diff --git a/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.test.ts b/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.test.ts
index 54556965..c33c990b 100644
--- a/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.test.ts
+++ b/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.test.ts
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ describe('xiaohongshu search', () => {
     expect(cmd?.func).toBeTypeOf('function');
 
     const page = createPageMock([
-      // First evaluate: early login-wall check (returns true)
-      true,
+      // First evaluate: MutationObserver wait (login wall detected)
+      'login_wall',
     ]);
 
     await expect(cmd!.func!(page, { query: '特斯拉', limit: 5 })).rejects.toThrow(
@@ -61,21 +61,18 @@ describe('xiaohongshu search', () => {
       'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/635a9c720000000018028b40?xsec_token=user-token&xsec_source=pc_search';
 
     const page = createPageMock([
-      // First evaluate: early login-wall check (returns false → no wall)
-      false,
-      // Second evaluate: main DOM extraction
-      {
-        loginWall: false,
-        results: [
-          {
-            title: '某鱼买FSD被坑了4万',
-            author: '随风',
-            likes: '261',
-            url: detailUrl,
-            author_url: authorUrl,
-          },
-        ],
-      },
+      // First evaluate: MutationObserver wait (content appeared)
+      'content',
+      // Second evaluate: main DOM extraction (returns array directly)
+      [
+        {
+          title: '某鱼买FSD被坑了4万',
+          author: '随风',
+          likes: '261',
+          url: detailUrl,
+          author_url: authorUrl,
+        },
+      ],
     ]);
 
     const result = await cmd!.func!(page, { query: '特斯拉', limit: 1 });
@@ -101,35 +98,32 @@ describe('xiaohongshu search', () => {
     expect(cmd?.func).toBeTypeOf('function');
 
     const page = createPageMock([
-      // First evaluate: early login-wall check (returns false → no wall)
-      false,
-      // Second evaluate: main DOM extraction
-      {
-        loginWall: false,
-        results: [
-          {
-            title: 'Result A',
-            author: 'UserA',
-            likes: '10',
-            url: 'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/aaa',
-            author_url: '',
-          },
-          {
-            title: '',
-            author: 'UserB',
-            likes: '5',
-            url: 'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/bbb',
-            author_url: '',
-          },
-          {
-            title: 'Result C',
-            author: 'UserC',
-            likes: '3',
-            url: 'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/ccc',
-            author_url: '',
-          },
-        ],
-      },
+      // First evaluate: MutationObserver wait (content appeared)
+      'content',
+      // Second evaluate: main DOM extraction (returns array directly)
+      [
+        {
+          title: 'Result A',
+          author: 'UserA',
+          likes: '10',
+          url: 'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/aaa',
+          author_url: '',
+        },
+        {
+          title: '',
+          author: 'UserB',
+          likes: '5',
+          url: 'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/bbb',
+          author_url: '',
+        },
+        {
+          title: 'Result C',
+          author: 'UserC',
+          likes: '3',
+          url: 'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/ccc',
+          author_url: '',
+        },
+      ],
     ]);
 
     const result = (await cmd!.func!(page, { query: '测试', limit: 1 })) as any[];
@@ -139,34 +133,23 @@ describe('xiaohongshu search', () => {
     expect(result[0]).toMatchObject({ rank: 1, title: 'Result A' });
   });
 
-  it('retries once when the first pass returns empty results', async () => {
+  it('waits for content via MutationObserver before extracting', async () => {
     const cmd = getRegistry().get('xiaohongshu/search');
     expect(cmd?.func).toBeTypeOf('function');
 
     const page = createPageMock([
-      // First pass: login check + empty extraction
-      false,
-      { loginWall: false, results: [] },
-      // Retry pass: login check + non-empty extraction
-      false,
-      {
-        loginWall: false,
-        results: [
-          {
-            title: 'Retry Result',
-            author: 'UserR',
-            likes: '9',
-            url: 'https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/69b739f00000000000000000',
-            author_url: '',
-          },
-        ],
-      },
+      // First evaluate: MutationObserver wait (content appeared)
+      'content',
+      // Second evaluate: extraction (returns empty array)
+      [],
     ]);
 
-    const result = (await cmd!.func!(page, { query: '测试重试', limit: 5 })) as any[];
-    expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(result[0]).toMatchObject({ title: 'Retry Result' });
-    expect(page.goto).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    const result = (await cmd!.func!(page, { query: '测试等待', limit: 5 })) as any[];
+    expect(result).toHaveLength(0);
+    // Only one navigation, no retry
+    expect(page.goto).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    // Two evaluate calls: wait + extraction
+    expect(page.evaluate).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
   });
 });
 
diff --git a/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.ts b/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.ts
index a9c12807..dde9f8b8 100644
--- a/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.ts
+++ b/src/clis/xiaohongshu/search.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,29 @@
 import { cli, Strategy } from '../../registry.js';
 import { AuthRequiredError } from '../../errors.js';
 
+/**
+ * Wait for search results or login wall using MutationObserver (max 5s).
+ * Returns 'content' if note items appeared, 'login_wall' if login gate
+ * detected, or 'timeout' if neither appeared within the deadline.
+ */
+const WAIT_FOR_CONTENT_JS = `
+  new Promise((resolve) => {
+    const detect = () => {
+      if (document.querySelector('section.note-item')) return 'content';
+      if (/登录后查看搜索结果/.test(document.body?.innerText || '')) return 'login_wall';
+      return null;
+    };
+    const found = detect();
+    if (found) return resolve(found);
+    const observer = new MutationObserver(() => {
+      const result = detect();
+      if (result) { observer.disconnect(); resolve(result); }
+    });
+    observer.observe(document.body, { childList: true, subtree: true });
+    setTimeout(() => { observer.disconnect(); resolve('timeout'); }, 5000);
+  })
+`;
+
 /**
  * Extract approximate publish date from a Xiaohongshu note URL.
  * XHS note IDs follow MongoDB ObjectID format where the first 8 hex
@@ -39,33 +62,27 @@ cli({
   columns: ['rank', 'title', 'author', 'likes', 'published_at', 'url'],
   func: async (page, kwargs) => {
     const keyword = encodeURIComponent(kwargs.query);
-    const searchUrl =
-      `https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result?keyword=${keyword}&source=web_search_result_notes`;
-
-    const fetchAttempt = async () => {
-      await page.goto(searchUrl);
-      await page.wait(3);
-
-      // Early login-wall detection: XHS may show a login gate instead of
-      // results. Check *before* autoScroll to avoid crashing on a page
-      // that has no meaningful content to scroll through.
-      const loginCheck = await page.evaluate(`
-      (() => /登录后查看搜索结果/.test(document.body?.innerText || ''))()
-    `);
-      if (loginCheck) {
-        throw new AuthRequiredError(
-          'www.xiaohongshu.com',
-          'Xiaohongshu search results are blocked behind a login wall',
-        );
-      }
+    await page.goto(
+      `https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result?keyword=${keyword}&source=web_search_result_notes`
+    );
+
+    // Wait for search results to render (or login wall to appear).
+    // Uses MutationObserver to resolve as soon as content appears,
+    // instead of a fixed delay + blind retry.
+    const waitResult = await page.evaluate(WAIT_FOR_CONTENT_JS);
+
+    if (waitResult === 'login_wall') {
+      throw new AuthRequiredError(
+        'www.xiaohongshu.com',
+        'Xiaohongshu search results are blocked behind a login wall',
+      );
+    }
 
-      // Scroll a couple of times to load more results
-      await page.autoScroll({ times: 2 });
+    // Scroll a couple of times to load more results
+    await page.autoScroll({ times: 2 });
 
-      const payload = await page.evaluate(`
+    const payload = await page.evaluate(`
       (() => {
-        const loginWall = /登录后查看搜索结果/.test(document.body.innerText || '');
-
         const normalizeUrl = (href) => {
           if (!href) return '';
           if (href.startsWith('http://') || href.startsWith('https://')) return href;
@@ -109,37 +126,18 @@ cli({
           });
         });
 
-        return {
-          loginWall,
-          results,
-        };
+        return results;
       })()
     `);
 
-      if (!payload || typeof payload !== 'object') return [];
-
-      if ((payload as any).loginWall) {
-        throw new AuthRequiredError('www.xiaohongshu.com', 'Xiaohongshu search results are blocked behind a login wall');
-      }
-
-      const data: any[] = Array.isArray((payload as any).results) ? (payload as any).results : [];
-      return data
-        .filter((item: any) => item.title)
-        .slice(0, kwargs.limit)
-        .map((item: any, i: number) => ({
-          rank: i + 1,
-          ...item,
-          published_at: noteIdToDate(item.url),
-        }));
-    };
-
-    let results = await fetchAttempt();
-    if (!results.length) {
-      // XHS search can intermittently render blank blocks in the first paint.
-      // Retry once with a fresh navigation before returning empty.
-      await page.wait(1);
-      results = await fetchAttempt();
-    }
-    return results;
+    const data: any[] = Array.isArray(payload) ? (payload as any[]) : [];
+    return data
+      .filter((item: any) => item.title)
+      .slice(0, kwargs.limit)
+      .map((item: any, i: number) => ({
+        rank: i + 1,
+        ...item,
+        published_at: noteIdToDate(item.url),
+      }));
   },
 });