Lili wanted snacks. Yan Laojin wanted her daughter to make a move on Bai Li. Yan Cijin wanted to finish the dressing, keep the child happy, and make sure Bai Li was doing all right. Bai Li herself had come to see how they were after yesterday and to bring the snacks she thought Lili might like. There was no need to pretend this was anything else. The apartment was bright with morning light, the little girl was still clinging to Bai Li’s leg, and the heavy snack bag sat nearby like a very successful peace offering.

Bai Li lowered her eyes to the child once more, and the little dumpling looked back at her with pure trust and a little bit of sugar hunger. "Auntie, are you staying for a little while?" she asked. Bai Li glanced at Yan Cijin before answering. "If it is okay." That answer seemed to please everyone in the room except maybe the part of Yan Laojin that wanted to push her daughter into romance immediately, because the auntie’s voice sounded polite but not distant, and the child was already visibly attached. Yan Cijin smiled and said, "It is okay." The little girl immediately grinned wider and gave Bai Li another tiny hug around the leg. The adults all watched that little gesture, each one with a different thought, but the room itself stayed soft and steady. Bai Li was there, the child was happy, and Yan Cijin was calm now that the dressing was under control. The whole morning had turned from cautious to comfortable almost without anyone noticing. And as Bai Li looked down at the child clinging to her leg, the little girl looked up at her and smiled before stretching out her chubby little arms and tentatively hugging Bai Li’s leg. Seeing that Bai Li wasn’t angry, the little dumpling immediately started to act cute: "Hello, Auntie~ My name is Lili, and I’m three years old."

Bai Li had never interacted with such a small dumpling before and was a little at a loss, but the little one was really cute, with her little tuft of hair swaying back and forth. "Hello."

As Bai Li spoke, she gently rubbed the little one’s face. The little one seemed to know she was cute, and seeing that Bai Li liked her, she rubbed her face against Bai Li’s hand, acting coquettishly, "Auntie, you’re so pretty and tall."

Yan Laojin gave Bai Li an awkward laugh, "Children don’t understand."

The moment those words came out, the atmosphere in the room eased just a little, like someone had quietly turned down the pressure in the air. Yan Laojin’s smile looked awkward at first, but there was also that familiar kind of parental helplessness in it, the kind that came from trying to manage a stubborn daughter, a curious little child, and a very hard to read guest all at once. Bai Li stood there with the bag of snacks in one hand and the calm, unreadable look on her face, while Lili was still staring at the big bag with eyes so bright they almost looked like they were glowing. The little girl did not understand the grown up tension at all. To her, the whole world had already narrowed down to one thing, whether the snacks were for her and whether Auntie Bai Li was really going to hand them over. That was what mattered to her most right now.

"LiLi, come to Grandma, don’t bother your auntie."

Yan Laojin reached out with one hand, trying to pull Lili back gently, but the little girl only tightened her arms around Bai Li’s leg instead. She was still small, still soft and round in that very unmistakable way little children are, and her face had that fearless stubbornness only children can manage when they want something badly enough. It did not matter to her that Yan Laojin was asking nicely or that Bai Li looked a little cold on the surface. Lili had already decided that this auntie was nice because she had brought a huge bag of snacks, and that was enough proof for her. She hugged Bai Li’s leg tighter, then looked up at her with a tiny smile.

"No, no, I want Auntie." The little dumpling hugged even tighter, and Bai Li was amused by the little one. "Auntie, it’s okay, LiLi is quite cute." Bai Li looked at the little dumpling hugging her leg, and the little dumpling smiled back at Bai Li.

Bai Li was not the kind of person who usually got grabbed by a child like this. If it had been someone else, she probably would have instinctively stepped back half a pace and checked whether the situation was safe. But this little girl was different. She was tiny, harmless, and completely open in her affection. There was something so direct and honest about Lili’s behavior that Bai Li could not help finding it funny. The girl’s tiny hands clung to her leg like she had decided Bai Li belonged to her for the next few minutes, and the way she looked up with those round, expectant eyes made even Bai Li’s usually steady expression soften by a fraction. Yan Laojin, standing nearby, saw that and felt a little more relaxed too. As long as Bai Li did not look annoyed, the situation was still manageable.

Hearing her aunt say she was cute, the little dumpling tactically switched legs, now getting even closer to the big bag of snacks.

That little movement was so quick and so obvious that even Yan Cijin, who had been standing off to the side watching the whole scene, could not help but laugh under her breath. Lili might be small, but she was not simple. She understood very clearly how to move closer to what she wanted. One compliment was enough to make her change targets in an instant. Her little feet shuffled forward, and now instead of just hugging Bai Li’s leg,

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To be continued.