Chapter 153 - Family time.

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.