Wan'er shook her head, smiling gently.

"Grandma, I don't have any other skills, only this needlework. I hope my family won't find it bad!"

"What's there to complain about? We're overjoyed!" Tao Hongying also praised, "I'm clumsy, but I never expected that my niece-in-law would be so skillful!"

"Both you and Wenjuan are incredibly intelligent."

Zhao Yuru was holding her precious grandson when she handed him to Wan'er, saying with a smile, "Wan'er, hold this little guy, he'll surely be overjoyed soon."

"You don't need to worry about whether it's a boy or a girl. Our Li family is large and prosperous; we guarantee that every child we have will be a boy!"

Wan'er's face turned bright red as she held the chubby boy who was kicking excitedly, feeling quite helpless.

She turned to look at Jiaren and saw that he had also blushed, but his expression was full of happiness.

Wan'er's heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly understood.

To love someone is to love what they love...

Time flies, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The sound of cicadas heralds another summer.

The riverbank of Suijintan no longer has room for peanuts and sweet potatoes; it is now full of melon vines.

The light green leaves, swaying listlessly in the hot breeze, seemed to wave their hands weakly.

This reveals the large melon, hidden beneath the leaves and dressed in a bright green coat.

The old village chief, whose hair was almost completely white, stood in the field, waving his pipe and calling out to the villagers.

"Everyone, hurry up and cover all the melons! It's so hot, be careful they don't burst in the sun!"

"Each melon is worth a silver ingot, we can't waste them!"

"Don't worry, uncle!" A man stood up, wiped the sweat from his brow, looked at the blazing sun overhead, and cursed, "Damn God, is he blind? How can it go a whole month without rain!"

The village chief was also anxious, but his reverence for heaven and earth made him immediately say, "Stop talking nonsense and get to work."

"The past two years have been blessed with favorable weather, so it's okay if it's a bit dry this year! People eat grains and other foods, and everyone has their share of discomforts."

"Maybe God is just having a bad year and forgot to rain. That's possible. Things will definitely get better in a few days."

Hearing this, the man and the villagers felt reassured and continued to cover the watermelons with baskets.

These baskets were originally woven by the village elders to facilitate transportation when selling the goods, but they unexpectedly came in handy ahead of schedule.

Just then, a group of people walked along the road not far away. The leader was an old woman who was pulling a chubby boy wearing a bright red bib and with his hair in a pigtail. Behind them were a maid and a nanny carrying a water jug.

Needless to say, this was Grandma Li bringing water to the villagers and taking the opportunity to show off her energetic great-grandson.

Upon seeing this, the village chief quickly left the melon patch and found a shady spot for Old Lady Li to sit down.

Old Mrs. Li was also sweating profusely from the heat, and asked, "Brother, looking at this weather, if it doesn't rain for another three to five days, the village will have to carry water to irrigate the fields again."

"Yes, I'm worried about this too!" The village chief sighed, took the earthenware bowl handed to him by Shui Ling, and took a sip of water with a slight medicinal taste.

He smiled and asked, "Your medical skills are getting better and better. This heat-relieving tea doesn't taste good, but it really works! No one has suffered from heatstroke these past few days!"

The chubby boy, who had been bent over and fighting with ants, suddenly turned around and shouted in a clear voice when he heard this.

"Auntie is the best! Auntie is the most amazing!"

The village chief and Old Lady Li couldn't help but burst into laughter.

The village chief said, "Every time I see the stars, I think of the princess when she was a child. It seems like only yesterday that the princess was a ten-year-old girl!"

"That's right!" Old Mrs. Li sighed, "Looking at the children, I realize how quickly we've aged. Come to think of it, we've been at Suijintan for six or seven years now!"

"Yes, when we first came here, everyone laughed at us, saying that it was clearly a pebble beach, but we had given it such an arrogant name."

"Look at it now, everyone has turned this place into a veritable gold mine!"

The village chief was very proud, gazing at the entire melon field, the distant village, and the hot spring valley shrouded in faint white mist...

This is the result of everyone's hard work and a source of pride!

Grandma Li sat for a while longer, and Xingxing lost interest in the ants, so the group of young and old headed home.

Wan'er, heavily pregnant, was strolling around her house, with her dowry maid Chunxiu following beside her, taking good care of her.

Seeing her grandmother return, Wan'er went up to her and said with a smile, "Grandma, it's too hot. Let's go out after dinner next time!"

“Okay,” Grandma Li replied with a smile, and also instructed her eldest granddaughter-in-law, “You will give birth in another month, so be careful when you walk.”

Wan'er nodded and said, "I was thinking about that too. Maybe this child will share a birthday with his aunt. That would be so lucky."

"Yes, let's see what he's capable of." Grandma Li smiled broadly, raised her hand to touch her granddaughter-in-law's belly, only to have it pushed back by the little baby inside, making her laugh out loud.

"Oh dear, this kid has quite a temper; he'll be a troublemaker when he grows up."

Xingxing, unwilling to be ignored, tugged at Wan'er's hand and called out, "Auntie, where's Uncle? Play with Xingxing!"

Wan'er wiped his sweat and said, "Your Uncle Lu and Uncle Jia are here, as is Aunt Baozhu. Your eldest uncle and aunt are entertaining guests. Do you want to go and play?"

Xingxing quickly covered her face and hid behind her great-grandmother, shaking her little head like a rattle drum, "No, no, it's Auntie's fault for pinching my face!"

Everyone laughed.

Xingxing has never been thin since birth; he's as chubby as a ball of flesh, and everyone who sees him wants to pinch his little cheeks.

Baozhu, in particular, is the most lively. She always brings lots of food and trinkets with her and plays with Xingxing the most.

Inevitably, Xingxing's little face also suffered the most from her cruelty.

Wan'er couldn't resist teasing her little nephew, "I just saw Baozhu with an orange cat, it's really cute, Xingxing, do you want to go see it?"

The stars immediately lit up, and the chubby boy's face was full of confusion. After a long while, he finally wriggled his chubby body and ran away.

Shui Ling followed with a grin, scooped up the chubby boy and carried him on her back, heading towards the princess's residence.

Grandma Li watched as Shui Ling carried Xing Xing around, making Xing Xing giggle.

She couldn't help but say, "Shui Ling is not young anymore, but she's still as lively as a child."

“I previously discussed with your sister whether we should arrange a marriage between her and Shuiyun.”

"Your sister did ask them, but neither of those girls is in a hurry; they have no interest in it at all."

Wan'er helped the old lady into the house and said with a smile, "These two girls have been with my sister since they were little. Perhaps they are afraid that they will have to leave our family after they get married, and they are reluctant to part with them!"

"There's no rush, let's see how things go! Besides, my sister will definitely not treat them badly, she'll make sure they get things done in the future."

Grandma Li laughed when she heard this, and said reproachfully, "I didn't blame your sister, why are you trying to make excuses for her in your words!"

Wan'er couldn't help but laugh and say, "It's not that I'm deliberately protecting my sister, it's just that I can't stand anyone saying anything bad about her."

"In the two years since I married into this family, when I wasn't pregnant in the first year, some people outside said some hurtful things."

"My sister happened to be there and immediately humiliated that person, giving me a good venting of my anger."

"She prescribed me tonics to drink to regulate my body. Whenever she had the chance, she would comfort me. She even gave me two solid gold bracelets!"

"Brother Jiaren said that no one else in our family receives this kind of treatment, so of course I have to be good to my sister!"