Li Lianhua can't tell, for a moment, whether Cat picking up the kite is a good or a bad sign. He decides not to look, instead turning his attention to Huli Jing and giving him a few reassuring strokes over his head. Hearing that Cat found out who that little red envelope had come from is unexpected and a little bothersome, like a move in a game not working out, and the corner of his mouth twitches down in annoyance. He can guess who might have had a hand in foiling his idea, but thoughts of her don't belong here. Besides, what's he doing trying to give Cat something if he cared about remaining unknown? That would be pretty useless, at this point.

Bringing up that previous gift, though, seems like it might be promising, so Li Lianhua does lift his eyes to the boy again. But seeing the thing he made, at least in part with his own hands, being held like it's junk Cat can barely bring himself to touch, feels like anything but. It feels like not knowing what he'd done wrong, but knowing without a doubt whatsoever that he had ruined it. Without meaning to, but that's unimportant.

But the moment passes and Cat relents for now. Li Lianhua swallows down the tension holding his own body still like the press of coffin walls, and Huli Jing, sensing the fraught atmosphere but unsure what to do about it, hops off the bench to stand in front of Cat, tail wagging slowly and hesitantly. Li Lianhua pulls his hand back into his lap, gaze dropping to the work of plucking at his sleeve with the ghost of a smile.

"She seems worth admiring, from what I recall," he says and takes care not to let his voice sound as brittle as he feels. "Do you know how to fly it?"