Chapter 20

By the time the sky had begun to darken, Yin Xiaoxiao and all the snakes in his family had begun to stagger home. They weren’t moving fast, but they also weren’t in a hurry, more along the lines of an after-dinner walk.

As before, Hua Xiaowu was still annoying Yin Xiaoxiao. In turn, Yin Xiaoxiao was annoyed. If he had known it would be like this, he wouldn’t Hua Xiaowu that bird egg. Since giving him the egg, Hua Xioawu had cleaved himself to Yin Xiaoxiao’s side even more closely.

Although Yin Xiaoxiao had bitten Hua Xiaowu, it was so Hua Xiaowu’s circadian rhythm righted itself so day and night were no longer upended ¹ . He had accordingly avoided provoking Yin Xiaoxiao to spare agitating him. Hua Xiaowu himself hadn’t really minded his current situation. The main point was that, in his opinion, Yin Xiaoxiao had just been really kind to him!

The next day, after getting out of bed, Yin Xiaoxiao discovered that Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua had disappeared again. What kind of joke was this? Yin Xiaoxiao was speechless. He glanced towards the interior of the cave and, not long after, Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua slithered out, one after the other.

For some mysterious reason, today Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua left together to look for bird eggs. Yin Xiaoxiao shuddered, watching the two snakes in front of him being all sweet and sticky.

Everyone was very well-behaved today and nobody mentioned going out to play. Yin Xiaoxiao suspected it was because everyone had tired themselves out playing yesterday. Regardless of whether or not he decided to go out and soak in the brook, staying inside the dim cave was uncomfortable.

As before, Yin Xiaoxiao hung around the cave and Hua Xiaowu hung around Yin Xiaoxiao. Sometimes he passed Yin Xiaoxiao, making it seem as though he and Yin Xiaoxiao were racing each other.

At first, Yin Xiaoxiao completely ignored Hua Xiaowu. Later, Yin Xiaoxiao began sense that something was amiss.

“Wu-ge,” Yin Xiaoxiao suddenly stopped and very calmly called out to Hua Xiaowu.

“Huh?” Hua Xiaowu shivered at the call. Why did Xiaoxiao sound so serious?

“Have you grown?”

…

At a loss, Hua Xiaowu looked himself over from head to tail. Then, he did it again. His head tilted. “…I don’t know.”

Yin Xiaoxiao briefly glared at Hua Xiaowu. Really! Truly unreliable at the most important times. And so, Yin Xiaoxiao extended his head. “Da-ge, come here.”

Yin Xiaoyi, who was simplemindedly watching Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan, heard Yin Xiaoxiao calling for him and slithered over.

“Da-ge, stand next to Wu-ge,” Yin Xiaoxiao directed.

Puzzled, Yin Xiaoyi and Hua Xiaowu stood side-by-side.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s lips curled.

“Si-ge, you need to come over here.” Yin Xiaoxiao called out to Yin Xiaosi, who had been hiding in a corner and didn’t know what was going on. Then, Yin Xiaosi came over and, following Yin Xiaoyi and Hua Xiaowu, stood next to them.

“…Er-ge, San-ge, you two come here, too!”

And so, bewildered, Yin Xiaoyi, Hua Xiaowu, Yin XIaosi and the equally bewildered Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan all stood next to each other.

…Was this a troop inspection or something? …Yin Xiaoxiao’s face filled with dark lines ² and he shook his head, trying to get this idea out of his mind.

Yin Xiaoxiao carefully examined the young snakes in front of him, then looked at his own body.

And then Yin Xiaoxiao felt depressed.

“You have all grown bigger and longer, but I haven’t!” Yin Xiaoxiao complained.

“…???” Aside from Yin Xiaosi, the other young snakes present had faces filled with dark lines ³ .

Yin Xiaosi crawled out from the assembled ranks to stand next to Yin Xiaoxiao. He carefully looked at him for a moment, then very earnestly said, “That’s true. Yin Xiaoxiao, you are correct.”

Yin XIaoxiao felt like Yin Xiaosi was bullying him.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s mouth flattened and tears began to well up in his eyes.

Yin Xiaosi, don’t tease Yin Xiaoxiao. If Xiaoxiao cries, when Dad and Pop return, you’ll be swallowed alive ⁴ , you know.

“This is, this is…Xiaoxiao you’ve misunderstood. We were all born out of eggs from the same nest. How can you not have grown larger? Really Xiaoxiao, you’ve misunderstood..” Yin Xiaosi tried to think of a reason and was immensely pleased with himself to come up with this excellent explanation.

Only for Yin Xiaosi to immediately realize that he had underestimated the IQ of the other snakes. The young snakes all looked at him contemptuously.

“…” Yin Xiaosi was silent.

“Xiaoxiao doesn’t eat meat.”

“Only eats eggs.”

Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan believed that Yin Xiaoxiao wasn’t eating enough..

Yin Xiaoyi held his breath for a moment. “…Malnourished.”

Yin Xiaoxiao felt the veins next to his eyes pulse.

“Xiaoxiao was born after us, right? There could be birth defects.” Hua Xiaowu couldn’t help but to also give his two cents.

Yin Xiaoxiao became emotional ⁵ ). So, it turned out that he had birth defects and was malnourished. Who knew that life as a snake could be so full of suffering.

Seeing the sadness on Yin Xiaoxiao’s face, Yin Xiaosi ruthlessly donned a threatening facial expression to cow Hua Xiaowu. Then, he slithered over to face Yin Xiaoxiao. “Xiaoxiao, don’t be sad. Think about it. You don’t have inherited memories and you don’t like to eat meat. It’s only naturally that, compared to us, you grow more slowly. But don’t worry! I’m sure that you will grow to be just as big as us, okay.”

“…Really?” Yin Xiaoxiao lifted his head, his gaze brimming with hope as he looked at Yin Xiaosi.

Yin Xiaosi nodded vigorously. “Of course! Xiaoxiao, don’t disbelieve your Si-ge!”

Yin Xiaoxiao’s mouth twitched ⁶ . Of course it was better to believe you. Obviously, not believing you means that I don’t believe that I’ll grow to be very big.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s head turned. Together, they will all definitely grow faster than I. How can I know when I’ve finally grown? I should think of a way to find out.

Yin Xiaoxiao did not pay attention to the snakes that had struck him down in their efforts to comfort him. He slithered off into the cave to think of a method to measure his growth. Hua Xiaowu still followed Yin Xiaoxiao.

Oh, that’s right! Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes brightened and he came to a sudden halt. Hua Xiaowu, following behind him, ran into his back at his sudden stop.

Yin Xiaoxiao had been unable to think of a good method. He turned around, face dark.  Although it was said that a woman’s waist cannot be touched ⁷ , a snake’s body shouldn’t be run into so casually, okay!

“…I, I’m sorry.” Hua Xiaowu shrunk back, repeatedly apologizing.

Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t rage at Hua Xiaowu this time. Even after listening to Hua Xiaowu’s apologies, he smiled at Hua Xiaowu, not in a  bad mood. Then, he returned to considering the method that he had just thought of.

The more Yin Xiaoxiao thought about it, the more that he came to believe that it was feasible. Full of joy and expectation, he prepared to put it into practice.

Yin Xiaoxiao first slithered over to the side of the cave and carefully looked for a rock that was much longer than himself but that was also flat and smooth. Yin Xiaoxiao individually felt each one until he found one that resembled a concrete wall from his previous human life. Having found a suitable rock, Yin Xiaoxiao prepared himself for the next step.

Yin Xiaoxiao turned around and saw Hua Xiaowu. After looking over Hua Xiaowu from head to tail, and especially after considering Hua Xiaowu’s teeth, Yin Xiaoxiao was disappointed. Then, after remembering examining the other young snakes, each one by one, not too long ago, Yin Xiaoxiao realized that this matter had to wait until Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai returned in order to be set up!

T/N: Sorry I posted this today! I got the second COVID vaccine on Friday and was passed out all day yesterday! Stay healthy, everyone!

Footnotes

<ol>日夜颠倒: lit. day and night were reversed; describing a pattern of sleeping during the day and being awake at night like the dark lines seen in anime and used to depict emotion like the dark lines seen in anime and used to depict emotion 生吞: literally swallowed alive. It seems to be a bit of a pun since it’s half of the saying ‘生吞活剥’ which means to accept something uncritically or to impose an interpretation on something . Basically, these overprotective snake parents will tear into you for making their youngest child cry without asking questions first 泪奔: ran with tears; an early internet saying, often accompanied with the picture of someone running while crying, used to convey heightened emotion or to exaggerate emotion in situations in which people could cry, such as when happy, sad, anxious, angry, etc. 撇撇嘴: used to describe the movement of lips to convey doubt or curiosity 虽然有话说女人的腰碰不得 seems to be part of a saying where people shouldn’t touch women’s waists and men’s heads because it is deemed improper</ol>