Chapter 290: The golden fruit.

Yan Cijin helped by putting things into order on the shelves and setting aside the items the little dumpling used most often, like her small cup, her spare clothes, and the little blanket she liked to hold while sleeping. Yan Laojin sat for a little while after carrying too many things, then stood up again to help with the lighter items. She kept looking at Bai Li’s empty corners and then at the places where things reappeared in a neat stack, and every time she looked she seemed a little more dizzy. She muttered more than once that Bai Li’s ability was really too useful, especially in this kind of time. Bai Li did not answer that too much. She just kept working and tried to make the whole place look less messy.

The little dumpling eventually got bored of her toys and wandered over to see what the adults were doing. She stood next to Bai Li first and leaned one hand against Bai Li’s leg while peeking at the piles on the floor. Bai Li lowered her head and asked her if she wanted to help. The child immediately nodded, even though everyone knew she probably could not help much at all. Bai Li still handed her a few harmless things to carry, like a small box of tissues and a folded towel. The little dumpling treated them like treasure and carried them very carefully with both hands, her little face serious and proud. Yan Cijin saw that and let out a quiet laugh that sounded very soft in the room. Bai Li heard it and turned her head just a little. That sound alone made her feel strangely at ease. She did not say that out loud, of course. She just kept moving things and pretended she had only heard it by accident.

The three women and one little child slowly turned the house into something more organized as the morning went on. The fridge held the frozen food that had to stay cold. The shelves had clean clothes and daily items. The kitchen looked less crowded than before. Even the living room started to feel more open once the useless clutter was moved aside. Bai Li also took advantage of the chance to tidy the freezer and separate the food that needed to be used first from the things that could stay there a little longer. She was careful not to let anything spoil. A few bags of dumplings went into the fridge, some vegetables were set aside, and the seaweed she had used earlier was placed where it would not get crushed. Yan Cijin helped her without making a big deal out of it, handing over bags and boxes whenever Bai Li reached out. At times, their fingers brushed by mistake, and both of them would pause for only a beat before acting normal again. It was small enough that no one else would think much of it, but Bai Li noticed. Yan Cijin noticed too, though neither of them said anything. There was nothing to say yet. They were still just standing beside each other, still just helping, still just living through the day one step at a time.

By the time they were almost done, the morning sun had already moved higher outside the window. The room was brighter now, and the little dumpling was sitting on the floor with a half folded blanket over her knees, watching the adults with sleepy but satisfied eyes. Yan Laojin finally sat down with a sigh and said the house looked much better after Bai Li had finished moving things. Bai Li answered with a simple smile and told her it was only because there was a lot to move and not enough people to do it all at once. Yan Cijin glanced around the room once more, then looked back at Bai Li. Her gaze lingered for a second longer than necessary, as if she was quietly comparing the room before and after, or maybe quietly comparing Bai Li’s presence before and after too. Bai Li was not sure. She only knew that every time Yan Cijin looked at her like that, her own heart would settle and tighten at the same time, like something inside her was quietly waking up but not yet ready to be named. She kept that feeling buried deep and continued stacking the last few things where they belonged.

After finishing that, the three of them started organizing. Bai Li placed the refrigerator against the wall in the living room, then plugged it in. She found empty spaces to stuff the frozen food in her space, but still left a lot of food in the space.

Just as everyone was busy with their work, Bai Lin suddenly heard a beep sound in her mind followed by the loud announcement from the system:

"Congratulations host, The golden fruit of immortality has been born."

Bai Li suddenly stopped in her tracks as she took a second to understand what the system said.

For a few moments, the entire room seemed strangely quiet to her, even though nobody around her had actually stopped moving. She could still hear the small sounds of daily work happening around her. LiLi was fiddling with something nearby, Yan Cijin was arranging a few things that had been left out, and there were faint sounds coming from outside the room as people moved around the building. Yet Bai Li barely noticed any of it. Her attention was completely trapped by those few words that had appeared inside her head.

The golden fruit of immortality.

She had heard the system announce many things before. Sometimes it gave her information that was useful, sometimes it gave her warnings, and sometimes it simply reminded her of things she already knew. But this was different. Even the way the system had announced it sounded unusually serious, almost as if it was deliberately trying to make sure she understood the importance of what had just appeared.

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TO BE CONTINUED.