"She asked me to buy some educational aids... She said she didn't have time to get them herself, gave me the names of the books, and told me to buy them and that she would pay for them."
Lin Xiaolu's voice grew quieter, "I haven't had the chance to buy them these past few days."
Xia Liang was a bit puzzled, "Why haven't I heard about this?"
"You must have been fooling around at the time, right? But Emerald Sparrow should have transferred that money to you."
Lin Xiaolu was somewhat surprised, "Didn't you notice an extra amount of money in your personal account?"
"Extra money in my personal account..."
Xia Liang tapped her lower lip, her face thoughtful. After a while, as if she suddenly remembered something, she clapped her hands sharply, "Ah, I was wondering why it felt like I've been spending more lately, but my balance hasn't decreased at all!"
Xia Liang gave a dry laugh, "I just got my hair done a few days ago, come to think of it, that must have been... when I used the money little junior gave me, right?"
As she spoke, her heart felt increasingly unsure, and in the end, she fell silent along with Lin Xiaolu.
For a moment, the only sound in the living room was the noise of cartoons from the TV.
However, when it rains, it pours, and just when the two of them did not know what to do, the sound of a door closing came from the entranceway nearby. The two of them quickly scooted behind the living room wall and peeped out towards the entrance, only to see Emerald Sparrow entering with Bai Jingxuan trailing behind.
Emerald Sparrow led the way as Bai Jingxuan followed, chatting about something as they walked into the living room. Emerald Sparrow glanced around and saw Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang sitting properly on the couch, seemingly intently watching TV.
This scene seemed normal, but Emerald Sparrow felt that something was off: normally, these two would either be lying or leaning in a totally languid manner, so why were they suddenly so well-behaved today?
Without giving it much thought, she waved to the girls in the living room, "How was patrol today?"
As Emerald Sparrow spoke, Lin Xiaolu's ponytail twitched violently, and she stammered, "Everything, everything is normal, no Remnant Beasts, no dangerous incidents!"
"That's good, no problems then. And you don't need to shout so loudly."
Emerald Sparrow nodded expressionlessly, then turned her gaze to Xia Liang, "What about the situation over at Sunset District, anything to report?"
"Ah, no, nothing," Xia Liang said, also inexplicably avoiding eye contact, "Just reporting in, there haven't been any Remnant Beasts seen in Sunset District since last week, it's been very calm this week."
"Why are you using formal language?"
The odd behavior of the two made Emerald Sparrow even more puzzled, but she couldn't think of anything that might have happened, so she didn't probe further, "Alright, you must be tired, I'll go prepare dinner in the kitchen, you guys continue resting."
The two girls in the living room could only respond with a dull "yes". Bai Jingxuan called out, "I'll come help," and ran off to the kitchen with Emerald Sparrow.
Once Emerald Sparrow left, the two in the living room looked at each other, both seemingly with something to say, yet no one spoke first. Just as Lin Xiaolu had mustered her courage and decided to speak, Emerald Sparrow suddenly walked back out from the kitchen.
"—Oh, right, tonight is tutoring night, you guys remember, don't you?"
As she put on her arm protectors, she reminded, "I should have asked you to get the educational aids ready last time, if you have time you can start to pre-study."
"The final exams for the second year are coming up too, your recent grades aren't very stable, so I'm giving you some key areas to focus on, start looking over these areas."
"If you don't want to pre-study, that's fine too, but I might ask a few more questions to ensure you grasp the concept... Huh? What's wrong? Why do you both look so pale? Too tired? And why are you suddenly standing up? Why are you getting so close?"
"—Sorry! Emerald Sparrow!"
"Sorry! Little junior!"
Emerald Sparrow hadn't really thought much of it at first, but before she could finish speaking, she saw Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang suddenly stand up from the couch and scurry over to her. Then, together, they bowed their heads and spoke the above words in unison.
Looking at her daughter and the other girl standing before her with apologetic expressions, Emerald Sparrow was momentarily dumbfounded. She blinked, and after a long moment, responded somewhat perplexedly: