By the time the food was cleared away, the apartment had settled into that after lunch quiet that always came when people were full and a little lazy. Bai Li was ready to stand up and leave, but even then she still felt the same strange pull to stay a bit longer. Yan Cijin, too, seemed to hesitate before fully letting her go. It was not a heavy kind of reluctance, just the kind that came when a good moment had to end too soon. The little girl had already started acting clingy again, which made the goodbye even slower. Bai Li crouched down to her level so the child would not have to keep looking up at her. That small move mattered. It made the goodbye feel real and warm instead of stiff. The child rubbed her face against Bai Li’s arm like a tiny cat, and Bai Li had to keep her own expression steady for a second before she could speak again. There was something about children that could sneak right past a person’s guard without warning.

"Okay, let’s go to my house." Bai Li said, heading to open the door. "I’ll do it, I told you to use your hands less." Yan Cijin said, walking in front of Bai Li and peeking through the peephole before opening the security door. Bai Li followed Yan Cijin out the door. Yan Laojin went out to check and, seeing her daughter wasn’t in the living room, called out twice, "Cijin? Cijin?" "Mommy and Auntie went out." The little girl, clutching her kitten, ran to Yan Laojin with her short legs. Yan Laojin was almost overjoyed by the turn of event and laughed loudly saying, "Hohoho,... thats my daughter. Fast as alway." The whole scene made the hallway feel a little less cold too, just for a second. The child’s tiny feet padded across the floor, and her voice was bright and cheerful, completely unaware that the adults were already imagining all sorts of future possibilities. Yan Laojin clearly thought her daughter had moved fast enough and was already secretly proud of that. The little girl, on the other hand, did not understand any of that. She just wanted to stay with the kitten doll and hear the story she liked later.

The hallway outside was a little colder than the apartment, and that made the small family scene feel even warmer by comparison. When Yan Cijin came out with Bai Li, the air between them felt quiet in a way that was not awkward. It was more like both of them had things to say but were not in a hurry to force them out. Yan Laojin, staying inside, clearly had her own thoughts too, and Bai Li could almost feel that she was already planning something in her head. The little girl’s voice carried through the door once or twice, and each time it sounded bright and safe, the voice of a child who had no idea how tense the adults really were. That made the moment feel softer than the world outside deserved. Bai Li glanced at Yan Cijin and thought that this was probably one of the few moments that could still pass for normal in a time like this. It was small, but small things were holding everyone together right now.

"Grandma, what did you say?" The little girl thought her grandma was talking to her and asked.

"Nothing, you play quietly, I’ll put you down for a nap after I’m done." Yan Laojin instructed the little girl.

"Okay, then I want to hear the story of the little turtle later." The little girl sweetly whined.

"Okay, Grandma will tell you in a bit," Yan Laojin said with a smile. Sometimes, if there weren’t any stories the kids wanted to hear at home, they had to search online.

/////

Meanwhile, Bai Li entered the password, scanned herself with an infrared sensor, and then unlocked the heavy security door with her key. Once inside, Bai Li asked, "Is something wrong?"

Yan Cijin stood there for a second without answering right away. Her ears turned a little red, and she looked like she had something stuck in her throat, not from sickness, but from nerves. She did not want Bai Li to misunderstand her, but at the same time, she could not quite explain why she felt the need to bring this up now. Maybe it was because Bai Li had already helped them so much. Maybe it was because she had been holding it in for too long. In the end, she only knew that she wanted Bai Li to know about it, and she wanted to say it face to face. "Well, it’s about LiLi," Yan Cijin said a little awkwardly, her voice softer than usual.

"LiLi? What about her?" Bai Li asked, turning her head to look at Yan Cijin.

Yan Cijin hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke in one breath, as if saying it slowly would make it harder. "LiLi is actually my sister’s child. My sister and her wife died in a car accident, leaving only LiLi. I was afraid she would be mistreated, so I took custody of her and raised her as my own daughter. I’ll tell her the truth when she’s older. You have to keep it a secret for me too."

When she said that, Yan Cijin kept watching Bai Li’s face carefully, almost as if she was waiting for a specific reaction. She did not know exactly why, but she just felt that if Bai Li really did not have someone else in her heart, then hearing this should make her a little relieved, maybe even happy. At least that was what Yan Cijin thought. But after she finished speaking, Bai Li’s expression did not change much at all. It was still calm, still steady, and still impossible to read at first glance.

"Okay, I’ll definitely keep it a secret. It’s quite pitiful that LiLi is so young, losing her closest person at such a young age."

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To be continued.