Grown Taller

Feeling chills run down his spine, Xiaoyi hid in fear. He buried his face in Zhuang Zhuang’s back to feel more at ease. In any case, he didn’t feel afraid since he couldn’t see anything. The fact that his body was still exposed didn’t seem to bother him.

After Li Shouji recovered from his surprise, he snickered and eventually let out a broad smile.

The last time when Xiaoyi gave Jiang Danhe a punch in his nether regions, the latter had consulted the doctor several times. Many people were starting to question the general’s health. Those doctors who saw him were also quite speechless. The general was in good shape, but he kept insisting that they check on him. He even forced them to prescribe medicine for him after the consultations. They had no choice. During that period of time, the doctors prescribed a lot of medicine that would help to nourish the kidneys. He only stopped seeing the doctors when he started having nosebleeds from the medicine.

Now that he was injured for a second time, he would definitely kick up a big fuss again. Just thinking about it made him happy. Li Shouji brazenly gave Xiaoyi an appreciative look.

After not hearing anything from Jiang Danhe for a long time, Xiaoguo felt strange. Why was he suddenly so quiet? After a while, Li Shouji’s laughter sounded from the other side, making her even more curious.

“Is everything okay on your side?”

Her heart was itching to know the truth. After a while, when the laughter did not subside, she could not help but ask.

“It’s nothing.”

Jiang Danhe’s pain had subsided by now. He could only feel numbness at this moment. When he heard Xiaoguo’s question, he felt so frightened that he quickly replied.

“Haha, Sister-in-law, Jiang Danhe’s balls…”

Jiang Danhe reacted quickly and covered Li Shouji’s mouth. He was so strong that he almost drowned the man in the water.

“What?”

Xiaoguo frowned slightly and stretched out her ears to listen for any sounds. “What was that? What was it about Jiang Danhe?”

“No, nothing…”

Jiang Danhe took the opportunity to let him go. He looked at Li Shouji, who was still smiling cheekily, and pushed him into the water again. He only stopped when the other party silently begged for mercy.

Xiaoguo heard Li Shouji say that he was fine, but she felt like something was amiss. She pricked up her ears and listened carefully. There was only the sound of water splashing. Besides that, there were no other sounds. Fortunately, she didn’t ask further.

Jiang Danhe making an example out of Li Shouji was very effective. The two children who were peeking from the side were very frightened by what they saw. While the two men were not paying attention, they secretly went ashore and came to Xiaoguo’s side to seek comfort.

When Xiaoguo saw the two boys, she tried to ask them about what had happened. But the two boys seemed to have something on their minds and refused to tell her anything. No matter how she asked, they refused to utter a word. They looked like they were going to cry if she continued asking. Upon seeing this, Xiaoguo could only stop.

When they arrived at Xiaoguo’s side, the two boys were finally able to relax. One moment, they were swimming like dogs in the water. The next moment, they were floating on their backs comfortably in the water just like Li Shouji.

They didn’t seem to mind that Xiaoguo could see their naked bodies. The adults made sure to wear clothes that wouldn’t become translucent when wet. However, the two kids weren’t concerned about that. They only cared about enjoying themselves. Xiaoguo couldn’t stop laughing at their silly behavior.

After Jiang Danhe finished dealing with Li Shouji, laughter sounded from the other side. It made him feel so envious.

No matter how reluctant he was, he could only sit here and look at the aggrieved Li Shouji.

It had been some time since Xiaoguo bathed Zhuang Zhuang. Most of the time, it was Jiang Danhe who bathed him. And occasionally, the two boys would take a bath together. It was only today that she realized Zhuang Zhuang had lost some weight, and Xiaoyi had gained a lot of weight.

Xiaoguo frowned slightly. She wondered if Zhuang Zhuang’s appetite had been poor recently. But the boy did eat a lot. Why had he suddenly lost so much weight? Was he sick?

“Zhuang Zhuang, have you been feeling unwell?”

With that thought in mind, Xiaoguo asked the question. It was really worrying.

“No.” Hearing her question, Zhuang Zhuang moved a rock and sat beside her. “I’m not unwell.”

Xiaoguo stroked his head and pressed on his stomach. She couldn’t find anything wrong with him at all. Forget it. She must get a physician to take his pulse. During this trip, many ladies had brought their own physicians with them. She would go and borrow one later on.

“Mother will bring you to the physician later.”

“Huh? Why do I need to see a physician?”

“You’re abnormally thin.”

“You’re abnormally thin?” At this moment, Xiaoyi walked over and sat on the other side of Xiaoguo. “What do you mean?”

Zhuang Zhuang also shook his head with a strange expression on his face. He couldn’t understand what it meant to be abnormally thin.

The two children tilted their heads and looked at Xiaoguo. They looked as cute as the illustrated dolls in the newspaper.

Jiang Danhe had sharp ears and could hear their conversation clearly. He chuckled and said, “Didn’t you notice that Zhuang Zhuang has grown taller?”

“Huh?” Xiaoguo really didn’t notice. When she heard his words, she lifted the two little ones to their feet and compared their height. Zhuang Zhuang was half a head taller.

“It’s true! Zhuang Zhuang has grown much taller!”

Xiaoguo rubbed Zhuang Zhuang’s head in surprise and only stopped when his hair was messed up like a chicken coop.

Jiang Danhe smiled helplessly. After the new year, Zhuang Zhuang had grown much taller. As Xiaoguo was always by his side, she might not have noticed it. After growing taller, he looked much thinner although his weight remained the same.

“He grew a bit more since he arrived at the island.”

After Jiang Danhe finished speaking, he glared at Li Shouji, who was about to interrupt. When the man looked like he understood, Jiang Danhe retracted his gaze in satisfaction.

Xiaoguo thought about it carefully and could not recall when the boy started growing taller. She was immediately engulfed with emotions. Children really grew up so quickly.

“Sigh… Boys really have to keep active to grow taller. Staying indoors all the time is not going to work.”

Xiaoguo suddenly remembered that Zhuang Zhuang had stayed with her in winter last year, and only gained weight during that time. This year, he was much more active and spent a lot of time running and jumping around. He also ate well. However, this time round, he had grown taller instead. All the food that he ate had become nourishment for his bones. They didn’t get converted into fats.

“A certain amount of exercise is indeed necessary.”

Jiang Danhe said from the other end.

Their conversation successfully attracted Xiaoyi’s attention. He secretly made some mental notes. “Exercise!”

At the same time, Xiaoyi secretly made a few gestures and realized that he was indeed much shorter than Zhuang Zhuang. Previously, they were both around the same height. Now that the gap between them had suddenly widened, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad. “We always played together, but you had secretly grown taller.” A strong sense of betrayal washed over him.

Zhuang Zhuang was also in disbelief. Recently, he had indeed felt that his field of vision seemed to have widened. So it was due to him growing taller. Did that mean that he was about to become an adult?!

This thought made Zhuang Zhuang inexplicably excited. No one noticed the silent Xiaoyi at the side.

Zhuang Zhuang was still immersed in the joy of growing taller, but Xiaoyi was secretly pulling out his hair, trying to look taller.

Xiaoguo couldn’t hide her smile as she looked at Zhuang Zhuang, who was playing with the water happily. She felt proud and sad at the same time. The child had really grown up quite suddenly. She suddenly had a thought. In a few more years, Zhuang Zhuang would become independent and she wouldn’t get to see this butt-naked child in front of her anymore. A faint sense of melancholy creeped into her heart.

Xiaoguo suddenly noticed that there was one less person. She turned around and saw Xiaoyi, who was exuding a gloomy aura beside her.

She sat down slowly and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”

Xiaoyi pursed his lips and did not speak. He just kept pulling at his hair. Xiaoguo could feel a lot of pain just by watching him. This kid was really using all his strength.

“No, no, stop pulling your hair. My dear boy…”

After calming him down, Xiaoguo continued to ask him for the reason. Zhuang Zhuang had also gotten over his excitement by now. He realized that something was wrong with Xiaoyi and walked over immediately. He gently touched Xiaoyi’s face and asked worriedly, “Xiaoyi, what’s wrong?”

When Xiaoyi saw Zhuang Zhuang coming over, he felt even sadder. He asked insecurely, “Zhuang Zhuang, will you continue playing with me?”

“Of course!”

Zhuang Zhuang didn’t know why he was asking that, but he answered without thinking.