Chapter 12

It was the early morning, and Yin Xiaoxiao was the first to welcome the sunrise. He woke up then slithered to the mouth of the cave to greet the new day…as if.

Cough cough. What really happened was something like this: When Yin Xiaoxiao woke up, the sun was already high in the sky, and he was still in the heart of a m á huā. Yin Xiaoxiao waited for the other young snakes to awaken, musing boredly on his amazing adaptive abilities. Now, even if he was blanketed with snakes, he could still sleep! He had already become so used to it!

By the time Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua had yet again left the cave, the other young snakes awoke one by one and extricated themselves. Yin Xiaoxiao took a few deep breaths. Although he hadn’t actually been strangled by these snakes, it had still been a little difficult to breathe, so-to-speak.

Again, the whole snake family greeted a new day.

Yin Dabai contorted his body, as though in morning exercise. Once finished, he left, with an apathetic look on his face, to look for bird eggs. Although this search had become something of a routine, he’d never worked so hard in his life! Crawling to the entrance of the mountain cave, Yin Dabai looked back. This was, of course, the cost of having children with his partner. But obviously this cost , Yin Dabai nodded to himself, this cost was also undeniably a happy one.

“Dad, I want to go with you!”

Seeing Yin Dabai about to leave, Yin Xiaoxiao realized that he was going to look for his bird eggs and quickly slithered over. Following after his tiny tail was Hua Xiaowu.

“Out of the question!” Yin Dabai refused Yin Xiaoxiao without even thinking about it.

“Why?”

Seeing annoyance spread across Yin Xiaoxiao’s face, Yin Dabai opened his mouth to console him, “You’re still too small. Wait until you’re a little larger and Dad will take you, okay?”

Yin Xiaoxiao stared intently at Yin Dabai for a moment, then saw that Yin Dabai did not react. Pouting, he yelled into the cave, “Pop! Dad is bullying me!”

At that, Hua Xiaohua slithered over at lightspeed. Without asking for an explanation, he smacked Yin Dabai in the head. “Yin Dabai! How can you bully Xiaoxiao?!”

“…I didn’t,” said Yin Dabai, without having any hope of successfully defending himself.

In response, Hua Xiaohua hit Yin Dabai in the head with his tail again.

Yin Dabai did not speak.

Yin Xiaoxiao saw an opportunity and immediately asked Hua Xiaohua, “Pop, since you’re scolding Dad for bullying me, can you make it up to me?”

Hua Xiaohua thought about it, then nodded.

“And naturally Dad will have to do what I say?”

Hua Xiaohua nodded again.

And so, Yin Xiaoxiao shifted his gaze from Hua Xiaohua to Yin Dabai. “Dad, Pop said that you have to listen to me, ‘kay?”

Yin Dabai was just about to speak when Hua Xiaohua hit him with his tail again. “Won’t you listen to what Xiaoxiao asks of you?”

Yin Dabai looked mutely at Yin Xiaoxiao then silently crawled out of the cave. Thus, Yin Xiaoxiao contentedly followed after Yin Dabai.

Hua Xiaohua paid no mind to Yin Dabai and Yin Xiaoxiao’s exit. In any case, if Yin Dabai was with him, it was impossible for anything to happen to Xiaoxiao. Hua Xiaohua returned to play with Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan

The overlooked Hua Xiaowu smacked his lips, thinking that this matter was quite strange. Obviously it wasn’t Dad’s fault, so why was Pop hitting Dad? Hua Xiaowu continued to ponder this for a while but still couldn’t figure it out. So, he crawled away, his admiration of Yin Xiaoxiao increasing yet again.

Yin Dabai had no choice but to slither forward at ⅕ his usual speed. Yin Xiaoxiao followed behind Yin Dabai.

Ugh. At this speed, would he even see his spouse’s face before he went to bed this evening? Yin Dabai was laden with grief.

Unaware of Yin Dabai’s thoughts, Yin Xiaoxiao was only thinking about how peaceful it was without any of the other young snakes around. Yin Xiaoxiao delighted in this as he took in the scenery as they slithered by.

Wow! This grass looked really tall! Yin Xiaoxiao lifted his head to pass through this meadow. Really, Xiaoxiao, wasn’t it just your current body? What you’re looking at isn’t very tall at all?

Eek? What just ran by? Yin Xiaoxiao strained to look in that direction, a little hesitant. Was that a wolf? Was that really a wolf?

Woah! That was a lion! A real lion! Yin Xiaoxiao animatedly looked at the pride of lions not far away. All of that excitement led Yin Dabai to believe that Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to eat that lion.

Yin Dabai dragged Yin Xiaoxiao away for several meters before Yin Xiaoxiao came to his sense and reluctantly continued to slither forwards while sneaking glances back the way they’d come.

Huh? Was he imagining things? At last Yin Xiaoxiao realized that something seemed off about those lions. When the lions had seen Yin Dabai, it almost seemed…as though they were afraid?

During the time since Yin Xiaoxiao had become a snake, Yin Xiaoxiao felt as though he had a kind of animal intuition? That is, if snakes could even be lumped together with animals. Yin Xiaoxiao shook his head then tossed that question to the back of his mind. Really, the viper clans here were the most powerful.

And what Yin Xiaoxiao really felt from those vigilant lions was fright and panic.

No longer thinking about the lions, Yin Xiaoxiao instead slithered, tail cheerfully and light-heartedly swinging. Haha! That was really good! Now, even lions were afraid of him! If he were still human he wouldn’t have gotten such treatment!

Yin Dabai turned his head to look at Yin Xiaoxiao. This child, what had made him so happy just now? That grin of his was almost as wide as the horizon.

With Yin Dabai in front and Yin Xiaoxiao behind, they continued to crawl for a time. And crawl and crawl. And crawl. And crawl some more. Yin Xiaoxiao was aggrieved. Why hadn’t they arrived yet? This was even more than they’d travelled to visit Lan Yiyi yesterday!

Finally,Yin Xiaoxiao couldn’t bear it. He crawled forward a bit to catch up to Yin Dabai.  “Dad, Dad, are we still not there?”

Yin Dabai stopped and looked ahead. “Yes. It’s that grove up ahead.”

Yin Xiaoxiao crawled onto a stone off to the side and gazed at the place Yin Dabai indicated. Then, he flopped down onto the stone and said, “It’s so, so far away.”

As it turned out, the forest Yin Dabai had indicated was still so far away that it appeared as only a thin smear of shadow.

“I told you that you shouldn’t come, but you didn’t listen. Now you know just how far it is, huh?” Yin Dabai couldn’t help but say. If he hadn’t had to travel with Yin Xiaoxiao, he would have already reached the forest by now.

Yin Xiaoxiao lifted his head to look at Yin Dabai and opened his mouth, “You don’t want me?” His expression displayed clear hurt.

Yin Dabai felt numb. With animal instinct, he knew—if he said that he didn’t want him, who knew what Hua Xiaohua would do to him when he returned. He’d be in for it, wouldn’t he? So, promptly he coaxed, “Xiaoxiao, what are you saying? How could Dad not like you? You’re my son.” And as he passed, he rubbed Yin Xiaoxiao’s head with his tail in a gesture of fondness.