"You two are thinking too much at such a young age, things are not necessarily that complicated."
She reached out to ruffle her hair, and Emerald Sparrow's tone softened, "Don't worry too much, I'm not angry, and I'm not going to argue, it's just that there really are some things I need to do."
"So, little junior, do you really know what's going on?"
Xia Liang feigned ignorance but asked with a pointed hint, "Uncle Lin and Sister Hong are together, even going shopping, isn't it true that... their relationship has developed?"
Emerald Sparrow couldn't help but give her a glare.
"From my current stance, any answer I give is not credible and meaningless, right?"
In the end, she sighed helplessly, "But the answer I can give you is no."
Seeing that the two girls still looked unconvinced, she didn't want to keep arguing about this topic, so she waved her hand and said, "Anyway, I can tell you for sure: neither I, Chaoyan, nor... Lin Yun have any intention of changing our relationship with each other, whether it's getting closer or more distant, that's not something we're considering at this stage."
"Are you going to come back tonight then?"
Xia Liang put down the bag in her hand, her smile brimming, "Is the study meeting tonight canceled?"
"It's canceled, but I've already put the prepared exercises in the study."
Knowing what she was scheming, but not wanting to waste more words on this, Emerald Sparrow headed towards the front door without looking back, "Bai Mei has her own things to do and can't participate, so you'll just have to finish the corresponding exercises by yourself, I'll come back and check them tomorrow."
"Eh? We still have to do the exercises even !" Xia Liang cried out in dismay.
"It looks like your mind is a bit restless."
After changing shoes at the entrance, Emerald Sparrow looked back at her and said, "Study hard, and don't meddle in adult affairs, little one."
Leaving Xia Liang's cries of "unfair" behind, Emerald Sparrow exited the secret base and found an uninhabited area to take off into the sky. She chose to fly back to her own home to save time on the road.
Gliding through the night sky for just a few minutes, Emerald Sparrow already arrived near the apartment. But this time, in order to maintain a normal persona, she had to change back into Lin Yun's appearance and then take the elevator home as usual.
The apartment, when left unused, was also cleaned by hourly workers, so even though Lin Yun hadn't been home much recently, the place should still be moderately clean and wouldn't give Lin Xiaolu any clues.
In the elevator, checking her appearance in the reflective door and ensuring she didn't look harried, Lin Yun casually returned home with an air as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw a chair.
For some reason, the chair was placed directly in front of the living room entrance, facing the door, and Lin Xiaolu was sitting on it, with a small blackboard standing next to her for some unknown purpose. With her head down, headphones on, she was focused on her phone.
Lin Yun glanced over and realized she was playing a game.
He cleared his throat and asked, "Lulu, what are you doing?"
At his words, Lin Xiaolu looked up following the voice. Seeing her father standing at the door looking at her, she subconsciously wanted to shut off the game on her hands, but in her haste, her movements were awkward, causing her to hit the volume button and blast the sound to maximum.
Loud music together with the shout of game characters burst out from Lin Xiaolu's headphones, clearly audible even from Lin Yun's position.
Almost instinctively ducking her head, Lin Xiaolu hurriedly yanked off her headphones and fidgeted to remember where the volume button on her phone was. After turning the sound off, she also turned off the phone and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket, correcting her sitting posture and putting on a serious expression... Only after completing all this preparation work did she sit up straight again.
Lin Yun watched the whole process play out before him, finding it half amusing yet half embarrassing, but still tried to remain calm. He glanced at the small blackboard next to her as if he saw nothing and asked, "What made you suddenly think to come home today?"
Lin Xiaolu said nothing but sat on the chair staring at him with a serious face.
"...What's wrong?" Lin Yun was forced to patiently ask again.
Lin Xiaolu burst out, "You were shopping with that woman!"
Lin Yun pretended as if he was just hearing about this for the first time, feigning great surprise, "What are you talking about?"
"Don't hide it, I saw it with my own eyes, right near the Abnormal Strategy Bureau's shopping plaza, you and that woman were together laughing and talking!"
Pointing a finger dramatically at Lin Yun, Lin Xiaolu raised her voice, "Two-timing is not okay!"
When she said this, she was serious and earnest, with an imposing stance as if she had come to accuse him of his wrongs. If it were any other matter, it might indeed have had a sobering effect.
Unfortunately, what she said seemed like wild speculation to Lin Yun. And what's more unfortunate, before Lin Yun could respond, Lin Xiaolu's own stomach made the first noise.
In the small space with just the two of them, the sound was particularly loud and grating, and its source was so blatantly obvious that the finger Lin Xiaolu had just pointed wilted down.