The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 81 The Resignation

"Ye, Charles is right. Nancy must apologize to you." While Autumn was standing awkwardly beside Nancy, she heard Gary's voice emerging from behind the crowd.

Suddenly everyone started looking in his direction. They parted away and made way for him as he walked over to Nancy. "Nancy, you have served our family for more than twenty years, and I have always thought of you as a dutiful servant who knows her place." He said, "Ye is not only Charles's wife and my granddaughter-in-law, but also the hostess of this family. I hope you can respect her the way you respec me and Charles. Is that clear?"

"Mr. Lu, in fact..."

"Enough. I have been watching it from upstairs for quite a while now, and have a clear idea of what has happened here. Now, either you apologize to Ye, or you pack your bags and go back to the countryside. Just make your decision." Gary was very disappointed with Nancy. She had served the Lu Family for a long time, and yet paid no attention to basic manners.

"Hurry up, Nancy. Charles and Ye have to go to work. They don't have time to waste on you." urged Gary.

Nancy stood there for a long time, and hesitated. This was a well-paying job. If she lost it, there would be no way left to support her good-for-nothing son and daughter-in-law. What's more, her grandson had just been accepted by a university, hence she was in need of money. She just couldn't lose the job now.

The Lu Family had been treating her well, anyway. After weighing the pros and cons, Nancy decided to apologize. She said to Autumn, "Mrs. Lu, I am sorry for what happened today. Please be assured that things like this won't happen in the future. Please be gracious and forgive me."

Listening to her apology, Autumn let out an embarrassed smile. Certainly she knew that Nancy's apology was halfhearted. However, she had no choice but to accept it. "We are family, please don't mention it." After Nancy's apology, Gary addressed the people around, "Let me make it clear today. Anyone who dares to show Mrs. Lu disrespect in the future, will be banished from this house."

Gary then patted Charles on the shoulder and said, "It is running late, you two should leave for work."

"Yes, grandpa." replied Charles. He took Autumn along and they got into the car. On their way to work, Charles still found her upset. He asked, "What's wrong? Still thinking about what just happened?" "Yeah." Autumn nodded lightly, "I just can't understand why Nancy is so hostile towards me."

She sighed, "I am afraid that the way you treated her today will only make her hate me all the more. We share the same house, seeing each other is unavoidable. It will be hard for me to get along with her in days ahead."

"I did it on purpose, so as to set an example for other servants. They need to keep in mind that you are my wife, if they cherish their jobs here, they will have to obey and respect you." Charles smiled and said, "Well, just take your mind off it. Let's go and have some breakfast."

"Breakfast? Didn't you just have it at home? And we are running out of time by the way. What if we get late for work?" Autumn asked in confusion.

"There is no hurry." Charles drove the car and stopped at a Hong Kong-style restaurant. They had some Cantonese morning tea before driving back to Shining Company.

As always, they went upstairs separately. During Charles's stay in hospital, the company affairs were taken care of by David. At the same time, Linda had been on pins and needles the whole week. She turned pale after hearing about Charles's return.

When Autumn walked into the Secretary Department, David was the first one to greet her, "Welcome back, Mrs. Lu." he said.

"Hmm." Autumn simply nodded and said, "Thank you for putting in so much hard work these days."

"It's my pleasure." David smiled then asked, "How is Mr. Lu? Has he recovered?"

"Almost. We only have to change the wound dressing from time to time." Autumn smiled, "Please continue with your work then."

"Yes, Mrs. Lu. There happens to be a document for Mr. Lu to sign." David said and went out with the document. Autumn returned to her seat, and glanced at Linda on her way. Linda kept her head bowed low and avoided any eye contact with Autumn.

Although Charles had been away from work these days, David had kept him informed about Linda's each and every move. After the incident that night, David had specially warned her to keep Autumn's identity a secret. Of course she dared not tell anyone. But the past one week was an anxious time for her, until the couple returned back to work.

She had no idea how Charles would deal with her. But she just didn't feel like sitting back and waiting.

Her job in Shining Company was currently a "gold rice bowl" for her. 'If I get fired by Shining Company, who will hire me?'

After a long hesitation, she stood up and walked over to Autumn's desk.

Autumn had just cleaned her desk up. She got startled at Linda's sudden appearance. "What's up?" she asked.

"Ye...eh... Mrs. Lu, can you spare me five minutes?" Linda gathered the courage and asked.

Autumn paused. She hesitated for a while before replying, "I don't see the necessity of it."

"I..." Linda was horribly embarrassed. It was totally beyond her expectation that the person she had offended would be Mrs. Lu. But what's done is done. It was only natural for Autumn to hate her now.

"Mrs. Lu, It was my fault that night. I was blind as a bat to put you in that dangerous situation. But now I know that I was wrong. My mother is ill, and my brother is in college. I really can't afford to lose this job. I..." It was also her family's troubles that poisoned Linda's mind. She thought that as long as she could win the heart of a wealthy man like Charles, she could manage to escape her terrible living conditions. This also explained her hostility towards Autumn.

"Linda, I can't imagine what could have happened to me that night if I weren't Charles's wife..." The mere thought of that night brought terror to Autumn. If Sam wasn't there, bad things could have happen before Charles came to save her. She wasn't annoyed by the way Linda treated her, but she was upset at her wicked intentions.

"I know I have done wrong, I'll change..." Linda explained anxiously, "I never imagined that you are Mrs. Lu, otherwise..."

"Linda, in fact, I do understand you.", Autumn said. She meant what she said. It was understandable for girls to have some vanity, especially girls in Linda's age. What's more, working with an excellent man like Charles every day might have set her standard higher when it came to relationships. It was perfectly normal for her to develop a crush on Charles.

However, there could have been many ways to express her feelings. Had Linda's pursuit for Charles been decent, Autumn would not have been angry. Yet Linda chose to reach her goal by stepping on others. "It is quite natural for you to fancy an eligible bachelor like Charles. But you can try to win his heart openly. Is it really appropriate to bring down all the potential competitors just because you like him?"