How should I put this, she watched as Cai Yiren's mother seemed to be talking to her uncle, the two of them standing quite close to each other, so near that their proximity could be described as "within arm's reach". It looked like they had reached a particularly urgent part of their conversation, as Cai Yiren's mother was anxiously crying.
Here comes the drama!
Her uncle took a handkerchief from his pocket, but rather than handing it to Cai Yiren's mother, he stepped in and wiped away her tears himself.
Such an act would generally be reserved for lovers, spouses, or parent and child; even siblings behaving this way would seem excessively intimate, let alone cousins. And by Cai Yiren's mother's account, this uncle was merely a distant relative, possibly beyond the scope of five degrees of kindred, reflecting an even more distant cousin relationship.
Was such behavior appropriate?