Chapter 16

After the young snakes got up, Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai also got up, not daring to remain asleep. Last night, the two snakes had gone to bed very late and, this morning, got up very early. As for the reason why…. cough , it really wasn’t what you think! Yesterday, Hua Xiaohua only reprimanded Yin Dabai for a very long time! Which led to the two snakes going to bed very late at night! There was no time for anything else!

Today, Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua were going hunting together.

Yin Xiaoxiao glanced back and forth between Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua several times. With a roll of his eyes, he trailed over to Hua Xiaowu’s side then muttered a few sentences into Hua Xiaowu’s ear ¹ ),

Listening to Yin Xiaoxiao, Hua Xiaowu was a little hesitant. “Ah, is that okay?”

Yin Xiaoxiao loudly “hmph”ed.

Hua Xiaowu bodily recoiled. “Okay, okay. I got it.”

Hua Xiaowu walked slowly over to Hua Xiaohua’s side. “Pop.”

Hua Xiaohua glanced down at Hua Xiaowu. “What ² ?”

Hua Xiaowu swallowed. “That is, today you and Dad are going to go hunting?”

“Yes.”

“That, that-that is…” Hua Xiaowu’s face contorted into a smile. “Ahahahaha, I-I want to go with you and Dad.”

Hua Xiaohua slanted a look down at Hua Xiaowu and deemed him dead weight. “Out of the question.”

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“Why not?” Hua Xiaowu’s face fell.

…That was a question that Hua Xiaohua did not actually want to answer.

“I also want to go, Pop.” Yin Xiaoyi said, beaming.

“…I also want to go.” Yin Xiaosi stared at Hua Xiaohua.

“Since everyone else is going-”

“-We also want to go.”

Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan still had their twin telepathy.

“…Since everyone else is going, then there’s no reason for me to stay at home, is there??” Finally, Yin Xiaoxiao took advantage of this opportunity.

“…” Hua Xiaohua harshly glared….at Yin Dabai.

Yin Dabai felt unjustly accused. Hey, hey! This had nothing to do with me, okay? Why are you glaring at me?

Why am I glaring?! It’s only because you took Xiaoxiao out yesterday that we’re in this situation, now! Who’s fault is it, if it’s not yours?

Yin Dabai turned his head. What I said was wrong, I will not deny it.

“…Well, okay.  You can go, if you want.” Unwillingly, Hua Xiaohua agreed to his young snakes’ demands.

Hua Xiaowu was relieved. He quickly crawled over to Yin Xiaoxiao. “Xiaoxiao, I just did what you said. I did good, right?”

“Yes, you did very well.” Yin Xiaoxiao beamed at Hua Xiaowu. Seeing the smile shone his way, Hua Xiaowu slithered away, dumbstruck.

Hehehehe, Xiaoxiao’s smile was really cute. Hua Xiaowu’s entire body flushed pink. All the other snakes in the family, large and small, slithered away from Hua Xiaowu in disgust.

And so, all members of this family got up early this morning. Even though, outside, the sun had already risen, the temperature was not very high. Occasionally, there would be a gust of wind, making it feel even more cool and refreshing, and with which Yin Xiaoxiao damned well fell in love. Only after experiencing the midday temperatures here could one feel appropriately grateful for this cool and refreshing sensation. Am I right or am I right?!

And thus, Yin Xiaoxiao urged Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai to hurry up and so they could set off.

Worn down by Yin Xiaoxiao, Hua Xiaohua had no choice but to agree to leave immediately.

And so, the large family unit staggered towards the hunting grounds.

“I want to go to a brook.” Yin Xiaoxiao quickly slithered forward, uncomfortable. “I have to.”

Hua Xiaohua silently looked up at the sky, engrossed in continuing to slither forward…actually, that look upward was Hua Xiaohua rolling his eyes.

Although very disdainful of their son’s thermophobic body, Pop Hua – with a tough exterior and a gentle interior – still accommodated Yin Xiaoxiao’s request, detouring from their normal route to another with a water source.

Slithering behind his partner, Yin Dabai was about to snap. He was drooling. Yesterday, the two of them didn’t eat even after they had finished talking! Hey, Xiaohua! How have you not lost your temper by now?

“Here it is.”

Hua Xiaohua stopped and looked around, satisfied. After they’d detoured, they found a place, with a brook not too far away and with very lush-looking grass all around, which was also a suitable hunting ground for him and Yin Dabai.

The young snakes were also obviously satisfied with it.

Yin Dabai gladly and earnestly slithered over from behind Hua Xiaohua and exclaimed, earnestly, “Xiaohua, let’s go hunting together. The children can play here.”

Hua Xiaohua spat out, “You go left and I’ll go right,” before slithering off. Obviously, he did not want to eat with Yin Dabai.

Broken hearted, Yin Dabai watched Hua Xiaohua receding back. Xiaohua usually liked to hunt with him. Why did he say ‘You go left and I’ll go right’? How could he make Xiaohua’s temper cool?

Even after thinking this over for a long while, he still couldn’t think of anything good. Yin Dabai hung his head and slithered away.

At first, Yin Xiaoxiao had not wanted Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai to catch anything disgusting, like rats. But after remembering that he would not have to eat it, he reconsidered. To catch, or not to catch, that was the question. In the worst case scenario, he could stay far away while they ate their meal.

At this thought, Yin Xiaoxiao felt relieved.

Yin Xiaoxiao stood still, in a daze. With studied nonchalance, he tapped his tail against the ground, assuming that he appeared lost in thought…an act that no snake bought.

Still in a daze, Yin Xiaoxiao was about to tap the ground again with his tail when he was suddenly, ruthlessly bitten. Pain pierced all nerve endings. Yin Xiaoxiao’s head whipped around, then:

“Hua Xiaowu! What are you doing?!?!?!”

…

Hua Xiaowu, scared by Yin Xiaoxiao’s shouting, retreated several paces. Watching Yin Xiaoxiao turn and move towards him bit-by-bit, Hua Xiaowu felt his body tremble. “Xiao-Xiaoxiao, you-you, I, I…”

Yin Xiaoxiao’s face was calm and dark. “Hua Xiaowu, why did you bite me?! Didn’t you realize that it would hurt?!”

“Your brother didn’t do it on purpose! Xiaoxiao, don’t come any closer!” Hua Xiaowu hadn’t realized that what Yin Xiaoxiao had said about crying that time could so aptly express his current state of mind.

“Pop and Dad went hunting, so I thought that we could go and play! Xiaoxiao, why did you become so upset?! Have I done anything wrong?” Hua Xiaowu made every effort to justify himself. He didn’t want Yin Xiaoxiao to hunt him down and murder him!

“Play?” At that, Yin Xiaoxiao became even angrier. “Who would play by biting someone so hard? Huh?? Who, huh?!?!”

“It’s as you say! It’s as you say, of course!” Hua Xiaowu really wished he could cry. “It’s not what you think! Everyone, everyone else was doing it.”

Yin Xiaoxiao looked around at the aforementioned everyone else with clear mistrust.

…

Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan, if you bite me then I’ll bite you back. If you bite me twice, then I’ll bite you thrice. So, make sure you show love and respect as good brothers should ³ ), understood.

…

Yin Xiaosi looked warily at Yin Xiaoyi, standing in front of him. Yin Xiaoyi looked back at Yin Xiaosi with a wooden expression…what were these two up to?

T/N: :Rolls up late with translation and a starbucks: I’m not going to lie, I watch Gintama episodes to get the right sense of comedy for translating this. But I was getting tired of watching the same episodes over and over, (badly) chose another one, and then was hit by so many feels. Total sucker punch to the sadness cortex of the brain, so this chapter isn’t as funny as it could be. Many apologies. Much sorry.

Footnotes

<ol>For anyone else who felt the need to google ‘do snakes have ears’, it appears that snakes have inner ear bits but no outer ears bits and no ear drum. The inner ear structures rest directly along their jaw. I don’t know if these magical snakes have similar structures, but…there you have it. 神马: internet slang for ‘what’ 兄友弟恭:idiom about brotherly respect and love</ol>