Chapter 49: Hard to Judge

The moment Lu Jianshen finished speaking, Lu Shenlin knocked him on the forehead.

“You little brat, is that how you talk to your mother?”

“Dad, didn’t you see the post Mom made on her Moments? She’s ruining my image!”

“Can’t you do something about her?” Lu Jianshen complained.

“You? Image? You think you have one?” Lu Shenlin gave him a look.

“…” Lu Jianshen.

Well, it was clear now. His parents were once again standing firmly on the same side.

Poor him.

He could cry, seriously! x﹏x

Of course, Lu Qingqiang saw the whole thing.

And in that brief moment, the filter she had on Lu Shenlin as a father and Lu Jianshen as an older brother completely shattered.

What richest man? What unruly, carefree second-generation heir?

All just illusions.

Right now, what she saw was simply a pair of ordinary father and son with a great relationship.

Still, she found the way the Lu Family interacted with each other quite enviable.

Only when a family truly cared for one another could they be this close.

Unlike those domineering CEO novels she’d read before, where rich men always had a few illegitimate kids or mistresses.

The Lu Family had none of that.

Which brought up an interesting question: in such a well-disciplined family, what kind of personality did Lu Fangyuan end up with?

In that instant, Lu Qingqiang suddenly realized she couldn’t quite recall the details from the book anymore.

“Qingqing, what are you daydreaming about?”

Just as she was trying hard to remember the plot, Madam Lu’s voice snapped her back to reality.

“Mom, I was thinking… when we start planting flowers here, maybe I could invite you to help?”

“The flowers in the greenhouse last time were so well taken care of, all thanks to you.”

“Of course I’ll come. Just tell me what kind of flowers you want to plant, and I’ll take care of it.” Madam Lu agreed without hesitation.

She was thrilled at the idea of helping Qingqing plant flowers.

She could do something she loved, help Qingqing, and see her often.

Three birds with one stone.

She couldn’t be happier.

After the tour, the people delivering the fruit saplings arrived.

Cart after cart of saplings were pushed up the hill.

At Lu Qingqiang’s call, everyone gathered and lined up to collect their saplings, getting ready for the next step—planting.

They hadn’t just brought saplings, but also a variety of planting tools.

Some were even child-sized.

“Mama Lu, what kind of tree is this?”

“These are apple saplings. We’ll be planting apple trees in this area.”

“Yay! I love apples!”

Seventeen kids, plus Lu Qingqiang, Yuan Yuan, the three members of the Lu Family, Doctor Feng, and the driver Xiao Zhang—twenty-four people in total.

According to Lu Qingqiang’s plan, the adults would take turns digging holes in the designated area.

The kids would separate the saplings and place them next to the holes, ready for planting.

After that, they’d fill in the soil and water them.

But then Lu Jianshen suggested having a tree-planting competition with the Little Radish Heads.

So aside from Lu Qingqiang, Lu Shenlin, driver Xiao Zhang, and a few others digging holes, Lu Jianshen and nine self-formed Little Radish Head teams joined in too.

Since he was older, Lu Jianshen competed solo.

The younger kids, each armed with a small shovel, formed two-person teams.

According to the rules he made, the team that dug the most qualified holes in thirty minutes would win first place.

Second and third place would follow.

That meant three winning teams, six kids in total.

Motivated by the rewards from the previous mountain-climbing contest, the Little Radish Heads were all fired up for this one.

But with only seventeen kids, Xiao Hui teamed up with Madam Lu, who was there to experience the farm life.

Though Madam Lu was a wealthy socialite, she often worked in the greenhouse herself.

She wasn’t the type to shy away from manual labor.

Xiao Hui was very pleased with his teammate.

He even blushed a little when Madam Lu praised him for his effort.

“Alright everyone, get ready. The competition starts now!”

As soon as Lu Jianshen gave the signal, everyone bent down and started digging with their tools.

He had assumed these Little Radish Heads were all tiny bean sprouts—young, short, and surely lacking strength.

He figured they’d be exhausted after just three shovelfuls.

But nope…

These little potatoes seemed to be bursting with energy.

They were using small farming tools, the kind that looked like toys he used to play with in the sandbox as a kid.

But somehow, these little potatoes and their tiny tools were producing results that left him speechless.

He hadn’t even finished digging one hole when the two-kid team beside him had already completed theirs.

Depth? Width? Perfectly up to standard.

He couldn’t help but glance at the pair—seven-year-old Gu Cheng and three-year-old Song Li.

Sure, he could believe that Gu Cheng had the strength to dig fast.

But Song Li? A quiet, soft-spoken little girl barely over three years old, digging that quickly?

Where did she get all that strength?

Was she not even tired?

Wait a minute, it wasn’t just Song Li and Gu Cheng. The Su Chao and Li Xiang team was fast too.

And Wang Zhiyu and Wu Feng were digging like they had little motors strapped to their backs.

What were these kids eating every day?

They were all surprisingly good at this!

Meanwhile, Lu Qingqiang, who had secretly given them water infused with diluted Strength Pills, kept her contributions quietly hidden.

She had only done it to help the kids grow stronger and healthier.

Once they learned some self-defense from Zhang Qiang and Yan Fang, they’d be able to protect themselves.

She hadn’t expected the effects of the Strength Pill water to show up so clearly during fieldwork.

Watching these young kids dig with such energy and precision, Lu Qingqiang thought:

This… this is really hard to judge.

Even Madam Lu, teamed up with Xiao Hui, was stunned.

At first, she thought that as the adult, she’d have to do most of the work so Xiao Hui wouldn’t have to.

But once they got started, she realized…

Xiao Hui, with his little shovel, was digging with strength and speed that matched hers.

Five minutes in, then ten, she started to feel tired and slowed down.

She looked over at Xiao Hui—he was still going strong, digging with all his might, not looking tired at all.

Madam Lu’s competitive streak was instantly triggered.

Dig. Dig harder.

As long as she didn’t collapse, she’d keep digging.

She refused to believe that a grown woman like her could be outworked by a Little Radish Head!

And she wasn’t the only one. Lu Shenlin, driver Xiao Zhang, Yuan Yuan—everyone had the same thought.

Even Doctor Feng, who had been ordered to rest, picked up a shovel and joined in.

The silent competition had suddenly and unexpectedly begun.

Quiet and unspoken, but very real.

Lu Jianshen, whose arms and back were already sore, desperately wanted to rest.

But when he looked around—left and right—everyone was still digging.

Even Doctor Feng, who was much older than him, was going at it.

Fine. To avoid being mocked, he clenched his teeth, lowered his head, and kept digging.

Ah, this is exhausting.

Why did he come to this place to suffer?

“With a smile on the river, the world fades away…”

Just then, Lu Jianshen’s phone started ringing.

He glanced at the screen, and a mischievous grin instantly spread across his face.