Chapter 84
The little baby’s changes were quick, and he looked different day by day. While Shu Jintian was unaware, his red and wrinkled skin turned fair and soft, the texture smooth and tender, so soft that it was like water would squeeze out with a pinch.
Xiao Shu Ye opened his eyes on the sixth day. Beyond Shu Jintian’s expectations, his eyes were lake-green, Embedded in the baby’s eyes was a limpidness that revealed a trace of intelligence, like a mountain spring in a deep valley.
Enlightenment hit Shu Jintian when he saw the colour of Shu Ye’s eyes. They were the same hue, Shu Ye was definitely big snake’s child.
It was as if Shu Jintian had struck the hammer and reached a verdict on Shu Ye’s origins.
Every day, Xiao Shu Ye ate his fill and slept, slept his fill then crawled into his embrace to eat. He never cried or made a fuss out of nowhere, nor did he wet the bed. He was so good to raise Shu Jintian felt a little puzzled. He and big snake didn’t really look after him, so much that he hadn’t even seen Xiao Shu Ye take a poop.
For this doubt, it was only seven to eight days later when Shu Jintian recovered somewhat and slowly moved about in the cave that he received an answer which sent him in a disarray.
“Hanyu!” Shu Jintian’s face was filled with revulsion, pinching his nose as he frantically shouted at the cave entrance.
Shu Hanyu put down the kitchen tools, ran to the cave and asked, “What’s wrong, Tiantian? The food is almost done, wait for a bit more.”
Shu Jintian pointed at a corner of the cave with a twisted face and lowered his voice to say, “What is this?”
In an inconspicuous corner of a cave, there was a small pile of fresh, bright yellow poopoo hiding there. Shu Jintian had sniffed about and looked for a very long time before he found it.
“Oh! Shu Ye pooped again ah. When I got up he hadn’t pooped yet; I’ll go clean it up right now. Don’t be angry, Tiantian.” Shu Hanyu walked off for a moment and soon plucked two tree leaves.
Shu Jintian was stunned and said in disbelief, “Your meaning is… Shu Ye himself came here to poop?”
In the bed, when Xiao Shu Ye heard female father call his name, he poked out his little head from the seam, his large and watery eyes staring at Shu Jintian innocently.
“Yes ah. Don’t be angry Tiantian, Xiao Ye is still small so he can’t go out of the cave, so he can only poop inside. It’ll be fine once he grows a little.” Shu Hanyu seemed used to it, picking up the poop with a tree leaf, then wrapping it up in another leaf.
“He’s always gone to the toilet himself? You’ve never looked after him?” Shu Jintian looked at the tiny head by the bed curtains, his face filled with incredulity.
Xiao Shu Ye lifted his head high, opening his eyes wide as he met Shu Jintian’s eyes with an ignorant expression.
“Hehe… What are you saying, Tiantian? How can I look after how he poops? But Xiao Ye is considered well-behaved. Every time, he would always poop here and not do it all over the place. It’s very easy to sort out,” Shu Hanyu answered with a smile, very fond of Xiao Ye’s cleverness.
“Then I’ll go make food. It’ll be done soon,” Shu Hanyu said with a smile.
Tiantian truly got shy easily; he had already been feeding for so long, yet he still couldn’t be open about it.
Xiao Shu Ye grew very quickly, and he was especially smart. The scab on his navel had already fallen off in less than five days, and it had only been about thirty days before he was able to understand a little bit of the adults’ conversations and make various responses. It made Shu Jintian directly claim him as a child prodigy and gasp in amazement.
Shu Jintian was also recovering quite quickly, and now could not be any healthier. He couldn’t sit still in the cave and thus began moving about outside, breathing in the fresh air.
Xiao Shu Ye had grown two little white milk teeth in fifty days. This made Shu Jintian happy to the utmost, as he could finally get rid of the awkwardness of breastfeeding. On that very day, Shu Jintian cooked a small pot of congee to feed Shu Ye.
But Shu Ye, who had always been well-behaved, was disobedient this time. He only took a small bite and then was no longer willing to open his mouth. When Shu Jintian insisted on feeding Xiao Shu Ye, he stubbornly spat it out and in the end both Shu Jintian and Shu Ye were a mess. Shu Jintian had no choice but to give up.
They had soon finished the rice at home, so Shu Jintian and Shu Hanyu went out to find more, asking the little snake to take care of Shu Ye.
Guoguo harboured an enormous fascination towards this little brother that looked different from him and he was also very fond of him. If there were any rare delicacies, he would always bring them back for Shu Ye to taste.
On this day, taking advantage of the absence of both their parents, Guoguo wanted to bring his little brother out to play. He turned into his snake form, spent some effort, and finally succeeded in dragging his little brother out.
Shu Ye was very fascinated by the outside world; his plump little body was crawling around. Seeing a small crawler scuttling past before him, he curiously caught it and instinctively wanted to shove it in his mouth, but it was snatched away by Big Brother Guoguo.
Xiao Shu Ye pursed his mouth, looking at big brother with complaining eyes.
Guoguo despicably picked up the bug in Shu Ye’s hand and casually discarded it. Shu Ye’s eyes followed along the trajectory of the thrown bug, a small trace of saliva dripping down his slightly parted little lips.
Guoguo put on an act and thrust out his chest, loftily saying, “This bug is nothing. There are still all kinds of food in the forest. Gege will take you along to eat.”
Only then did Xiao Shu Ye put away his grievances, gazing at Guoguo with bright eyes. This made Guoguo swell with pride, and he walked into the forest with his short little legs. Xiao Shu Ye blindly followed after him, but his small and chubby body couldn’t keep up with his big brother’s footsteps and he soon fell behind.
Guoguo realised this and ran back again, lying on the floor and crawling together with Shu Ye, helplessly saying, “You’re so slow. This will do ba!”
“Ah ah!” Shu Ye happily shouted.
Two fair children, one large and small, were crawling along in the forest. Guoguo paid attention to the nearby animals constantly, swearing to show off before his little brother and establish his prestige as an elder brother.
However, the reality wasn’t as beautiful as imagination. Xiao Shu Ye soon couldn’t keep up in physical effort and refused to walk no matter what. Guoguo wanted to catch a prey that looked mighty, but could only give up upon seeing his little brother unable to walk, so he caught a plump little Maochu beast nearby.
“Ah ah~” When Shu Ye saw the struggling furry creature in his big brother’s mouth, he clapped his hands excitedly and cried out, saliva continuously dripping down.
Guoguo proudly raised his head and looked at his little brother, then fiercely bit open the prey’s fur and casually saying, “This is nothing. Big brother can catch even bigger prey!”
Although he didn’t understand, it seemed pretty awesome. Xiao Shu Ye’s eyes filled with worship.
Guoguo tore out a small piece of the most tender meat and passed it to his little brother. Xiao Shu Ye accepted it with a drooling mouth, opening his lips wide and biting down. Unfortunately, his teeth weren’t strong enough, and he was unable to tear the meat no matter how much he bit.
On the other side, Guoguo held up the remaining meat and gobbled it up in one mouthful, then swallowed the whole thing down with a gulp. The reverence in Xiao Shu Ye’s eyes grew even more, and he wanted to imitate it. He opened his mouth wide, then shoved the whole thing into his mouth before swallowing down with a bulging throat.
After eating the meat, blood was smeared all over Xiao Shu Ye’s lips. Guoguo intimately licked it clean for his little brother, before finally smacking his lips and saying, “How is it? Isn’t it very yummy?”
Xiao Shu Ye let out a satisfied belch, leaning against his bigger brother with narrowed eyes and nodding.
“Since we’re full, let’s go back ba. Our dads will be back soon.” Guoguo savoured the aftertaste and nudged his little brother’s body.
“Wu wu~” Shu Ye leaned against his big brother sleepily and was unwilling to get up. The crawl just now had already exhausted all of Xiao Shu Ye’s energy, and now he was so sleepy he could fall asleep with open eyes.
“You can’t ah, let’s go back and sleep ba. It won’t be good if baba notices.” Guoguo became worried and shook his little brother with all his might.
Shu Ye nodded with blurry eyes, leaning against his big brother and crawling along. However, his current speed was comparable to a tortoise. Crawling in front, Guoguo could even be certain that his little brother’s eyes weren’t even opened.
Guoguo had no choice but to turn into his snake form. He made his little brother lie down on his tail, and then carried him along while he slithered.
Like this, Xiao Shu Ye would shift a short distance with each sway of Guoguo’s tail. This speed honestly wasn’t any faster than before; it was the first time Guoguo had felt that the forest was actually this large. He had been crawling along for so long yet he still couldn’t see home.
Leftovers of the rice sprouts eaten by Shu Jintian were at the cave entrance, growing by the river in fragments. Some had already grown grains. Shu Jintian estimated that the rice here should be more or less ripe now, so he and Shu Hanyu went to the rice stalk field again.
The rice stalks in the area looked just like the first time they had arrived as if their visit had left no signs. The places they had harvested before were filled with newly grown verdant and lush rice stalks; they were no different from other areas.
This rice field provided for several beasts and birds. Whenever the rice grains were ripe, several animals would come foraging here. Consequently, even if there were excessive seeds, the rice wouldn’t grow uncontrollably either.
The rice at home could be used for a few more days, and Shu Jintian decided to wait two more days for when the rice was riper before returning to gather them. This time, they would store enough to pass the winter, and when summer comes, there would probably be new rice.
Now with a plan, Shu Jintian picked a few wild vegetables in the forest that he hadn’t eaten in a long time while Shu Hanyu was responsible for catching prey, and then the two returned home.
But Shu Jintian didn’t expect that, when they returned, the cave was completely empty. Shu Jintian’s heart instantly rose in worry.
“Guoguo! Xiao Ye!” Shu Jintian shouted in a panic, but there was no response at all.
Shu Jintian’s heart was burning from anxiety, and he tugged at Shu Hanyu’s arm while nervously saying, “Hanyu, they’re gone! Hurry up and look for them!”
Shu Hanyu gently patted Shu Jintian’s back and placated him, “Don’t worry, Tiantian. The cave doesn’t have any scents of other beasts. They probably went out of their own will. I’ll look by following their scent; they’ll probably be found very soon.”
“Mn, then let’s go right now.” Now that Shu Jintian had his pillar, he became a lot more at ease.
The two searched while following the scents, and soon found Guoguo and Xiao Ye. They were near home, but their crawling speed made one speechless. It was just a tiny distance, yet they were unexpectedly unable to return.
They saw the large one with a face of exhaustion, and the small one being absolutely drowsy; they looked pitiful and comical.
“Guoguo! Xiao Ye!” Shu Jintian called out loudly upon seeing them, pushing aside Shu Hanyu and running towards them.
A hopeful light instantly entered Guoguo’s eyes. He looked at Shu Jintian pleadingly. Unable to wait for Shu Jintian to come over, he abandoned his little brother and dashed towards Shu Jintian.
The Xiao Shu Ye who was left behind where he was, lost his support. Slanting his head, he fell to the ground and his chubby little body stretched for a rather long time, then slept like the dead.
“Oh, you!” Shu Jintian shot a scolding look at Guoguo, running over to pick Shu Ye up.
Xiao Shu Ye was held in Shu Jintian’s embrace, his head tilted as his breathing was slow and even, sleeping like a little fat pig.
Shu Jintian was both angered and helpless; seeing Guoguo’s pitiful appearance, he didn’t have the heart to punish him and merely said a few words of rebuke. Guoguo lost the impressiveness he had before with his little brother and sincerely lowered his head to admit his mistake, and was carried home by Shu Hanyu’s raised tail.
The aftermath of eating too much meat at once was very severe. That very night, after Xiao Shu Ye woke up, he kept having diarrhoea. He pooped five to six times, with even the undigested milk pooped out before he could go back to bed.
Guoguo guiltily backed away to the darkest place. Feeling that it wasn’t safe enough, he then crawled to the top of the bed, then ended up sleeping there for the night.
Baobao Notes
I don’t remember if I made a tn before, but Xiao means little, and is like, a way to nickname someone.