Chapter 71

The next day, the snakes got up one by one.

Having been implicitly and explicitly threatened by Yin Xiaoxiao, Mo Laoda reluctantly went to catch food for all the snakes.

“This time, why didn’t Si-ge bring Lan Sansan back?” Yin Xiaoxiao slithered over to face Yin Xiaosi and smiled ingratiatingly.

Yin Xiaosi remained serious. “Lan Sansan returned to their family’s home. Uncle Shu and Uncle Hong returned.”

“Oh, oh, so it was like that!” Yin Xiaoxiao nodded.

“Xiaoxiao Xiaoxiao, I, your Wu-ge, also have a possible future partner!” Hua Xiaowu determinedly barged into Yin Xiaoxiao and Yin Xiaosi’s conversation.

“Is that so. Who?” Yin Xiaoxiao asked, weakly and without strength. When was Hua Xiaowu not a bother? Didn’t he see him talking with Si-ge? Yin Xiaoxiao ¹ had come to ask Yin Xiaosi for his help which would, at the very least, prevent his four other older brothers from opposing him.

“It’s that small, female Hong snake!” Hua Xiaowu straightened and declared very loudly and very smugly.

“Oh, that small, female Hong snake. Not bad, not bad!” Yin Xiaoxiao perfunctory nodded his head then slithered after Yin Xiaosi who had just recently left.

“Xiaoxiao, don’t leave!” Hua Xiaowu grabbed Yin Xiaoxiao’s tail and, with a plaintive voice, said, “Xiaoxiao, you’re not callous enough to abandon your Wu-ge, right? Didn’t you miss me at least a little this year?”

“I’m callous! I didn’t miss you!” Yin Xiaoxiao replied without the slightest hesitation. Then, having struggled free of Hua Xiaowu’s grip…he hadn’t managed to struggle free at all.

Yin Xiaoxiao: “….”

“Bang–” Only with a loud noise, it appeared that something heavy had fallen to the ground.

All the snakes present looked towards the origin of the sound. Mo Laoda had returned. Returned with a…lion.

Aside from Yin Xiaoxiao, the Yin and Hua snakes present all had strange expressions on their faces. How could they eat an animal as large as a lion? Who would eat it? Who could eat it?

Taking advantage of Hua Xiaowu’s surprise, Yin Xiaoxiao managed to free himself from Hua Xiaowu’s tail and he hurried over to Mo Laoda. “Heitan, this is such a big lion. It looks like it will be enough for everyone. I was worried how you would manage to bring back enough prey for everyone!”

Mo Laoda let out a “yes” and began to use his teeth to butcher the lion’s body. In only a moment, the lion had already been divided into eight portions sized according to the size of each snake – Mo Laoda had already eaten.

Mo Laoda bit into one of the eight portions and began to make a fire in order to roast the meat for Yin Xiaoxiao.

“Wow! This is my first time eating lion!” Yin Xiaoxiao spun excited circles around Mo Laoda. “I really don’t know what lion tastes like!”

The other snakes gratefully dragged the lion meat away. They also had never eaten lion! As for Mo Laoda being able to do something like bring back a dead lion, the other snakes simply didn’t pay it much mind. Anyway, in order to be together with their not ordinary Yin Xiaoxiao, even if Mo Laoda had been normal, he would surely have also become not ordinary. Just look: dismembering a corpse was a little not normal.

After finishing the meal, Yin Xiaoxiao stated, “I’m going to A’Lu’s home”, then grabbed Mo Laoda and slithered away.

The distance to A’Lu’s home was not very vast. Yin Xiaoxiao soon heard the voices of snakes, and not only two snakes. Sure then, these must be little snakes! Anticipating this, Yin Xiaoxiao immediately picked up his pace.

Yin Xiaoxiao slithered out from the underbrush into the vacant land in front of Lu Xiaohuang’s family’s home. When he looked over, he saw that there were five young snakes in the vacant land. Wow! So small! They were so teeny and cute that it was painful! Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes both turned into hearts ² . With a burst of strength, he rushed over to the small snakes.

However, just before he had rushed halfway, Lu Xiaohuang barred the way.

“Yin! Xiao! Xiao! You still dared to come?! What did you originally promise me?!”

“Huh?” Yin Xiaoxiao’s head ached. While Mo Laoda had below the cliff doing whatever it was that he was doing, Yin Xiaoxiao ³ had stayed in a cave and thoroughly forgotten that he had been planning on being there for the birth of Lu Xiaohuang and Hei Aban’s children. What’s more, even if he had remembered then, it still would have been impossible for him to go and visit Lu Xiaohuang and Hei Aban – he wouldn’t have been able to make it past those strange snakes, okay?!

“I’m sorry,” Yin Xiaoxiao meekly admitted. “I should have come to see the birth of your children! I’m really sorry! A’Lu, quickly take me and see the little snakes!”

Although Lu Xiaohuang still wanted to stop him, he was pulled away by Hei Aban. This time, Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t care what happened. He was going to head straight for those small snakes.

Hei Aban watched as Yin Xiaoxiao headed directly towards his sons. Then he turned his head and, in a low voice, greeted Mo Laoda, “Clan Head”. Hei Aban nudged Lu Xiaohuang, who squirmed a little before also following and saying, “Clan Head”.

Looking at the Hei snake in front of him, Mo Laoda replied in a good mood ⁴ . Recently, Mo Laoda felt flush with success. He had easily taken the position of Clan Head, and the Little Idiot’s Dad and Pop’s manner towards him had eased a little, so Mo Laoda’s mood was naturally especially good.

Mo Laoda’s gaze followed Yin Xiaoxiao. Mo Laoda didn’t speak. Hei Aban and Lu Xiaohuang also dared not open their mouths lest they invite a snub. Even if the Mo snake in front of them was their good friend’s future partner, this Mo snake was still Clan Head! Clan Head! He was still Clan Head, you know! Then, even as Hei Aban ⁵ looked, he already dearly wished that he could burrow into the earth and act as though he hadn’t been born as a (knowledgeable and worldly) snake! Naturally this was the case as a Hei snake, just as it would be for any other snake.

At this, Mo Laoda was silent for a while. Finally, Mo Laoda opened his mouth and briefly said, “The two of you…have a lot of children.”

Hei Aban and Lu Xiaohuang: “…..”

Mo Laoda’s voice was brimming with envy. Five young snakes. Ah, if he and Yin Xiaoxiao could have that many children it the future, it would be so good! (Relax, your mate will be able to satisfy your desires~)

Now, turning back to Yin Xiaoxiao.

“Hi! Hello little snakes!” Yin Xiaoxiao beamed as he warmly greeted the young snakes.

The young snakes all recoiled several steps to keep Yin Xiaoxiao at a distance.

Yin Xiaoxiao: “….!” Was he that scary?! Why were they trying to keep their distance?!

“Who are you?” a childlike ⁶ voice came from the mouth of one of the young snakes. Yin Xiaoxiao began to giggle. Oh, heavens! Truly this was Hei Aban’s child! Barely this old and his voice already has Hei Aban’s charm!

“I am your godpapa ⁷ Come, come, come, call my godpappy!”

Confused, the little snakes looked at each other helplessly. Godpapa? What was a godpapa?

“Yin Xiaoxiao, what are you doing?!” Lu Xiaohuang dashed over. “I am their papa! What are you doing causing all this trouble?!”

“…” Yin Xiaoxiao began to enthusiastically explain to Lu Xiaohuang, “I said godpapa not papa! Uh, since you and I have a very close relationship then your children should call me godpapa. Like this I can be close to your children and treat them well, loving them like they’re my own children. And then your children will have three people who will love them! Isn’t that good?”

Good? Lu Xiaohuang suspiciously looked at Yin Xiaoxiao. Behind him, Hei Aban coughed twice. Lu Xiaohuang unwillingly said, “Okay, okay. Children, from now on the Yin snake, Yin Xiaoxiao, is your godpapa.”

Having received their papa’s approval, the children felt reassured. They opened their mouths and sweetly called “godpapa!”

Even though the little snakes still weren’t entirely sure what a godpapa was, they had heard “be close to your children and treat them well”, which the little snakes understood clearly so they all felt very happy to have a godfather.

Yin Xiaoxiao heard the five little snakes call him godpapa and chuckled, goofily. Suddenly, he remembered something. He turned around and pulled Mo Laoda over. Beaming at the little snakes, he said, “Come, come, this is your godfather! Call him that! Call him that!”

The little snakes stared blankly then immediately sweetly called “godfather!”

Mo Laoda, Hei Aban, Lu Xiaohuang: “…..”

Yin Xiaoxiao: “A’Lu, what are their names?”

Lu Xiaohuang pointed them out one at a time, “The eldest is called Lu Yihei, the second eldest is Lu Erhei, the third eldest is called Lu Sanhei, the fourth is called Lu Sihei and the fifth is…Hei Xiaolu.”

Altogether, Lu Xiaohuang and Hei Aban had five children. The first four were ordinary Lu snakes, but the fifth was a Hei snake with a black body with many green spots.

Instantly, Yin Xiaoxiao clearly understood that Lu Xiaohuang had paused when speaking of Hei Xiaolu because he was very worried. He couldn’t help but comfortingly say, “Don’t worry. At least you still have us.”

“Yes.” Lu Xiaohuang nodded his head. “When Yin Dabai is free, he comes here, and I’ve seen that Yin Dabai is very fond of Hei Xiaolu.”

“Then that’s good,” Yin Xiaoxiao said. “I also like him very much and will treat him very well!”

After staying for a little while at Lu Xiaohuang’s home,  Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda returned to Yin Xiaoxiao’s family’s home.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s whole family was there, all basking in the sun and sleeping in the vacant land out front. Yin Xiaoxiao felt bored and pulled Mo Laoda away to go and soak in the water. He also made Mo Laoda go and look for honey.

“This isn’t as tasty as the stuff you found last time!” Yin Xiaoxiao fussed as he ate.

“I couldn’t find that type of bee around here. When I find it, I will definitely bring some back for you, alright?” Mo Laoda consoled Yin Xiaoxiao.

Yin Xiaoxiao reluctantly nodded.

Yin Xiaoxiao’s whole family remained together for several days then, one after the other, they all left.

Before Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda departed, Yin Dabai held Mo Laoda back to talk for a while. Only then was Mo Laoda released to leave with Yin Xiaoxiao.

While returning home, Yin Xiaoxiao curiously asked Mo Laoda, “Heitan, what did my father say to you?”

Mo Laoda smiled but didn’t speak.

Unhurriedly, they headed back home. Altogether, it had already been a month.

Contrary to Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda’s expectations, just as they arrived home, they discovered that Mo Dayi was already waiting outside their cave. Not only did it seem like he had already been waiting, it seemed that he had been waiting for a while, and he seemed very anxious.

Seeing Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao return, Mo Dayi’s eyes brightened and he hurriedly greeted them, “Laoda, a Mo snake outside had been wandering around and came back to say that there’s something strange happening on the mountain near the barrier.”

T/N:

Footnotes

<ol>added for clarity 爱心眼: literally, turned into hearts. Like that phenomenon in anime where the pupils and iris turn into hearts added for clarity sentence restructured for clarity added for clarity 奶声奶气: literally milky voice; refers to a high and sweet sounding voice. Usually used to that voice adults use to talk to babies or toddlers YXX used the word 干爹; which is like a sort of pseudo-father figure who would adopt the child if the parents died. It has nothing to do with Christians and baptism.</ol>