Chapter 98

Half a year, and then Yin Xiaoxiao would be fully grown. This included, not only Yin Xiaoxiao, but also Yin Xiaoxiao’s five older brothers.

The timing for the next gathering had been moved ahead half a year, not because none of them would have been able to attend in half a year, but because the six young snakes would be fully grown! What did it mean to be fully grown? For humans, reaching adulthood meant that they were able to assume legal responsibility. In other words, that they could leave home to make their way on their own in human society, an indication that they had independent minds. And for vipers, being fully grown meant that they could become partners with someone they loved.

Vipers looked forward to this major event, but anticipated with caution. When young snakes were fully grown, vipers who had found their future partner would undergo the partnership ceremony. For those reaching adulthood in Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua’s family, this was the first major moment in their lives. This was the reason why Mo Laoda had only “tactfully” informed Yin Xiaoxiao that he was going to fully grown. After all, Mo Laoda had been looking forward to becoming partners with Yin Xiaoxiao for many years.

Yin Xiaoyi had selected Hei A’Lu for a future partner, and Hei A’Lu still had a few years before he even reached ten years old. Naturally, he couldn’t become Yin Xiaoyi’s partner now. and this meant that Yin Xiaoyi would have to wait over twenty years for Hei A’Lu. But perhaps this was good. Yin Xiaoyi could use even more time to confirm whether or not Hei A’Lu was the right one, and Hei A’Lu could spend his childhood with a companion by his side. Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan had chosen each other, which Yin Dabai neither favored nor opposed, and which Hua Xiaohua had no choice but to accept. This was Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan’s business. Yin Xiaosi and Lan Sansan were together. Lan Sansan was a few months older than Yin Xiaosi ¹ and was waiting for Yin Xiaosi to grow to adulthood. Only then could the two snakes become partners. Hua Xiaowu had also found love in Hong Xiaohong Unfortunately, Hong Xiaohong was a few years younger than Hua Xiaowu who, tomorrow, would be fully grown. As for Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda, Mo Laoda had already been impatient looking forward to this. As soon as Yin Xiaoxiao grew to adulthood, Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao were definitely going to become partners.

In short, when the six young snakes were fully grown, three partnerships would be formed.These were Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan, Yin Xiaosi and Lan Sansan, and Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda.

Everyone had come together to discuss this. Finally, three of the vipers’ partnership ceremonies were arranged for the day that Hua Xiaoer, Hua Xiaosan and Yin Xiaosi would be fully grown. Yin Xiaoxiao would be fully grown the next day. Don’t forget, Yin Xiaoxiao was born a day later than the other five young snakes!

“There’s still half a year.” Hua Xiaohua thought for a moment. “Still, only Hua Xiaoer, Hua Xiaosan, Yin Xiaosi and Yin Xiaoxiao are going to have partnership ceremonies, otherwise things surely would be even more rushed and muddled! Since it’s already been decided when the partnership ceremonies will be held, preparations should begin tomorrow.”

“Preparations?” Yin Xiaoxiao was bewildered. Please excuse him. Yin Xiaoxiao only knew that the partnership ceremony seemed similar to humanity’s marriage, but he didn’t really know what the event entailed.

Hua Xiaohua smacked his forehead with his tail. He remembered that Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t have the inherited memories, but there were snakes here who weren’t from their family, so Hua Xiaohua was unsure whether to explain.

The snakes Hua Xiaohua had mentioned, who weren’t members of the family, were Lan Sansan and Hong Xiaohong. Although these snakes were his sons’ future partners, Hua Xiaohua absolutely didn’t want to tell them that Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t have the inherited memories. After all, the fewer snakes that knew, the less likely it would be for this information to be leaked. As for Mo Laoda, Hua Xiaohua strongly suspected that Yin Xiaoxiao must have told Mo Laoda that he didn’t have the inherited memories!

Mo Laoda truly deserved to be called Mo Laoda. Seeing Hua Xiaohua’s hesitation, he immediately understood the cause of Hua Xiaohua’s hesitation. Without a word, he dragged Yin Xiaoxiao outside the cave.

“Eh? Hey, hey! Heitan, what are you doing?! Ah, hey, release me!” Dragged away, Yin Xiaoxiao struggled. Unfortunately, it was useless.

The snakes that were left inside the cave: “….”

“Cough, cough….” Hua Xiaohua coughed twice. “Then, let’s discuss the preparations for the ceremony.”

Mo Laoda dragged Yin Xiaoxiao until they were in the underbrush far away from the cave before releasing Yin Xiaoxiao.

“Little Idiot, listen. In the future, don’t tell other snakes from outside that you don’t have the inherited memories, understand?” Mo Laoda looked very serious.

Yin Xiaoxiao struggled to get up from the ground. Dizzy from being dragged by Mo Laoda, his sight was blurred with dizziness. “Huh? Oh, I know that.”

“If another snake says something that you don’t know, you mustn’t show any doubts. If there’s something you don’t know, wait until that snake is gone, then ask me, understand?”

“Oh!” Yin Xiaoxiao suddenly understood. The partnership ceremony was also in the inherited memories of every snake. Yin Xiaoxiao raised his head in thought, then asked, “Then, how is the partnership ceremony held?”

Mo Laoda forced back the words in his mind, then opened his mouth and said, “Actually, the partnership ceremony is very simple. Family and family friends are asked to come to join the ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, the ceremony is conducted during the hottest part of the day.. Whoever is the most elder presides. Each partner drinks the other’s blood, receives the blessings from the parents on both sides, and then ceremony is finished.”

“It sounds quite simple. But, drinking the other’s blood….” Yin Xiaoxiao trembled. “How is it going to be drunk? Is it prepared beforehand or….?”

“Naturally, at the ceremony, the other partner bites through the scales then drinks directly!”

Yin Xiaoxiao: “….” Was it okay to say now that he couldn’t do this?

Mo Laoda’s eyes narrowed. “Little Idiot, don’t even think about not becoming my partner.” He paused, then continued, “Don’t worry, when that moment comes, I won’t use a lot of force. Just a little blood will be enough.”

‘This was a textbook example of the carrot and the stick ² !’ Yin Xiaoxiao angrily thought to himself.

Yin Xiaoxiao: “I won’t be able to bite you!” This was the truth. Mo Laoda was the most powerful viper in the viper clans, and his defensive ability was even more terrifying. Yin Xiaoxiao could bite until all his teeth fell out and he still wouldn’t be able to bite through Mo Laoda’s defense.

Mo Laoda looked strangely at Yin Xiaoxiao. “I will lower the defense.”

Yin Xiaoxiao: “….” Really high-grade!

“No!” Yin Xiaoxiao had found another problem. “The hottest part of the day?! Good Heavens, I’ll die of sun exposure!”

Mo Laoda: “….Then the ceremony will be held in the shade of a tree by the riverbank. Although it can’t compare to the temperature in the river, it will still help somewhat.”

Yin Xiaoxiao reluctantly agreed with this point ³ , but he still couldn’t agree to do it! If this one reason was enough to dissuade him from becoming partners with Mo Laoda, perhaps their future together wouldn’t go so well!

“Then what preparations need to be made before the ceremony?” Yin Xiaoxiao continued to ask. Although he heard Mo Laoda speak, he didn’t hear what preparations needed to be undertaken!

“Family and friends will need to be notified. Looking for them will take a long time!”

Yin Xiaoxiao had also noticed this issue. Indeed, since there was nothing here like cell phone networks or the like, notifying everyone wouldn’t be easy! However, fortunately, the borders of the boundary were fixed, and vipers were very fast. Add in that sense that blood-related vipers had for their kin, and this problem suddenly became less challenging.

Eh? Yin Xiaoxiao suddenly remembered something. “Heitan, Heitan, you have that ability that can transmit information to all vipers! You can just say “the sons of Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua are going to have their partnership ceremonies”, and friends and family can come to wherever the ceremony is being held to participate! That can save time going to notify everyone!” The more he spoke, the more Yin Xiaoxiao felt that this method would work. Very good, then it wouldn’t be so inconvenient!

“Little Idiot, that’s not possible!” Contrary to Yin Xiaoxiao’s expectations, Mo Laoda not only flatly rebuffed Yin Xiaoxiao’s suggestion, he fixed Yin Xiaoxiao with an exceptionally grave expression. “Even though I’m Clan Head, I can’t misuse this ability. Only when our viper clans are faced with something major am I able to use this ability!”

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Yin Xiaoxiao listened and understood. This was to distinguish between public and private interests so that there would be no abuse of power! Yin Xiaoxiao curled his lip. Okay, okay, now he knew that this couldn’t be used.

“Then, everyone really needs to be informed individually?” Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyesight darkened, and the world started going grey. For the lazy Yin Xiaoxiao, slithering around like this everyday on bare land to go and find people, the search would take half a year!

Mo Laoda shook his head. “It isn’t that inconvenient. The notification will be completed as word goes around. It’ll just take longer. Anyway, your Dad and Pop will take care of the notice, not you.”

“Huh? So it’s none of my business?”

“You can go, you know?” Mo Laoda was a little impatient. “Your Dad and Pop are in charge of notifying their friends and relatives, and then their friends and relatives will go to look for their friends and relatives. As for us, we can also go to look for the friends and neighbors we know.”

Yin Xiaoxiao bowed his head in thought.If he had to notify his friends and neighbors then aside from Hei A’Ban’s family….there was no one.

The Lan Hong family would be included, but Yin Xiaosi and Lan Sansan were becoming partners, so Lan Sansan’s family counted as in-laws rather than friends or neighbors. Yin Xiaoxiao suddenly recalled Lan Yiyi and inexplicably felt a little weak. If Lan Yiyi came….ugh ⁴ . Maybe Lan Yiyi will have already found a future partner! There was no need to worry blindly!

Mo Laoda poked the clearly distracted Yin Xiaoxiao. “Aside from going and notifying friends and family, the most important thing left is to do is to go hunting a few days before the ceremony and on the day of the ceremony.”

“Huh? Hunting?” Yin Xiaoxiao returned to his senses. Why go hunting?

“Can’t have friends and family come without providing food!” said Mo Laoda. “The vipers who come to participate in the ceremony will come with empty stomachs. We have to catch enough food for all the guests, so food needs to be prepared ahead of time! The prey can’t be killed several days before the ceremony or the prey will have rotted. And because it’s not known how many snakes will be coming, if there’s not enough food then prey will need to be caught on the day of the ceremony. Aside from the partners-to-be, the ones in charge of hunting are the parents of both partners.”

“Hunting?” Yin Xiaoxiao was stunned. “I have to hunt?”

Well, Yin Xiaoxiao, this guy, the amount of prey he’d caught could be counted on one hand.. Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai had been responsible for this when Yin Xiaoxiao ⁵ was still with them. He hunted himself when he lived alone but, alas, it wasn’t long before he encountered Mo Laoda. Since he got together with Mo Laoda, Yin Xiaoxiao hadn’t caught his own prey!

“….” Mo Laoda said, “I, myself, will be enough.”

Yin Xiaoxiao nodded his head in agreement.

T/N: Hello, I hope you’re enjoying this! I’ve come down with COVID, so I won’t be posting next week. The brain fog and muscle aches are no joke. Stay healthy out there!

Footnotes

<ol>the raw had YXX, which is still accurate, but it makes more sense to write YXS 一棒子再给一颗甜枣: literally hit with a stick and then give sweet dates added for clarity 额: in this context, it’s a form of internet slang used to convey helplessness or confusion https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%A2%9D/2620743 the raw had Yin Dabai, but that didn’t make sense. I’m assuming that the author meant YXX, and YDB was a typo</ol>