The next day before sunset, Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua, as expected, brought back even more bird eggs. Yin Xiaoxiao glanced over. Yin Dabai had dragged back a birdâs nest that was almost overflowing with eggs. Yin Xiaoxiao looked at Hua Xiaohua and was astonished. Usually, Hua Xiaohua only tagged along with Yin Dabai and returned with mouth and tail empty. Today, he had actually returned with a birdâs nest. From a visual estimation, it appeared that the number of eggs wasnât any fewer than those brought back by Yin Dabai. Yin Xiaoxiao was distressed. If this continued, in the future, would there be any birds left building nests in this mountain range?
âOh, how about today we go to the riverbank to eat bird eggs?â Hua Xiaohua, full of joy and expectation, suggested. As usual, Yin Dabai went along with his partner. Since Pop and Dad were both in agreement, the opinion of the young snakes was naturally overlooked.
âXiaoyi, Xiaoer, Xiaosan, drag the birdâs nest! Xiaosi, Xiaowu, Xiaoxiao, drag the other birdâs nest! Dabai, drag the tree stump!â Hua Xiaohua began to assign tasks. Oh, naturally the tree stump that was referred to was the one that Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai had used the last time since Yin Dabai had thought to keep it. It would have been too inconvenient to go look for another similar one. Even though this so-called tree stump couldnât be used forever, it could still continue to be used. Using it the next eight or ten times wouldnât be entirely out of the question.
In the ensuing silence, Yin Xiaoxiao was the only one to open his mouth. âPop, what are you doing, then?â He absolutely would not surrender to the forces of evil! âWhy should we all have assignments only for Pop to have none?! For such a large snake, you are shameless to do nothing!â
Hua Xiaohua fiercely glared at Yin Xiaoxiao. Yin Xiaoxiao trembled but endured, holding back the desire to recoil. He raised his head, stood tall and glared back.
Hua Xiaohua glared at his son for a while but impatiently withdrew his gaze when he found it had no effect. He bundled up those branches left over from yesterday and said, âIâll take these.â
Yin Xiaoxiao: ââŠâ
Although Yin Xiaoxiaoâs rebellion didnât get the expected result, from the admiring gazes of the young snakes, just being brave enough to rebel was praiseworthy. Oh, and evenly more importantly, Yin Dabaiâs gaze was included with those of the other snakesâ. In Yin Dabaiâs own heart, he was crying a river of tears. He and Xiaohua were childhood sweethearts <sup>1</sup> From the first time he had seen Xiaohua up to and including have children <sup>2</sup> , he had never once dared to disobey Xiaohua! His Xiaoxiao was indeed extremely, undeniably brave!
Hua Xiaohua saw anger in the faces of the snakes and he ruthlessly whacked Yin Dabai with his tail. âWhatâs the hold up <sup>3</sup> ? Get going!â Finished speaking, he walked away.
Yin Dabai dragged the tree stump, the young snakes dragged the birdsâ nests, and they all, crestfallen, followed Hua Xiaohua. Hua Xiaohua walked in front with the bundled branches in a manner that could be called swaggering.
Intentionally or otherwise, the snakes avoided Lan Yiyiâs familyâs house and headed directly to that area with the silt.
As this directly affected what they would be eating, for this family of foodies, clear division of labor was important. Thus, when they finally arrived, everyone tacitly undertook work that best suited them. The young snakes were responsible for coating the eggs with mud, a task which came with a certain degree of danger. What was this danger? Well if they werenât careful, they would fall into the silt and end up covered head to tail in mud and become a small dirty snake. And aside from Xiaoxiao, no terrestrial snakes wanted to flop into the brook. So, the avoid this, the young snakes very cautiously and solemnly <sup>4</sup> protected their bodies from being sullied by the silt.
With complete concentration, Yin Xiaoxiao was in the middle of rolling eggs in the mud with his tail. When light glinted out of the corner of his eyes, it tore his attention away towards the place where Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua were about to light a fire. Just one look was enough to scare Yin Xiaoxiao into jumping. Almost at the same time, Yin Xiaoxiaoâs pointed voice broke the tranquility, âHey! Stop!â
Yin Xiaoxiao shouting like this also frightened Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua, causing the two snakes, who had been wound together, into separating immediately. They appeared like two snakes who had been caught having an affair. But Yin Xiaoxiao wasnât in the frame of mind to be thinking about adultery. He immediately hurried over to Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua.
âDad! Pop! You two almost scared me to death!â
Hua Xiaohua angrily said, âItâs you who almost scared me to death! Anyway, what were you yelling about?â
Yin Xiaoxiao mentally rolled his eyes. âDad, Pop, arenât you two worried that making a fire amongst this grass will set it all alight? Or did you mean to set all the underbrush on fire in order to eat cooked eggs?â
When Yin Xiaoxiao said this, Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua reacted. Charmingly naive was charmingly naive <sup>5</sup> , but naivety wouldnât be charming if the snake god became angry. Thinking along the same lines, Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua reacted by breaking into cold sweats. If this mountain burned⊠please! According to the inherited memories, their purpose was to guard this mountain range!
âThen-then whatâs to be done?â Hua Xiaohua asked, blankly.
Yin Xiaoxiao looked around. âLetâs do it near the brook. First, pull up all the grasses in the areaâŠbite-bite close to the root! Then, draw a circle and sprinkle water along the edges of the circle. Next, in the middle of the circle, make the fire. If itâs like this then thereâs no need to worry. The bitten off grass can be used in place of branches since there arenât any branches hereâHua Xiaohua, use the grass to make a fireâgrass burns more quickly so weâll have to be diligent and frequently go to get more grass to add.â
Yin Xiaoxiao finished. Yin Dabai had already begun to do as Yin XIaoxiao had said. As for Hua Xiaohua â he dragged the tree stump over into Yin Dabaiâs circle, then stood there. He clearly had no qualms waiting until Yin Dabai returned to make the fire after taking care of everything.
Yin Xiaoxiao silently stared at Hua Xiaohua for a moment, then silently turned his face away. As Hua Xiaohuaâs son, he sincerely felt so ashamed!
In the midst of this bustling, time passed very quickly. The young snakes rolled the eggs in silt, the fire was successfully built, and afterwards the whole snake family gathered together to begin to bake the eggs. Of course, these eggs were Yin Xiaoxiaoâs main food, but since there was fire and cooked eggs, the whole family was very interested. Feeling that, in their very long lives as snakes, there was something fun and interesting to look forward to, they had an upwelling of enthusiasm for the fire and eggs. However, it seemed that Yin Xiaoxiao didnât feel strongly about these matters.
Yin Xiaoxiao silently retreated from within the circle of snakes. âThis is way too much! Youâre all staring too fiercely at the egg in the fire! It wonât cook faster even if itâs afraid of all of you!â
Actually, Yin Xiaoxiao, as a homeothermic <sup>6</sup> animal, was incapable of understanding that nice and warm feeling, felt by the crowd of assembled snakes, of eating something warm and solid, as it slid from mouth to stomach, on a cold night. The snakes were enthusiastic, not because the cooked eggs were tastier or because the eggs satiated their hunger, but because of the temperature of the eggs! If Yin Xiaoxiao knew the real reason, he wouldnât have been gnashing his teeth in anger and resentment that they were wasting food.
As the color of the sky gradually darkened, the crowd of snakes were clearly still full of enthusiasm for baking the eggs. Yin Xiaoxiao ate six or seven cooked eggs in succession until he was full, two or three left over in front of him. After facing the problem of more snakes and fewer eggs, everyone began to fight each other over the eggs in a free-for-all. Since it was like this, Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua didnât compete earnestly. Under the concerted efforts of the young snakes, the two regulated their speed to that of the young snakes. It was only natural that on an occasion like this they would throw the game. If they didnât, it would be extremely difficult for the young snakes to eat.
Only, in something like this, Yin Xiaoxiao was the unlucky one out, appearing so small and being so slow. Fortunately, everyone still had some conscience and intentionally gave Yin Xiaoxiao eight or nine cooked eggs. Then, as soon as Yin Xiaoxiao withdrew into the shadows, the remaining snakes glared like tigers watching their prey <sup>7</sup> , remaining vigilant in front of the fire, staring that the eggs piled in the flames as though watching a nemesis die. Even after Yin Xiaoxiao had eaten his fill and wanted to join the lively assembly, he was pushed to the side by Hua Xiaohua.
Yin Xiaoxiao was forced to gloomily stay in the shadows. From behind him, the grass swayed, blown by the wind, then something poked Yin Xiaoxiaoâs tail.
Yin Xiaoxiao jumped in fright. He turned to look and discovered that there was something quite large in the underbrush behind him. Right away Yin Xiaoxiao made to shout, but a small head stretched out from the underbrush. Yin Xiaoxiao heard a lowered voice ring out, âItâs me.â
Oh, heavens! This snakeâs voice was so undeniably enchanting! Yin Xiaoxiao returned to his senses a moment before he started to drool. This voice, it was Uncle Hei! Definitely!
From where he was hiding in the underbrush, Hei Aban clearly saw that Yin Xiaoxiao recognized him, so he opened his mouth again. âFollow me.â
Yin Xiaoxiao hesitated then furtively turned his head to look at Hua Xiaohua and the others, and saw that no snakes were looking in this direction. And so, he pushed his three leftover eggs into the grass with him. Hei Aban, who was leading the way, discovered that Yin Xiaoxiao was carrying three black spheres with him. Although he wanted to ask what they were, now wasnât an appropriate time. And so, Hei Aban was forced to help Yin Xiaoxiao push these three black spheres to their destination.
After slithering for two or three minutes, Hei Aban stopped. Lu Xiaohuangâs voice, pleasantly surprised, sounded out, âXiaoxiao!â Soon after, a green snake slithered over to Yin Xiaoxiao.
âA <sup>8</sup> -Lu!â Seeing Lu Xiaohuang, Yin Xiaoxiao also felt very happy. âWhy are you and Uncle Hei here?â
Lu Xiaohuang spoke, âAban and I saw light coming from the upstream part of the brook over here. It made us curious, so we came to have a look. After we slithered here, Aban said that he smelled snakes so he had me wait here while he went to take a look up ahead. I didnât expect that Aban would actually return with you!â
Lu Xiaohuang explained like this, Yin Xiaoxiao remembered that this bushy land downstream was Lu Xiaohuangâs home. From there the flames could surely be seen quite clearly, so it wasnât surprising that they would discover it. And Lan Yiyiâs family not only was upstream of the fire, but was also nestled between several hills that would prevent detection. If they didnât deliberately come to the riverbank, it was unlikely they would discover the blaze.
Yin Xiaoxiao unconsciously eyed Hei Aban, hesitated then said, âBut, my Dad and Pop didnât notice Uncle Hei.â
âIf a snake with more potent venom deliberately hid their odor, a snake with weaker venom would be unlikely to discover them.â Lu Xiaohuang explained.The black spheres that Yin Xiaoxiao had brought had already captured his attention. Snakes were always very perceptive when temperature was involved. âWhat are those?â
Yin Xiaoxiao nodded his head, âThis is, ah, I specifically brought them for you and Uncle Hei. Theyâre bird eggs. Taste them and see.â Anyway, Uncle Hei had already seen his family around the fire, perhaps he had even seen the âblack spheresâ in the fire, so it wasnât like it could be said that heâd told them.
âBird eggs?â Lu Xiaohuang cried out in alarm. âThis is a birdâs egg?â
Seeing a look of disbelief cross Lu Xiaohuangâs face, Yin Xiaoxiao pursed his lips in a smile. Yin Xiaoxiao slithered over to the bird eggs and hit one so that the mud and eggshells broke into pieces. He pushed it over to Lu Xiaohuang. âTaste and see.â
Lu Xiaohuang stared with wide eyes as Yin Xiaoxiao hit the bird egg, watched as Yin Xiaoxiao pushed the stuff that was inside in front of him. Without hesitation, Lu Xiaohuang swallowed the bird egg. His eyes immediately narrowed. âReally delicious.â
Beaming, Yin Xiaoxiao pushed over the remaining two eggs. âHere, thereâs two more. Eat them after doing what I just did. I have to go back, or my Dad and Pop will worry when they canât find me.â
âLet Aban see you off.â
âNeed not. I remember the way back.â Yin Xiaoxiao went to turn around and leave. Lu Xiaohuang, who had been thinking about the bird eggs, saw this, hesitated and then said, âXiaoxiao, that is, me and AbanâŠâ
Lu Xiaohuang stammered for a while without saying what he wanted to say. But Yin Xiaoxiao understood what Lu Xiaohuang wanted to say.
Yin Xiaoxiao earnestly looked at Lu Xiaohuang. His tone of voice was also earnest. âA-Lu, you are my, Yin Xiaoxiaoâs, friend. Uncle Hei is also, forever, my friend.â
Lu Xiaohuang listened to Yin Xiaoxiao.At first he appeared astonished, then he became wild with joy <sup>9</sup> . Xiaoxiao was okay with the situation with Aban, so he wasnât going to turn his back on Aban, right? After hearing what Yin Xiaoxiao said, Hei Abanâs expressionless face also wasnât full of dismay.
Yin Xiaoxiao didnât wait for Lu Xiaohuang and Hei Aban to speak, only turned around and headed back.
Yin Xiaoxiao stealthy returned to the spot heâd left and found that everyone was very fiercely staring at the fire. He let out a sigh of relief, while his teeth ached in anger. These snakes were really, very unreliable! He had disappeared and they didnât know! Hello, what would have happened if heâd been kidnapped?!
While Yin Xiaoxiao was grumbling, extremely angrily, Yin Xiaosi, seemingly inadvertently, turned around and glanced at Yin Xiaoxiao. The corners of his lips rose into a smile from which dripped some unknown meaning.