Chapter 4 Part 1 - Milk Will Make One Grow Taller

Translated by: Jellylynn

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Edited by: Lynn

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Names mentioned in this chapter (which can also be found in the glossary ):

-俞知乐(yú zhī lè)- Yu Zhi Le, the female protagonist.

-余子涣(yú zǐ huàn)- Yu Zi Huan, the male lead

-小余(xiǎo yú)- Xiao Yu

-王大爷(wáng dà yé)- Wang Da Ye, an elderly living in the same building as the female and male leads

-四中(sì zhòng)- Fourth Middle School, the name of the Middle School in the neighbourhood.

-谢成龙(xiè chéng lóng)- Xie Cheng Long, the ‘boss’ who was the leader of the group of boys that insulted the male lead.

“Xiao Huan, it’s time to get out of bed.” Yu Zhi Le knocked on his bedroom door while yawning. Even though she had washed up, she still felt sleepy. When she didn’t hear Yu Zi Huan’s response, she leaned against the door and continued to knock.

It was seven o’clock. If he didn’t wake up now, there wouldn’t be enough time to eat breakfast.

The door that Yu Zhi Le’s head was leaning against was suddenly opened. Without any support, she almost fell flat on the ground which scared her awake.

Yu Zi Huan had on a terrible expression as he suppressed the grumpiness after waking up. He headed towards the bathroom without greeting Yu Zhi Le.

Yu Zhi Le peered into his bedroom and took a look at it. Yu Zi Huan had folded his quilt and made his bed. In this regard, he never let Yu Zhi Le interfere. In fact, her job was mainly to buy groceries and cook. The rest of the housework was shared between both of them.

Yu Zi Huan’s expression was much better when he came out after getting ready. His hair, which had been curled up before, was also combed and his eyes were clear. He sat down at the small table in the kitchen and Yu Zhi Le passed him a ham and egg sandwich, as well as a large glass of milk.

Yu Zi Huan picked up the sandwich and took a bite. Yu Zhi Le also sat down, and took two bites of the sandwich. She asked, “I’ve made an effort to prepare a different menu of breakfast every morning this week. Have you noticed?”

They had congee with preserved eggs and lean meat on Monday. On Tuesday, they had soft-boiled eggs with rice. On Wednesday, they had omelette with cucumber. On Thursday, they had minced meat and steamed egg soup. Today, they had a sandwich.

Yu Zi Huan looked up and stared at her like she was a fool, which meant that he wasn’t blind. Of course he realized that breakfast had been different everyday.

So she’s asking for him to praise her?

Yu Zi Huan was silent for a while. His cheeks were puffed like a hamster. He swallowed the food in his mouth, “It’s delicious. Thank you.”

Yu Zhi Le nodded and accepted the compliment without any modesty. But she immediately changed the subject and said, “According to my observation, you don’t like these foods very much, so I will continue to prepare new varieties.”

Yu Zi Huan choked and coughed continuously because of the sudden change in the subject of the conversation. Yu Zhi Le reached out and handed him the milk. Yu Zi Huan frowned when he saw the milk close to his mouth. He took a sip of it and ate a few bites of the sandwich to wash down the taste.

“Most importantly, have you realised something hasn’t changed?” Yu Zhi Le wiggled the glass of milk that Yu Zi Huan had drunk side to side and placed it back on the table.

An ever-changing breakfast, and a glass of milk that was always present. To be honest, Yu Zi Huan did notice but he really didn’t like the taste of milk so he didn’t drink it all the time.

“You have to drink milk! A cup of milk a day equates to a strong Chinese person. Haven’t you heard about it?” Yu Zhi Le once again lamented and spoke righteously. She was prepared to give another speech on drinking milk.

In the end, Yu Zi Huan stuffed all the sandwiches into his mouth and returned to his room to pack his bags.

Yu Zhi Le didn’t care whether he heard her or not. She held up the glass of milk and continued, “I heard that Xie Cheng Long drinks at least one glass of milk a day. That’s why he is taller than you. You are already a few years behind in body development. If you don’t nourish your health now, how are you going to grow taller?”

Xie Cheng Long was the leader of the group of boys that had insulted Yu Zi Huan previously. In fact, according to Xie Cheng Long’s current situation, he couldn’t grow any further even if he drinks a jar of milk a day. But in order to let Yu Zi Huan persist on drinking milk, Yu Zhi Le didn’t mind bringing him up to provoke him.

In the bedroom, Yu Zi Huan didn’t respond. When he came out and walked past Yu Zhi Le, he reached for the milk and proceeded to gulp it down. It seemed like his tastebuds hadn’t even registered the taste of the milk.

After drinking the milk, Yu Zi Huan quickly went to the kitchen to wash the glass, and then went to the door to change his shoes. Yu Zhi Le took a look at the time, and the time she was starting work was approaching, so she quickly tidied up and prepared to leave the house.

She changed her shoes and opened the door, and found Yu Zi Huan waiting at the door.

“Are you waiting for me?” Yu Zhi Le grinned, but Yu Zi Huan didn’t admit it. He glanced at her and went downstairs.

Yu Zhi Le thought that her hard work this week was not in vain, and the little rabbit was not too heartless, so she followed behind happily.

Yu Zi Huan was walking in front while Yu Zhi Le was at the back. They didn’t talk and walked silently. On the way, they met Wang Da Ye who was doing his morning exercises. Yu Zhi Le waved happily.

Now, she understood why Wang Da Ye remembered her ten years later even though he had Alzheimer’s disease.

Wang Da Ye wasn’t ill yet, and he was very strong. He was striding along, smiling and greeted both of them, “The two Xiao Yu, [1] both of you are going to work and going to school together today.”

Yu Zhi Le nodded and responded with a smile, but Yu Zi Huan quickened his pace unnaturally. Yu Zhi Le approached him and whispered, “Don’t be like this. Wang Da Ye is a good man. Children should be polite.”

After she was introduced to the neighbours as Yu Zi Huan’s paternal cousin, Xie Cheng Long’s family found out that she wasn’t a teacher of Fourth Middle school. Previously, Yu Zi Huan’s family had no adults. They were afraid of being gossiped by their neighbours saying that they pick on children. Now, Yu Zi Huan had a ‘paternal cousin’. How could they let him off easy? They claimed that Yu Zi Huan beat their son up severely and demanded them to compensate for the medical expenses.

Yu Zhi Le reasoned with them and said that she witnessed the conflict. It was clear that Xie Cheng Long insulted Yu Zi Huan first, and he even insulted Yu Zi Huan’s mother to provoke Yu Zi Huan in the beginning. What’s more, the injuries sustained by Yu Zi Huan were severe as well, so how was this going to be recompensed?

But, some people cannot be reasoned with. Xie Cheng Long’s family’s educational upbringing could be implied by how he started swearing at a young age. Anyway, they couldn’t beat Yu Zhi Le in an argument, but they were willing to bully Yu Zhi Le. They insisted that their son was right. All the wrong things were done by other children, which made Yu Zhi Le angry and at a loss of words.

Fortunately, Wang Da Ye intercepted and spoke for Yu Zi Huan. He said that although the child didn’t speak much, he never took the initiative to cause trouble. This time, both sides were wrong. Thus, Xie Cheng Long’s parents should be lenient and let Yu Zi Huan off.

In fact, these neighbors more or less all knew that Xie Cheng Long’s family was tyrannical, and they bullied Yu Zhi Le who was a young woman and new. Since Wang Da Ye’s was the first to say those words, they were not afraid to offend the Xie family. Finally, Xie Cheng Long’s parents bitterly gave up the claim when everyone agreed that Wang Da Ye was right.

Before Yu Zhi Le came, Yu Zi Huan was often taken care of by Wang Da Ye. He would also water the flowers and clean the window for Wang Da Ye. He wasn’t able to greet him in public, so he bowed his head and said, “En” to tell Yu Zhi Le that he knew how to be polite.

Yu Zhi Le studied his reaction for a while and squinted her eyes, “You aren’t being shy right?”

Yu Zi Huan felt that his thoughts were exposed and he sped up his pace. Yu Zhi Le was taller than him. She was able to catch up with him soon enough. She walked beside him for a few minutes, then she changed the topic. “Xie Cheng Long isn’t causing trouble for you at school, is he?”

This was what she was worried about the most these days.

Yu Zi Huan was a taciturn person. He would bottle up everything in his heart. It would explode if it couldn’t fit anymore. Xie Cheng Long had a foul mouth. He would purposely say those that were unpleasant to others, and liked to jab on Yu Zi Huan’s sore spots. A situation that could happen the first time, could happen again for the second time and the third time. If there was a conflict in school, Yu Zhi Huan, who was singled out, would only suffer a loss.

Although, as Yu Zhi Le had expected, Xie Cheng Long had provoked him again, Yu Zi Huan ignored him. Now when he heard her asking, he shook his head and said it was fine.

“Let me tell you. If Xie Cheng Long dares to provoke you again, you should inform the teacher by exaggerating what happened. It would be even better if you teared aggrievedly. You are very good-looking. As long as you are willing to act obedient in front of the teacher, the teacher will side with you when something goes wrong. In school, you will have a safeguard. Let them be punished and experience it several times. Let’s see whether Xie Cheng Long would dare to provoke you again. Don’t worry about the students saying that you are a tattletale. I don’t have the ability to fight for you, so the most important thing would be to think of ways to protect yourself.”

Yu Zi Huan looked at Yu Zhi Le speechlessly. She was teaching him such an insidious way in such a serious tone.

“Did you hear me?” Yu Zhi Le shouted at Yu Zi Huan’s back. He turned around and waved to her, and walked into the school without hesitation.

Yu Zhi Le decided not to rush and take her time to slowly brainwashed Yu Zi Huan

[1] 两个小余(liǎng gè xiǎo yú)- Two Xiao Yu. Since Wang Da Ye thought that they were relatives of the same surname and Xiao Yu meant Little Yu, he called both of them Xiao Yu.