............…..
Bai Li reached over and took one of her hands. "That does not mean you failed."
"It kind of does."
"No, it really does not."
Yan Cijin's eyes sharpened. "You say that like it is easy."
"It is not easy. It is just true."
She squeezed Yan Cijin's hand once. "Do you know what I see when I look at you?"
Yan Cijin inhaled slowly. "Something embarrassing, probably."
Bai Li laughed under her breath. "Yes, that too. But mostly I see a woman who keeps trying to make the world gentler. A woman who works harder than anyone I know and still thinks she should have done more. A woman who can make a dead plant stand up and try again if she looks at it with enough care."
Yan Cijin's expression shifted slightly, the tightness in it cracking in little places.
Bai Li continued, quieter now. "So one vine had a bad trial. So what. That is not the end of your work. It is one bruise, not the whole body."
Yan Cijin looked down. "You make it sound simple."
