The imperial palace was soon reached. They alighted from the hovercar together and returned to the palace.
"Your Majesty, the kitchen has been renovated," Bai Jinian approached and reported respectfully.
"Kitchen?" Lu Wanqing was surprised.
Lu Yang lowered his gaze to her, smiled, and nodded, "Mm."
"Thank you, Third Brother!" Lu Wanqing immediately became happy, her eyes curving.
Indeed, the whole world knew her Third Brother understood her best. Without her even saying anything, Third Brother could prepare everything for her.
"Let's go take a look," Lu Yang said with a smile.
"Okay," Lu Wanqing quickly agreed.
They soon went to the kitchen and entered. Lu Wanqing's eyes immediately lit up. It was so beautiful!
In Lu Yang's quantum computer, the intelligent AI, Qingqing, felt a pang of envy. Master was too good to Lu Wanqing!
"Third Brother, it's so beautiful!" Lu Wanqing exclaimed excitedly.
"As long as you like it," Lu Yang nodded with a smile.
As Lu Yang finished speaking, his vision suddenly darkened for a moment, his head drooping slightly, but he quickly raised it again.
Lu Wanqing turned around and couldn't help but embrace her Third Brother.
She had so many, many things to say, but didn't know how to express them. Third Brother was truly too good to her.
Lu Yang gently held her as well. The longing of over three thousand years could not be explained in words. He… missed her dearly.
After an unknown amount of time, they finally let go, but looking at each other, they couldn't help but break into radiant smiles.
For the next week, they quietly enjoyed life and the happiness of being together.
The only unhappy one was likely little Harvey, as Lu Wanqing and Lu Yang hired a tutor for him. Every day after returning from school, he still had to face studying.
However, Lu Wanqing refused to yield to Harvey's protests. Studying was truly very important, and Harvey had to study hard.
Lu Wanqing did not let Harvey study alone, though. The knowledge of the interstellar era was something not only Harvey didn't know, but there were also subjects she herself didn't understand. Therefore, while Harvey studied, she would also be by his side, studying together.
Initially, Harvey was very resistant to tutoring, but when he saw his mother attending the classes with him, he suddenly didn't feel so bad. He even developed a competitive spirit, wanting to compete with his mother in academics.
One large and one small, mother and son studying together, tutoring seemed to become fun.
She also didn't want to give up on the combat techniques she had only learned for a few days on Mu Yun Planet.
After discussing with Lu Yang, Lu Yang quickly brought her to his training ground and would then carve out time every day to accompany her in training.
Under Lu Yang's personal guidance, Lu Wanqing's progress was swift. In the virtual arena against virtual puppets, she went from being repeatedly defeated to being able to defeat beginner virtual puppets.
Occasionally, Lu Wanqing would also take time to video call the other children who remained in the Federation, comforting them.
Sometimes, when she was in a good mood, she would log onto the star network, just like before, and play games with the children on the star network.
It's worth mentioning that whenever Lu Wanqing did these things, Lu Yang was with her. Thus, when Lu Wanqing brought the children to play games together, it ended up being two adults leading a group of children in gaming.
When they were tired from playing games, everyone would go to the Federation's virtual wasteland to fish and shoot birds!
Nearly two years later, young Zhong Liyi's hunting skills had significantly improved compared to before, with an accuracy rate of over eighty percent.
Young Harvey's accuracy rate was also over eighty percent, but it was one or two percentage points lower than Zhong Liyi's. This infuriated Harvey. He felt his shooting had always been accurate, much better than Zhong Liyi's. He never expected that in just two years of not seeing each other, Zhong Liyi's accuracy rate had become so high. It was infuriating!
"I won't be worse than you!" Harvey stood in front of Zhong Liyi and declared loudly, angry.
Zhong Liyi looked at him and gently turned his head away, not wanting to engage.
He remembered this red-haired boy. When he used to come to the star network with his mother to play, he had seen him several times. He always made fun of his inaccurate shooting and even snatched the fish his mother had painstakingly caught. Annoying!
"Hey, I'm talking to you. Let's compete again. I'll definitely be better than you!" Harvey, seeing Zhong Liyi ignore him, quickly circled around and stood in front of Zhong Liyi again, speaking loudly.
Zhong Liyi, at seven years old, had a demeanor that increasingly resembled Zhong Lifeyu's: serious and upright.
"I am not worse than you," Zhong Liyi said.
"Hmph!" Harvey snorted coldly, puffing his chest out angrily. "Let's compete again. I'll definitely be better than you!"
Lu Wanqing watched the two children argue and did not stop them. Harvey's biggest flaw was his overconfidence, arrogance, and unwillingness to listen to others' advice.
Young Yi's talent in shooting was clearly not as good as Harvey's, but after two years of training, Young Yi had significantly caught up to Harvey through diligent effort. Yet, Harvey remained the same, making no progress, still smugly believing he was better than others.
Lu Wanqing smiled, then rubbed Young Yi's head and said with a smile, "Young Yi, would you mind competing with Harvey again?"
Zhong Liyi looked up at his mother.
Lu Wanqing smiled and said, "Mommy believes in Young Yi."
Zhong Liyi looked at Harvey.
Harvey looked at his mother, huffing indignantly, "Mommy, you don't believe me?"
Lu Wanqing pinched Harvey's puffed-up cheeks and said, "Mommy believes in you. Harvey's talent is excellent. You could already shoot very accurately two years ago."
"That's right!" Harvey immediately became proud, lifting his chin and looking smugly at Zhong Liyi.
Lu Wanqing continued, "However, you are too proud, Harvey. No matter how good your talent is, don't neglect your hard work. Young Yi might not have been as good as you two years ago, but now, he might not be worse than you."
Zhong Liyi suddenly became happy again. He nodded, acknowledging his mother's words, "Mm-hmm, Dad said that effort makes one stronger!"
"You!" Harvey was angered, glaring at Zhong Liyi, "I'm definitely better than you!"
"Then let's compete again, shall we? If Harvey loses, from now on, you must study hard and never look down on others. Remember, while good talent is great, effort is also precious. If you are always so arrogant and look down on others, you will be surpassed by others," Lu Wanqing said.
"I'm not afraid of him," Harvey replied defiantly, still huffing.
"Alright, then you two begin your competition," Lu Wanqing said.
The two children soon began a new round of competition. Lu Wanqing stood behind them, watching silently.
With an hour limit, the two children began shooting birds with their bows and arrows. Whoever shot more birds won.
An hour, not too fast, not too slow. Everyone waited patiently, diligently counting the birds shot down by Zhong Liyi and Harvey.
The final result was that Zhong Liyi shot down twenty-six birds, while Harvey only managed to shoot down twenty, six fewer than Zhong Liyi!
Seeing the result, Harvey was so angry he was about to explode. He had actually lost.
Lu Wanqing rubbed the little one's head, squatted down, looked into his eyes, and said earnestly, "Harvey, do you admit it now? Effort is useful. Even if someone doesn't have good talent, with hard work, they can become stronger. But if you rely on your talent, look down on others, and don't put in effort, you might eventually be surpassed and won't be the best."