She looked up at the sweet, murderous woman with a fixed, blank expression, a look designed to convey nothing but unblinking, unsettling childhood scrutiny.
"Auntie ilin, did you co all the way here just to bring us bread?" Huaijin asked, her voice high and childishly inquisitive, but with an underlying tone that dared the woman to lie.
Xu ilin’s perfect smile wavered for a fraction of a second, the slight tightening around her eyes betraying her annoyance at the child’s intrusive questioning and physical barrier.
"Why, yes, darling Huaijin. And to check on my cousin Yuanying, of course," Xu ilin replied smoothly, ignoring Huaijin’s proximity to her father.
She then directed her full, solicitous attention to Yuanfeng. "Brother Yuanfeng, please, don’t feel obligated. Just make sure you eat well. You look exhausted. You spend too much ti on your work, and not enough ti on... necessities."
The word "necessities" hung in the air, a veiled suggestion that she, Xu ilin, was the ultimate necessity his life was lacking.
Chi Yuantian, satisfied that the point about Yuanfeng’s inadequate living situation had been made and that Yuanying was properly chastised, cleared his throat.
"Enough of this dostic nonsense. Yuanying, get your bag. We’re leaving. And Yuanfeng, I expect you to have a cleaner, more presentable apartnt before the next family gathering. This is an embarrassnt."
Yuanfeng rely bowed his head slightly. "Understood, Brother. Safe drive."
Yuanying, looking disappointed to leave the apartnt that had offered a brief taste of uncritical warmth, quickly gathered her suitcase.
She gave Huaijin a small, conspiratorial glance, a silent promise of future friendship.
Huaijin maintained her position, her eyes fixed on Xu ilin. She had to understand the motive.
Yuanfeng had ignored her advances during the last family visit.
He had made it clear he was not interested. What was she doing here?
’She must have been using Uncle Yuantian as a cover,’ Huaijin realized. ’She knows he’s the perfect conduit to Yuanfeng, as he’s constantly checking on his ’poor’ brother. She’s found a new avenue of attack.’
As Yuanying and Yuantian prepared to leave, Xu ilin offered one final, calculated gesture. She extended a hand to Yuanfeng, her touch lingering just a mont too long.
"Goodbye, brother Yuanfeng. Please, call if you need any help with anything, any paperwork, any grant applications... I’m quite organized. I know you, struggling academics are so busy with your brilliance, you often overlook the small, practical things."
It was an open, professional-sounding offer of personal assistance, a classic, insidious attempt to insert herself into his life under the guise of being a helpful, capable assistant.
Huaijin, seeing the touch, felt the cold fury of the past life rise in her chest.
"Daddy is very organized, Auntie ilin!" Huaijin interjected fiercely, stepping forward again and pulling her father’s hand away from the woman’s grasp.
She then laced her own small fingers through his, making her possession absolute. "He has a whole color-coded system for his physics papers! And he taught how to do my own howork neatly!"
She looked directly at Xu ilin, her innocent six-year-old eyes flashing with the knowledge of a past life’s battle scars. "Daddy doesn’t need any help with papers, Auntie ilin. He needs hugs and hot chocolate. And he only lets make his hot chocolate!"
The declaration was pure, undiluted possessiveness, delivered with the high-stakes drama of a child staking a claim.
It was the only weapon Huaijin had: her father’s genuine, doting love for her, and her calculated, absolute clinginess.
Xu ilin’s mask finally cracked. Her smile dissolved into a tight, strained grimace.
She quickly snatched her hand back, her eyes narrowing slightly at the child who was acting as an impenetrable, annoying shield.
"Such a devoted little girl," Xu ilin said, the sugar in her voice completely gone, replaced by a brittle edge of resentnt. "Well, I must be going. Goodbye, all."
She turned abruptly and followed Chi Yuantian out, her polished veneer slightly ruffled by the child’s unexpected, aggressive defense of her father.
The apartnt door closed with a firm click, plunging the room back into silence.
Yuanfeng let out a long, slow breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
He looked down at Huaijin, who was still clutching his hand with the grip of a tiny, determined gargoyle.
"Well," he murmured, picking up the basket of bread. "That was... loud. You were quite the fierce little dragon defending the lair just now, weren’t you?"
Huaijin looked up at him, her intense expression slowly lting back into her usual, loving gaze. She hadn’t just been acting the clingy kitten; she had been acting the protector.
"She’s trying to trick you, Daddy," Huaijin said simply, the honesty cutting through the childish drama. "She’s not a good person. She’s only pretending to be nice so she can co into our apartnt and steal your research secrets."
Yuanfeng’s kind eyes softened further.
He knew her overactive imagination often ran wild, sotis fueled by her deep-seated fear of losing him. He missed the true, sinister aning of her warning entirely.
"Nonsense, sweetheart," he said, kneeling down and pulling her into a tight, warm hug. "Xu ilin is a polite, if perhaps overly formal, friend of the family. She was just worried about us, that’s all. No one is trying to steal my very boring, very unfunded research on the dynamics of sub-atomic particle motion."
He loved spoiling his little girl, but he loved being defended by her even more. He wrapped her in a fierce hug.
"You’re my most precious, fiercest protector, sweetheart," he whispered into her hair. "But Daddy can take care of myself, okay? Now, enough excitent. It’s school ti."
Huaijin clung to him for a mont longer, breathing in the scent of him, feeling the steady beat of his heart.
She knew he wouldn’t listen to her direct warning. He was too good, too trusting, and too focused on his complex theories to grasp the simple, wicked calculus of human malice.
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