[X] That she would respectfully decline. She was too young to make such a permanent decision, even if that meant losing the offer.
Ulitmately if she wanted a vassal she needed to put more work into Ling Qi specifically. I don't object to working together with her, but it is far too early to ask Ling Qi to offer herself as a full vassal.
Cai has put very little into working to earn Ling Qi's loyalty as she boasted she would and asking for full commitment for the rest of our lives on this short a timescale, without her putting a lot more pro-active effort into courting Ling Qi is a bridge too far.
We may have limited actions but Cai has essentially never invited us to do anything, every first step has come from Ling Qi.
If she wanted to be sure of her allies or resources she should have spent more time trying to reach out to us personally and ask at the end of the year. Invest her major resources for this year into Ganguli etc and have a small amount left over for discretionary use.
If she takes the time to get to know us next year and asks again I might agree, but not now. And perhaps this will provide Cai a valuable lesson about where to focus her efforts.