As a result, her health remained extremely poor. Neither the medicine Bai Xi prepared nor the Vitality Elixir Long Haochen worked hard to obtain had much effect. Bai Yue’s condition was still very weak.
After all, a troubled heart is hard to heal.
“Mom, it seems I can cultivate too.”
Bai Xi said these words with a tentative, cheerful tone, observing Bai Yue’s reaction.
“That’s right, Mom! Xi Xi can cultivate too.”
Long Haochen took over Bai Xi’s words and emphasized.
However, Bai Xi noticed that when they said this, the worry between Bai Yue’s brows deepened even more. A pained, struggling expression flashed across her face.
But in front of her children, she never showed these emotions. She forced them down with effort and put on a smile.
“That’s wonderful. Now there will be one more person to protect Mom in the future. But Haochen, why are you so happy too? If Xi Xi can cultivate, then you might not get to hear her call you ‘big brother’ anymore.”
To conceal her inner pain, Bai Yue even teased Long Haochen.
“Mom~”
Long Haochen drew out the end of his tone, acting coquettishly. “It’s only the beginning! How can you already think I can’t beat Xi Xi? I’m really strong now!”
“Alright, alright, our Haochen is the strongest.”
Although the atmosphere at the dinner table was good, it was clear that all three of them had their own concerns.
And Bai Xi’s concern was also Bai Yue’s concern.
From Bai Yue’s reaction, Bai Xi could almost be certain that Bai Yue didn’t really want her two children to embark on the path of cultivation. She was conflicted and pained about this matter.
Last time, when Long Haochen brought back the good news of passing the Squire Knight assessment, Bai Yue had reacted similarly.
“Why is she so conflicted when we can cultivate? She’s clearly happy for us, but something diminishes that joy. What is it?”
Bai Xi couldn’t understand, only feeling that Bai Yue was shrouded in mysteries.
But no matter how many mysteries there were, this was still her mother.
She would protect this family well. No one would be allowed to tear it apart.
After the meal, Bai Yue shooed the two children off to rest and shut herself in the kitchen to wash the dishes.
But Bai Xi tiptoed around to the outside of the door. Soon, she heard sighs from inside.
Bai Yue’s voice was very low. Shut in this small space, she was confiding her troubles.
But because her voice was too soft, only fragments could be heard.
“He had such talent… how could you two not be able to cultivate… but Mom would rather…”
“But what if you encounter that person… especially Xi Xi…”
“Why did I have to know that I—”
“Xi Xi! What are you doing outside the kitchen? Oh, you’re trying to hide and scare Mom, aren’t you?”
Long Haochen’s sudden voice interrupted Bai Yue’s words inside—and the secret that might have been revealed.
“Xi Xi, what did you hear just now?”
For the first time in front of her children, Bai Yue’s expression turned somewhat grave.
“Mom, are you afraid I might have heard something?”
Bai Xi answered the question with another, raising her head to look seriously at Bai Yue.
“Mom, we’re not little kids anymore. There are some things you should tell us.”
“We want to know why you’re so sad every day.”
“Can you stop comforting us with lies? We’ve really grown up. We’re not three-year-olds who can be fooled with a few words anymore.”
By the end, the siblings spoke in unison.
Looking at her children’s worried little faces, Bai Yue felt even more pain in her heart.
She thought she wasn’t a good enough mother, letting her young children worry so much about her.
Yet, faced with their concern, what she almost blurted out was still the same old phrase: “You’re still too young.”
“Let’s wait a little longer, Xi Xi, Chen Chen.”
Bai Yue sighed, knowing that as the children grew older, many things would become impossible to hide, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
So, she resorted to stalling.
“Mom isn’t ready yet. Let’s wait a little longer. When you turn eighteen, I promise I’ll tell you everything you want to know, everything I know.”
“That’s too long, Mom. I can only wait five years at most.”
Bai Xi immediately began bargaining. “Five years is already a long time. In five years, we’ll both be fourteen.”
Facing her children, Bai Yue’s heart softened completely. How could she not compromise?
In the end, the family of three settled on a five-year agreement.
Bai Yue thought she had managed to brush it off, but Bai Xi was particularly hard to fool. She spoke up again, asking:
“Mom, can you tell us about our dad? What kind of person was he? Is he still alive?”
As soon as Bai Xi mentioned the word “dad,” Long Haochen tugged at her sleeve, trying to stop her.
In their memory, whenever their father was mentioned, Bai Yue would become sad, almost heartbroken. So, as they grew a little older, they had stopped bringing him up.
This time, Bai Yue once again shed tears, her expression filled with deep pain, refusing to answer Bai Xi.
Seeing this, Bai Xi’s heart ached too, regretting having asked the question.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. I won’t ask again.”
She quickly threw herself into Bai Yue’s arms and apologized.
In her heart, though, she cursed the scumbag father. It was him who had made her mother so sad.
Judging by Bai Yue’s reaction, that scumbag father of hers had either died young or abandoned his wife and children. Otherwise, Bai Yue wouldn’t be so heartbroken at the mere mention of him.
“Scumbag dad, you’d better have died young.”
Bai Xi thought bitterly. Meanwhile, someone on a nearby hilltop sneezed several times in a row.
Bai Yue held her two children tightly and cried for a long time. She didn’t blame Bai Xi; instead, she blamed herself.
“Mom, no matter what happened in the past, it’s over now. You have me and Chen Chen with you, and we’ll protect you well. Can you forget those days without us?”
“When you’re unhappy, Chen Chen and I are unhappy too.”
Before meeting Bai Yue, Bai Xi had never experienced a mother’s love, so she cherished Bai Yue deeply.
“Yeah, Mom, ever since we were little, every time you cried secretly, Xi Xi would cry too, and she’d make me cry with her.”
Long Haochen didn’t agree with the idea of crying himself. He always believed he was a little man who had to protect the family and shouldn’t cry easily.
But if he dared not cry along, Bai Xi would ignore him for three days. Thinking about it, it was better to just cry a little.
He was only a few years old—it wasn’t embarrassing.
But tears really did help. Every time he cried, Long Haochen felt much lighter afterward.
“Long Haochen, you actually tattled on me!”
“I didn’t. I was just telling the truth… Ah—”
With just a few words, the siblings managed to make Bai Yue smile through her tears, easing her heart a little.
She thought that for their sake, she shouldn’t dwell on the past anymore.
After tonight, Bai Yue remained depressed, but her symptoms had eased somewhat, and occasionally, there were genuine smiles on her face.
Bai Xi breathed a slight sigh of relief, yet she also understood that Bai Yue’s past must have been deeply painful.