"No, thank you. I want to personally make Xiao Yi a lunch," Lu Wanqing said with a smile.
Steward Xiao was stunned. He looked at Lu Wanqing in surprise, then with a hint of worry. "But you were just discharged from the hospital."
Steward Xiao quickly added, "Miss Lu, perhaps you should rest for a while longer. You can cook once you're feeling better."
"Mhm, I can skip Mommy's cooking for now. The food made by the household robot is also delicious. Mommy should rest well," Xiao Zhong Li Yi chimed in from the side.
Lu Wanqing lowered her gaze to look at Xiao Yi and said with amusement, "Xiao Yi is even concerned about Mommy now? That's wonderful!"
Lu Wanqing playfully pinched the little one's nose and then smiled. "Don't worry. The medical technology in your era is truly excellent. I'm fine. Making a meal won't tire me out."
With that, Lu Wanqing headed to the kitchen.
Seeing her determination, Steward Xiao couldn't say anything more. He simply went and brought out all the ingredients in the house, leaving them for Lu Wanqing to do as she pleased.
Lu Wanqing didn't intend to make anything too complicated. She casually prepared a bowl of meat broth and two vegetable dishes. After all, it would only be her and Xiao Yi eating lunch today.
Once the dishes were ready, Lu Wanqing didn't even need the household robot. She easily brought the plates to the dining room.
The white rice in the rice cooker was also almost done. She took it out and placed it on the dining table.
"Eat up. You're in a growth spurt right now, you can't go hungry," Lu Wanqing told Xiao Zhong Li Yi.
Xiao Zhong Li Yi looked at his Mommy and felt a rush of affection. He nodded, "Mhm!"
Lu Wanqing smiled, then scooped a bowl of soup for the child and picked out a few pieces of vegetables.
Xiao Zhong Li Yi lowered his head and drank the meat broth. He found it exceptionally delicious; it tasted like Mommy's cooking.
Seeing the child eat with gusto, Lu Wanqing picked up her own bowl and began her lunch.
After lunch, it was already quite late. Thinking that the child might not have napped, she couldn't help but ask Xiao Yi, "Xiao Yi, do you want to take a nap?"
Xiao Zhong Li Yi shook his head slightly. "No, thank you."
He had indeed felt sleepy around noon and wanted to sleep, but now that the time had passed, he wasn't tired at all.
"Then do you have any plans for the afternoon? What do you want to do?" Lu Wanqing asked again.
Xiao Zhong Li Yi shook his head. "No."
His Mommy had been unconscious and hospitalized, and he had stayed by her side. Now that Mommy was awake, he didn't have to go to school today. He would go tomorrow, so he had nothing planned.
Lu Wanqing thought for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "How was your learning recently? Have you fallen behind on your studies?"
Xiao Zhong Li Yi blinked his eyes at Lu Wanqing's question and stared at her intently.
Lu Wanqing: "..."
Lu Wanqing understood. It seemed that not only Xiao Cui Cui had missed a lot of lessons, but Xiao Yi had too.
"What do you usually learn in kindergarten? Mommy will help you catch up this afternoon," Lu Wanqing said a moment later.
Xiao Zhong Li Yi looked at his Mommy blankly. After a moment, he agreed, "Okay."
Lunch was quickly finished, and Lu Wanqing took the child upstairs with her.
She remembered Xiao Lan Lan's previous textbooks, which could project simulated images, making them very realistic. She found it quite good.
Xiao Zhong Li Yi also took out his own learning tablet and turned on the projector.
Lu Wanqing said she would teach, but seeing the projection appear, she felt a bit bewildered. Having never attended kindergarten in the interstellar era, Lu Wanqing wasn't quite sure how kindergarten teachers taught their students.
Lu Wanqing's only impression of interstellar kindergarten was probably from Xiao Lan Lan telling her every day after school what the teacher had taught.
Lu Wanqing mused, looking at the projection displayed on Xiao Zhong Li Yi's learning tablet, and soon understood what she needed to teach.
Kindergarten education primarily focused on teaching children to recognize various plants and animals, as well as some simple, everyday words.
Lu Wanqing thought about it and earnestly asked Xiao Zhong Li Yi again how the teacher usually lectured and what topics were covered.
In the end, Lu Wanqing's earlier guess proved correct. Kindergarten learning was indeed relatively simple, focusing on identifying animals, plants, and basic characters. Once she understood, she began to help the little one catch up.
Lu Wanqing was somewhat fortunate that even after more than three thousand years, the characters used by the Federation were still the simplified Chinese and Pinyin she was familiar with. She felt a sense of familiarity, with no generational gap in language.
The textbooks in the interstellar era were truly vivid. As Lu Wanqing taught, she didn't find it tedious. On the contrary, she learned a lot of new knowledge from them.
For instance, many plants and animals that were common in the ancient Earth era had undergone some mutations in the interstellar era over three thousand years. They resembled their appearance from three thousand years ago but were not exactly the same.
There were also many plants and animals that Lu Wanqing had never seen before. When she encountered something she didn't recognize, she would look it up on her brain, and then she would know that these were plants that originally lived on other planets. Humans discovered them after migrating, and slowly began to live alongside these plants and animals in this world.
Time passed quickly. Half a day was soon over. By four in the afternoon, Lu Wanqing's throat was dry, and Xiao Yi was also a bit tired.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Let's take a break," Lu Wanqing said.
Xiao Yi was still a child, after all. Lu Wanqing didn't want to push him too hard to study, as it would be tiring.
"Mhm." Xiao Zhong Li Yi nodded obediently.
Lu Wanqing breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the child turn off the lesson projection and put away the tablet, she couldn't help but rub the little one's head again.
Lu Wanqing went downstairs to get two cups of hot water. She handed one to Xiao Zhong Li Yi. "Have a cup of hot water."
Xiao Zhong Li Yi looked at the water his Mommy offered, thought for a moment, and then picked it up and drank it.
"Do you want to go to the training room to train today?" Lu Wanqing asked Xiao Zhong Li Yi after resting for a while.
Xiao Zhong Li Yi looked up at Lu Wanqing, looking quite bewildered.
Lu Wanqing, however, remembered what Steward Xiao had said. She said seriously, "Steward Xiao mentioned before that you needed to come back for training."
Xiao Zhong Li Yi: "..."
"Okay," Xiao Zhong Li Yi agreed a moment later.
Lu Wanqing looked at Xiao Yi, and her heart inexplicably fluttered. This child always just agreed; didn't he know how to refuse?
"Xiao Yi, if you don't like something or want to rest, you can say no," Lu Wanqing said.
Although training was important, she hoped her child would have his own thoughts and not be dictated to by others. She wanted him to understand what he wanted to do and what he didn't want to do, to only do things he liked and things that were worthwhile, and to know how to refuse things he didn't want to do.
Xiao Zhong Li Yi looked at his Mommy and said earnestly, "Training with Mommy is very good."
This time, it was Lu Wanqing who was stunned. She hadn't expected Xiao Yi to say that.