As soon as Bai Ning entered the house, she saw Jiang Meilin, who was tidying up the storage box in the living room.
Jiang Meilin was shocked to see Bai Ning, and the book-like thing in her hand fell to the ground.
She quickly picked up the items and stuffed them into the storage box. She asked in a slightly panicked voice, "Ningning ... Didn't you go to see Old Madam Yan? Why are you back so early?"
On the sofa beside them, Bai Shijie, who was wearing presbyopic glasses and holding a calculator, also put his calculator behind him and asked doubtfully, "Ningning, you've only been out for two hours. Did you come back to get something?"
Bai Ning glanced at the storage box indifferently and replied indifferently, "The old lady has a guest at home. I'll go over another day."
"I see ..." Jiang Meilin said.
She paused for a few seconds and then said, " have you not had lunch yet? Your dad and I thought you wouldn't be back at noon, so you haven't cooked yet. Take a rest. I'll go and cook now."
As Jiang Meilin spoke, she put the account books on the coffee table into the box. She even took the calculator that her husband had hidden behind his back and threw it in.
"Hubby, put the things away. I'm going to cook." Jiang Meilin ordered and went into the kitchen.
"Alright," he said. Bai Shijie received his wife's order, picked up the box, and ran to the bedroom.
Bai Ning frowned as she watched the two of them leave in a hurry. She then followed them into the kitchen.
As she helped to process the ingredients, she asked, "Mom, did we have guests today?"
"There's no guest. What's wrong?" Jiang Meilin replied. She was shocked. Could it be that her daughter had already seen the men from the finance department?
"Oh, nothing much. I just saw a pair of clean slippers at the door and thought there was a guest." Bai Ning said indifferently and did not probe further.
Hearing this, Jiang Meilin's hands paused, and she forced a smile and said, "Ah, there are no guest. Mom tidied up the shoe cabinet today and forgot to put it back."
"Oh, I see ..." Bai Ning replied. She paused and said, "Oh right, Mom. When I was waiting for the elevator downstairs, I happened to meet a few men in black suits."
Jiang Meilin panicked, and the vegetables she was washing fell into the sink. She was about to say something when Bai Ning spoke again.
"Those people look like gangsters. Mom, we don't owe anyone money, do we?" Bai Ning said. She looked at Jiang Meilin with her clear eyes, as if she could see through her.
Jiang Meilin felt even more guilty under her daughter's gaze. She shook her head and said, "Don't worry, Ningning. We don't owe anyone money."
After thinking for a while, she asked tentatively, "Daughter, do those people you saw really look like gangsters?"
"Yes, they don't look like good people." Bai Ning said affirmatively. She was not the only one who thought so. The reactions of the people in the community also proved this.
Jiang Meilin wanted to confess that those people were part of her company's finance department, but the words were stuck in her throat.
Her husband's concerns were not wrong. The image of those people in the company was too scary. Even if he told his daughter the truth, her daughter might overthink and suspect that the family ran an illegal business.
Thinking of this, Jiang Meilin decided to keep it a secret from her daughter. She couldn't ruin the image of the couple in her daughter's heart because of this!
She readjusted her emotions and said seriously, "Someone in our building must have borrowed from loan sharks. Daughter, if you see these people again, you must stay away from them."
Upon hearing this, Bai Ning replied with a faint "okay" and continued to cut the vegetables with her head lowered, deep in thought.
After the meal, Bai Ning returned to her room, leaving only the couple at the table.
Jiang Meilin was not in a hurry to clean up the table. Instead, she repeated the conversation between the mother and daughter in the kitchen to her husband.
"Hubby, our daughter might think that we're borrowing from loan sharks and are being chased for payment!" Jiang Meilin said helplessly.
Even though her daughter didn't ask further, she felt that her daughter must have misunderstood.
"Didn't our daughter say that she just ran into the finance department downstairs?" Bai Shijie said.
"No," Jiang Meilin said. "My daughter first asked if there were any guests at home. After I said no, she said that she met the finance department downstairs."
"Could it be that you're overthinking things and that our daughter was just making casual conversation? She shouldn't be such a cognizant child, right?" Bai Shijie replied.
"I hope that's the case," Jiang Meilin sighed helplessly.