee Snow to the bathroom for a chaotic bath.

This little dog loved playing the water-shaking game.

After being rinsed, it would deliberately stand in front of him and shake its fur, splashing all the water onto him, then grinning foolishly.

After shaking, it would stand under the faucet again to get wet, continuing to shake its fur and splash water, never tiring of it.

The world of a furry child was just that simple.

When Mr. Hua finally released the pent-up frustration in his heart and picked up his phone again, he found that his contact list had more than ten new friend requests.

All from the owner group.

All asking about fortune-telling.

“Brother, is what you said true? I mean, the part about the Master.”

“Can you help introduce that Master?”

“But if she can see the dog’s problem, can she also see a child’s problem? My child cries a lot, and the hospital can’t find anything.”

“Can the Master help with Feng Shui? My company hasn’t been doing well recently. If it’s accurate, I’d like to ask for a magic artifact to place in the company.”

“Can the Master tell fortunes for relationships? I’ve broken up with three scumbags already, and I want to know who’s ruining my relationships.”

Mr. Hua: “…”

Was this some kind of unmentionable secret? They were all silent in the group but messaged him privately.

Now he was like an octopus, typing on his phone keyboard so fast it felt like sparks were flying.

He looked at the owner group and saw that others had spoken.

“Master Qin is indeed a compassionate and reclusive master. My cat went missing once, and I almost couldn’t find it. This Master helped me calculate its whereabouts, and I found it directly, even more miraculously than surveillance. That time, she also helped my unwell son, and the problem was resolved quite smoothly! Our whole family is very grateful to her.”

This was Mr. Ming, who was acquainted with Mr. Hua.

Unexpectedly, a Mrs. Liu, whom he didn’t know at all, also spoke. He knew she was a very successful female entrepreneur.

She said, “Oh, isn’t this Master Qin? So quickly, a lucky neighbor has met her?”

She introduced, “This Master is very good at dealing with troublesome villains. I have also benefited from her. Not only that, I once lost a very important treasure, and the police were helpless, but the Master helped me find it.”

There were two others who had also met the Master, so why were they all adding him?

He didn’t know, but Mr. Ming and Mrs. Liu were in similar situations.

Mr. Hua took a photo of the studio’s business card and sent it out.

However, these neighbors always believed that if someone introduced them, the other party would be more attentive. So they still asked him to help with the introduction.

He said, “I heard this Master has a property in our community, and this time she came to see it. She should be moving in soon. Everyone will be able to see her.”

Mr. Hua was right.

Qin Qing found the apartment satisfactory after viewing it and indeed planned to move in.

She heard that there were many types of apartments in this community. Liu Simin had given her a large flat, one unit per floor.

The outer balconies of the apartment were connected, and Mumu ran a few laps around the balcony as soon as she entered, clearly very satisfied.

The apartment was fully furnished with appliances.

She only needed to buy some green plants and small soft furnishings.

After the viewing, Qin Qing went to the property management to register for facial recognition access. Afterward, she was added to an owner group by the property management.

She never expected her neighbors to be so enthusiastic, so enthusiastic that she didn’t seem like a new resident, but rather like some high-ranking leader inspecting the community, and the neighbors were desperately showcasing themselves.

“Welcome, welcome! I just baked some half-baked cheesecake. I’ll send some over for you to try.”

“Don’t hesitate to ask if you need help moving or carrying anything.”

“Do you have pets? We can add you to the community’s pet-owning group. When it’s inconvenient, group members help each other look after their furry children.”

“There’s also a community group-buying group, all good quality products, with regular deliveries.”

“I’m an amateur fitness coach. I can help you with your fitness.”

Then someone came out and said, “Since everyone is so enthusiastic, how about I create a new group, and we organize a welcome party? Those interested can join.”

Qin Qing fell into deep thought. Was this the quality of owners in a high-end community?

She didn’t believe it.

Their enthusiasm made her hair stand on end; it was strangely frightening.