The pen

"Welcome back Inspector." Chairman Mei said to his wife as he lifted his face from his paper and raised his hand to his head in a mock salute, when she finally joined him in their room. 

"Inspector?" She asked, looking at him in confusion as she went to sit beside him on the bed. 

"Haven't you been moving about, inspecting our daughters' love lives?" He asked with a small laugh. Mother Mei would have been annoyed but she found herself laughing at the humor of it. 

"I didn't have a choice. The girls are all too slow." She said with a worried frown. At the rate they were all going, none of them was going to get married anytime soon.

"Slow? Too slow for you or for theirselves? Besides, I hope you do realise when they all get married, you are going to be alone here?" He asked, putting away the paper to give her his full attention. 

"What do you mean by 'you are going to be alone here'? Aren't you here with me?" She asked while eyeing him dubiously.