Sienna Thornton awkwardly explained, "I’m just pondering about developing the child’s language skills recently."

Simon Forrester gave an "oh" and looked at her with suspicion.

She turned around, pointing at the dress she was wearing, changing the subject, "How about I wear this tomorrow?"

Simon Forrester glanced at the black long dress showing half of her shoulder blade, "Black is too serious."

Sienna looked down at the dress, "Serious? I think it’s quite sexy."

She then picked up another bright yellow off-shoulder sleeveless dress, "What about this one?"

"This one works."

Sienna smiled, "Then I’ll wear this tomorrow!"

While she was changing her dress, Simon Forrester picked out a watch from the display cabinet and walked over to her, instinctively moving her long hair to one side and zipping up the back.

The zipper slowly slid up from the base of her spine.

She looked at him in the mirror, smiling, "Time flies. Our son is already a year old."

Once the zipper was done, he hugged her waist from behind and kissed her temple, "Let’s have a daughter next year? Having both a son and a daughter makes the character for ’good’."

"What if it’s another son?"

"Then having twins, forming the character for ’twin’ is good too..."

Sienna blushed and laughed, nudging his stomach with her elbow, "Dream on."

...

The next day, Simon Forrester and his family of three, along with Sylvia Langley, returned to the old house from Fenmore Hill.

Little Victor wore black shorts and a white T-shirt with a tie printed on it, matching in father-son outfits with Simon Forrester, who wore black pants and a white shirt.

The family of four had just stepped into the inner courtyard when Old Master Forrester, standing in the corridor directing the servants, greeted them with a smile and took the child from Sylvia Langley’s hands.

Little Victor had recently been learning to talk, his soft, fair hands hugging Old Master Forrester’s neck, called out in a sweet voice, "Grand~pa~"

Although his pronunciation wasn’t quite accurate and he called "Great Grandpa" as "Grandpa," it still brought tears of joy to Old Master Forrester’s eyes.

The old man hurriedly carried his great-grandson to Zane Forrester and corrected him, "This is your grandpa! I’m ’Great-Grand-pa’!"

Little Victor copied earnestly, "Great... grand..."

Zane Forrester, now a grandfather, was equally delighted and stuffed a big red envelope into Little Victor’s pants pocket. Still in Old Master Forrester’s arms, he hurriedly dug out the envelope, held it up in both hands, and leaned forward, trying to give the red envelope to Sienna Thornton.

Everyone laughed, saying this child was indeed a protector of his mother.

Old Master Forrester continued to teach Little Victor to address people, taking him to Matriarch Forrester, "This is ’Great Grandma’!"

Little Victor, very clever, mimicked the pronunciation in a soft voice, but his tendency to double words led him to call Matriarch Forrester "Nana" instead.

Old Master Forrester carried his great-grandson over to Bianca Fordham, exaggerating his mouth shape, "Auntie Grandma!"

Little Victor, encountering the term "Auntie Grandma" for the first time, naturally didn’t manage it and called out twice, "Gu...na..."

Everyone laughed, praising Little Victor for being clever and quick to learn, surely with high intelligence.

Old Master Forrester proudly stated, "Of course! My Jules and Annie are both PhD holders! How could their child’s intelligence not be high?!"

Bianca Fordham retorted, "Who doesn’t have a PhD nowadays? My son Tobias is a PhD too, you know?"

Old Master Forrester glanced at his daughter sitting next to her daughter-in-law, who only attended some unaccredited foreign university. His face fell but he couldn’t say anything directly and turned to amuse his great-grandson again.

"This is ’Unc—le—!’"

"Unc~le~"

.

Just before twelve, auspicious hour, Old Master Forrester called everyone to the temple, preparing for his great-grandson’s grabbing ceremony.

A long red cloth had already been spread out on the tatami in the temple, with bundles of hundred-yuan bills, a seal, a writing brush, a golden abacus, toys, and a book placed at the end.

Old Master Forrester and Grandma Forrester, holding Little Victor, led Simon Forrester and his wife, after bowing to the deities, cautiously placed Little Victor at one end of the red cloth.

Little Victor crawled very skillfully and headed towards the six fun things across the red cloth with agile hands and feet.

Everyone held their breath, watching to see what he would grab first.

Little Victor finally reached the six big items, grabbed the bundle of hundred-yuan bills with one hand, placed it in his lap, and protected it with the other, then grabbed the seal and golden abacus in turn and started crawling back.

He held the money in one hand, the small seal and golden abacus in the other while propping himself up with his fists.

Because he was crawling with only one hand, his speed was slow, and the money fell several times. Noticing this, he immediately went back, protected the bundle of hundred-yuan bills in his arms again, and continued crawling back. But when the money fell many times, he simply pushed it forward, then his chubby body crawled over, pushed it further, and crawled over again.

In such a difficult manner, he transported the three items back to the other side, the little guy smiling with drool as he plunged into Old Master Forrester’s arms.

Everyone laughed, expressing that this child has an incredible future!

Grabbing money meant future wealth rolling in, a destiny full of riches; grabbing a seal meant being blessed by ancestral grace and a smooth official career; grabbing an abacus implied having financial acumen, wealth generating more wealth.

Simon Forrester and his wife didn’t believe in these, laughing it off, but Old Master Forrester was very pleased, holding Little Victor and the three spoils of war, sitting on the red cloth, asking the photographer in charge to capture these moments.

Sienna Thornton watched from the side, quietly asking Simon Forrester, "What did you grab as a child?"

Simon Forrester frowned and thought for a moment, saying, "Seemed like toys." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Sienna smiled, "Just shows these don’t mean anything."

Simon Forrester put his arm around her shoulder, looking at the beaming Old Master Forrester and his parents, and said, "As long as the elders are happy."

.

After the lively ceremin of the grabbing ended, everyone moved to the dining room for lunch.

Old Master Forrester instructed the servant to place his great-grandson’s high chair next to his seat, saying he would personally feed the little one.

Bianca Fordham was a bit unhappy, muttering softly, "Used to feed the older ones, now still have to feed the younger ones! How come no one ever feeds my grandson?"

Sylvia Langley heard this, immediately sneering back, "Your son is already forty and still needs someone to feed him?"

Bianca glared at her, "I meant before!"

Sylvia didn’t want to engage further, saying "You only talk nonsense" before sitting down opposite.

During the meal, the two quarreled again over a small matter; Bianca’s loud, sharp voice frightened Little Victor to tears, leaving Old Master Forrester so angry that he drove his daughter out of the dining room.

Simon Forrester and his wife, with headaches, didn’t eat much lunch, ending the meal quickly and taking their son back to the room to rest.

The family woke up from a nap, just in time for four o’clock; the heat outside had lessened, so Simon Forrester took his wife and son to the park. After a stroll, around five o’clock, they prepared to head to The Imperial Court Club.

The birthday banquet tonight would start precisely at seven; some relatives arrived early, around half-past six, so Simon Forrester and his wife greeted them with their child in tow.

Little Victor loved to smile, and whenever relatives amused him a bit, he’d break into a crescent-eyed smile. Sienna Thornton taught him to call relatives; though his pronunciation wasn’t accurate, his attempts were becoming more and more earnest, adorable and clever, gaining much affection from the relatives.