Chapter 235: Dealing with the Audacious Nanny
Aurora wiped away her tears and nodded in agreement.
"Catherine, if you feel too tired, just tell me, and I'll definitely get your brothers to help!"
Even as she said this, Aurora felt a bit guilty.
But there were just too many things going on with the Windsor family, and Aurora didn't want to deal with any of it.
Finally, the children had all grown up, each one so smart and capable - it was time to let them take over what she had been handling.
She had long wanted to retire with Brandon and go traveling!
If it weren't for wanting to wait until after sending Catherine off to school, Aurora and Brandon would probably have left home ages ago.
She had already planned out their travel route!
Catherine looked at Aurora's excited yet slightly embarrassed expression, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
Aurora was quite adorable.
"Okay, don't worry Mom, I'll ask Charles about anything I don't know."
The matters at Starry Residence weren't really that many. The bigger reason for problems with the Windsor family's servants was that the people Lila had left behind had sticky fingers from the start.
When Lila first married Marcus, she practically wanted to bring every dog from her village to work at the Windsor family.
After Aurora took charge, she didn't replace those people and had made do with them all these years.
But this making do had led to big problems.
Charles stood up to serve Aurora some soup, his tone reassuring.
"I had people investigate all the Windsor family servants' social media accounts. Lucy's case is an exception - the others may have sticky fingers but aren't this outrageous. However, we traced large sums of money flowing into Lucy's account and we are currently tracking the source."
Catherine looked up and said flatly, "It's probably money from people interested in the Windsor family."
Though Lucy was bold and had secretly contacted quite a few people wanting to dig up information about the Windsor family, she couldn't access anything involving the Windsor family's secrets.
The Windsor family members' studies were off-limits to servants.
All the studies were cleaned by the Windsor family children themselves, and they had installed plenty of surveillance cameras. Even if Lucy wanted to get in, she couldn't find an opportunity.
Catherine had looked at the information Lucy sold - most of it was made up by Lucy herself.
"Lucy sold a lot of information about our family, but it was three parts truth and seven parts fiction. Like saying Mom loves beef stewed with black truffles and makes the nanny get up at 3 AM every day to prepare it."
Aurora had never made anyone get up at 3 AM to make beef stewed with black truffles!
This kind of information sounded ridiculous, but quite a few people were willing to believe it. Part of Lucy's income came from this fake information.
Brandon suddenly stood up, still holding his fork.
"No wonder people kept sending me black truffles a couple years ago! And someone said I was with a nanny at home, that we'd soon have a new child, and Aurora and I were about to divorce!"
So all those wild rumors about him came from Lucy!
Brandon was completely stunned. If Aurora didn't know Brandon's character, she might have actually suspected him.
Thinking back to all those rumors, Brandon wanted to cry.
"Catherine, you don't know - people outside were saying that to marry into our family you had to have five children, that our family favored boys, and it got so bad that for years no one would go on blind dates with Charles."
Charles's mouth twitched.
How long ago were those rumors? Brandon bringing them up now was just looking for an excuse to make him go on blind dates!
"That's too much, Dad. No one going on blind dates with me is because I don't want to, not because of those rumors."
"What do you know! Thinking about those things, I can't even sleep at night. You're almost thirty!"
Charles discreetly rolled his eyes.
Brandon was someone who could fall asleep watching TV. If he couldn't sleep at night, it was definitely because he slept too much during the day.
With Brandon's instant-sleep quality, everyone in the Windsor family was envious!
"If you can't sleep, go find a night shift job."
"You still don't have a girlfriend - I can't even hold my head up when I walk!"
"If you're walking, don't hold your head up. Walking with your head down means you won't trip easily."
Brandon was nearly furious. Catherine pretended not to hear anything and giggled with Aurora.
Charles dealt with Brandon's marriage pressure while peeling shrimp for Catherine and Aurora.
The family made it through dinner noisily, and Brandon left a pile of dishes and got up from the table.
"That's what you get for arguing with me - you're washing dishes tonight!"
The Windsor family's servants had all been sent for investigation, so now there wasn't even anyone to wash dishes at home.
Catherine looked at the table full of dishes, then at Charles cleaning up by himself.
"Charles, let me help you."
Charles skillfully tied on an apron - the commanding financial CEO now had a gentle, homey air about him - and shook his head indulgently.
"No need, go keep Mom company. It's just the time it takes to put these dishes in the dishwasher. Our family doesn't need you doing housework yet. Even when Juniper was home, she never cleaned up."
Look how good Catherine is!
He knew Brandon had deliberately picked a fight with him during dinner just to make him wash the dishes!
Otherwise, why bring up marriage now of all times instead of earlier or later?
"This is Dad's old trick. I'm used to it - you'll understand later."
"Then I'll help you start the dishwasher."
"Okay, thanks Catherine."
Charles was clearly not doing housework for the first time. His movements were steady and sure - he could stack a dozen plates together and still have a hand free to wipe the table.
Catherine was amazed!
Successfully starting the dishwasher, Charles smiled modestly.
"When I was studying abroad, I took care of myself. After coming back, I had to look after your useless brothers too. I got used to it."
"You're amazing."
This was genuine praise.
Even with the people from Galactic Aurora Collective, Catherine wouldn't expect them to carry dishes taller than a person back to the kitchen in one trip.
Charles smiled confidently.
Catherine praised him!
"Go rest now. Tomorrow I'll take you to the Howard family's party."
Catherine nodded in agreement.
The next morning.
Ezekiel had spread the word early on. Eager to turn things around quickly and make the rumors disappear, he had put in great effort to invite many people.
Esme held a wine glass, wearing a long dress to hide the burns on her body that hadn't healed yet, her face full of anticipation.
Her birth mother had actually told her to find her at Ezekiel's party!
Esme was thrilled, constantly searching the party for the woman who had contacted her!
It must be that woman talking with Ezekiel!
Did this mean her mother might be Ezekiel's wife?
Esme's heart was about to jump out of her chest with excitement. If she became part of the Howard family, she wouldn't have to worry about the rest of her life!
This way, the distance between her and that excellent man would be even closer.