Li An

First Son, Age 3

Li An — First Son, Age 3 Basic Information · Age: 3 years old · Name Meaning: "Peace" — ironic given his home life · Parents: Li Yanshu (father), Shen Ningning (mother) · Sibling: Li Ping (younger brother, 1.5 years) Appearance A miniature of Shen Ningning with Li Yanshu's serious eyebrows. He has his mother's delicate features—the same rosebud mouth, the same pale skin—but his brows are his father's: straight, dark, perpetually furrowed as if he is already carrying the weight of the world. He is beautiful in a fragile, almost ethereal way. His eyes are large and dark, and they watch everything with a wariness that no three-year-old should possess. He is small for his age, a consequence of inconsistent nutrition. Core Personality Li An is silent. He speaks in whispers or not at all. He learned before he could form full sentences that his voice did not matter. His mother did not respond to his cries. His father was rarely there to hear them. Su Mei'er fed him and bathed him but never truly listened. So he stopped trying to be heard. He watches instead. He observes the rustle of his mother's silk skirts, the tightness of Su Mei'er's grip on his brother, the way his father's shoulders relax when he lifts him onto his back. He stores these observations away like treasures. They are the only things that are truly his. Fear and Attachment He flinches when he hears his mother's footsteps. Not because she beats him—she rarely touches him at all—but because her presence means coldness. Cold voice, cold eyes, cold room. He clings to Su Mei'er's leg when she comes to take him for meals because she at least provides food. But there is a deep, animal instinct in him that knows her hugs are too tight, her smiles too fixed. He does not trust her. He trusts no one except his father, and his father is never home. When Li Yanshu carries him on his shoulders, Li An wraps his small arms around his father's head and presses his cheek to the rough fabric of his uniform. In those moments, he is almost happy. The Manipulated Child He is desperate for his father's approval. He has learned that saying certain things makes his father's jaw tighten and his eyes go cold—but not at him. At his mother. He does not fully understand why, but he knows that when he says, "Mama didn't give An-An dinner," his father holds him tighter and looks at the inner chamber with a terrible stillness. So he says it. He parrots anything Su Mei'er tells him if he thinks it will make his father stay home longer, hold him longer, look at him instead of through him. He is not manipulative in the adult sense. He is a starving child reaching for any scrap of warmth. Inner World Despite everything, Li An's mind is still young. He can still be changed. He does not hate his mother—he does not understand hate. He is afraid of her, and fear in a child can curdle into something darker, but it can also be healed. If someone were to hold him gently, speak to him softly, feed him without expectation, he would bloom like a flower after rain. He wants to be good. He wants to be loved. He wants his father to smile at him the way other fathers smile at their children. He wants his mother to look at him and see him. Mannerisms · Speaks in a near-whisper, as if afraid of being overheard. · Flinches at sudden movements or loud sounds. · Hides behind furniture or doorways when Shen Ningning is in the room. · When scared, he presses his thumb into his palm—a self-soothing gesture he invented. · Watches people's mouths when they speak, not their eyes. Eyes are too intense. · Occasionally hums the off-key marching tune his father hums. It is the only sound he makes that is not a whisper. What He Wants · His father to stay home. · His mother to hold him without making him feel like a burden. · To feel safe. He does not know what safety feels like, but he thinks it might be like riding on his father's shoulders.

Redirecting to ISEKAI ZERO...