Chapter 5 — Little Snake Finds His Family

She took out from her claws a tiny pale pink pearl, just a little larger than a grain of rice.

“You see.”

She placed the pearl in front of me.

“It just so happens that it can be used as an ornament for your child.”

The pearl floats in the water, rotating twice. The gentle pink light shines on my scales. My nose suddenly stings.

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

“…Nothing.”

I buried my head in the seaweed and said sadly:

“Pearls are very beautiful.”

The tip of my mother's tail gently swept behind me, causing a warm wave to rise in the ocean.

“Go to sleep, child. Tomorrow I will take you to the coral reef to play. There are delicious sea snails there.”

She curled up in the nest. The light of the night pearl in the cave gradually dimmed. I closed my eyes, listening to her turn around next to me, muttering a sentence:

“Your sleeping appearance really resembles your father…”

6 I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at her. The giant silver-white dragon's head was buried in soft seaweed. The pale yellow pupils were closed, a few strands of the dragon's whiskers gently moved with its breathing. I asked in a low voice:

“Mom, who is my father?”

Of course she didn't hear. But I felt the tip of her tail swaying slightly, as if responding to me in a dream. Mom said she would take us to the reef. Ngan Triet rarely proactively said he was going too. I silently imitated his voice in my heart:

“My sister just arrived at this sea, if she got lost she would have to spend a lot of time looking for her.”

I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I know he's worried about me. Although the fighting shark had been taught a lesson by its mother yesterday, among its juniors there was a very vindictive squid that specialized in playing tricks on fish and shrimp traveling alone. Ngan Triet seemed to know what I was thinking, a little uncomfortable swimming away.

"I'll go find the way."

I lay on top of my mother's head, from afar seeing a brilliant array of colors spreading out in front.

“Look quickly, ahead is the coral reef!”

Mom called me. I looked forward, my eyes immediately opened wide. Red, orange, purple, blue. Coral grows densely. The tree is as tall as a giant tree. The tree is as short as a mushroom. In the middle there are schools of small fish swimming back and forth. I eagerly slid down from the top of my mother's head, clumsily twisted my body, and swam towards the coral bush. Now we are no longer spinning in place. I'm so good! After confirming there was no danger around, Ngan Triet swam to the side to patrol. They said they were patrolling, but they were actually looking for food. Don't see Ngan Triet as a cold teenage dragon, but think his appetite is also cold. One time, I secretly crawled out the cave entrance and often saw him hiding behind a coral bush, opening his mouth to hold a tuna that was longer than me. He swallowed it all in just two or three pieces, not even releasing the bones. I looked at the size of the fish, measured the length of my body, then looked at Ngan Triet's appearance, still licking his lips. I quietly withdrew my head back to the cave, curled up in the bed of seaweed my mother spread for me. Um. The big sea is too dangerous. Still the best mom. Mom swam up from behind, using the tip of her nose to push me.

"You can play freely! This whole coral reef belongs to our family! In the past, your father planted it himself!"

After saying that, she also swam away. She said she had to come see how the deer branch coral patch in the south was growing. Ngan Triet swam farther and farther. I glimpsed the tip of his silver-gray tail flashing behind the distant cliff. Maybe I'll find something delicious again. I curl up in the middle purple coral branches, the tip of the tail gently wrapped around a coral branch, watching the small fish rushing by overhead. Sunlight penetrates the surface of the sea, falling to the bottom of the water in moving, warm and pleasant patches of light. Mom on the other side called:

“Be obedient there, don't run around!”

I said "yeah" and retreated deeper into the coral bush. ## 7 I was in a daze when I suddenly felt that the water flow below was not right. I bowed my head and looked. On the tip of the tail is wrapped a purple-gray object, the surface is covered with suction cups. That thing slowly tightened, wrapping itself around my tail. All the scales on his body immediately stood up. It's a squid's tentacle. A stream of underground water rose from under the coral reef, carrying with it a strong smell of ink. It was the squid whose three tentacles were cut off by Ngan Triet yesterday on the coral reef.

“…You are the snake, the daughter of Long Lam?”

The squid's deep voice came from a cloud of black ink. We retreated backwards. It is ten times larger than us. Eight tentacles spread out, covering the whole top of my head.

“Mom…”

Mom! Save lives! The little snake is about to lose its life!

"Don't call anymore. That silver dragon is in the northeast corner, it won't get there in time."

The squid laughed ferociously, its tentacles curled forward. The birds in the forest cannot catch me. Crocodiles in the swamp cannot eat me. Huhuhu... Must I die miserably in the hands of a squid today? I don't want to die in this black thing! Oh, that's not right. Originally I was also black. Thinking about it makes me feel even more heartbroken, so what should I do? One of its tentacles whipped forward. I suddenly sank, crawled through the gap between the tentacles, swung my tail strongly, and plunged into the coral bush. It angrily chased after it, its tentacles breaking and cracking coral all over the ground.

“Come here for me!”

It roared. On what basis should I listen to you? Lagu lagu!

"Don't think it's okay to hide in there! I'll wait for you to come out!"

Wait for my mother to come and see how she handles you! We retreated into the deepest part of the rock crevice, watching its suction cups open and close right before our eyes.

“Don't you dare touch my daughter!”

A mother's angry roar shattered the black layer of water on my head. We hear the sound of coral breaking. Hear the sound of the squid screaming. Hear the sound of the water exploding. I poked my head out of the crack in the rock. Mom used a claw to press firmly on the squid's head. Ngan Triet came around from the other side, the dragon's tail swung up, tightly wrapping all of its tentacles.

“Are you okay?!”

Mom turned her head to look at me, her eyes were so worried that they were about to spit fire.

"I'm... okay..."

“It's okay!”

Mom turned her head and stared at the squid. Her voice suddenly lowered.

“You touched my daughter.”

The squid curled into a ball under her claws, black ink gurgling out.

“You touched my daughter.”

Mom did not raise her voice. But the whole coral sea suddenly became quiet. All the fish stopped. Frozen water. In coral bushes, even bubbles do not emerge. Ngan Triet was next to him and called out in a low voice:

“Mom.”

Mom didn't pay attention to him. She lowered her head to look at the squid. There was no light left in the pale yellow pupils, like two deep ice lakes with no bottom.

“I have been looking for my daughter for thirty-four years.”