Chapter 10

As it became closer and closer to noon, the sunshine became stronger and stronger. Yin Xiaoxiao recalled the bitter experience of the sun that day when Hua Xiaohua tossed him outside, and immediately felt the phantom sensation of being scorched from head to tail.

Thereupon, Yin Xiaoxiao opened his mouth to ask, “Are there any creeks or brooks or anything like that nearby?”

Although Xiaoxiao politely asked, they still didn’t know why Xiaoxiao wanted to find a creek or a brook and naturally turned to look at Xiaoxiao. Thus, Hua Xiaowu, Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan posed this question to the Lan and Hong snakes, who were, after all, the eldest here!

Finally, Lan Yiyi recalled that, not far from their family’s home, there was a brook, and he crawled excitedly over to Yin Xiaoxiao. “Xiaoxiao, I know where there’s a brook 哦 <-used to denote familiarity. It’s not far from here!”

Yin Xiaoxiao was happy. “Do you really? Quickly take me there! Quickly take me there!”

And as a result, Lan Yiyi led the way. Yin Xiaoxiao followed closely behind with the other snakes following in the rear, the entire time wondering, ‘why did Xiaoxiao want to go to the brook? Could it be that there was something interesting there? Oh, of course. I must be really stupid, it’s surely because Xiaoxiao is thirsty!’ So, slithering forwards and thinking this to themselves, the crowd of young snakes were all very satisfied. Yes, it was like this! Of course it was  like this!

But, in reality, was it really like this?

Yin Xiaosi crawled after the others, a mysterious smile on his face. Of course out of all these young snakes, only Yin Xiaosi knew why Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to find a brook.

So Yin Xiaosi was deeply worried on behalf of their viper family. Aaaahhhhhh! It was because of these kinds of developments that these snakes were becoming more foolish, more stupid. Yin Xiaosi stopped slithering and instead raised his head to look at the sky. Ah, it was lonely being the only intelligent snake, you know.

Slithering in the second to last place, Yin Xiaoyi turned and saw that his little fourth brother was motionlessly staring into the sky like an idiot. After remembering that Yin Xiaoxiao had not taken a blow to the head, Yin Xiaoyi called out to him, “Xiaosi! Hurry! Keep up!”

Yin Xiaosi heard Yin Xiaoyi’s voice and resumed moving. If Yin Xiaosi knew that Yin Xiaoyi had just wondered if he’d suffered a head injury and then called him stupid when he’d actually been brimming with profound isolation, the consequences would be unknown.

Very soon, Yin Xiaoxiao saw the brook.

Yin Xiaoxiao cheered then quickly bypassed Lan Yiyi and beelined for the brook, his little tail twisting as he called out cheerfully and lightheartedly.

Yin Xiaoxiao was happy, cheerful and so pleased he was beside himself with joy. The young snakes, including Yin Xiaosi, behind him weren’t so calm and collected. From his behavior and expressions, he wanted to throw himself into that brook, right?! That was utter suicide, right?! After all, none of these snakes knew how to swim, right?!

So, Yin Xiaoxiao cheerfully slithered forward while, from behind, the young snakes desperately chased after him, intermittently shouting:

“Xiaoxiao, stop!”

“XIaoxiao, you absolutely can’t go into the water in front of you!”

“Xiaoxiao! Xiaoxiao!”

“…”

Only, very unfortunately, the excited Xiaoxiao ahead didn’t care about what those behind were yelling. In fact…Yin Xiaoxiao thought that the snakes behind him were shouting in excitement after seeing the brook.

This child, do you think that each snake is afraid of the heat like you?

Finally, just as Yin Xiaoxiao was about to jump into the embrace of the brook, Lan Yiyi, originally leading all the snakes and three months older, bit down on Yin Xiaoxiao’s tail, tossed his head, then let go. Confused, Yin Xiaoxiao was thrown.

To Yin XIaoxiao, the whole course of events unfolded  like this: there had been a sudden pain in his tail, then he flew through the air for a moment, before he finally, ruthlessly met the ground.

Yin Xiaoxiao lay on the ground until he slowly regained his bearings, then he got up and exploded. His silver body appeared suffused with red, only this time it was with anger. “Who just did that?! Who stopped me by biting my tail and throwing me?!”

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At this moment, Yin Xiaoxiao appeared extremely frightening. Lan Yiyi immediately curled up, hiding behind Lan Sansan, but Lan Sansan immediately pushed him out from behind him. Lan Yiyi looked back at Lan Sansan plaintively.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes were sharp. The second that Lan Sansan pushed Lan Yiyi out of hiding, Yin Xiaoxiao saw Lan Yiyi “stand up”. Remembering how Lan Yiyi had, only a moment ago, been behind him, he became increasingly certain that Lan Yiyi must have been the one to bite his tail!

“Lan Yiyi!” Yin Xiaoxiao crawled slowly to face Lan Yiyi. “Why did you bite me just now?! And why did you throw me?!”

Seeing Yin Xiaoxiao’s gloomy face getting closer and closer to his own, Lan Yiyi choked on a mouthful of spit and recoiled, retreating back over his own trail. “I, I was worried that you’d fall into the river!”

Yin Xiaoxiao halted. ‘Eh? Worried that I’d fall into the river?’ Yin Xiaoxiao turned to look at the brook, which was slow-moving, so clear that the bottom could be seen, and with a width of –  Yin Xiaoxiao carefully mulled it over – a width of only twice his length. Yin Xiaoxiao looked down on Lan Yiyi. This brook was enough for him to drown in, huh! Not only that, but none of them were prepared to go into the water, either!

As a result, Yin Xiaoxiao raised his head. Valiantly and vigorously, he crawled past Lan Yiyi, past the group of young snakes, and towards the brook, saying, “Whoever dares to stop me, I will…will bite them!”

Cough cough. Yin Xiaoxiao thought and thought but could only come up with the word “bite”. Or perhaps he could…whip them with his tail? Huh. Yin Xiaoxiao thought this was pretty good.

After hearing Yin Xiaoxiao’s words, the young snakes didn’t dare to stop Yin Xiaoxiao. Nevertheless, they, and especially Lan Yiyi and Yin Xiaoyi, still followed Yin Xiaoxiao. By following him closely, if Yin Xiaoxiao accidentally fell into the water, then they could jump on Yin Xiaoxiao and drag him back! Lan Yiyi and Yin Xiaoxiao shared a quick look. Each could see the resolve in the other’s eyes! So, the two snakes followed after him even more closely

Yin Xiaoxiao crawled to the river bank, uncaring of the young snakes following him. He looked around then finally found an area he was satisfied with.

In that area, the water was even more clear and shallow, and there were a lot of pebbles. To the left and right, there were two larger pebbles half-buried in the riverbottom. Their tops jutted out of the water, and in the center of each was a crack. Yin Xiaoxiao crawled over, situated his body between the two large pebbles and placed his head on one. Oh, this really was pleasantly cool.

Yin Xiaoyi and Lan Yiyi saw that Yin Xiaoxiao had placed himself in a relatively safe place, and their hearts were at ease.. But…the two young snakes shivered. As expected, the river bank was not suitable for snakes. It really was gloomy and cold. Really, snakes should only come to the river bank when they want to drink water.

“You two go and play. Don’t mind me.” Yin Xiaoxiao pushed Yin Xiaoyi and Lan Yiyi to leave. “I can take care of myself!”

Unsure if he should listen to Yin Xiaoxiao, Lan Yiyi still hesitated, but Yin Xiaoyi pushed him to leave. Yin Xiaoyi secretly mused that  if they didn’t leave then they might anger Xiaoxiao, and that wouldn’t be good. And after they left, a feeling of relief passed over Yin Xiaoyi.

T/N: I’m so sorry! I actually thought that I’d posted this on Saturday. I’m not sure what happened!