Chapter 32

It really was as Lan Yiyi had said. The group of young snakes slithered downstream for five or six minutes then finally saw the fork in the river that Lan Yiyi had spoken of. Yin Xiaoxiao carefully looked around and was speechless. Lan Yiyi calling this a fork in a brook was an over-exaggeration. When he said that he didn’t know what to call the bifurcation of this brook, it departed, twisting ten centimeters, then returned due to geostrophic deflection ¹ . What was formed on the other side of the brook was a pond that bore more of a resemblance to a small puddle.

Lan Yiyi opened his mouth and said, “The water here is very shallow, and here you can cross the brook to the other side,” as he slithered to the referred place. Behind him, the crowd of snakes followed, slithering past.

“This is accessible?” Hong Erer looked over to the area that Lan Yiyi had indicated. He hesitated, pointed to the area, then hesitated again. Although Lan Yiyi said that the area was really, quite shallow, it was still, afterall, a river. Even adult snakes wouldn’t approach riverbanks except to drink water, to say nothing of young snakes like them.

Yin Xiaoxiao also moved forward to look at the area Lan Yiyi had pointed out. The further downstream the brook was, the wider it became while the volume of water stayed the same. As a result, the depth here was at least half that of the depth at their area. But on the flipside, its was almost twice as wide as it was upstream. So looking this over, the snakes really were afraid to ford the river, and they basically didn’t approach the brook.

Yin Xiaoxiao thought about it and then said, “Let’s do it like this. You all stay here. I’ll go and have a look myself.” In any case, they weren’t in a hurry as a group to go over so they could stay on this side.

“Xiaoxiao, I’ll go with you.” Against Yin Xiaoxiao’s expectations, Lan Yiyi was the first to state that he wanted to follow him.

Without waiting for Yin Xiaoxiao to speak, Yin Xiaosi’s voice also rang out, “I’ll go, too.”

Next, Yin Xiaoyi and Hua Xiaowu also said that they wanted to go. At this, a phrase flashed through Yin Xiaoxiao’s mind — not second goods ² . He would not admit that there were second goods in his family. In other families, young snakes were worried about their own safety. But the young snakes in his family, in spite of everything, strove to be first and feared to be last ³ in requesting to cross the river. Yin Xiaosi and Yin Xiaoyi both wanting to come could be accepted, but Hua Xiaowu only want to come and join in whatever was lively!

Thinking of this, Yin Xiaoxiao unconsciously shook his head, indicating that he lacked better options in dealing with the second goods in his family. Then, he heard Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan’s voices complaining.

“Why?”

“We won’t.”

Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan’s voices, brimming with anger, brought Yin Xiaoxiao back to reality. Yin Xiaoxiao, puzzled, looked around. What? Why not? He didn’t hear that just now! Yin Xiaoxiao very quickly regained his wooden expression and said, “I’ll cross over. Lan Yiyi and Si-ge will also go. Everyone else will stay here.”

Hong Erer, Lan Sansan and Lan Sisi had no opinion on this and kept silent. Yin Xiaoyi listened to Yin Xiaoxiao. Only Hua Xiaoer, Hua Xiaosan and Hua Xiaowu were indignant.

“Why not let us go? We want to go, too!”

“We also want-”

“-To go to the other side of the river!”

The corner of Yin Xiaoxiao’s mouth was twitching as he looked at the three snakes in front of him. They really were worthy of being called “Hua”. Indeed, they really had inherited Hua Xiaohua’s spirit. Yin Xiaoxiao refused to acknowledge his three brothers. Yin Xiaoyi, as the leader of the young snakes, stepped in to quell them. “Er-di ⁴ , San-di, Wu-di, don’t be noisy!”

After this, the world was quiet. Yin Xiaoxiao felt that his eldest brother’s domineering aura was really too useful.

Following Yin Xiaoxiao and Lan Yiyi, Yin Xiaosi smoothly waded across the river and successfully arrived on the other side of the brook. The crowd of snakes on the opposite bank eagerly looked on as Yin Xiaoxiao’s party of three arrived at the area described by Lan Yiyi.

“Exactly here.” Lan Yiyi stopped Yin XIaoxiao who wanted to go to the other side of the small puddle. “Don’t go over. Besides where we’re standing, the other side has that clay that I told you about. If you get stuck, it will be very troublesome.”

At that moment, Yin Xiaoxiao found that this place was unsound. The small puddle really was very small, but it was surrounded by a lot of silt! Was this a marsh? Yin Xiaoxiao thought that this was a ridiculous idea. Why would there be a marsh here? The conditions here absolutely didn’t match with the defining characteristics of a marsh! But for the time being, Yin Xiaoxiao carefully and solemnly ⁵ used his tail to prod the mud. Truly sticky. But it was far from the extent of a marsh — forget it. Anyway, he had only come to look for mud. Whether it was marsh or whatever didn’t matter. That it was here was strange enough. Whatever else it was didn’t matter — this way of thinking was exactly the same as Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua’s way of thinking — forget it. Xiaoxiao’s family already had enough to be baffled about. Even if there was another strange thing, just keep calm in the face of the unexpected.

“Xiaoxiao, is this good?” Lan Yiyi saw that Yin Xiaoxiao had been staring for a while and he couldn’t help but voice this question.

Why was Yin XIaoxiao going to look for mud? Actually the reason was really, very simple. Yin Xiaoxiao had thought that, if he couldn’t directly place a bird egg in the fire, then he could wrap the bird egg in a layer of mud, rather like the recipe for jiào huā jī ⁶ . Although he had drawn this conclusion, the two were still very different and the method still needed to be tested. Nevertheless, Yin Xiaoxiao felt that there would be a large possibility of success.

Now, since clay was found, then the next step was wrapping the bird egg in the clay. At this point, Yin Xiaoxiao realized that there was absolutely no way to bring the mud back! The temperature outside was so high that, by the time the mud was conveyed back home, it would have already dried up and been left unusable. Since this was the case, then there was no other option but to bring the eggs here to be coated in mud.

With this train of thought, Yin Xiaoxiao raised his head and said to Lan Yiyi, “This mud won’t work.”

“Huh? It won’t?” Lan Yiyi was clearly very disappointed. “But I only know about the mud here. I don’t know of any other places.”

“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, there is nothing very useful here.” Yin Xiaoxiao was very calm about deceiving Lan Yiyi. Pop and Dad had repeatedly warned him and his five brothers not to tell  other snakes about being able to light fires. That he tried to find mud, which was in order to coat eggs, which was in order to manage to cook eggs, which was to eat cooked food, was why he had made a fire. And so, like this, he couldn’t, absolutely couldn’t, tell Lan Yiyi the reason why he was looking for mud. This being the case, it was better to just bluntly say that the mud here was unsuitable for his use.

Lan Yiyi didn’t doubt Yin XIaoxiao’s “sinister intentions” and was only quite disappointed and very annoyed that he hadn’t been able to help Yin Xiaoxiao. And so, the party of young snakes returned to the previous tributary. Yin Xiaoxiao, who had happily, secretly cocked his tail, and Lan Yiyi, head lowered in clear frustration, formed a clear contract. Yin Xiaosi observed this with a smile in his heart. His family’s Xiaoxiao was truly quite adorable, wasn’t he (…)!

The many snakes slithered back to the area and returned to play. Lan Yiyi hid in a nook and drew circles with his tail ⁷ . Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t rush to return to the brook, rather he availed himself of everyone’s lack of attention and quietly slithered over to Yin Xiaosi. “Si-ge.”

“Huh? Is something the matter?” Yin Xiaosi smiled hollowly ⁸ .

“That is-let’s go home now, okay?” Yin Xiaoxiao’s flattery was aimed at Yin Xiaosi. “That mud can be used. I mean to coat the bird eggs in it and throw them into the fire.”

“Return now?” Yin Xiaosi raised his head and looked at the sky. It was fast approaching noon. He feared that, while they were on their way, Xiaoxiao would come to regret slithering home now.  “It’s not urgent, Xiaoxiao. Soon, the temperature will be unbearable for you. Wait for a while and then we’ll return.”

In the midst of his excitement, Yin Xiaoxiao remembered  that he was afraid of heat. Yin Xiaoxiao was aggrieved. Why had he been sent into a poikilothermic animal instead of a homeotherm? It was interfering in his business! (The business of cooking bird eggs??) Yin Xiaoxiao was a very optimistic paper child ⁹ who strove to improve himself. Cough cough, of course everyone could also say that he was very oblivious ¹⁰ . Si-ge’s words weren’t wrong! ‘Now,’ Yin Xiaoxiao thought, ‘by the time I return home with the bird eggs wrapped in mid, the mud on the bird eggs will have dried out and flaked off! Wrapping them in mud would be useless! Or, I could wait until evening. Yeah, bringing them back at that time might keep the mud moist!’

Figuring this out, Yin Xiaxiaoxiao returned to the brook with a happy heart.

Yin Xiaosi was perplexed. His family’s Xiaoxiao didn’t appear like an obedient and reasonable snake! And he had prepared a belly full of mollifying words if he’d needed them. Why was he so sensible this time?!

When the temperature had finally dropped to one that Yin Xiaoxiao could tolerate, Yin Xiaoxiao impatiently took his leave of Lan Yiyi’s family and fled, ferrying with him the young snakes in his family.

Yin Xiaoxiao had waited until the perfect time. Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai were already home and were, at that moment, entwined together, kissing. Seeing their sons return, Hua Xiaohua immediately slithered away from Yin Dabai and, with a brilliant smile, welcomed them, “ My obedient sons have returned.”

If this had been prior to the events of today ¹¹ , Yin Xiaxiao would have definitely derided Hua Xiaohua for stopping. But now, Yin Xiaoxiao had something far more pressing, so of course it was impossible for this kind of thing to distract him!

At once, Yin Xiaoxiao rushed to Hua Xiaohua . “Pop, Pop, I’m going to go plaster the bird eggs with mud!”

“Huh?” Hua Xioahua was stunned. What did this mean?

Stymied now by his own excessive excitement, Yin Xiaoxiao’s ability to explain rapidly devolved into incoherence. Yin Xiaosi came forward to explain. Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua suddenly understood.

“Then your father and I will go. You wait at home for us,” Hua Xiaohua said.

“I also want to go! I also want to go!” Yin Xiaoxiao volunteered and was disregarded by Hua Xiaohua.

Yin Dabai opened his mouth, “Xiaoxiao, you don’t need to go. Xiaohua and I are going together. Like this we can quickly get it done and return, otherwise I don’t know how long it’ll be before we return!”

Yin Xiaoxiao thought about his speed and wilted. He couldn’t help but admit that what Yin Dabai said was very reasonable.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s party of six stood at the mouth of the cave and watched as Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua left. A few tears brimmed in Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes. Soon he would eat cooked food!

By the time the sky had become daubed with black, Yin Dabai and Hua Xioahua returned. Yin Dabai dragged along a nest of eggs smeared with mud.

In Yin Xiaoxiao’s impatience, the fire had been lit for the third time. Yin Xiaoxiao took a mud-wrapped egg and pushed it into the fire. With keen eyes, Yin Xiaoxiao prevented Hua Xiaohua from pushing all the eggs into the fire. Mud, afterall, was earth, and Yin Xiaoxiao feared that too much mud would extinguish the fire.

When Yin Xiaoxiao thought that the egg was almost done, he used his tail to grab a branch to nudge the egg from the fire. Then he used his tail to smash the egg against a stone. The mud broke into pieces, exposing the inside of the bird egg. Yin Xiaoxiao looked and saw that, while the shell of the bird egg had cracked, it hadn’t been split open. Yin Xiaoxiao thought that he had, very possibly, succeeded! Next, Yin Xiaoxiao knocked all the mud off the egg, which also conveniently shattered the shell, exposing a soft white interior that had already turned into solid eggwhite.

The whole family gathered around Yin Xiaoxiao in a circle, curiously looking at Yin Xiaoxiao’s so-called cooked food. Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t care about them. Right away, he bit off a mouthful of egg, successfully exposing the egg yolk inside. The egg yolk still hadn’t fully solidified and yellow trickled out. Oh, it seemed like the egg would need to be cooked for a little longer next time. After another bite, Yin Xiaoxiao had eaten the whole egg. Yin Xiaoxiao practically wanted to cry tears of joy. Waaah! He finally had eaten the last bit of warm and delicious egg! Ate it! Immediately, he pushed the next egg into the fire.

Yin Xiaoxiao raised his head and discovered that his entire family was watching him with green eyes, mouths drooling. Yin Xiaoxiao turned around, curled his lip and generously said, “Okay, okay. Everyone can have some. Today, let’s eat bird eggs together!”

“But Xiaoxiao, did you eat enough?” This was Yin Xiaosi who still retained some reason.

“I have. Don’t worry about me.” He didn’t know if this was objective fact or some subjective experience coloring his perception, but Yin Xiaoxiao felt that a solid egg was more filling than a liquid egg ¹² , and like this he didn’t seem to need to eat as many eggs each day.

Having listened to Yin Xiaoxiao, the many snakes no longer hesitated. For vipers who only ate so many things all year round, having this kind of new preparation to eat things was undeniably enticing. This was especially so since this was Yin Xiaoxiao’s family.

Next to Yin Xiaoxiao, five young snakes silently tossed more branches into the fire,striving to build the fire to be larger and hotter so that they could push two more eggs inside. Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua silently built another fire, lighting branches and piling them together.

By the time the sky had fully darkened, Yin Xiaoxiao’s whole snake family ate the last cooked bird egg.

Hua Xiaohua: “Tomorrow I want to eat even more cooked eggs!”

Hua Xiaowu: “I want to eat them too!”

Yin Xiaoyi: “…Count me in!”

Yin Xiaosi: “…Tastes pretty good.”

HUa Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan: “Delicious-” “-Bird eggs!”

Yin Dabai: “I will bring back more tomorrow.”

Yin Xiaoxioa: “…”

T/N: At first I was like, “But YXX, can’t you just dig a whole in the earth put the eggs in and cook them that way?” and then I realized that he probably didn’t have any way to make a hole as a snake. #nohandnohelp #snakemood

Footnotes

<ol>地转偏向: I’m not knowledgeable in geology or meteorology, but it seems to refer to the direction that the wind blows and the air circulation patterns of high pressure and low pressure areas. Here ’s an overview in English that I could actually kind of understand 不是二货: has three meanings; 1. Fool 2. Someone who has a weakness in a specific area 3. Used to refer to someone who is cute on the internet ; Since YXX/the narrator often uses internet slang, I’m pretty sure that YXX is saying that the snakes in his family aren’t cute 争先恐后: idiom meaning trying to outdo one another 弟: young brother 小心翼翼: idiom meaning very carefully 叫花鸡: an ancient way of cooking chicken in which it was coated in mud and then roasted over an open fire. Nowadays, the “mud shell” is often replaced with other things, such as aromatic leaves, dough, batter, etc picture the image of someone sitting in a corner, drawing circles on the ground. It’s meant to depict someone who is depressed, wronged and pitiful 似笑非笑: literally to smile but not smile 孩纸: used on the internet in place of the word ‘child’ 经粗: someone who is callous because they don’t notice other people’s actions added for clarity a solid egg is a cooked egg. A liquid egg is a raw egg.</ol>