Surviving the apocalypse with a wife and a system! [GL]

Breakfast in their home was usually simple and comfortable. Warm soy milk for Lili, tea for Yan Cijin, coffee for Bai Li, and whatever cooked dish happened to be ready first. That morning the kitchen smelled like sesame buns and steamed eggs. The smart stove hummed quietly. Outside the window, morning light slipped over the sea and turned the water into a field of broken glass.

Lili sat at the table with her legs swinging and watched Bai Li move around the kitchen as if she were supervising a minor miracle. ”Mother, you forgot the fruit.”

Bai Li turned from the stove. ”I did not forget. I was saving it for later.”

”You say that for everything.”

”It works beautifully.”

Yan Cijin took her cup of tea and watched them with the same small smile she had worn for years whenever she was half amused and half helpless. Bai Li noticed her looking and immediately changed course, crossing the room in three easy steps to stop beside her chair.

”What is it?” Yan Cijin asked.

”You.”

”That is not an answer.”

”It is the best answer.” Bai Li bent down and kissed her temple, then lingered there just a second too long on purpose. ”You are beautiful this morning.”

Yan Cijin’s lashes lowered. ”You say that every morning.”

”Because it keeps being true.”

Lili covered her eyes. ”Too much romance before breakfast.”

Bai Li grinned. ”You can look away.”

”I cannot. I live here.”

Yan Cijin almost smiled into her tea. ”Eat your buns.”

Lili immediately obeyed, though she was still watching the adults from under her lashes like a tiny detective.

It would have been a normal morning if Bai Li had not been acting suspiciously normal for the last three days.

That was how Yan Cijin knew something was wrong.

Bai Li was never truly normal. Not when she was relaxed, not when she was busy, not when she was sleepy, not when she was trying to act cool. Even her calm had a little edge of mischief in it, like she was always carrying a joke in her pocket. So when she started smiling too politely, clearing plates too quickly, and answering questions with a little too much ease, Yan Cijin knew there was a secret under the surface.

The first sign had been the fruit dish left on the table the night before. The second sign had been the way Lili kept disappearing into the hallway and coming back with glitter on her hands. The third sign was Bai Li refusing to tell Yan Cijin what was on her work screen.

On the fourth day, Yan Cijin came home from the botanical institute exhausted and found the apartment completely quiet.

Too quiet.

She stood at the entrance, bag still over her shoulder, and looked around the room like she expected the walls themselves to confess. No Bai Li in the kitchen. No Lili shouting from the corridor. No music. No cartoon voices. Only the soft hum of the climate system and the faint scent of citrus cleaning gel.

Suspicious.

Yan Cijin took off her shoes and moved deeper inside. The living room lights were warm but low. On the table sat a neat bowl of peeled peach slices and a note written in Bai Li’s blunt and slightly crooked handwriting.

Eat first, scold later.

Yan Cijin stared at the note for a long moment.

Then she folded it once and slipped it into her pocket like evidence.

Bai Li appeared a few minutes later from the study carrying a stack of blueprints. She had changed into work clothes, but the jacket was half on and one button had been done wrong. Her hair was tied back badly, one strand falling across her forehead. She looked too casual for someone who was almost certainly hiding something.

”You are home,” Bai Li said.

Yan Cijin crossed her arms. ”You sound surprised.”

”Am I not allowed to be glad?”

”You are allowed, but you also look guilty.”

Bai Li blinked. ”I look normal.”

”That is exactly why I know you are guilty.”

Bai Li laughed softly and walked closer, lowering the papers to the table. ”You are very scary when you are right.”

Yan Cijin tilted her head. ”Then tell me what you are doing.”

”Work.”

”Liar.”

”Rude.”

Yan Cijin stepped closer and reached up, smoothing the collar of Bai Li’s shirt with a deliberately careful touch. It was a small gesture, but Bai Li’s whole body changed under it. Her breathing went slower, her eyes fixed on Yan Cijin’s face, and the teasing ease in her expression softened into something more private.

”Where is Lili?” Yan Cijin asked.

”In her room.”

”What are you hiding?”

Bai Li’s mouth curved with a helpless little smile. ”You have no trust in your wife.”

”You have never earned blind trust.”

”That sounds harsh.”

”It is fair.”

Bai Li leaned in a little. ”What if I told you it was something good?”

Yan Cijin narrowed her eyes. ”Then I would think you were even more suspicious.”

At that exact moment, from the bedroom corridor, Lili’s voice rang out loud and clear. ”Mother said not to tell Mommy Cijin!”

The apartment went silent.

Bai Li closed her eyes for one second, the picture of regret.

Yan Cijin turned slowly toward the hallway.

A tiny face appeared at the bedroom door, eyes huge with horror, then vanished at once.

Bai Li rubbed her forehead. ”I have been betrayed by my own blood.”

Yan Cijin turned back to her. ”Your secret agent is five.”

”She had one job.”

Yan Cijin’s mouth twitched despite herself. ”Now tell me.”

Bai Li walked closer until they were almost chest to chest. Her voice lowered. ”It is a surprise.”

”For me?”

”Who else would I bother this much for?”

Yan Cijin’s eyes softened before she could stop them. ”You are very annoying.”

”Only because you love me.”

Yan Cijin looked at her for a second, then lifted her hand and lightly pinched Bai Li’s cheek. ”That is not an excuse.”

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To be continued.