Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian knew that the fat boy was an uncompromising foodie. He’d even asked if he could eat the larvae. Now that Little Celery was here, he would use the dates to entice him. He could see them, but he could not eat them.
Unexpectedly, the boy was thick-skinned enough to walk over, stretch out his fat little hand, and shout to Little Celery. “Classmate, do you know him? Didn’t the teacher teach us not to eat things given to us by strangers? Give it to me. I will help you throw it away.”
Zhang Zian thought, “What an outrageous manipulation! Please wipe your saliva before you speak!”
Simple-minded Little Celery was almost fooled. She didn’t know the fat boy but seemed to have seen him on campus. After all, from the first grade to the sixth grade, all of them studied on the same campus. On the square where they all gathered, the body shape of the fat boy was very eye-catching.
“Oh… I know the store manager. He is not a stranger,” Little Celery replied seriously.
“Whatever. Adults are not good. He opened a small shop by the side of the road. I am almost eighty percent sure that he does something illegal inside. Since you ate the date, you just might faint, and then he will traffick you. He will send you to old people in villages who cannot have children of their own… Ah!”
This fat boy could’ve been an actor. Not only did he use his limbs when he talked, he also spoke with all manner of facial expressions. He made many scary faces to try and terrify Little Celery. When he spoke of fainting, he even rolled his eyes backwards to make it more dramatic.
Zhang Zian couldn’t stand the outrageous stories that the fat boy conjured up. Thus, he took a date and shot it at his forehead.
“You… Why are you hitting people?” The fat boy rubbed his forehead and glared at him.
“When did I hit people? Who saw?”
Since he was so shameless, Zhang Zian decided to play along as well.
“You… I don’t care! You hurt me. You have to pay me money!” the fat boy yelled.
“Crazy boy! As if I will pay you a single cent!” Zhang Zian picked up another date and pretended to throw it at him again.
The fat boy had learned to be smart and quickly covered his head. However, his actions were hurried and awkward. His bag fell to the ground. Books and stationery scattered all over.
“Oh, it’s you! Are you Xu Zhuang Zhuang?”
Little Celery saw the name on the book and cried out in surprise.
“What? You know him?” Zhang Zian asked.
Little Celery had a look of disgust on her face. “I heard that there was a very special naughty fat boy in other classes. He always likes to pick up worms to scare girls. He will put it into the girl’s pencil case and throw it on the girl’s desk. This boy’s name seems to be Xu Zhuang Zhuang.”
“You… Who are you? Don’t talk nonsense! I don’t know you! I…I am also not Xu Zhuang Zhuang!” The fat boy, flustered, put the books and stationery into his bag.
Zhang Zian said, “Do you dare say this in front of your dad?”
Xu Zhuang Zhuang didn’t reply.
Little Celery hid on the other side, using Zhang Zian to block her from Xu Zhuang Zhuang. Then she pleaded her case to him. “The weather is hot now, and this year our school has a lot of bugs on the trees. There is this especially disgusting bug that produces silk. I think it is called the ‘hanging ghost’ worm. When the wind blows on the branches, they fly everywhere. This horrible boy will pick these bugs up to scare the girls. Several of us were so scared, we cried. He simply stood there and mocked us, calling us gutless. However, when he picked up the bugs, he didn’t dare do it with his bare hands. He had to use tissue paper as a barrier…”
Her voice was very crisp, her narrative organized. Zhang Zian heard it clearly, but so did the staff in the store. They came out to see the so-called hero who was so dedicated to bullying primary school girls.
“Don’t… Don’t talk nonsense! I am not that kind of person! I… I am going to school!” Xu Zhuang Zhuang was guilty, and he didn’t want to stay any longer. He ran away quickly. He might be fat, but boy, could he run.
In fact, even if he had stayed, Zhang Zian could not do much to him if he kept his thick skin on and repeatedly denied the allegations. After all, there was a law that protected minors. Zhang Zian’s hitting him would be a crime. He could play Zhang Zian up by playing the “I’m a young boy and I can be senseless at times” card.
“Little Celery, have you been bullied by him?” Zhang Zian asked.
Little Celery shook her head, and her two ponytails followed through with the motion. “No, he is not in the same class as me.”
“Does the teacher not care?” he asked.
“The teacher criticized him several times and called his parents, but… The teacher said that he is a dead pig that is not even afraid of boiling water!” she said, quoting the teacher.
“Oh, all right. Then stay away from him. Don’t bother with him.”
Zhang Zian quietly ended the conversation, but he felt that Xu Zhuang Zhuang was a classic bully in the making. In addition, he was rather vengeful. Although the boy probably would not do much to him, he worried that Little Celery would be subjected to his hatred. In the future, he might use every opportunity to deliberately make fun of her.
How should he teach this kid a lesson?
Yesterday, he’d been made very miserable by the caterpillars. He had at least had some sympathy for the boy. Now, he merely regretted that he hadn’t hurt him for a while longer when treating him. He often used insects to scare girls. Now he was being shackled by insects. This was retribution.
Counting on the teachers to deal with him would be useless, as the teachers were also afraid of the law that protected minors. The era of strict teachers being able to smack naughty children’s palms had long gone. Nowadays, it was not possible to do that. They might lose their jobs if they did it. For many teachers, it was simply not worth the trouble. Rather, they would choose to carry out verbal criticism or simply direct the disciplinary issue to the parents themselves.
Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s father seemed to be very busy and often had to work overtime on weekends. He had no time to manage him, and he was superficially fierce. He may actually shower him with a lot more love than required.
The situation of Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s mother was unknown. However, she was unlikely to be much better than the father. If not, she would not have produced such a naughty child.
The teacher’s dilemma and the indulgence of the parents allowed Xu Zhuang Zhuang to take advantage of the situation and become more mischievous.
He could probably reach out to Vladimir and his stray cats to teach him a lesson. This would not directly violate the law regarding the protection of minors. After all, the law was directed at people, not cats. However, this might make the school and its principal have an adverse reaction to stray cats. It may further lead to the reoccurrence of the deportation of strays to the outer areas of the city.
It seemed that he could only do it himself.
Zhang Zian thought about Little Celery’s words. Xu Zhuang Zhuang liked to pick up worms to scare girls but always used paper towels to pick them up. He was not too courageous after all.
Okay…
After a while, Zhang Zian had an idea. He would think about the details later.
Not every bug was safe to be picked up with a paper towel.
“Right, Little Celery, are there many bugs in the trees that grow by your school?” He suddenly remembered another detail that she’d mentioned and asked her again.
Little Celery looked up from the larvae of the Swallowtail butterfly, nodded, and said, “Yes! A lot!”
“Have there been a lot of them over the past few years?”
Little Celery thought carefully. “Based on what I heard from the teachers… Not so much.”
“If that’s the case…”
Zhang Zian looked thoughtfully into the distance.
The situation he had worried about before seemed to be turning into a reality. The insects had not only invaded the greenspace behind his store, but had quietly spread to other places.
