Chapter 50

“KangKang, I don’t want to part with you!”

“Xiaoxiao, I also don’t want to part with you! Don’t leave!”

“KangKang! I also don’t want to leave! But Heitan is making me leave!”

“Xiaoxiao! You mustn’t be afraid! You can hide in my tomb!”

……….

Mo Laoda used his tail to press against the veins suddenly rising on his forehead. Gnashing his teeth, he said, “Little Idiot! We’re not leaving and never coming back! We’ll only be gone for a few months, nothing more!”

Yin Xiaoxiao, hearing these words while he was very emotionally speaking with Ji Kang, opened two large tearful eyes, turned his head and looked at Mo Laoda. “If I leave, KangKang will be lonely.”

Mo Laoda: “…”

Ji Kang: “Xiaoxiao! Don’t leave me!”

Mo Laoda took two deep breaths, coiled his strong, solid and thick tail twice around Yin Xiaoxiao’s body, then dragged Yin Xiaoxiao away. Mo Laoda only released Yin Xiaoxiao after they left Ji Jang’s range of awareness. Yin Xiaoxiao immediately went to run back but was stopped, pinned by Mo Laoda’s tail.

Yin Xiaoxiao flopped about for a little while but was not able to free himself. He turned his head and, aggrieved, looked at Mo Laoda. Faintly, he sighed, ‘Heitan, ah Heitan, I’m acting out of consideration for you! If you really follow me back, I fear that my Dad and Pop will die from anger! And at that time, the two of us won’t see each other again.’

It was unknown if Mo Laoda didn’t care about Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua’s existence or if this thought simply hadn’t crossed his mind. But, in short, Mo Laoda was obstinately clinging to his course; he couldn’t not follow Yin Xiaoxiao back.

Mo Laoda looked at Yin Xiaoxiao’s plaintive expression, his heart itchy ¹ . His Yin Xiaoxiao was really adorable! Look at this little aggrieved expression, look at these small pursed lips. Oh heavens, he really is too adorable, don’t you think?! Mo Laoda couldn’t help but kiss Yin Xiaoxiao on the mouth.

Yin Xiaoxiao became even more aggrieved. Now, even though he was so upset like this, Heitan still actually kissed him on the mouth!

“Little Idiot, you should feel at ease. Your Dad and Pop will surely like me!” Mo Laoda sincerely promised. Incidentally, in his mind he added, “I am such an outstanding snake, how could they not like me?!”

“…Dad and Pop will surely be angry. Dad and Pop will be angry just like that time I made friends with Uncle Hei. If they knew that this second time I was with a Mo snake — or even had made friends with a Mo snake, Dad and Pop will very, probably hit me with their tails,” Yin Xiaoxiao mumbled to himself.

Unfortunately, Mo Laoda’s hearing was quite good. Mo Laoda heard Yin Xiaoxiao’s quiet mumbles word-for-word. “….Friend?”

Mo Laoda’s sudden and awfully loud voice made Yin Xiaoxiao jump in fright, and he patted the area over his heart with his tail. “What are you doing shouting like that? You almost scared me to death.”

“Just now you said that you’re friends with me?” Mo Laoda’s voice was very soft, but Yin Xiaoxiao’s entire back felt cold. In his heart, he had a bad premonition. “Yes, yes, what’s going on? Could it be that we aren’t friends?”

Mo Laoda stood in silence for a moment, then said, “Could it be that your friends kiss you?”

Kiss me? Yin Xiaoxiao stood unmoving and pondered this question. Oh, in recent months Heitan had indeed frequently kissed the corners of his mouth. But all along, he’d been under the impression that it was because Mo Laoda had a compulsion to kiss other snakes (…) but now that he heard Mo Laoda say it like this, could it be that…

“You like me???” Yin Xiaoxiao’s tone was astonished.

Enraged out of sheer anger and embarrassment, Mo Laoda exploded, “I like you? Don’t joke! Why would I like a Little Idiot like you?!” cough cough, Mo Laoda’s face had already turned red, but since his face that had reddened was black…it still appeared black. Yin Xiaoxiao did not notice.

“Phew phew, how fortunate, how fortunate! Scared me to death!” Yin Xiaoxiao again patted the area over his heart with his tail. Although his mouth said scared to death, in the bottom of his heart he felt disappointment.

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Mo Laoda snorted coldly, turned his head and then left. When he spoke, it was with an injured voice, “Come on, Little Idiot!”

Yin Xiaoxiao gave up tracking down the cause of the disappointment he’d felt. Quickly, he slithered to catch up with Mo Laoda.

“Heitan, wouldn’t it be a little too early if we return now? oh, I remember it took almost half a month to arrive here ² , and that was with going and stopping ³ .”

“We aren’t going back the same way we came. We’re going by a more distant route.”

“Why? There’s a shortcut so why go the long way?” The lazy Yin Xiaoxiao was discontented.

Mo Laoda shot Yin Xiaoxiao a quick glance. “Little Idiot, this is probably the first time that you’ve been away from home. You haven’t wandered around the mountain much, so this time I’ll keep you company as you wander,” he said this with an expression that said ‘Me keeping you company on your wandering is a great honor for you’.

Yin Xiaoxiao curled his lips. On this mountain, there was neither grass nor trees, but rivers and streams. Oh, and living creatures. What was there to see? But Yin Xiaoxiao also didn’t dare fight Mo Laoda’s decision.

As for Mo Laoda, he was very pleased that Yin Xiaoxiao hadn’t questioned his decision.

Mo Laoda indeed bore Yin Xiaoxiao along a different route, which was directly opposite the direction in which they had come. Although the journey had increased by more than half, it was still a mountain. However they went, they would still ultimately end up at Yin Xiaoxiao’s family’s home. The view on either side of Yin Xiaoxiao appeared to be “exactly the same” as when he had first arrived. Anyway, there was no sea, no desert and no signs of human existence that appeared on the mountain, so Yin Xiaoxiao wasn’t very interested.

And in the wake of each advancing day, Yin Xiaoxiao found that a look of, what could be called, excited impatience appeared more and more often on Mo Laoda’s face, so much so that Mo Laoda appeared very impatient even when they rested. He kept asking him whether or not they could leave now and so on. Yin Xiaoxiao was very puzzled. What was going on with Mo Laoda?

The answer to the riddle was made known in front of a waterfall.

“How is it? Not bad, right?!”

Yin Xiaoxiao silently looked and saw Mo Laoda’s proud and self-satisfied face. In his mind a strange thought suddenly emerged: Hadn’t Heitan wanted to go by this way because he wanted him to come and see this waterfall?? Yin Xiaoxiao strove to suppress this thought and replied, “Yes, yes! Very spectacular, very beautiful!”

Mo Laoda’s tail wagged even more quickly behind him, Now, the expression on his face fully expressed his own delight.

Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t speak these words to praise Mo Laoda; this waterfall in front of him really was very beautiful. More than ten meters wide ⁴ , the waterfall flew down, landing in a lake that was tens of meters in diameter. Its heights plunged down more than 100 meters ⁵ from its peak. It was the afternoon, and the sun still hung in the sky. The water, having fallen, flowered and leapt into the air, and the sunshine shone through them, producing enchanting rainbows of light. Even standing at a distance of more than 200 meters ⁶ away from the waterfall, Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda could still feel the refreshing feeling brought by the droplets.

“Little Idiot, since you like water so much, if you go into the water here then you will surely be very happy!” Mo Laoda spoke to Yin Xiaoxiao in an “I know you very well, huh” tone of voice.

Yin Xiaoxiao: “…”

‘Hey, please! Did he think ⁷ I was tired of living and thought to commit suicide now by rushing off into this kind of water?! Even if I am fond of water, I don’t know how to swim! If I go into this kind of waterfall, I wouldn’t even need three minutes to die, and I can’t die again okay!’ –Unfortunately Yin Xiaoxiao carefully shouted this in his heart where Mo Laoda couldn’t hear.

“Later on, we can come here frequently! Alright?” Mo Laoda again said.

Later on, Yin Xiaoxiao stared ahead, lost in thought. Come here frequently later on? Actually that wasn’t too bad. Although he couldn’t get near the waterfall, seeing it often would be pretty nice. “Okay.”

Mo Laoda was even more proud and self-satisfied. Hmph hmph, he really was the most intelligent snake! He had just known that the Little Idiot would certainly like it here!

So, the reason for your detour, Mo Laoda, was to show Yin Xiaoxiao this waterfall!

By no means did the two snakes stay in front of the waterfall for very long. Anyway, it wasn’t like the waterfall would run away. There would be time later to come again.

The weather the next day was particularly, blisteringly hot — at least it was according to Yin Xiaoxiao. Ever since leaving the protected place, Yin Xiaoxiao had felt that the weather had become even more unbearable! Therefore everyday at noon, Yin Xiaoxiao had to have a soak in water. He did so as well today. Yin Xiaoxiao stayed in the water staring blankly. Mo Laoda went to look for food.

While staring blankly, Yin XIaoxiao heard a sound. Figuring it was about time that Mo Laoda should return, “Heitan Heitan, have you found a hare?” — yes that’s right, the question was whether or not he had found, not whether or not he had caught one. If Heitan found a hare, he was sure to have caught it. Yin Xiaoxiao had a lot of confidence in Mo Laoda — since having eaten hares, frogs, birds, and everything else had become floating clouds ⁸ .

Turning his head, Yin Xiaoxiao indeed saw a Mo snake. But even a more stupid and naive Yin Xiaoxiao would not have believed that this Mo snake was Mo Laoda.

The Mo snake before his eyes appeared to be more than half a meter shorter than Mo Laoda. But of course most importantly — the most important thing was that Yin Xiaoxiao intuitively knew, at first glance, that this snake wasn’t Mo Laoda.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s intuition was undoubtedly accurate because this Mo snake said, “Just now you called me black charcoal ⁹ ?”

In his heart, Yin Xiaoxiao cried out at this injustice. ‘I called for Heitan, not you!’

But this Mo snake certainly didn’t think like this. In the ears of this Mo snake, it was of the mind that, if it overheard you saying something then it thought that it referred to itself. So, to this Mo snake, it appeared to itself that the Yin snake in front of it had called it black charcoal! Naturally now, as before with Mo Laoda, this Mo snake didn’t know what black charcoal was, but just the word “Hei ¹⁰ ” was just enough to arouse this Mo snake’s anger.

In a low tone, the Mo snake breathed, “Wretched Yin snake!” Then, finished speaking, slowly neared Yin Xiaoxiao.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s snake intuition again warned him that this Mo snake harbored malicious intentions towards him! This was Yin Xiaoxiao’s first time facing a hostile viper. Yin Xiaoxiao carefully swallowed a mouthful of spit, then, even more carefully, he shifted his body, wanting to exit the water and return to the ground — Yin Xiaoxiao hadn’t learned how to swim. With his body underwater and his head on a stone, if the Mo snake got onto the stone then Yin Xiaoxiao would have no way to escape.

Unfortunately, even if Yin Xiaoxiao returned to land, he wouldn’t be able to pass this Mo snake. Not only that, but Yin Xiaoxiao’s speed of slithering was much slower than that of other Yin snakes his age. Even if his sliterhing speed was very fast, as a Yin snake, it wouldn’t be enough to outpace a Mo snake.

But gratifyingly ¹¹ , the Mo snake pounced on Yin Xiaoxiao, scaring Yin Xiaoxiao out of his wits. Even more quickly, another Mo snake pounced on the Mo snake attacking Yin Xiaoxiao. Naturally, this Mo snake was Mo Laoda. Mo Laoda bit down ruthlessly on the body of the Mo snake attacking Yin Xiaoxiao, then flung that Mo snake away.

“Mo Laoer, who gave you permission to touch my stuff?” Mo Laoda’s voice was unusually ruthless. Even more, the cruel and heartless look in his eyes made the Mo snake that he’d flung tremble with fear.

Yin Xiaoxiao quickly ran behind Mo Laoda. With Mo Laoda’s support, Yin Xiaoxiao was unrestrained. “Heitan, Heitan! That Mo snake was bullying me! It was even going to bite me!”

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Confronting Mo Laoer, the exceptionally vengeful Mo Laoda turned his head and, when he looked at Yin Xiaoxiao, his expression changed back to its normal appearance. “It’s alright, it’s alright. You see, didn’t I teach it a lesson?”

Yin Xiaoxiao hummed and didn’t speak. Just a moment ago, he’d heard Mo Laoda call that Mo snake Mo Laoer. Mo Laoda and Mo Laoer. After hearing these two names, those two were sure to be related!

“Da-ge, what do you mean by this?” Having been bitten by Mo Laoda, Mo Laoer struggled to raise his body, but Mo Laoer’s suffering was clear from the slant of his eyebrows.

“Mo Laoer, I’ll say it once again. This Yin snake is my partner. Look at me carefully, you’re not allowed to touch him!”

Mo Laoda’s words successfully managed to petrify Mo Laoer and Yin Xiaoxiao.

Mo Laoer was petrified because Mo Laoda was actually looking at a Yin snake to be his partner. As for Yin Xiaoxiao–huh? When did I promise Heitan that I was going to be his partner??

While the petrified Mo Laoer was abandoned where he lay by Mo Laoda, the petrified Yin Xiaoxiao was dragged away by Mo Laoda.

T/N:

Footnotes

<ol>心里痒痒的: refers to the feeling of wanting something, or in this case someone, but not being able to get it/them added for clarity 走走停停: traveling with frequent stops about 33 feet about 330 feet about 656 feet added for clarity 神马的都成了浮云: means that they have become nothing worth mentioning 黑炭: Heitan’s nickname means black charcoal meaning black; Hei snakes are ranked lower in status than Mo snakes, being of impure blood 可喜可贺: idiom meaning worthy of being celebrated, but also seems to have another meaning of getting what one deserves</ol>