Chapter 19: Digging for Fossils

Chapter 19

Unknowingly, Lu Chenchen had been working as a nanny at the Mao family for over a month. To be honest, she felt that this family was quite easy to get along with. Of course, people with good manners are always easier to get along with. Moreover...the image of Mao Yuanning often floated in Lu Chenchen's mind. Hehe, life is unpredictable. Who would have thought that one day she would end up working as a nanny in his home.

The eating habits of the Mao family were quite interesting.

No need to mention the kids. You make whatever varieties you can whip up, especially Big Mao who now eats breakfast at home. He's become very picky, eating the same kind of food twice in a row and he would immediately point it out to Lu Chenchen, demanding improvements: "I don't want to eat this again this week. I want scallion pancakes stuffed with sausage, pan-fried buns, and dumplings dipped in vinegar...", completely unlike his nonchalance when Lu Chenchen first arrived when he would eat sandwiches and bread every meal.

Mrs. Mao and her mother-in-law were more reserved. They needed Lu Chenchen to take the initiative to vary the dishes. Occasionally when they were not satisfied, they would hint to Lu Chenchen with their expressions. Of course, as they got to know each other better, Lu Chenchen rarely gave them opportunities to remind her.

As always, Mao Yuanning liked to eat dan dan noodles. Even though Lu Chenchen made all kinds of varieties like buns, wontons, and egg pancakes, whenever he saw there were no dan dan noodles, he would eat whatever was made but remind Lu Chenchen to make dan dan noodles tomorrow.

Before the May 1st holiday, following his orders, Lu Chenchen would make a bowl of dan dan noodles every morning without fail. After coming back from Professor Ji's home, Lu Chenchen experimented with substituting the ground pork with pea sprouts, and the wide noodles with thin noodles. He didn't object and finished the bowls clean every time. Lu Chenchen understood that the young master only liked the dan dan noodle dish, and refinements to the details didn't matter at all, in fact he quite enjoyed them.

How interesting! Is his personality as stubborn as his taste? Lu Chenchen was a little curious.

This morning, as usual, he finished a bowl of noodles. Perhaps because he was not rushed for time, when he saw Lu Chenchen about to carry a box of purified water to Mrs. Mao's car, he very gentlemanly took over for her.

"Buying so much?" he asked.

Lu Chenchen followed behind hugging several large boxes of cupcakes, pepper and salt crackers, potato crisps she had made last night. She hesitated for a moment, then quietly asked for confirmation, "I heard you say yesterday that the location is in a remote wilderness, right?"

"Yes." He nodded, then suddenly realized and added, "No wonder you're carrying so much stuff over."

Next, he looked Lu Chenchen up and down, then tilted his head to glance at Mrs. Mao and the children who had also come out.

Mrs. Mao was wearing a lantern sleeve waist-hugging blouse paired with British-style plaid pants, a sun protection jacket draped over her shoulders, big sunglasses, a wide-brimmed sun hat held in her hand. Her chestnut red hair was tied in a ponytail, swaying left and right as she walked, fully displaying her elegance and charm.

One had to admit she was very good at dressing herself up.

Even Lu Chenchen, a woman, was convinced by her alluring deportment, but Mao Yuanning only glanced at her feet and said, "You're wearing those to go out to the countryside?"

Mrs. Mao had on a pair of gold high heels.

"I have flats in the car," Mrs. Mao said in a calm tone.

It made one parent exclaim that she would also find a nanny when she got home.

Mao Yuanning arrived around 12:30. He brought two huge packs of snacks for the kids, about the size of 50 kg rice bags, carrying one in each hand as he walked over from afar.

Lu Chenchen only heard Big Mao's female classmate shriek "Pig feed! Pig feed!"

Then, several kids threw down their tools and rocks, and rushed over as if having seen their daddy. The parents hurriedly called for them to wash their hands. The large and small snacks were torn open and piled on the picnic mats, small mountains that the kids dove into to find what they liked to eat. Cheers, chomping sounds drew over envious kids from around them. Mao Yuanning generously handed out snacks to everyone, so even more kids ran over.

The scene boiled over like a pot coming to a roll.

But the male lead took off his jacket, put on gloves, and went with Big Mao and Second Mao to dig for fossils, following the experienced parents.

Lu Chenchen heard the parent from before flattering Mrs. Mao, saying she was fortunate to have a wealthy and easygoing husband, with perfect children - the model example of a life winner.

The "life winner" sat legs crossed on a folding recliner under the canopy, face bearing a dignified yet subtle smile, humbly saying that actually Mao Yuanning was also very busy usually, so it was rare for him to have time to accompany the kids. Naturally when he could, he had to do his best to be perfect.

Lu Chenchen looked towards Mao Yuanning. He hadn't used any sun protection, squatting on the rocky ground, learning from the experienced parents next to him while seriously chipping away at the big rocks. Big Mao and Second Mao were fine, focused on researching beside him, while Little Ming was here to play. She would snuggle into Mao Yuanning's arms one moment, climb on his back the next, and Mao Yuanning didn't mind at all.

A 360 degree, no blind spots, perfect dad.

They played until the sky darkened and cool air started seeping out before packing up to go home under Mrs. Mao's urging.

After cleaning up, Mao Yuanning had Lu Chenchen ride in his car. Only then did Mrs. Mao suddenly realize - on the way here, with six people in her five-seater car, they had technically exceeded capacity. Fortunately they had good luck and weren't caught by the police.

"Why didn't you remind me?" Mrs. Mao said, seeming rather shaken.

Mao Yuanning shrugged, "Even if I said so, no one would stay away."

It was true that not even Lu Chenchen could be excluded. Ever since Mrs. Mao arrived, she had been chatting with several other parents. They only had to bring one child each, so of course someone could stay back to chat with her. Poor Lu Chenchen had been running around on six legs with her mother-in-law before Mao Yuanning came. Mrs. Mao got along better with Big Mao, while Lu Chenchen was driven crazy by two kindergarten buddies who had no interest in archaeology and only liked to play with cats and dogs. That area of the mountain had lots of rocks and no management, with vehicles parked every which way, plus stray dogs. If not for Mao Yuanning's foresight in having Lu Chenchen come along, either Mrs. Mao or the children would have suffered.

With Lu Chenchen there, she was the one to suffer any loss.

Mao Yuanning liked driving with the windows up and air conditioning on. He said there was too much dust and noise outside. Lu Chenchen could do nothing about it. Sitting in the back seat, she strained to stay alert and watch the scenery outside. The air conditioning temperature was set very comfortably. Lu Chenchen only felt the view getting more and more blurry, more and more blurry...

She slept until they reached home, only waking up when Mao Yuanning called her. For the first time in her life, Lu Chenchen felt utterly ashamed.