Childhood flashback character ages

[rheasilvia]

A quick question for people who know about kids!

About how old is Zhao Yunlan when we see him as a kid?

I would say the various instances he appears in flashbacks all fall into a span of time that's about a year long (ideally, I would like to place the hospital scene with Zhao Xinci even later, but I doubt that's plausible). Given the rate at which children grow up, does this seem vaguely believable to you or would you say it has to be shorter for him to look more or less the same all the way through?

And while I'm asking: How old are Shen Wei and Ye Zun in their childhood flashback?

Comments

[extrapenguin]

Hm, in my experience 12-year-olds are much faster to address the "where" question of running away/going someplace than Shen Wei and Ye Zun seemed to be. (My own personal headcanon is that their parents died of an epidemic the meteor strike caused, and that they're of no special lineage whatsoever.)

How so? I thought they looked like identical twins in the flashback scene, as well - what gives you the impression of an age gap?
Ye Zun is so much shorter than Shen Wei! It's excacerbated by him being bent over double coughing, but he's noticeably smaller.

[rheasilvia]

Also a very plausible headcanon! Sadly enough it seems like a time where there were many orphans around, for a variety of reasons. Regardless, though, since we don't know what led to them being on their own in the middle of the wilderness, I find it impossible to judge their planning, or lack thereof.

Ye Zun is so much shorter than Shen Wei! It's excacerbated by him being bent over double coughing, but he's noticeably smaller.

Oh, I never noticed! In that case, yeah, it might well be general sickliness that makes the difference. (In twin births, even identical ones, one twin is often born smaller and more prone to illness because they did not receive an equal share of nutrients in the womb - so this wouldn't even be unusual.)

[extrapenguin]

Oh, I never noticed! In that case, yeah, it might well be general sickliness that makes the difference. (In twin births, even identical ones, one twin is often born smaller and more prone to illness because they did not receive an equal share of nutrients in the womb - so this wouldn't even be unusual.)
Huh! Is the size difference noticeable even after about a decade, and if it is, does it disappear by adulthood? (I suppose we could always handwave Ye Zun as being like a centimeter shorter and more lightly built than his brother, but that would be handwaving.

[rheasilvia]

Is the size difference noticeable even after about a decade, and if it is, does it disappear by adulthood?

That depends on so many factors it's impossible to say - nutrition, health care and genetics play a major role, of course, but there are also a host of other things that can influence this. There's no need to handwave anything, since it certainly isn't unrealistic that they can be different sizes as kids and look identical in body shape as adults!

[extrapenguin]

Ah, good. Ye Zun can be his adult self and be very resentful that gege stole all the food in utero, making Ye Zun be born smaller and more sickly. (How very selfish of Shen Wei! :P)