The little tike wasn’t displeased when big brother picked him up. He waited happily for tomorrow when big brother would bring back two big watermelons to eat.

Xu Minghui didn’t disappoint the kids. By the next evening, he and Jiang Yuxiu returned with two large watermelons. There were quite a few people at home, and in addition to the watermelons, there were some grapes as well.

"Big brother, these grapes are really tasty," the little tike said excitedly. The family hadn’t eaten grapes before, and Fengfeng absolutely loved the taste.

"Of course they’re good. There aren’t many people around here growing grapes, so they’re pretty expensive," Xu Minghui said as he peeled one and popped it into his mouth. The taste was decent—tangy and sweet, perfectly ripe.

Xu Mumu ate some as well. These native grapes didn’t have the same taste as the ones from the future, but they were still alright.

"Do you like them?" Yin Yang asked gently. If she liked them, there was still plenty of empty land at the estate where they could plant some grapes.

"They’re okay, not very sweet," Xu Mumu replied.

"If you like, I can find some sweeter ones," Yin Yang said kindly. Finding some good grape seedlings would be really easy.

"Brother-in-law, could you find a few more when you look for seedlings? I’ll have my dad pay you, and we can plant some at our house too," Xu Jiaojiao said expectantly, thinking these grapes were pretty tasty and could definitely sell well if they grew them.

"No problem," Yin Yang nodded, not refusing.

Yin Yang acted quickly, and in a few days, he found some grape seedlings. He didn’t bring many, but when Xu Po insisted on paying, Yin Yang had no choice but to accept the money, even though it wasn’t a big deal to her.

The family was busy tending to the hillside they’d leased, which was now fully planted with fruit trees. They had mostly apple trees before, and now they added some grapes.

Pushed by their son and daughters, Xu Jiaojiao even bought some books on planting from the provincial city to bring back for him to study.

Xu Po felt that tending the family’s fruit trees required more meticulous care than he’d ever given his parents.

But the hard work paid off. The family’s fruit orchard was thriving, and they expected a harvest next year. The grapes grew faster—as they were planted this year, they might even be eating grapes next year. However, the first year wouldn’t yield much.

As Xu Mumu’s belly grew day by day, she went out less frequently. At home, she either read or tutored some of the kids in their studies.

Yin Yang came home early every day. With Xu Mumu becoming less mobile, he would support her as they walked around.

Even though Yin Yang supported her around the house a few times, Xu Mumu wasn’t as fragile as he thought. Her belly was big, but she was in good health, eating and drinking well. The only inconvenience was her large belly, leading to occasional leg cramps at night, but with Yin Yang’s help massaging them, it wasn’t a big deal.

"You don’t need to hold me. I won’t fall," Xu Mumu said helplessly.

"No way. Your belly is big now, and it’s not easy for you to walk. I wouldn’t be comfortable letting you walk around alone," Yin Yang said seriously. This was a serious matter, but the little wife didn’t seem to take it seriously at all.

Unable to argue with Yin Yang, Xu Mumu had no choice but to let him be.

As Xu Mumu was nurturing the baby, the kids’ physics competition was approaching.

During this time, they practiced a lot of problems and learned a lot.

Xu Mumu didn’t know much about physics competitions, but the kids were performing well, so she was confident in them.

Xu Mumu waited at home for the kids to return. The preliminary round wasn’t very difficult, and Xu Mumu and the others were confident.

By evening, when the kids returned, Xu Mumu hadn’t even asked before they were already excitedly telling her about the exam content and how they answered.

Knowing the exam questions and hearing the kids’ problem-solving approaches, Xu Mumu was quite pleased with them. As long as there were no errors in calculation steps, they should all achieve good results.

After discussing the problems they solved, the kids felt even more confident. If big sister thought they were right, they probably all got them correct.

Looking at the kids, Xu Mumu didn’t know what to say. These kids had way too much trust in her. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Luckily, her estimation wasn’t off. A few days later, the preliminary results came out, and all the kids passed. Xu Minglei scored the highest, due in large part to the extra tutoring Xu Mumu gave him over the summer.

After the preliminary round, the subsequent competitions were more challenging. Seeing the kids become increasingly serious, Xu Mumu felt a little worried and could only ask Madam Chun to make them tasty food to nourish their bodies.

Even Li Caixia started to feel sorry for her son. "What kind of competition is this, so troublesome? My son is studying for hours every day. Now we have electricity, and the monthly bill isn’t cheap," she said with concern.

After all, her son had earned quite a bit in prize money from these competitions, and in Li Caixia’s eyes, it was akin to doing business, but even more exhausting.

"Mom, it’s just this period that’s tiring," Xu Minglei said as he ate an orange his mother peeled for him.

"Tomorrow, I’ll buy two pig trotters to make a good stew for you all," Li Caixia, who had made quite a bit of money herself, was now less stingy than before, especially when it came to nourishing her children.

"Alright, just don’t stew it with sugar again. It was too greasy," Xu Minglei quickly said. The last time his mother experimented with rock sugar lotus soup from a recipe was too sweet and greasy. After a few bites, no one could eat any more. His mother didn’t have much talent in the kitchen but loved experimenting with odd recipes. Ultimately, he and his brother were the ones who suffered through most of them.

The pig’s trotters from that time were so greasy that his mother had the brothers finish them. No one else would eat them, and throwing them away wasn’t an option—it was meat, after all, and they couldn’t bear to waste it.

"Don’t worry, this time I’ll stew it with lotus root," Li Caixia said sheepishly. Why bring this up? This was her dark history. Just learning these things, it was normal not to get it right the first time, even if it was a bit costly.

"That’s good, that’s good," Xu Minglei said immediately at ease, as long as his mother didn’t get creative with strange recipes anymore—it was alright to tolerate her cooking even if it was just average.

Beside them, Xu Mumu and Jiang Yuxiu were talking and were almost about to burst out laughing. If they laughed, their mother would definitely be upset.