Such a Rude and Noisy Woman novel Chapter 208

"What? What did you say? It's impossible. I've never heard about that. Where did you learn that information?"

Fannie's eyes were genuinely filled with surprise. It seemed that she really didn't know that Landy had given birth to a child.

"So you don't know. Then I guess the information still needs to be verified. Gavin, I've told you that the source of the information is odd, and the information itself is ridiculous. It's better to investigate it again, " said Joanna softly, turning to Gavin.

Fannie wanted to ask more questions, but Rachel pulled her arm and said, "Mom, it all happened a long time ago. Maybe someone just remembered it wrong and said that casually. So don't take it too seriously!"

Rachel knew that their conversation was almost over. She studied the look on Gavin's face, then she stood up and said, "Dad, mom, it's late. I have to take my mom home, then get back to work."

Gavin, who was deep in thought, looked at Rachel and said, "Rachel, why not let your mom stay here and have lunch with us before leaving?"

"Yeah. Rachel, Fannie, why not stay and have lunch here? No matter what has happened, we're still family!" Joanna said, echoing his words.

But Fannie had always been a woman with pride and self-esteem. If she stayed and had lunch with Gavin and Joanna, she definitely wouldn't be able to control her emotions.

"Maybe another time. I'm a little tired because of the travel. I want to go back and take rest. Rachel, let's go, " she said.

Rachel nodded to Joanna and Gavin and said, "Mom, dad, we're leaving."

After Fannie and Rachel had gone, the forced smile on Gavin's face disappeared, and he slumped onto the sofa.

"Joanna, I somehow feel that Fannie is still hiding something from us."

He had never given the Ruan family much thought before. Gavin used to believe that Rachel was a nice and innocent girl and that Fannie was a strong woman who had struggled to raise her daughter after her husband passed away. But now, it seemed that things were much more complex than he'd thought. The recent events confused him and made it difficult for him to find the truth.

Joanna looked at him, heaved a sigh and said, "Gavin, don't be so suspicious. No matter how things go, Rachel is our daughter-in-law now. It's understandable even if Fannie is hiding something from us for her sake.

Besides, Hiram now not only cherishes Rachel but also feels guilty about choosing Lydia's life over hers. He doesn't want Rachel to be hurt anymore. As his parents, we can't make his marriage hard for him."

Gavin stood up and walked to his room without responding.

—

After Rachel and Fannie left the Rong family's house, Fannie refused to go back to Tulip Palace no matter how much Rachel tried to convince her.

"Rachel, I have recovered. I won't bother you and Hiram anymore. Too many things have happened between you two and you haven't had enough time alone together. I'd better go back!"

Then, Fannie shouted to Carl, who was standing in front of them, "Carl, please drive me to the district where my home is!"

"Mom, " Rachel held Fannie's hand and continued, "when you lived with us in the Tulip Palace, I felt warm inside, and there was always a cheerful atmosphere in the house. I really don't want you to leave again. Can you just spend a few more days with us?"

Fannie chuckled and patted on the back of her hand gently. "You're a silly child. I needn't you to look after me. I'm not too old to take care of myself. Besides, I want to do something meaningful when I am healthy and strong. Moreover, I've told Emma to go back to my apartment first. She'll give me company there. So don't worry about me!" she said.

Although Rachel was still reluctant to let Fannie leave, she didn't have a choice; her mother was too stubborn. Finally, she let Carl drive her mother home.

Then, she headed back to her office.

When she arrived, it was lunchtime.

Rachel went directly to the staff canteen, which was crowded. A lot of people were there, standing in line or eating. But she was too hungry to go upstairs and wait for Hiram's personal chef, Aaron, to cook for her.

She got some food from a stall and walked to the table where Millay and Penny were. She took a seat and began eating with them.

"Rachel... Why are you having lunch here today?" Penny looked around and found that a few people had already spotted Rachel.

Ever since the auction, Rachel seldom wandered the company alone. She usually stayed on her floor with her colleagues. When she arrived to or got off work, she took the exclusive elevator. So, she almost never ran into anyone else in the company.

Rachel took a spoon of rice, ignoring all the attention she was getting. She said, "I just got back and I felt very hungry, so I came straight here. I didn't think too much about it."

Besides, she knew that she had to appear in public sooner or later.

It was her first time appearing in the staff canteen after the charity auction, where she'd publicly appeared as Hiram's wife. She knew that she would hear many different comments and that it would be a transition stage.

Although there were people who were pretending not to notice Rachel and people who were whispering with each other, there were also people who were commenting loud enough for her to hear.

"Hey, did you see the woman over there? She's Mrs. Rong, the one we've heard so much about..."

"Really? You mean the one who's sitting on the left? She looks ordinary. Even I'm more beautiful than her!"

"Oh, come on. Did you see her in the photo from the auction? She looked like a superstar. Now, she's just wearing light makeup because she's at work. How can you compare yourself with her?"

"What? You should look at her appearance again. The shoes she's wearing are barely worth 100. And look at her dress, it's not even branded. She's really making Mr. Rong lose face!"

While the two female employees were talking, the other woman sitting at their table moved closer to them and joined in their conversation.

"She just wants to keep a low profile, okay? What I mean is, she doesn't want to show off her wealth. Oh! Did you see our honorable Mr. Rong button the clasp on her high heel for her? Oh my goodness! It was so romantic!"

"Really? I think she did it deliberately. How would the clasp on her high heel come undone by accident? I wear my high heels for the whole day and often run from one place to another. The clasp on my heels is still tied. So how could the clasp on hers come undone after just a while? She probably did it on purpose!"

"I agree with you. All women like to show off. She has such a handsome and wealthy husband, but that's not enough for her. She also wants to show off that her husband loves and spoils her to make us all jealous of her?"

Said another woman, who'd just joined in.

"Don't say that. She is our CEO's wife. We should respect her, so don't gossip about her!" the woman who had supported Rachel said again.

"Oh, stop it. You just want to flatter her, but do you think she cares about you? No, she doesn't. She doesn't even know who you are."

"Shh. Keep quiet. Look, she is answering a phone call. Guess who's calling her?"

Rachel was indeed answering her phone.

"Have you had lunch?" It was Hiram on the other end of the line. He was in the neighboring city, attending an opening ceremony of a flagship shopping mall which was a subsidiary of Streams Company.

"Yeah, I'm eating, " Rachel said, trying to eat even though she'd lost her appetite.

"You didn't go upstairs and ask Aaron to cook you lunch?" Hiram asked, furrowing his eyebrows when he realized that Rachel seemed to be in a noisy place.

Rachel looked around. There were several hundreds of people. How could they not make any noise? "Yeah. My mom came back this morning, and it was lunchtime by the time I returned to office. So I came to the staff canteen directly to have lunch, " she said.

Hiram kept silent for a few seconds on the other end of the line.

"Look, no matter how late it is, you should go upstairs and let Aaron cook for you. Do you hear me?" said Hiram. He knew that idle gossip was not pleasant to hear and that it had the power to hurt someone.

"Yes, I know, " Rachel said, her mind wandering.

Because of Rachel, Penny and Millay also felt uneasy as they ate. Under the gaze of so many people, they couldn't have lunch comfortably like they usually did.

Most people had finished their meals, but they still remained at their tables to look at and gossip about Rachel.

"I suppose I'll be back tonight. Wait for me. I'll pick you up, " Hiram said gently.

Rachel said okay and hung up. Millay, who was sitting opposite her, said, "I'm stuffed. I'm going back to the office first."

"I'm going back too. You keep eating, " Penny said.

Rachel nodded. From the leftovers on their plates, she knew that they hadn't eaten fully. She sighed internally.

Although she had come to the canteen mentally prepared, she still couldn't help feeling uncomfortable when hearing all the gossip.

She didn't want to waste food, but there was no way she could finish eating here, so she was about to hold her plate and stand up.

But at that moment, There was an announcement in the canteen.