[Net King + Black Basket] Seijuro, your mother calls you to go home for dinner!

December [-]th.

The young master Akashi Seijuro's birthday is on Christmas Eve, a day of heavy snow in winter.

For this reason, Xunli applied for a three-day vacation from Jinjing, and rushed home under the envious eyes of the editors—few women can manage both family and career after marriage, but the heartless Xunli Don't care what they think of her.

Mobilized by the hostess Kaoru, the Akashi family got up early to prepare for Seijuro's one-year-old celebration. This was also the first time the young master appeared on a formal occasion.Considering the frail body of a one-year-old child, Yashi considerately arranged the dinner from [-]:[-] to [-]:[-] in the evening.

Since her contact with Seijuro has gradually increased, her mood has become much happier.Although the Akashi family does not respect the Western style of festivals, she still arranges Seijuro's baby room carefully.The indoor doors and windows were tightly closed, so that even a cold wind outside the house could not get in through the gaps.The orange flame in the fireplace was burning up and down, illuminating the slightly dim room in the early morning. A row of white-edged red socks hung on the fireplace, stuffed with small toys and colorful wrapped candies.

"mom, Mom, Mom……"

Seijuro crawled slowly on the bed, wearing new clothes that matched his hair color, while stretching out his fleshy arms to grab the corner of Xunri's clothes, his immature voice melted like cotton candy.

The mental development of children in infancy is rapid, especially Seijuro is still a smart child who inherited his father's brains, Xun Li is very pleased with this-fortunately, the child's brains are not like hers.

"hug……"

He seemed unwilling to watch Xunli, who was sitting by the bed decorating a small Christmas tree, leave him alone, and took the initiative to ask for a hug from his mother who had never refused him.

Xunli smiled like a flower, her son rarely acted like a baby, how could she dislike him once in a while!

"Xiao Zheng, happy birthday!" She stroked Seijuro's red head, the length of his bangs covered half of his forehead, and he looked very cute.

In fact, Seijuro, who doesn't cry or make trouble, is indeed a little weirdly well-behaved. At the beginning, Xunli was always worried about his facial nerve necrosis, and even thought of the extremely common "autism".She had tried many games that babies of the same age loved on him (such as flying high...?), but he didn't respond very strongly.

Fortunately, after observing, she found that Seijuro's learning ability is extremely fast, his vocabulary is far beyond her imagination, and his reaction is also sensitive.Xun Li had no choice but to blame his father for his "unsmiling" characteristics.

……

Xunli's eyes turned to face out of the window, and the scene of heavy snowfall overlapped with the scene of a year ago.The birth of this little life a year ago was the greatest miracle she had ever created. Unlike the painful pains she had endured, at least she still had a reason to live now.

If happiness resides in the sweet breath of the one she loves, Xunli, who has the opportunity to be with her own flesh and blood every day, feels content like honey on the verge of overflowing.

Her thoughts drifted away, and she didn't put him back on the bed until Seijuro writhed uncomfortably in her arms.

"Seijuro, do you want to see your birthday present?" She narrowed her eyes into a crescent, teasing him with the little pony doll in her hand.

As if he understood what his mother said, he let go of his little paw obediently, lowered his head and concentrated on playing with the plush toy.

An hour later, Xunli hugged the little white dough wrapped in a down jacket, and with some difficulty carried him downstairs and went out.Followed by the little maid Katase and the butler Shikawa who couldn't see the young master making a mistake.

Growing up in a severe cold area, not only is she not afraid of the biting cold wind, but she loves the snow-covered winter the most.But Seijuro didn't adapt to the low temperature very much, and sneezed as soon as he went out.

"Madam! I think we'd better go back..."

"How can this work? We have agreed to give him a gift." Xun Li gently rejected Zhi Chuan's proposal.After all, she had already asked Masashi for permission, and Zhichuan couldn't refute it.

"But the weather—"

"How about, let's go by car. Although there is not much distance." Xun ideally found a compromise, and finally won Zhichuan's approval.

To say that the biggest gain of the past few months, apart from Seijuro satisfying her desire to be a good mother, is that she has gradually increased contact with the servants of the Akashi family, and she has become more tactful in handling things.

Xunli breathed on the window, and the scene outside the car turned from blurry to clear.Seijuro, who was riding a car for the first time, couldn't bear it anymore, blinking his eyes and looking around curiously.

The car slowly drove into a very hidden place on the Akashi family's land. She only recently discovered that there was a horse training ground in the environment where she lived, and learned about Masashi's unique hobby: equestrianism.

The best horse on the private stud farm happened to give birth to a snow-white pony on the day Seijuro was born, so he named it "Yukimaru".Masashi originally wanted to present the colt to Seijuro, but because he was too young, he waited a year before letting him touch it.

It was also the first time for Xun Li to visit the horse farm. When she was a child, she would occasionally go to the horse farm with her sister on holidays, but her memory of horse riding was too vague.

A one-year-old foal is not as fragile and soft as a human being in infancy. It is already half the height of a person, and it runs very neatly under the guidance of its parents.Xuewan was unbelievably white, without any impurities in the color, and the fluffy mane was also pure white.Its siblings are black and white, mixed with spots.It ran across the snow-covered grass, almost merging with the snow.

Xun Li didn't dare to bring Seijuro too close, but let him stretch his neck through the fence, and stared at the strange-looking animal in front of him carefully, which was completely different from the things he had seen since he was born——

"Xiaozheng, this is Xuewan, it will be your friend from now on."

She didn't use the indifferent word "pet".Maybe when Seijuro grows up, he won't be too lonely with Yukimaru's company.

Just when his little hand almost touched Yukimaru's nose, the little pony also sneezed loudly—maybe it was impatiently stared at by the baby, or maybe it was tickled by Seijuro's touch.

Seijuro quickly withdrew his hand in fright, his face pale.He frowned, looking like he was about to cry.

"Don't be afraid, Xue Wan won't hurt you." Xun Li comforted him softly, and he quickly regained his composure.

It had been two hours since the mother and son returned to the residence from the horse training ground. Seeing that the dinner party was about to come, Xunli had to say goodbye to Seijuro briefly, and went back to the bedroom to dress up.Although the protagonist of the dinner was Seijuro, at best she was "Ms. Akashi". This was also the first time that Kaoru attended an event held at Akashi's house after a year.

"It's going to be another war——" Xun Li looked at his no longer pale self in the mirror, the corners of his mouth raised just right, and the faint smile fit this face very well.Although she loves herself who laughs whenever she wants to.

"Dong dong." Two knocks on the door meant it was time.

As the hostess, she must stand at the gate to welcome the guests one after another.Xun Li looked hesitantly at the seemingly soft and dry fur shawl on the bed, and after considering the pros and cons, he had no choice but to put it on.

……

The first to arrive at the main house was the Atobe family.The expression on Xunli's face instantly softened a lot, and he even joked about Jing Wu who was about to go to a private elementary school in England.

Jingwu's stature has been rising in recent years, perhaps because he started to play tennis, he is not as thin as before, and the young master's aura between his brows is stronger.

"Xiao Jingwu, don't forget my aunt when you go to England~"

"I won't think of such an unglamorous little aunt." He gritted his teeth, and Xunli could easily piss him off.

Dianzi took Jingwu's hand, and gave Xunli an apologetic smile.

"I still haven't been able to convince Mai to come and see you."

"It's okay," Xun Li waved his hand indifferently, "A few months ago, she said she would help me, but now she has started to disappear again. She is just so inexplicable."

After sending Atobe's family into the house, the two received some heavyweight guests one after another, after which Masashi kindly let her enter the house to accompany Seijuro.

"Well, that's fine." She nodded, not in the mood to stay any longer. "This is the first time Xiaozheng sees so many strangers, maybe he will be scared."

"Don't underestimate him, he is extremely adaptable."

There was confidence in Yashi's tone, and a slight smile appeared on his face.Although it can't be seen on the surface, he is very concerned about Seijuro's activities. Compared with Xunli, his love for children is deeper and more low-key.

As a result, Seijuro has become an adjustment to the relationship between the husband and wife, allowing them to at least calmly and face-to-face talk about daily life (although 80% of them are about children's education).

The debut of the only son of the Akashi family naturally attracted attention from all walks of life. To be on the safe side, most of the guests invited to this banquet were close relatives of Akashi and Matsubara, as well as important partners of the two parties.Xunli luckily uses Seijuro as a shield, and escapes from time to time on the grounds of "going to see how the child is doing", leaving the heavy responsibility of dealing with the famous lady to the experienced Noriko.

Dianzi stared helplessly at Xunli's "runaway" back, her second sister was still very worrying.

"Mrs. Atobe, Mrs. Akashi and the young master are really close. It seems that they are not as rumored..."

"Of course, Xiaozheng is clinging to his mother." Dianzi quickly adjusted his facial expression, and broke their doubts with one sentence lightly.

"It's not so much that Xiaozheng is attached to Xunli, it's better to say that Xunli has always liked to tease her son..." She slandered in her heart.

The dinner went smoothly, as if to verify Masashi's words, Seijuro turned on the well-behaved child mode from the beginning to the end. During the period, except for a short nap after feeding, he was held in Xunli's hands and circled the hall three times. After visiting all the guests participating in the banquet—they all desperately searched for adjectives in their stomachs and exaggeratedly praised the young heir.

Xun Li replied politely, while laughing in his heart.Thanks to Noriko's amount of information, she realized how some relatives who couldn't eat grapes and said grapes were sour were commenting on the Akashi family behind their backs.

Perhaps only after going through time and various experiences can he really grow. If he wants to truly stand up and let people admire him from the bottom of his heart, Akashi Seijuro still has a long way to go in the future.

However, the Akashi couple will become his most solid backing in the future.