The sister Lili is twenty-five years old, not tall, with slender limbs and flowing hair. She has black skin, black not sinking not dark, smooth and natural. Melon face, almond eyes, small and delicate features, a hand and a throw with an innate style. Sister Lisa is also good-looking, long face, features.
One time I was walking home through the garage, passing our parking spot, and ran into Lilly washing her car.
She was wearing a goose-yellow halter tight tank top, highlighting her straight long neck and protruding bumpy collarbones; she was wearing a pair of light blue jean shorts, revealing her long, even and slender legs; she was wearing a pair of flip-flops on her feet, and her dark brown skin tone lightened up the siren call of the rose-red nail polish, which made her feet look extraordinarily lightweight.
She took a portable stereo from home and put it next to the car, with light Filipino songs playing on the stereo, she herself sang along with the music while climbing high and low to wash the car, broadcasting to her favorite rhythm, waist and hips twisting back and forth a few times. Surrounded by several male Filipino drivers, some joked with her, some gave her a hand, so lively.
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Lilly's problem is that she often takes the night off and doesn't get back until after 12pm on Sunday nights.
I asked her the reason for her vacation. She said bluntly that she had to go to her old employer's house to take care of her two children. I asked why the original employer didn't find someone else.
She said she was not sure, and then added, "I came to their home soon after his eldest daughter was born, and I brought up the two children myself. After I left their home, the two children kept calling me and looking for me." I seemed to catch some sadness and tears from those dark phoenix eyes.
A few weeks later on a Sunday morning, I was getting ready to get up when Lilly knocked on my bedroom door, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, can I talk to you for a minute?" Normally on Sundays, Lilly leaves the house at 6:00 or so, and now it's almost 8:00 and for some reason she's still home.
I stepped out of the bedroom, and Lilly, with anxiety and unease showing on her face, immediately greeted me and said impatiently, "Ma'am, I wanted to ask if you would allow me to bring the little girl from my former employer's house for a few hours today?"
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"She was crying and screaming for me last night and wouldn't sleep properly. She secretly called me early this morning and her mom found out and slapped her twice. Her mom and dad got into a fight about it and she ran off on her own. Such a cold day ......" Lili suddenly choked and couldn't say anymore.
I said no problem, it can be brought to our house. It sounds like the little girl is about the same age as my youngest son, and she can eat with my youngest son at home at noon.
The little girl is about six years old, white and clean, very shy, came to the house, has been embracing Lili refused to let go. Lili took care of the little girl to eat, and when she talked to her, she was full of patience and care, showing her gentle side that she had never shown before, which made me quite surprised.
In the evening, when Lilly was taking the girl home, Lisa came back. I casually remarked, "What a good little girl, no wonder Lilly likes her."
Lisa was unimpressed, bristled, and muttered in a low voice, "Leave your own daughter alone and treat other people's children as daughters." Stunned and confused, I asked, "What does that mean? Isn't Lilly single?" Realizing the slip of the tongue, she immediately said, "Ma'am, please don't ever tell Lilly or anyone."
At my urging, Lisa told the truth: Lili fell in love with a classmate when she was in high school, and became pregnant at the age of eighteen, but the boy's family did not agree to marry her because they thought she was poor, even though the boy's family wasn't very wealthy. The Philippines is a Catholic country where contraception and abortion are not practiced, so Lili had to have the baby. When her daughter was not yet old enough, Lili left her with her mother and came to Hong Kong to work. I didn't realize that the employer's family in Hong Kong has a girl who is the same age as Lili's daughter, and Lili especially likes and pities this little girl.
"Isn't Lili sending all her salary home? Why do you say she doesn't care about her daughter?" I pressed.
Lisa unconvinced defense, "Lili is to send money home, but she only said to the public is the family added a sister, the child is only allowed to call her sister. Lili said it was for the good of the child."
Lisa hesitated for a moment and then continued, "When Lilly comes home to visit her family, her daughter always whispers to Lilly how much she loves her and asks Lilly why she can't call her mom."
Hearing this, my eyes have been blurred by tears, how bitter, helpless life ah.
There are ten buildings in our neighborhood, with many households and many Filipino maids, including a Filipino maid named Bella. Bella has been helping different families in our neighborhood for decades, and there's no one in the yard she doesn't know.
One Sunday evening, I ran into Bella in the elevator. I made small talk and said, "Did you have a good day? Back so early?"
Bella giggled, "It was fun, and I hope you did too, ma'am. My weekends are spent going to church and just eating and talking with my parishioners." With that, she smiled mysteriously and said, "It's not like I'm going to a nightclub in Wan Chai to dance with them, so of course I don't have to be back that late."
I was a little surprised, was Bella hinting at something? Lisa was usually back early on Sundays, so that meant Lilly. Was she saying that Lilly goes out dancing at night?
After thinking about it when I got home, I didn't think I had the authority to restrict Lilly's private life. However, since there are rumors, I decided to talk to Lili and remind her, lest the rumors are true and false and hinder the reputation.
Lilly listened to me calmly, without explanation or resistance, nodded and said, "I know, ma'am." From then on, really came back earlier on weekend nights.
A few weeks later, I was waiting for a cab downstairs when Bella came out for a walk with her golden retriever and immediately stopped to chat with me when she saw me. I had a vague feeling that this was not a coincidence, and that she had something to say to me.
Sure enough, she got to the point, "Ma'am, I know you're usually busy at work, and you leave the house to Lili to take care of. You may not know that Lilly often walks around the house and yard wearing short halter skirts that barely cover her butt, aren't you afraid she'll bring your oldest son down?"
I laughed dumbly, "Bella, Lilly is young and it's normal to love beauty. We were all young once." Bella said in disbelief, "I was a proper woman when I was young!" I didn't say another word, thinking to myself that it's easy for older people to look down on younger people.
A few weeks later on a weekend, I came back from the outside, just into the downstairs lobby, I saw Bella. I couldn't help but feel my heart sink.
As expected, Bella immediately greeted me when she saw me, and after a brief greeting, Bella said with a look of sincerity, "Ma'am, you probably think I'm nosy. You are approachable and usually very friendly to us Filipino maids. So I thought long and hard and decided that I'd better tell you about Lili."
"What about Lilly?" I said as politely as I could, hiding the exhaustion and unhappiness in my heart.
Bella said in a serious voice, "Ma'am, this whole yard, not only are the male Filipino drivers all around Lilly, but a lot of the daddies are staring at her too. It makes the ladies unhappy, and several of them forbid their Filipino maids to come and go with Lili, especially if they can't lead them to the house. This is going to interfere with your youngest son's playdate."
I couldn't help but laugh out loud and said patiently, "Bella, the Filipino drivers usually talk and laugh with you too! As for the daddies, even without Lilly, how do we know that they don't stare at other beautiful women in the office? Bella, everyone loves beauty, a few glances won't hurt."
Seeing that Bella was getting antsy, I had to reassure her, "Thank you for telling me what you think, I'll think about it." I couldn't help but continue, "It's not easy for you Filipino maids to live in Hong Kong, you should help each other."
Looking back over the past few weeks, my youngest son did go to his friend's house less often. I asked my younger son. My younger son said that the Filipino maid aunt at the twins' house said that they can't come to our house to play anymore. If we want to go to their house to play, we can only go there by our younger son himself, we can't bring Lili.
I think there must be a misunderstanding. Other parents I dare not say, the twins' mother is an extremely open young woman, must not be so narrow-minded. It must be the Filipina in the twins' home who is involved in Bella's camp to target Lili. I can't help but feel for Lili. No parent wants to see a conflict among the Filipina maids affecting the friendship of their children, and I decided to talk to the twins' mom.
The twins' dad is an Englishman who works as an executive at an airline. The mom is Indian, a housewife, and her English name is Lynda. Lynda one meter seventy-eight big tall person, looks quite beautiful, straight into the hairline under the curved eyebrows, a pair of green deep big eyes, high nose, sexy lips, a head of brown wavy curly hair, hanging in front of the chest. In her thirties, still with a hot body.
I was looking for Lynda and happened to run into her while walking in the neighborhood. After we chatted for a few moments, I asked her point blank if the twins not playing with my son recently had anything to do with the discord between the Filipina.
After a moment's hesitation, Lynda said, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have known how to tell you! Your Filipino maid Lili always wears sexy clothes in the yard wandering, enchanting, causing many men to stare at her, some men and her flirting. The moms in the yard are all talking about you behind your back, saying they don't understand you, why don't you dismiss such a frivolous slut quickly. I think they have a point, this yard is not a strip club in Wanchai after all!"
I looked at her in surprise, half speechless.
Lynda dresses several times sexier than Lily! The first time we met was when she came to pick up the twins who were playing at our house. She was wearing white skinny jeans, which were set deep into her lower back, highlighting her two buttocks, and obviously not wearing any underwear. On top, she wore a small black tank top, the outline of her firm breasts was clearly visible, obviously not wearing a bra. After getting acquainted, I found that she is usually dressed in this kind of "inappropriate version of children", and wherever she goes, she attracts attention, following her gaze for more than a few meters. The people in the courtyard all think she is sexy, has a proud body, full of flavor.
I thought to myself, "Lili wears a halter dress and ultra-short pants, is a bit sexy, how does it become a slut? Just because Lili is a Filipino maid?
I am a liberal and believe in tolerance and equality. I have never been happy with the systematic discrimination against Filipino women and other foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong society. For example, Hong Kong law states that foreigners who have lived in Hong Kong for more than seven years are eligible for permanent residency, but Filipino maids do not have this right. When Filipino maids go on vacation on weekends, they usually meet in the open air and do not even have a place to socialize. Some families treat them very harshly and some even suffer physical and mental abuse. I have never believed that there is no difference between the rich and the poor in this world. The rich and the poor are very much a matter of luck, and if there were no service workers, no Filipino maids, and no resources and protection given by the society, there would be no rich people!
I decided to ignore the people in the courtyard.
One noon a few months later, I was handling work in my office when a strange middle-aged woman came to see me. She was not tall, average-looking, and dressed in ordinary clothes, like the countless middle-aged women I bump into every day in the subway station, and forget what they look like when they leave the station.
Her name is Amy, she works for a local company, and her husband is a branch manager of a local bank. The couple has a couple of children, and Lilly used to work in their house. In the beginning, Emmy liked Lilly and relied on her for things around the house and with the children. After a few years, Amy noticed that Lilly gradually began to take care of her husband, cooking his favorite dishes, helping him with his clothes for work, and helping him load his luggage before going on business trips. The two of them have been working together for a long time, and they have been working together for a long time, and they have been working together for a long time.
Amy suspected that Lilly and her husband had an affair, but she couldn't find any evidence. She began to loathe Lili, can not help but find excuses to reprimand her, Lili is generally hidden, scolded too hard, Lili will also dislike back. This enraged Amy. The relationship between the two people is getting more and more tense, but Lili more cautious and careful work, Amy can not find a reason to fire her.
Amy wants to let Lilly go without a reason, but her husband disagrees. I think her husband and her husband is not the same heart, more angry, every day and her husband for this quarrel. Finally, Amy said in the home jewelry and money lost, is Lili took, to call the police, so that her husband had no choice but to resign Lili.
A few weeks ago, Amy took advantage of her husband's bath, secretly opened his cell phone to view his text messages, found her husband and Lili sweet love words. Although the discovery confirmed her longtime suspicions, she was still very shocked and angry when the truth was laid bare before her, but she didn't know what to do.
I listened sympathetically to her ordeal and asked her how she found me and how she knew my contact information. She said that she found my business card in her husband's shirt pocket. She also said that her husband had been to my house and she followed him to the bottom of our building and stood in the darkness until her husband left late at night.
I asked her why she didn't just ask her husband for clarification. She said she asked, her husband said bluntly, is in love with Lili, did not realize before, Lili left to realize that he originally love her. He asked Amy and divorce, intends to marry Lili as his wife, with two children and Lili through this life.
Said here, she cried bitterly, "He said that I am usually lazy and do not care about the family, have time to go to play mahjong, back to his mother's home, to the two children and he did not have half of the heart of Lili."
I handed her a cup of lukewarm water and a box of tissues, Amy dried her tears and said, "He's out of his mind! How could he fall in love with a Filipino maid? It's disgusting."
Nausea is a physiological and psychological reaction unique to humans. For example, if we find a cockroach in our rice while we are eating, our stomach feels sick and we want to vomit. If we hear that our usual toothbrush was once placed next to the brush we use to clean the toilet, even if the two never touched, we still find the toothbrush disgusting.
I thought to myself, is it the fact that her husband is having sex with another woman that Amy finds disgusting? Or is it that the Filipino maid has a low status in her eyes, and she feels disgusted that her husband is having sex with such a lowly person? Would she still be disgusted if the person her husband had sex with was a popular supermodel or movie star today? I can't say for sure. Nor can I be sure how I would react if I were faced with such a situation.
In the midst of my contemplation, my assistant pushed her way in to remind me that my afternoon meeting was about to begin. I stood up and escorted Amy to the office door. She seemed reluctant to leave, presumably because it was rare to find someone to talk to.
Compassion overflowed and I asked, "Is there anything I can do to help you?" She said, full of resentment, "I want you to resign her." I was noncommittal and said, "Even if I quit Lilly, she will find another job." She said, "I want you to write a letter to the Hong Kong Immigration Department saying that Lili is of bad quality, destroying her master's family, and asking her to be blacklisted and never allowed to enter Hong Kong for work."
When I got up the next morning, I told Lilly that I knew she had brought strangers home for the night, and that this had completely destroyed my trust in her and hit my bottom line.
I would have liked to hear an explanation, maybe hear her tell me she was sorry. Lilly didn't say anything, just a look of calmness and stubbornness, and I looked at her like she was facing a wall.
I sighed, thinking that she had made her choice. I didn't talk about Amy coming to see me or write any letters to the Immigration Department.
Lilly calmly got up and walked back to her room to pack her things. At that moment, Lisa came quietly into the living room and said to me, "Ma'am, Lilly has left and I can't stay and work."
I was a little surprised by this decision. I looked at Lisa, only to see her long eyelashes lowered, not daring to look me in the eye, and whispered, "Ma'am, as much as I love you and your family, Lilly is my sister. I'm sorry." With that, tears flowed down her face.
I said softly to Lisa, "You chose to stand with Lilly, and it was the right thing to do, I understand. Don't feel too bad, I'm just an employer and Lilly is your family. You can work and live here until you find a new job if you wish."
After all, we have been together for a year, Lili left, I have a few sadness and regret, our labor contract is two years, midway to terminate the contract will affect her to find the next job. In the silence, I looked at Li Li picked up a big bag, head out of the door without looking back, from the beginning to the end is the look of frankness and ease.
Later in the day, I sometimes think of Lili, I do not know whether the mother and daughter recognized, I do not know whether she found the happiness she wanted.