Chapter 111

“Bai Jiahei?” Mo Laoda doubtfully asked. “But Nine wasn’t born from a Bai snake or a Hei snake, but from a Yin snake and a Mo snake. If anything he should be called Yin Jiamo.”

Bai Jiahei. Naturally, any human who had seen advertisements ¹ would be familiar with this name. Yin Xiaoxiao had no chance that Mo Laoda would be able to understand why this was funny. But Yin Jiamo? That name sounded really bad!

“Since the children’s names are all ones you’ve chosen, then it’s not too much that I change Nine’s name, right?” Mo Laoda continued to say. “Nine’s stripes are very different. I’m not opposed to using your family name, so Yin Jiamo is better.”

Naturally, Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t agree. How could Yin Xiaoxiao lose this beautiful name, Bai Jiahei, in favor of a strange name like Yin Jiamo?! However, Yin Xiaoxiao knew that fighting head on against Mo Laoda wouldn’t get him what he wanted. Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes darted around, and he said, “Would it be better for Nine to choose and find out which one Nine likes more?”

Mo Laoda thought for a moment and then agreed.

Yin Xiaoxiao slithered to face Nine, lightly pat Nine on the head with his tail and, with a kindly smile on his face, said, “Nine, would you prefer to use the name Bai Jiahei or Yin Jiamo?” Yin Xiaoxiao loudly spoke the name Bai Jiahei but, when he said the name Yin Jiamo, not even Mo Laoda with his excellent hearing, could hear it very well.

Nine looked expressionlessly at Yin Xiaoxiao, then asked, “Is there another choice?”

With a benevolent expression, Yin Xiaoxiao shook his head and said, in an even more gentle tone, “Nine, you must choose one. Your Pop thinks that Nine must be very smart and likes his Pop, right?”

Nine once again stared expressionlessly at Yin Xiaoxiao for a moment, then turned his head to look expressionlessly at Mo Laoda for a moment. Finally, he stated, “Bai Jiahei is good.”

Mo Laoda: “….”

Yin Xiaoxiao happily kissed Nine on the head. “Oh, Nine, Pop loves you so much!”

With an exceptionally ugly expression on his face, Mo Laoda moved as fast as he could to quickly drag Yin Xiaoxiao away. When would the Little Idiot stop with the bad habit of kissing snakes when he was happy?!

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Nine paid not even the slightest bit of attention to Mo Laoda’s behavior. In his heart, he was actually somewhat happy that his Pop had kissed him.

Nine’s name was decided, but there were still eight others!

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to object, but that they hadn’t had the opportunity to object! With great difficulty, the eight young snakes waited until Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao had calmed down, then began to protest.

“Pops, I don’t like this name, Mo Jingzhe!”

“Pops, I also don’t want to be called anything like Yin Dahan!”

“Pops, change my name!”

“Pops, I love you the most so you should give me a more pleasant-sounding name!”

……..

Well, from the point of view of the vipers’, it wasn’t the twenty-four solar terms. What Jingzhe, Bailu? To the vipers, these weren’t pleasant-sounding, easy to remember names. The young vipers really didn’t know why their Pop wanted them to have these kinds of names. Nine’s name was pretty good. Although Nine’s chose “Bai Jiahei” and not “Yin Jiamo”, Nine’s name very clearly conformed more to their taste.

Yin Xiaoxiao directly ignored the words of the young snakes, turned around and slithered into the cave. Hmph! Just now in front of the children, Mo Laoda didn’t give him any face. Now, Yin Xiaoxiao was very angry!

Mo Laoda looked at the still howling children, then looked at the cave into which Yin Xiaoxiao had just slithered and, without the slightest hesitation, entered the cave. Even though the children had been born, compared to Yin Xiaoxiao, they simply couldn’t be compared.

Mo Laoda hurriedly slithered to overtake Yin Xiaoxiao. Naturally, Mo Laoda knew that Yin Xiaoxiao was a little angry with him, but Mo Laoda thought that there was no reason to be angry with him! They were only discussing the children’s names.

However, even if Mo Laoda thought that there was nothing to be angry about,  when confronting the already angry Yin Xiaoxiao, Mo Laoda unconsciously humbled his bearing, adopting an “I know I’ve wronged you, don’t be angry” appearance.

Yin Xiaoxiao slanted a glance, saw that there was an “I’m sorry, I’m wrong” expression on Mo Laoda’s face, and immediately became happy. Yin Xiaoxiao also knew that this disagreement was nothing and that there was absolutely no reason in the slightest to get angry and provoke disagreement. But Yin Xiaoxiao unconsciously felt something like “I’m venting and being difficult so that Heitan can coax me”. When he saw Mo Laoda pampering him unhesitatingly, Yin Xiaoxiao felt an indescribable sweetness growing in his heart…in the days to come, this only intensified.

In the end, Yin Xiaoxiao, spoiled by Mo Laoda, was still a child. Even though he’d already grown to adulthood, even though he’d already had nine baby snakes, Yin Xiaoxiao was still just a child.

Only, what did this matter? In the event that, in this world, there was a snake who wanted to unconditionally spoil and love you, held you as most important in his heart, wouldn’t deceive you, wouldn’t get angry at you, would always be at your side no matter how you changed, if it was like this, did it matter if he was like a child? Loving you like this, you were peerless in this world.

“Returning to the topic at hand, how are the names you’ve given to the children so…” Mo Laoda considered for a moment, “different?”

Yin Xiaoxiao tilted his head and stared innocently with wide eyes. “Different? I think they sound quite pleasant. Heitan, could it be that you think my names don’t sound pleasant?” As he finished speaking, Yin Xiaoxiao looked very wronged, giving off an “I’ll cry if you dare to say that they sound bad.”

Mo Laoda was silent for a while. “No, they sound quite nice. Then, the children’s names have been decided.”

Yin Xiaoxiao instantly beamed with joy, and he slithered over to Mo Laoda and fiercely cuddled him. Mo Laoda’s eyes deepened, and he ruthlessly kissed Yin Xiaoxiao on the mouth. Ever since being pregnant with baby snakes, Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao hadn’t made love in a while, however clearly the timing now wasn’t right. Mo Laoda only tightly coiled around Yin Xiaoxiao for a moment. Only when his bodily desire had passed did he release Yin Xiaoxiao. The two snakes in the cave remained in their intimate embrace for a moment, then slithered out together.

The eight young snakes outside were still aggrieved over their unpleasant names. As soon as they saw Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda come out, they promptly pasted glittering smiles on their faces and slithered towards the two snakes.

Seeing this situation, Yin Xiaoxiao curled his lips. “Such unsightly smiles!”

The eight young snakes: “…..”

Hey! Pop ² We’re your sons! Your biological children! What’s with that scornful face?! What unsightly smiles?!

Mo Laoda indifferently declared what, to the baby snakes, was a cruel fact: “Remember your names well. You’ll be using the names that you Pop ³ gave you.” Seeing that the young snakes still wanted to speak, Mo Laoda’s tone of voice suddenly became very strict. “Well, there can be no dissent on this matter. It ends here.”

The eight young snakes looked at one another, and finally chose to shut up. Okay, okay, in that case, just hand over those unpleasant names. With Dad helping Pop, they had no recourse!

From beginning to end, Nine’s face remained expressionless. He didn’t speak and his facial expression remained unchanged. Yin Xiaoxiao accidentally glanced over, then thought of and considered a question: Did Nine have facial paralysis? It seemed that, from the time he was born until now, his expression hadn’t changed.

The need to resolve this question settled in Yin Xiaoxiao’s mind. Taking advantage that Mo Laoda was still talking to the eight young snakes, Yin Xiaoxiao slithered towards Nine.

As Yin Xiaoxiao slithered towards him, Nine noticed Yin Xiaoxiao and saw that Yin Xiaoxiao was slithering to face him. He was then asked, “Nine, smile for Pop.”

Nine raised his head and stared attentively into his Pop’s eyes. Absentmindedly, he recalled that, after toiling to bore through his eggshell, the first thing he saw was his Pop’s amazed and happy gaze. At that moment, he suddenly felt his body, which had ached all over, no longer ached, an indescribable feeling that, although it couldn’t be described, was still beautiful.

“What, Nine won’t let Pop see his smile?” Yin Xiaoxiao’s voice sounded downcast.

Nine was silent for a moment then, with great effort, pulled up the corners of his mouth.

Yin Xiaoxiao: “….”

Yin Xiaoxiao stroked Nine’s head and said, comfortingly, “It’s okay, Nine. Pops knows what’s in your heart. Nine likes Pops, right?”

Nine struggled free of Yin Xiaoxiao’s tail. He stared into Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes and, in an exceptionally earnest voice, said, “Nine likes Pop the most.”

Yin Xiaoxiao suddenly felt his heart become full and was exceptionally content. He lowered his head to kiss Nine…what a pity that Mo Laoda hurried over and dragged him away.

Nine watched as his Pops was dragged away by his Dad. His face, as before, was expressionless but, as he watched Mo Laoda’s retreating figure, a trace of derision flashed in his eyes. So what if you’re my Pop’s partner. I still have my Pop’s  blood in my body! Pop will always like me.

Nine, even if you have the inherited memories, you still can’t see some things clearly. For the vipers, partners are the most important. not their children. Your position in Yin Xiaoxiao’s heart is comparable to your older brothers.

“From now on, without my permission, you’re not allowed to kiss other snakes as you like!” Mo Laoda said very fiercely as he released Yin Xiaoxiao.

Dazed, Yin Xiaoxiao shook his head then suddenly realized: “Heitan, you shouldn’t be jealous of the children! They’re our sons! What’s wrong with me kissing them?”

Mo Laoda’s heart wavered for a moment, but then he immediately regained his resolve. “I said it’s not allowed, so it’s not allowed! Understand?!”

“Okay, okay,” Yin Xiaoxiao immediately agreed. At this time, he’d wait and not directly disobey Hetian. It’d be better to concede first. “I promise you, I won’t kiss them when I want!”

Having received Yin Xiaoxiao’s promise, Mo Laoda was satisfied, but he didn’t feel relieved. Mo Laoda thought and decided that, as long as Yin Xiaoxiao and the baby snakes were together, he’d have to watch carefully! Most of all…Mo Laoda’s eyes darkened, Nine who Yin Xiaoxiao called Bai Jiahei!

Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t know what Mo Laoda was thinking. Yin Xiaoxiao saw that Mo Laoda was lost in thought, but he didn’t have time to pay attention to him, busy slithering over to find baby snakes to play with. Hehe, this was good, from now on he had nine snakes to play with! Playmates who couldn’t resist if he bullied them!

–Yin Xiaoxiao, do you remember that the “playmates who couldn’t resist if you bully them” are your own children?!

Here, Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao lived a simple, good life. But they didn’t know that the news of Yin Xiaoxiao laying nine eggs had already been disseminated far and wide among the vipers. The snakes who heard this first questioned whether it was true, then were amazed before finally feeling anger from envy, and envy from jealousy ⁴ – the Mo snakes especially felt  this anger from envy, and envy from jealousy. Only/However, there were vipers who weren’t convinced, after all this was only by word of mouth, and they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes so perhaps it was just chasing the wind and clutching at shadows ⁵ . Only it could be assumed that, when the baby snakes grew up a bit, Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda would bring the baby snakes out with them. At that time, there would no longer be any snakes who didn’t believe it, right?

T/N:

Footnotes

<ol>白加黑: an OTC medication for colds; basically it’s Chinese Nyquil https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%99%BD%E5%8A%A0%E9%BB%91/3051345 the raw had 阿爸, which has been used for MLD. I’m changing it to Pop or  阿爹 since that, in context, makes more sense again, the raw had 阿爸, which has been used for MLD. I’m changing it to Pop or  阿爹 since that, in context, makes more sense 羡慕嫉妒恨: literally reads as envy/admiration, jealousy/hatred, hatred/regret. It’s a quote from a novel by Zhao Zhao to describe the entire emotional spectrum of wanting what one doesn’t have https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%A1%E6%85%95%E5%AB%89%E5%A6%92%E6%81%A8/10736617 捕风捉影: an idiom used to describe someone who has been deceived into believing that the impossible has happened without any evidence grounded in fact https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%8D%95%E9%A3%8E%E6%8D%89%E5%BD%B1/81308</ol>