.................

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."

"I make it sound survivable."

That one finally got through. Yan Cijin’s shoulders dropped a little.

Bai Li tilted her head and smiled. "And if you keep thinking like the project buried you, I will annoy you until you remember that your life is still very much standing."

Yan Cijin gave her a flat look. "That sounded like a threat."

"It is a promise."

Yan Cijin almost laughed despite herself.

Bai Li took the moment and leaned in. She kissed Yan Cijin softly first on the cheek, then the corner of her lips, then fully on the mouth when Yan Cijin finally stopped resisting and let herself lean into it. The kiss was slow, not hungry, but warm enough to make the worry in Yan Cijin’s body melt and spread. Bai Li always had this effect on her. She could turn a bad hour into a bearable one just by standing close and saying the right nonsense in the right tone.

When they separated, Yan Cijin rested her forehead against Bai Li’s. "You are too good at this."

Bai Li smiled with pure satisfaction. "Being your wife?"

"Cheering me up."

"I know."

"You are smug."

"Also true."

Yan Cijin gave up trying to look annoyed and smiled instead, small and tired but real. "Thank you."

Bai Li’s teasing expression softened at once. "Always."

That night they sat together on the balcony a long time, wrapped in a blanket, sharing tea while the sea wind moved over the city below. Yan Cijin slowly explained the trial details to Bai Li, who listened with more care than most people gave to large speeches. Bai Li did not interrupt with useless advice. She asked questions in the right places and let Yan Cijin talk through her frustration until the hurt loosened around the edges.

At one point Yan Cijin leaned against her and muttered, half embarrassed, "I hate failing in front of everyone."

Bai Li kissed the top of her head. "Then fail in front of me first. I am very strong. I can take it."

Yan Cijin let out a quiet laugh. "That is not what I meant."

"I know."

Bai Li turned her face toward her wife’s and grinned. "But I am still right."

"About what?"

"That you do not have to be perfect to be worthy."

Yan Cijin stared at her for a long second. "You make these lines up too fast."

"Because I have practiced."

"On who?"

"You."

Yan Cijin’s cheeks warmed. "You are shameless."

"Only with you."

That answer always made Yan Cijin look away first. Bai Li knew it and used it as much as possible. But not in a cruel way. Never in a cruel way. Her teasing always carried warmth underneath it, like a hand over the back of the neck, guiding gently rather than pushing hard. Yan Cijin had once told her, in a rare moment of blunt honesty, that Bai Li could make her feel both embarrassed and safe at the same time.

Bai Li had kissed her immediately and said, "Good. That was my goal."

The week before their anniversary, their rooftop surprise began taking shape in secret.

Bai Li had turned the upper terrace garden into something that felt both familiar and new. She had enlisted the help of Lili, who took her role with the seriousness of a spy and the attention span of a spark. The child carried ribbons, placed little lanterns, and spent hours choosing where flowers should go. Bai Li handled the heavier work, the structure, the hidden lighting, the little stone path, the swing bench, the table with the engraved edge, and a wall of moonflowers that Yan Cijin would adore the instant she saw them.

Part of it was sentimental. Part of it was practical. Bai Li had always believed the best gifts were not things, but spaces made with someone in mind.

The day she finished the final section, she stood back with dirt on one cheek and looked at the rooftop with an expression of satisfied exhaustion.

Lili hopped next to her. "Mommy will cry."

Bai Li glanced at her. "Will she?"

"Yes."

"That seems a little dramatic."

Lili shook her head with fierce confidence. "No, it is correct."

Bai Li laughed and lifted the child into her arms. "You are becoming a very dangerous little assistant."

Lili wrapped her arms around her neck. "I know."

The surprise was not the only thing Bai Li had been preparing.

She had also been gathering memories.

Old videos, favorite photographs, little voice notes recorded by people who loved them, a copy of the first childcare approval form they had ever filled out, a dried flower from the first bouquet Bai Li had given Yan Cijin when they were still awkward and barely honest, and a tiny handwritten note from Lili’s nursery teacher saying the child always talked about both mothers with pride.

.

.

.

To be continued.