“Mother, you sent for me?”
Yun Xi greeted the old lady first as she entered.
“Come sit. The child just woke up, I thought you two should meet as soon as possible.”
The old lady looked at Yun Xi, smiling as she spoke.
She felt a flicker of surprise inside, even though only a short while had passed since she’d last seen her, she noticed her daughter-in-law looked even prettier now than she had that morning. Her smile was bright and radiant, her skin fair and glowing, her whole bearing somehow a notch better than before.
Could it have just been that the room was a bit dim this morning, so she hadn’t seen her clearly?
Yun Xi replied with a smile, “I was hoping for this too.”
The old lady smiled. “Come, sit down, and let the child greet you properly.”
Yun Xi did as told and sat down beside her. A maid and an older female servant came over and lifted the little young master down from the couch, setting him on the floor. He must have been coached beforehand, though Mu Jinyan looked a bit shy, he still gave Yun Xi a proper, formal bow, saying, “Mother.”
An adult performing this gesture would look perfectly ordinary, but coming from a child, especially a good-looking one, the effect was something else entirely.
Yun Xi was utterly charmed to the point of weak knees. She barely registered what he’d called her, what did it matter what he called her.
“Yes!”
Yun Xi answered, beaming a smile as bright as a wolf grandmother’s about to lure in Little Red Riding Hood.
Children are extremely sensitive to people’s emotions. He could sense that this beautiful mother in front of him liked him.
Seeing her smile so brightly, the little one offered a small smile of his own in return.
Yun Xi stood, walked over to him, bent down, and held out her hand.
The child paused for a moment, then placed his small hand in hers.
Yun Xi led him back to the couch, then reached down and lifted him up onto it, saying with a smile, “I didn’t know I was coming to meet you today, so I didn’t bring your gift along. I’ll send it over to you later, all right? I’ve got it all ready, it’s a really fun toy.”
She slowed her speech down deliberately, making sure the little one understood her.
The child glanced at his grandmother, and seeing her smiling and nodding, said to Yun Xi, “Okay, thank you, Mother.”
His small voice was babyishly sweet, utterly adorable.
Watching this newly formed mother and son interact, the old lady felt a touch of relief in her heart. Her grandson had a gentle, soft-hearted nature, and it seemed her new daughter-in-law’s temperament was much the same, two gentle, courteous people getting along shouldn’t turn out too badly.
She, an old woman, could finally set her heart a little more at ease.
With that thought, the old lady said with a smile, “Look at me, getting so forgetful in my old age, I even forgot to tell you the child’s name. He’s called Mu Jinyan, just turned three. He’s always been raised by my side up until now, but now that he has you as his mother, you’ll need to put in more effort going forward.”
She gestured for the wet nurse to take the child out to play for a while, then took Yun Xi’s hand and spoke to her heart-to-heart: “This child, A-Yan, has had it rough too, his birth mother passed away right after he was born, and he’s been raised at my side ever since. I know it’s a lot to ask of you, marrying in and immediately having to be a mother to a child. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, I, this old woman, am still here to back you up. Just try spending more time together, little by little, and take it slow.”
Yun Xi replied, “Don’t worry. I definitely won’t treat him badly.”
She didn’t promise that she and the child would necessarily get along like a real mother and son, that sort of thing depended on fate. Even biological mothers and children sometimes didn’t get along, let alone in a situation like theirs.
But what she could promise was that she would absolutely never mistreat the child. The upbringing she’d had would never allow her to do something so low.
The old lady said, “I believe you.”
The girl hadn’t made any grand, empty promises, that was a good sign. As long as she managed to keep even just that one promise, she’d already be better than a great many stepmothers.