Chapter 95

After a short time, the other strange snakes,, one after another,  hurried over. All of them looked at Yin Xiaoxia’s tooth, but the strange snakes didn’t know anything.

Yin Xiaoxiao had already been feeling extremely guilty, periodically thinking that he should flat-out tell Mo Laoda the truth. However, as time passed, Yin Xiaoxiao felt increasingly unable to speak. Seeing Mo Laoda feeling sad and anxious, eventually he couldn’t help but say, “Heitan, if the strange snakes don’t know, maybe the humans do.”

–Yes, even now that it had come to this, Yin Xiaoxiao still didn’t tell the truth, and only, in a roundabout way, told Mo Laoda that the humans might know something. That’s because, after deceiving those closest to you, the more that time passed, the more the truth couldn’t be spoken. Yin Xiaoxiao was now like this. Thinking about it, when the toothache had first started, if Yin Xiaoxiao had spoken of his toothache and the cause of his toothache, at most Mo Laoda would have made a face and said a few scolding words. But with the situation now, if Mo Laoda knew that Yin Xiaoxiao had been deceiving him the whole time, he surely wouldn’t only react like that.

Mo Laoda thought for a bit. What Yin Xiaoxiao said had some merit. What’s more, there didn’t seem to be anyone else to ask other than the two humans.

And so, without staying very long at the bottom of the cliff, Mo Laoda hurried over at top speed to Zhou Feng and Wang Yanzhen’s house, once again carrying Yin Xiaoxiao on his back.

Zhou Feng and Wang Yanzhen also lived on the mountain. Last time, it was mentioned that the two men, Zhou Feng and Wang Yanzhen, were living together as partners. The wooden house that they said they were going to build had been built. Over seventeen years, it had collapsed, sprung leaks and needed other repairs which won’t be mentioned, but now Wang Yanzhen and Zhou Feng’s days had become quite enjoyable ¹ .

As time passed, with Wang Yanzhen and Zhou Feng as the only two humans on the mountain, and seeing that many vipers had partners of the same sex, the two also got together. Familiarity bred fondness, after all. In any case, there were none of those human social mores and taboos here, so what did it matter if two men were together?

To tell the truth, Wang Yanzhen and Zhou Feng’s days could be considered quite wonderful. Since they were able to talk to the vipers’ Clan Head, and the future partner of the viper Clan Head could be considered a friend, the vipers on this mountain gave the two humans face. Social interaction with the vipers was very open, and the two men’s basic needs were well-met. Compared to those stranded on a desert island by themselves or lost in a primeval forest, this bliss was paradise.

In those seventeen years, the two men asked, in detail, about that object that could grant eternal life ² . When they found out the whole backstory, the two men merely exchanged complicated looks, then sighed and dropped this matter. Eternal life, where could something like that be so easily attained? But that was life. Remaining in the snake tomb, Zhou Feng and Wang Yanzhen didn’t go looking for that object that could grant eternal life and simply lived their lives. However they were amazed that, after seventeen years, the appearance of the two men hadn’t changed! When they had first entered the snake tomb, both were twenty-four or twenty-five years old. After seventeen years, although they should be over forty, both men still looked like they were in their twenties! Stunned, Wang Yanzhen and Zhou Feng asked Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao about this. Mo Laoda had stunned them further. “That’s right. Isn’t this normal?”

Yin Xiaoxiao knew why the two humans would be so astonished and, seemingly casually, said, “We snakes here can live up to two hundred years! For you two, isn’t it quite normal that your appearances remain unchanged?”

As a result, Wang Yanzhen and Zhou Feng guessed that, probably since they were in this special boundary, that their life expectancy must have doubled. Although this wasn’t immortality, was there anything unsatisfying about living another hundred years?

The two men weren’t greatly bothered about this. Perhaps they’d experienced too much, but now they no longer feared anything they came across. Besides, the two loved each other and wanted to be together forever! What was a hundred more years of life?!

Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao hurried to Zhou Feng and Wang Yanzhen’s home.

It was dusk now. Yin Xiaoxiao was carried on Mo Laoda’s back towards the wooden one-room house on the mountain, getting closer and closer to their destination. Yin Xiaoxiao, seeing the wooden house illuminated in the sunset, couldn’t help but let out a sigh. No matter what happened next, he always felt a sense of incongruity seeing this wooden house on this mountain.

At the moment, Zhou Feng and Wang Yanzhen were at the house cooking dinner. Zhou Feng, in charge of lighting the fire for cooking, turned around to get some wood. Turning his head, he was startled to see the Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao’s silhouettes.

“You ³ didn’t even make a peep. You scared me, standing behind me!” Zhou Feng patted his chest to indicate that he had been terribly scared.

If this were under normal circumstances, Yin Xiaoxiao would surely have said something, like “peep–” or something. But with Yin Xiaoxiao’s toothache, he didn’t want to talk. As a result, Mo Laoda opened his mouth to say, “Xiaoxiao has a toothache. Do you know what caused it?”

“Toothache?” Zhou Feng’s brow wrinkled. Snakes could get toothaches? “I see,” he said, leaning down to look at Yin Xiaoxiao’s teeth. Yin Xiaoxiao obediently opened his mouth so that Zhou Feng could look.

Zhou Feng carefully looked. There was a small hole in one of Yin Xiaoxiao’s teeth. Why, it resembled a cavity after having eaten too many sweets! But snakes didn’t eat sweets, right? Zhou Feng was baffled. After thinking a bit, he asked Yin Xiaoxiao, “What things have you eaten recently?”

Yin Xiaoxiao opened his mouth and looked at Mo Laoda, thinking, ‘Now I actually don’t want to say. You tell him.’

Mo Laoda said, “Things?” Mo Laoda thought of all the honey Yin Xiaoxiao had been snacking on. This was something that no other snake had eaten before. Could it be that it was because of this? –It had to be said that Mo Laoda was a very intelligent snake.

“Does honey count?”

“Honey?” Zhou Feng repeated. Vipers actually ate honey?

“How much was eaten?”

“A lot, I guess,” Mo Laoda thought for a while before saying. “A while ago, Xiaoxiao and I found a lot of hives on one of the mountains. Xiaoxiao likes to eat honey, so we stayed there for a long time. Oh, let me think. In the beginning, Xiaoxiao was eating one hive a day, I think.”

Zhou Feng: “…”

Standing to the side, Wang Yanzhen frowned. He knew that Yin Xiaoxiao ate honey. He remembered back when he was starving to death, he was given two bites of honey! How could he forget?!

Zhou Feng coughed twice. “That’s-Xiaoxiao has a toothache because he ate too much honey.”

“Eating too much honey causes toothaches?” Mo Laoda wondered. Ultimately, there no other creature on this mountain liked eating honey like Yin Xiaoxiao, so there none knew that eating too much honey would cause toothaches.

“That’s right.” Zhou Feng nodded. “Honey is sweet so eating too much of it can cause cavities – this is what we humans say. In fact, there’s a very small hole in one of Xiaoxiao’s teeth which is causing Xiaoxiao’s teeth to hurt.”

“Then what can be done?” Mo Laoda asked.

Zhou Feng once again spoke, “If you snakes grow adult teeth, then it’s fine. But if not….we’ll need to find a way to remove the tooth or else it will continue to hurt, and over time the face will become swollen!”

Although Yin Xiaoxiao knew of this way of dealing with cavities, Yin Xiaoxiao still unconsciously recoiled upon hearing Zhou Feng say this now. He absolutely didn’t want his tooth pulled! Under these conditions, having a tooth pulled would be excruciating!

“Xiaoxiao still hasn’t gotten his permanent teeth. He’ll get them next year,” Mo Laoda answered. “But Yin Xiaoxiao is in a lot of pain now. Can anything be done about that?”

“That’s.” Zhou Feng shook his head. “If you’re asking me, I’d say pull the tooth. Other than that, I don’t know what else could be done.”

Mo Laoda thought for a moment then suddenly said, “I remember that in these mountains, there’s a grass which can relieve pain. I don’t know if it’ll work on Xiaoxiao.”

Yin Xiaoxiao answered weakly off to the side, “I don’t want to swallow grass.”

Mo Laoda ignored Yin Xiaoxiao.

“I don’t know either,” said Zhou Feng, embarrassed. “You snakes are different from us humans. I also don’t know if it’ll be effective.”

Mo Laoda was silent for a moment, then suddenly turned to Yin Xiaoxiao. Yin Xiaoxiao, examined from head to tail by Mo Laoda, panicked. Stammeringly, he asked, “What, what is it?”

Mo Laoda solemnly said, “Xiaoxiao, keep your mouth open. I’ll take a look and see if the Zhitong Grass can be used.”

Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t doubt him. He opened his mouth and let Mo Laoda his cavity.

Mo Laoda approached Yin Xiaoxiao, lowered his head to Yin Xiaoxiao’s mouth and looked carefully at the tooth with Yin Xiaoxiao’s cavity. Abruptly and almost faster than the eye could see, Mo Laoda stuffed his tail into Yin Xiaoxiao’s mouth. Before the humans or snake could react, Yin Xiaoxiao felt a pain in his mouth. He only reacted after Mo Laoda had pulled out his rotten tooth.

Yin Xiaoxiao remained still for a moment, before his eyes abruptly filled with tears. In a loud voice, he wail, ““….Wah! Damn you, Heitan, you’re bullying me! You really pulled out my tooth! Damn you, Heitan, I hate you! I hate you to death! Wah!”

Mo Laoda: “….”

Zhou Feng & Wang Yanzhen: “….”

Yin Xiaoxiao cried, wailing like a ghost. No matter how Mo Laoda coaxed him, it was useless. The entire time he cried, Mo Laoda could only move close and lick up the tears that fell down Yin Xiaoxiao’s face. “It’s all my fault, Xiaoxiao. Don’t cry, okay? Yes, you tell me, I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t cry, okay?”

Yin Xiaoxiao sobbed ⁴ , refusing to acknowledge Mo Laoda. Engrossed in himself, he continued to cry.

But after a moment, Yin Xiaoxiao stopped crying. He lifted two slightly reddened and tear-filled eyes, breathed in the scent in the air and asked, “What is this smell? It smells good.”

Wang Yanzhen smiled and turned his head. “I used lard to pan fry round flat cakes and then sprinkled salt on top. Smells delicious, right?”

“Very delicious!” Yin Xiaoxiao nodded vigorously and slithered over to Wang Yanzhen, Mo Laoda tossed to the back of his mind. What Mo Laoda? Nothing could compare to food!

“You want to eat? But you just recently had a tooth pulled? Can you eat?” Wang Yanzhen looked at Yin Xiaoxiao slithering onto his shoulder. Yin Xiaoxiao was now quite heavy. Was it because he’d grown a lot in recent years?

“It doesn’t matter! It no longer hurts after the tooth was pulled out and it’s not bleeding either. We vipers are able to heal very easily!” Yin Xiaoxiao was unusually determined. Heaven knew how long he’d gone without eating salt and fat, to say nothing of things like round flat cakes!

Wang Yanzhen thought for a while, unconsciously looking towards Mo Laoda. Whether or not this was possible, it was better to check in with Mo Laoda.

Mo Laoda nodded his head. A moment ago when Mo Laoda had extracted Yin Xiaoxiao’s tooth, he’d used his top speed! Yin Xiaoxiao’s wound was unlikely to still hurt and was also unlikely to bleed. Eating something would be unlikely to cause a problem. What was more, now Mo Laoda was feeling rather guilty towards Yin Xiaoxiao. Since Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to eat something, how could Mo Laoda refuse?!

T/N:

Footnotes

<ol>有滋有味: idiom meaning that life is good, but also literally means tasty and delicious sentence restructured for clarity plural 抽抽搭搭: an idiom used to denote crying https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%8A%BD%E6%8A%BD%E6%90%AD%E6%90%AD/5806465</ol>