That evening, Xie Junting had a business banquet to attend. Though he desperately wanted to keep her by his side every second, he knew his limits and realized he couldn’t push her physical condition any further.
Before heading out the door, Xie Junting was reluctant to leave and deeply uneasy. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. While I’m gone, I’ll have Auntie Lin stay with you.”
“Go ahead and take care of your work, Brother, I’ll be fine.” Xia Yiyan thought to herself: While you’re gone, I can easily manage an extra bowl of rice with complete peace of mind.
An electric wheelchair had been placed in the room, along with a remote call button. If Auntie Lin was busy cooking or tending to other chores, Xia Yiyan could use it to signal for help if an accident occurred. The estate’s maids were strictly forbidden from entering the main villa outside of designated cleaning hours because Xie Junting was thoroughly sick of the various servants who had previously tried to climb into his bed. Aside from scheduled cleaning windows, the only people permitted inside were Auntie Lin and Butler Wen.
Having eaten lunch rather late, Xia Yiyan asked Auntie Lin to push dinner back a bit later. She rattled off a few of her favorite dishes to Auntie Lin and felt wonderfully content.
Once dinner was ready, she didn’t head down to the dining room; instead, just like lunch, Auntie Lin pushed a cart up to her. Exquisite, fragrant dishes were arranged on the coffee table in front of the bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window, complete with post-meal fruit and tea.
Feeling a sudden surge of poetic inspiration, Xia Yiyan improvised a little verse:
“Withered vines, old trees, evening crows; Dinner has plenty of meat and prawns. Air conditioning, iced drinks, and honeydew melon; As the sun sets in the west, Brother goes out to earn money for me to spend—and best of all, he doesn’t even come home tonight.”
Even someone as reserved as Auntie Lin burst out laughing. She felt that lately, Ms. Xia had truly grown much brighter, acting like an entirely different person compared to before. In the past, her personality had been gloomy, wearing a bitter expression all day long and refusing to communicate with her or the Young Master. It had often put the Young Master in a foul mood as well.
Now, everything was finally heading in a positive direction.
After finishing a wonderful meal, Auntie Lin cleared away the bowls and chopsticks to wash them downstairs. Xia Yiyan wheeled herself into the bathroom to freshen up briefly before curling up on the sofa with her tablet to binge-watch dramas.
Her gaming itch had flared up, and her urge to scroll through short videos was acting up too. But she only dared use the tablet for dramas; logging into chat apps or playing anything else was completely out of the question. Everything was monitored in the background—whatever she viewed or browsed, Xie Junting knew like the back of his hand.
I could cry—just another day of missing my own smartphone.
Having dedicated herself to putting on a good performance in front of Xie Junting lately, she didn’t dare bring up the topic of getting her phone back. But she didn’t know anyone here anyway, so even if she had a phone, it wouldn’t be of much use.
Oh well, forget it. Better to just lose myself in the world of TV dramas.
Once Auntie Lin finished cleaning the kitchen, she came back upstairs to keep her company. The two of them watched together.
Just as they were thoroughly engrossed, a knock sounded at the bedroom door. Auntie Lin stood up to answer it, while Xia Yiyan wondered who could possibly be knocking this late. Aside from the two of them, the only people in the house would be Qin Su or Butler Wen. It certainly wasn’t Xie Junting—whenever he came back, he unlocked the door and walked right in, never bothering to knock.
Auntie Lin pulled the door open and expressed surprise. “Madam? What brings you here so late?”
Stepping inside was an elegant, beautiful middle-aged woman whose features carried a faint resemblance to Xie Junting. Right behind her closely followed Qin Su.
The middle-aged woman wore a purple qipao crafted from an obviously expensive fabric, embroidered with intricate peony motifs. Her long hair was neatly twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck with a solid wood hairpin, and a few strands of silver hair peeked out among the locks. She possessed an extraordinary grace, radiating elegance and poise with every gesture, drifting into the room like a figure stepping out of a Jiangnan ink-wash painting.
Madam? And she looks somewhat like Xie Junting… Xia Yiyan guessed inwardly that this must be Xie Junting’s mother.
She hastily stood up, lightly resting her right foot on the floor while shifting her entire body weight onto her left.
“Well, Su Su came back yesterday, but she never came over to the old residence, so I came to pick her up myself,” Jiang Zhiyun explained. “Just now, why did Su Su say that Junting has a girlfriend? The boy is unbelievable—he gets a girlfriend and doesn’t even bother to tell me.”
Jiang Zhiyun had only learned today that her adopted daughter had returned from abroad, but as night fell and there was still no sign of her at the old estate, she had grown furious. The girl was becoming more and more exasperated; not only did she fail to visit her the moment she arrived back, but she was actually lingering indefinitely at her son’s place and refusing to leave. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt, so she simply came over to drag her back.
She didn’t trust her son’s peace of mind around this girl. This young woman had been scheming since childhood and was a master at playing the victim; she thought her acts were flawless, but Jiang Zhiyun had seen right through her long ago. However, out of pity for her destitute, helpless state and respect for her late mother, she had simply played along. She provided the girl with a worry-free, pampered life, yet at eighteen, the ungrateful wretch had tried to crawl into her son’s bed—truly not a good egg.
Fortunately, her son had high standards and didn’t care for her. Even though she was an adopted daughter she had raised from childhood, she had been perfectly fine keeping her abroad for the past few years.
What she hadn’t expected was to arrive here and discover that her son had actually taken a girlfriend, and the girl was staying right in this villa.
Jiang Zhiyun felt a surge of excitement and joy. Her unfilial son, who had spent twenty-nine years single, was finally dating! She had once worried her son might have some sort of medical issue, or perhaps preferred men? At the prime of his life when men were typically like hungry wolves, he hadn’t even managed a single scandal involving a rumored girlfriend.
Now, her hanging heart could finally drop.
Ptui, ptui—her hanging heart finally didn’t need to hang anymore.
Auntie Lin took the initiative to introduce them to Xia Yiyan: “Ms. Xia, this is Madam, the Young Master’s mother.”
Hearing that, Xia Yiyan proactively spoke up to the woman who had just walked in: “Hello, Auntie. I’m Xie Junting’s girlfriend, my name is Xia Yiyan.”
Jiang Zhiyun looked her over: skin whiter than snow, bright eyes and white teeth, and facial features more delicate and gorgeous than a porcelain doll. Her appearance was immensely pleasing. Just based on looks alone, she was an absolute match for her son. A wave of satisfaction bloomed in her chest.
Let’s wait and see her character through future interactions. As for family background—oh well, it doesn’t matter anymore.
She used to want her son to marry someone of equal social standing so it could benefit his career to some degree. But her son had grown the family enterprise to such towering heights; what did it matter if he married an ordinary woman? As long as her son was willing to date and showed any inclination toward marriage, that was enough. Ideally, he could hurry up and produce a little grandson or granddaughter for her. Oh, goodness—just thinking about it made her so happy. Among all her old circle of friends, she was the only one without a grandbaby, which made her green with envy every single day.
Moving with brisk, light steps, Jiang Zhiyun hurried over to Xia Yiyan’s side and eagerly grabbed her hand.
“Wonderful, wonderful. I’m Junting’s mother, my last name is Jiang, you can just call me Auntie Jiang. Xia Yiyan, right? What a lovely name. And you are so very pretty.”
“Auntie Jiang, may I ask… are you really Xie Junting’s mother?” Xia Yiyan asked with absolute sincerity, her eyes swimming with deep bewilderment.
“Hm? I truly am his mother. Why do you ask?”
“I’m so sorry, Auntie, it’s just that asking like that is a bit impolite. It’s truly because you look far too young to be his mother—you look much more like his older sister.”
As soon as Xia Yiyan finished speaking, Jiang Zhiyun burst into a hearty laugh. Who on earth wouldn’t be thrilled to be complimented on looking young? This girl was a keeper—sweet-mouthed and entirely too fond of speaking the honest truth.