Better late than never, Big Bun. Glad you understand how this works now. You both will do anything for her, even if it means leaving the other in the cold.

I agree with all of you and simultaneously I really respect the author's ability to portray Little Xue's genuine response to an unknown human, even though we all know they've met before. maybe some part of her deep inside remembers him her actual memories of him are still sealed. It's really hard to do convincingly in a story and I have a lot of respect for the consistency here.