"So cute!" Lu Wanqing couldn't help herself, charmed by the little furball.
"Do you like them a lot?" Yu Nong asked curiously.
Lu Wanqing nodded like a pecking chick, "Mhm, mhm, mhm."
"They're very shy and won't stray far from the lantern grass. If you want to raise them, it's best to plant a patch of lantern grass nearby," Yu Nong said.
Raise them?
Lu Wanqing inexplicably thought of her own planets. She owned several, so planting some lantern grass and raising some furballs didn't seem impossible.
Some thoughts shouldn't be entertained, but once they were, it led to excitement.
However, before acting, Lu Wanqing maintained a shred of rationality and quickly asked, "If I transplant the lantern grass to Planet Shuilu, and bring the furballs along, will it affect the ecological balance of Planet Shuilu?"
"I can help you arrange it," Yu Nong said.
"You can arrange it?" Lu Wanqing was curious.
"As long as it's planted reasonably, and appropriate natural predators are introduced to keep them in check, a relatively complete ecosystem can be formed without upsetting the ecological balance," Yu Nong explained.
"Alright, thank you so much for this!" Lu Wanqing said happily, agreeing.
Yu Nong nodded, "Mm."
Shushu also woke up. After getting dressed and coming out of her room, she saw her mother and father chatting by the door. Shushu immediately walked over and asked happily, "Daddy, Mommy, what are you discussing?"
Lu Wanqing immediately explained the matter of the lantern grass and furballs to Shushu again.
Shushu's eyes lit up, and she exclaimed excitedly, "I can help Mommy arrange it too!"
Lu Wanqing smiled, raised her hand to ruffle Shushu's hair, and agreed, "Okay, Shushu will bring Daddy along to help Mommy set it up, alright?"
"Okay," Shushu agreed.
They played there for two days, then returned. Shushu also needed to go back to school. Lu Wanqing and Yu Nong took Shushu back together.
For the next month, Lu Wanqing stayed at Shushu's home. While Shushu was at school, Lu Wanqing would read, learn about, and research the strange plants of this era. When Shushu finished school, she would set aside time to spend more time with Shushu.
A month later, the time finally arrived. Although Lu Wanqing was reluctant to leave, she eventually had to.
Lu Yang came to pick her up. Lan Lan and Xiao Yi also came. Everyone said goodbye to her together.
Lu Wanqing smiled and said goodbye to all the children, then boarded a small spaceship and, with her third brother, entered the artificial wormhole to return to the Empire.
Back in the Empire, Wei Wei, Cui Cui, and Harvey, everyone missed her dearly. Seeing their mother had finally returned, the children rushed over.
Lu Wanqing hugged her children, feeling incredibly happy.
Another half a month later, the Federation and the Empire held a practical combat exercise league. The final match, just as Wei Wei had brought back from the future, was brilliant. Especially Alice, a girl born on a poverty-stricken planet, shone brightly in this competition, instantly becoming a national hero. Countless children from poverty-stricken planets looked up to Alice as an idol, dreaming of becoming as outstanding as her in the future.
After the league ended, Empress Cui Cui of the Empire announced a new decision: she would establish a brand-new public school in the imperial capital. All expenses for this school would be borne by the state, and students attending this school would not have to pay any tuition fees. The school would even provide basic living subsidies to ensure the students' daily lives.
Most importantly, the students of this school would be personally selected by the Empire's main brain, with no interference from any other organization, institution, or individual.
As soon as this news broke, it immediately became a trending topic across the entire interstellar network. Everyone was excited, especially the people from the poverty-stricken planets who had just watched the practical combat league between the Imperial Military Academy and the Federal Military Academy. They were even happier because the Empress's initiative was supporting them, giving them a path to a better life!
However, amidst the praise, there were inevitably some voices of doubt. Some people thought that a public school was a joke and would never succeed.
Others were very curious about how the main brain would select students for the public school.
The main brain selecting students was an unprecedented event in the history of the interstellar network.
However, in the face of societal doubts, Cui Cui was not flustered. She meticulously made arrangements, starting with creating the public school's website and uploading a large amount of free learning materials. All citizens of the Empire could download these materials for free with their Imperial optical brain ID.
After the materials were distributed, Cui Cui announced again that there would be a self-study period of one semester. Anyone who wished to attend could download the materials and study. After a semester, the public school would organize an examination online. Following the examination, the main brain would select outstanding students and send them admission notices, inviting them to enroll.
Once the news was publicized, studying suddenly became popular throughout the Empire. From the capital planet to the poverty-stricken planets, countless people frantically downloaded materials and studied diligently.
Some were just watching the show, wanting to see if the public school their new Empress had established was interesting, and what it meant for the Empress to say the main brain would select outstanding students. They also wanted to try and see if they could be selected by the Empire's main brain if they studied hard and took the exam after a semester.
Then there were those who had simply watched the league between the Federation and the Empire, were inspired by Alice's rise, and dreamed of their own rise like Alice. They were full of passion, believing they were the next Alice, and studied very hard, wanting to succeed and be selected by the main brain.
And finally, there were those who truly lived on low-level planets, with no hope of ever leaving in their lifetime, but who genuinely yearned to escape. They downloaded the materials and studied diligently, truly cherishing this opportunity, viewing this exam as the best, and only, path to leave their low-level planets, their dream!
Time flew by, and another half a year passed. During these six months, the dire news that Wei Wei had brought back from the future did not materialize.
Harvey did not fall in love with Alice.
Alice had no contact with any space pirates, nor did she collude with them to deal with Harvey and the Empire.
On the contrary, Firefly monitored the situation of Alice's birth parents. Alice's birth parents saw Alice on the Federation and Empire's practical combat league, recognized her as their daughter, and therefore intended to cause trouble in the imperial capital, to claim kinship with Alice and demand her filial support and financial provision. However, these troublemaking attempts were discovered by Firefly in time and nipped in the bud by Lu Wanqing and Lu Yang.
Lu Yang found proof of Alice's parents' illegal and criminal activities. Through the Empire's laws, Alice's unscrupulous parents were directly sent to the Empire's prison, permanently preventing this couple from influencing Alice's life.