Chapter 37

After Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua left, the young snakes were only depressed for three days before they almost returned to normal. They even began to feel that Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua’s leaving could be considered a good thing. For example, they could return home after dark. For example, they didn’t have to go to bed in the evening and could sleep during the day. After losing their restrictions, the young snakes finally tasted sweetness and felt that parting wasn’t something which had to be grieved over.

Yin Xiaoxiao actually felt that this was closely related to the natural instincts of snakes. Even though the vipers were no longer ordinary snakes, ultimately they were still cold-blooded. Separation made them sad but not for their entire lives. What was the saying? Parting in order to meet again. Perhaps the vipers’ mentality was also like this. Within the boundary of this area, they faced almost no threats but they were also unable to leave. Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua’s departure was like that of a long journey. Even if they were to leave again and travel far away, they would still meet again. At this point, it should be mentioned that there was another fantastic viper ability. Between vipers connected by blood or mating, there was a sense that couldn’t be explained or understood, but where, if nearby, the feeling would intensify. This was especially so if a viper was in danger. Then, the viper’s close family or mate could depend on this feeling to quickly go and help.

After Yin Xiaoxiao knew of this phenomenon, the first thought that floated through his mind was: this could be useful in the future.

Compared to the other young snakes, Yin Xiaoxiao was sad for another day before returning to normal. Afterall days will pass as they want, and with several second-class goods ¹ around, if he continued being sad then it would be more like clinical depression.

After a while, as Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua bid, the young snakes began to wander around the base of the mountain. Actually they would have done so even if Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua hadn’t said anything. The snakes wouldn’t have been able to stay in the cave or bask in the sun forever. Children were always curious and brimming with energy and, now that there were no adults restricting them, the snakes stopped staying in the cave after several days.

Yin Xiaoxiao, with his laziness and his physique which was ill-suited to basking in the sun, couldn’t stray too far from the cave. At first, he continued tagging along after the large group. Later, he was unwilling, no matter what, to leave the cave. Everyone else was forced to toss him outside the cave (the sentences from the beginning of the paragraph until this point were repeated). Yin Xiaoxiao’s simple life was actually pretty good. Every three or five days he would go and catch a frog or get bird eggs or whatever, then go to Hei Aban’s place and make a fire. How else could Yin Xiaoxiao start a fire without certain people? After making idle conversation ² with Lu Xiaohuang, at dusk he would return to the cave to sleep. At about the same time, the other young snakes would return.

Then later, most of the group separated apart from Yin Xiaoxiao. Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan went who-knew-where. It wasn’t odd for Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan to go off somewhere unknown and not return for ten days or half a month. Hua Xiaowu liked a small female Hong ³ snake and wasn’t home everyday, which also wasn’t odd. Yin Xiaosi, these goods ⁴ , at some point in time started to fool around with Lan Sansan of Lan Yiyi’s family. The two snakes had secretly gotten together and moved in together. Only Yin Xiaoyi remained. Every evening, he returned to the cave to keep Yin Xiaoxiao company.

Truthfully, Yin Xiaoxiao’s heart was uneasy. He knew that the young snakes would also leave, just like Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua. Yin Xiaoxiao also knew that, no long after Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua left, the six brothers would also begin to part ways. He saw it with Lan Yiyi’s family. But knowing was one thing and personally experiencing it was another. Yin Xiaoxiao was very sad, but he quickly recovered. Afterall, they were only brothers. Wasn’t it impossible for them to stay together for the rest of their lives? Finally, Yin Xiaoxiao realized. Perhaps the reason why Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua wanted them to quickly find partners wasn’t so that they would get pregnant with the next generation, but because they didn’t want them to be lonely.

After half a month of Yin Xiaosi accompanying Yin Xiaoxiao, Yin Xiaoxiao said to Yin Xiaoyi, “Da-ge, you also go wander around. I can look after myself well enough.”

Yin Xiaoyi stayed silent for a very, very long time then agreed.

Naturally, after that, Yin Xiaoyi also very seldom returned to the cave.

In the normal course of events, Yin Xiaoxiao would have been very heart-broken. After all, with Yin Xiayi gone, he was the only one left alone in this big cave. But Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t have time to feel broken-hearted and lonely. He was already being subjected to a snake visiting him repeatedly and causing grief.

Naturally, the snake that was repeatedly visiting was Lan Yiyi.

Now, since Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai had left, the other five young snakes had left and, most importantly, that annoying snake that had stopped him from contacting Xiaoxiao had left, one might well ask if there was any reason for Lan Yiyi not to show up around Yin Xiaoxiao?

“Xiaoxiao, let’s go to the bank of the brook today, alright?”

As soon as he heard this voice, Yin Xiaoxiao immediately had a headache. It was early in the morning, he had just woken up and, Lan Yiyi, this thing ⁵ had come to ask him this.

By the time Yin Xiaoxiao had entirely come to his senses, Lan Yiyi had already slithered to face Yin Xiaoxiao. The brightness in that pair of eyes was enough to almost blind Yin Xiaoxiao. Yin Xiaoxiao retreated a few paces. Lan Yiyi followed, maintaining the same distance. “No, I don’t want to go.”

“Then…go get bird eggs?”

“Won’t go.”

“Then shall we go stroll around? Xiaoxiao, you surely haven’t traveled too far from this cave.”

“…Lan Yiyi, I already told you that I don’t like you.” Yin Xiaoxiao had repeated this continuously over the past few days. He already knew what Lan Yiyi was going to say next. As expected…

“I know, I know. Xiaoxiao, you don’t like me now, but that doesn’t mean that in the future you won’t like me. Right now I’m going to try hard to make you, Xiaoxiao, like me!”

Yin Xiaoxiao admitted defeat. His brain smashed to the floor with a “plop”, his dull eyes gazed forward, his ears picked up the sounds of Lan Yiyi jabbering on and on. Hey Lan Yiyi, when did you become such a chatterbox?

And so, like this, a day passed. Lan Yiyi saw that it had already become dark outside. He leaned close to Yin Xiaoxiao and said, fawningly, “Xiaoxiao, how about now I keep you company in the cave?”

Immediately, Yin Xiaoxiao’s hair stood on end ⁶ . “Absolutely not! If you stay here tonight, you’re not to come here anymore!” ‘What kind of noisy □□ thing did you want to do here tonight?! I’m not that familiar with you, okay! Is it that you want to cook raw rice ⁷ ?!’ Yin Xiaoxiao roared in his mind. Cough cough , cook raw rice. Xiaoxiao, you really think too much but you still didn’t think about your age. You still haven’t matured! Xiaoxiao, is your mentality unhealthy or unhealthy?!

Although Lan Yiyi clearly was dissatisfied by this answer, there was nothing he could do about it. Without any other option, he was forced to turn around and leave for home.

Yin Xiaoxiao waited until Lan Yiyi’s receding figure completely disappeared from sight, then immediately turned to slither in the opposite direction of Lan Yiyi.

Yin Xiaoxiao had already decided that, since Lan Yiyi was insufferable, couldn’t he just hide? That night, Yin Xiaoxiao left home and inwardly vowed to himself that he mustn’t rashly return! So what if he couldn’t stand the sun? There wasn’t a requirement that a snake must only journey during the day! He could hurry along at night and sleep during the day!

And so you can imagine the complicated face that Lan Yiyi made when he arrived, full of joy and expectations, the next morning.

Yin Xiaoxiao slithered, slithered and slithered and slithered. When twilight came, Yin Xiaoxiao felt that he should look for somewhere to sleep. Originally, Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to look for a cave that resembled his own cave, one that was large and pleasantly cool. But, very quickly, Yin Xiaoxiao realized his own foolishness. It wasn’t pleasant to admit, but he was fleeing.  Wasn’t what he wanted too much? He was only looking for somewhere to stay during the day before continuing on at night. Actually, Yin Xiaoxiao was just looking for excuses because that kind of cave was extremely hard to find. He supposed that he just had to make do and forget about it.

Even though Yin Xiaoxiao lowered his demands, it was many hours before he found a cave with which he was reluctantly satisfied. The mouth of the cave wasn’t much, its diameter was only about a meter ⁸ . Its depth was unknown, but Yin Xiaoxiao was not about to go in and find out. He was only staying here during the day. He would make do well enough at the mouth of the cave. And so, mind at ease, Yin Xiaoxiao lay down to sleep.

What Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t know was that, the instant that Yin Xiaoxiao entered the cave, a certain snake who was sleeping in the depths of the cave awoke. In the dark, those two blood-red eyes were dazzling. A cruel smile touched this snake’s mouth and, slowly, he slithered from the depths of the cave. When he saw Yin Xiaoxiao sleeping at the mouth of the cave, this snake stared blankly. Immediately, the eyes that were ice-cold became gentle and soft. The corners of his mouth softened. This snake slithered to Yin Xiaxoaio, carefully took in Yin Xiaoxiao’s appearance, and, pleased, the snake nodded a large head.

What else could it be but fate? A very long time in the future, Yin Xiaoxiao still regretted his unwise cave selection that day. There had been so many other choices that went by the wayside. How had he chosen the cave where that snake lived?

Surely everyone reading this already knows but, that’s right! This “certain snake” was our Mo Laoda! After ten years apart, and still two years short of maturity, Mo Laoda was finally reunited with Yin Xiaoxiao!

Yin Xiaoxiao slept very well and, by the time Yin Xiaoxiao awoke, the sun was half-set. Yin Xiaoxiao straightened up in place, rolled around a few times as exercise and then, in a daze, stood and stared outside.

Actually, Yin Xiaoxiao was only feeling lazy at the moment. Oh, he had slept very comfortably in this cave, but he really didn’t want to get up. He’d already slithered all night. He should be far enough, right? He didn’t need to get up ⁹ , right? Ultimately it was like this — Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t want to continue on his way.

And so, when Mo Laoda appeared in his field of vision, Yin Xiaoxiao was still tangling with the issue of continuing on his journey. By the time he noticed Mo Laoda, Mo Laoda was only half a meter away ¹⁰ .

Still sluggish, the thought “this guy in front of me is a Mo snake, I need to quickly flee” completely didn’t cross Yin Xiaoxiao’s mind. Rather, he stared blankly at Mo Laoda’s body for a while, then said, with a sigh, “So black ¹¹ !”

Mo Laoda: “…”

If Yin Xiaoxiao was a shining silver ¹² , then Mo Laoda was a shining black! It really was sad that Yin Xiaoxiao thought like this!

“Little Idiot, I didn’t expect to not see you for ten years. You’re still such an idiot!”

“You’re the idiot! Your whole family are idiots!” Yin Xiaoxiao unconsciously retorted. Eh? Why did this conversation feel so familiar? Feeling a sense of deja vu, Yin Xiaoxiao sunk into deep thought. Huh, when had he said something like this before?

Cough cough . So it was like this. Well, it had been ten years. Mo Laoda never appeared up again so Yin Xiaoxiao forgot that he had once met a Mo snake. So now, facing Mo Laoda, Yin Xiaoxiao had completely forgotten him.

Mo Laoda took one look at the expression on Yin Xiaoxiao’s face and became angry. This Little Idiot had forgotten him! And to think that he had thought of him constantly for the past ten years!

“Little Idiot, you still don’t remember who I am?” Mo Laoda approached Yin Xiaoxiao and pressed against him, snugly. There was a smile in his words, his voice soft.

“Eh? I know you?” Yin Xiaoxiao raised his head and asked blankly, interrupting Mo Laoda’s train of thought. Could it be that he really knew the Mo snake in front of him?

In response, Mo Laoda laughed, angrily. “You don’t remember me, right? It doesn’t matter. We still have quite a lot of time!” And then, he wrapped Yin Xiaoxiao’s body up in his tail and headed into the cave. Naturally, Yin Xiaoxiao was dragged along behind Mo Laoda.

Slithering straight into the depths of the cave, Mo Laoda stopped and then pressed Yin Xiaoxiao under his body. He dropped the sentence “Keep me company while I sleep!” then immediately and peacefully fell asleep.

Pressed underneath Mo Laoda, Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to cry but lacked tears ¹³ . ‘Hey, hey! I’d only just woken up, alright! How can I sleep now?!’ Yin Xiaoxiao struggled trying to slither out from underneath Mo Laoda. Unfortunately, he didn’t succeed and Yin Xiaoxiao was forced to behave and remain under Mo Laoda’s body.

It took several hours for Yin Xiaoxiao to succeed in falling asleep.

Yin Xiaoxiao dreamt. In the dream, he met a Mo snake. That Mo snake called him little idiot and he called the Mo snake black charcoal ¹⁴ .

T/N: Thank you for your patience! There’s some plans on returning to on-site work. If my update schedule changes, I’ll let you all know!

Footnotes

<ol>二货: a way to refer to people who act in a stupid or silly manner 磨牙: lit grinding teeth; can refer to actually grinding one’s teeth, arguing angrily or can mean to make idle conversation 红: red 这货: slang for guy 这货: lit. these goods; slang for guy; it’s the same as what was written up there to refer to YXS, but I chose to translate it as ‘this thing’ because YXX is fed up with LYY’s stalking 炸毛: dialect meaning that someone has become angry or irritated; can also refer the phenomena of fur or feathers standing up when the organism is stimulated 生米煮成熟饭: idiom meaning that, once something is done, it can’t be changed . In this case, YXX is asking if LYY thinks that he and YXX will become a couple just by LYY staying the night…and also that LYY thinks he might get lucky a little over three feet 爬: bit of a pun since ‘爬’ means to both get up and to slither; YXX really doesn’t want to get up and also really doesn’t want to slither more a little over 1.5 feet 黑: pronounced ‘hēi’, and means ‘black’ 银: pronounced ‘yín’ and means silver 欲哭无泪: an idiom meaning that he experienced great distress 黑炭: pronounced hēi tàn; means black charcoal</ol>