Chapter 488: Jiang Yixia Relents and Finally Agrees

Chapter 488 -260: Jiang Yixia Relents and Finally Agrees

Jiang Silu stood by the window, looking out at the lake and laughing. “I just knew this one would be the best.”

Wen Wan stood beside her, also gazing out the window. “It’s so beautiful,” she said softly.

Jiang Sifan came upstairs and paused at the doorway without going in.

He glanced at the circular window and the room’s layout, then turned and went back downstairs without a word.

Jiang Yixia was on the second-floor landing, leaning against the wall as she watched Jiang Silu and Wen Wan come down from the floor above.

Jiang Silu’s face was flushed and her eyes were sparkling. She held Wen Wan’s hand, chattering away about something.

Wen Wan’s head was bowed, her face blushing, a smile playing on her lips.

“Mom, your room is on the second floor, and Wen Wan will be next door. I’ll take the attic, and Brother gets the one on the first floor.” Jiang Silu ran over and hugged Jiang Yixia’s arm. “We all have our own rooms now!”

Looking at her daughter’s excited face, Jiang Yixia felt a bittersweet warmth spread through her heart.

She reached out to stroke Jiang Silu’s hair, smiling without a word.

Lu Fan came up from the first floor and stood at the top of the stairs, smiling. “Finished the tour? What do you think?”

“It’s amazing!” Jiang Silu jumped in. “Dad, thank you!”

Lu Fan chuckled. “Nothing to thank me for. I’m just happy as long as you all like it.”

His gaze fell on Jiang Yixia.

Jiang Yixia stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall, her expression placid. It was impossible to tell if she was pleased or not.

“Yixia, what do you think?” Lu Fan asked.

Jiang Yixia glanced at him, then at Jiang Silu and Jiang Sifan. After a few seconds of silence, she said something that stunned everyone.

“This house is too big. I’m not used to a place like this. Why don’t you just let the children stay here? I think I’ll go back to my little house.”

The smile on Jiang Silu’s face instantly froze.

Wen Wan looked up at Jiang Yixia, completely at a loss.

Jiang Sifan, who was at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor, froze in place when he heard her words.

Lu Fan’s smile faltered, but he quickly recovered.

He looked at Jiang Yixia, his tone even. “What’s wrong? Is there something you’re not happy with?”

“It’s not that I’m unhappy with it.” Jiang Yixia shook her head. “This house is just… too nice. So nice that I’m not used to it. I’ve been in my little house for years now. I’m used to it.”

Jiang Yixia’s tone was calm, but resolute.

Lu Fan glanced at her but said nothing more. He knew her temperament; anything he said right now would be useless.

“Alright. Why don’t you stay for now? We can talk about it again if you decide you want to go back,” he said with a nod.

Jiang Yixia didn’t answer.

Jiang Silu, standing beside her, opened her mouth as if to say something, but after a glance at Lu Fan, she swallowed her words.

Lu Fan turned and went downstairs. Jiang Sifan and Wen Wan followed him.

Only Jiang Yixia and Jiang Silu were left in the hallway.

Jiang Silu grabbed Jiang Yixia’s arm, pulled her into the small, south-facing room, and shut the door.

“Mom, what on earth are you thinking?” Jiang Silu turned to face her, her eyes already rimmed with red.

Jiang Yixia sat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to her, gesturing for Silu to sit down as well.

Jiang Silu didn’t sit. She stood before her mother with her arms crossed, pouting.

“Silu, it’s not that I don’t want to live with you all,” Jiang Yixia sighed. “It’s just… your father bought this house. If I move in, what does that make this?”

“What do you mean? You’re the mother of his children!” Silu cried, her voice rising in frustration.

“That’s in the past.” Jiang Yixia’s voice grew quiet. “Right now, he and I… we haven’t gotten to that point.”

Jiang Silu knelt, taking her mother’s hand and looking up at her with red-rimmed eyes. “Mom, you’ve worked so hard for so many years. You raised me and Brother all by yourself. Do you think we don’t know how much you’ve suffered, how much you’ve sacrificed? I didn’t get it when I was little, but as I got older, I started to understand what you had to go through to survive all those years.”

Jiang Yixia didn’t speak, but her eyes welled with tears.

Jiang Silu continued, her voice choked with emotion. “Dad is trying to make it up to us now. You shouldn’t feel pressured by it. Even if you haven’t completely accepted him back into your life, you have to be good to yourself. If you don’t live here, how could we possibly leave you all alone while we enjoy these big rooms?”

“Silu…”

“Mom, please let me finish,” Jiang Silu interrupted, tears now streaming down her face. “You always used to say that once Brother and I were grown up, you could finally relax. Well, we’re both in college now. It’s your time to relax. But you’re still living by yourself in that tiny house, leaving for the flower shop before dawn and not coming home until it’s pitch black. When are you finally going to be a little kinder to yourself?”

Tears began to fall from Jiang Yixia’s eyes as well.

She reached up to wipe away her own tears, then reached out to wipe Silu’s.

“What are you crying for?” she asked with a smile, though her voice trembled violently.

“I’ll cry if you cry,” Jiang Silu sniffled. “Mom, please, just stay. You won’t be here alone—we’ll all be living together as a family. Don’t you want to be with us?”

Jiang Yixia looked at her for a long time.

Her daughter’s face was right there before her—flushed, streaked with tears, her eyes shining brightly, just like when she was a little girl.

She suddenly remembered many years ago, when Silu was still little, lying with her head in her lap. She had looked up and asked, “Mommy, how come everyone else has a dad, but I don’t?”

She hadn’t known how to answer then, so she had just held her daughter close and said, “Mommy’s here.”

Now, her daughter was grown, and she was the one holding her, pleading, “Mom, please, just stay.”

She took a deep breath and smiled.

“Alright, fine, I’ll stay. All this crying is driving me nuts.”

Jiang Silu froze for a second, then broke into a laugh through her tears. She threw her arms around her mother. “Mom, you promised? You can’t take it back!”