Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Wang Yaning had long known that Little Celery had invited Zhang Zian to come to the school to control the caterpillar population. Thus, she was not easily deceived by Xu Zhuang Zhuang. Besides, even if she didn’t know that, her ability to observe and comprehend was far beyond the level of standard primary school students. Had this not been the case, she would not have delighted the teachers so much.
At a glance, she saw that Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s eyes were darting all around, and he was very obviously lying.
“What is that?” She pointed to the creepy caterpillar in front of him.
Although she was not in the same class as Xu Zhuang Zhuang, she knew that he was somewhat notorious in school. As the popular girl in school, she knew who the troublemakers were, as she used them as tools when she sought the praise and admiration of the teachers. They were the best tools for highlighting the contrast she brought to class, and thus, she hoped for more of them. There were many children, but there were also as many teachers in the school—they taught different classes and different grades, and they were responsible for different things. These included teaching, logistics, and administrative tasks… Any of these teachers may be the ones teaching her in the future. To start currying favor now would be helpful for her.
Therefore, she stared at Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s eyes. They were clearly the eyes of the hunter staring at his prey as if to say, “Come, come, come. If you dare, show me how naughty you can be again…”
Not waiting for Xu Zhuang Zhuang to answer her question, she pointed to the crumpled toilet paper in his hand. “What do you intend to do with that toilet paper? Do you want to pass motion anywhere you like? I am going to report this to the teacher!”
Zhang Zian really felt that if anyone could make the strict director of the street office obey, it would be Wang Yaning.
The sudden attack on Xu Zhuang Zhuang made him panicked. He could carry the mark of bullying a girl on his back, but he wouldn’t dare carry the mark of defecating in random places. If this was made public, it would be a stain on his reputation for a lifetime, and it would follow him forever. Wherever he went, people would talk about that and only that.
“No! Don’t talk nonsense! I am not!”
Seeing that Wang Yaning was already taking photos of this on her mobile phone, Xu Zhuang Zhuang quickly put the toilet paper back into his pocket. When he looked down, he saw the caterpillar on the ground and immediately kicked it aside.
Well, this naughty child had some form of ADHD. Usually, when he walked on the road and encountered pebbles, empty bottles, or other things, he enjoyed kicking them for a bit. Xu Zhuang Zhuang took this even further and kicked dogs when they walked together. So he didn’t think much of it, and he subconsciously did the same to the caterpillar.
It was summer now, and the active boy who was afraid of heat had already started wearing his sandals. He was smart enough not to kick the caterpillar with the exposed parts of his toes but used the soles instead—if it were a normal caterpillar, it wouldn’t have been much of an issue. However, he did not know that this venomous creature would automatically eject venom when placed under stress.
“Ah!”
The caterpillar flew into the air, and he screamed. He held his feet and awkwardly stumbled to the ground.
“You are courting your own death!”
Zhang Zian, who was standing on the sidelines, was left speechless. No matter how hard he tried to prevent him from suffering, the boy seemed to seek suffering all by himself.
Little Celery and Wang Yaning didn’t know what was going on and thought that he was deliberately acting pathetic to earn their pity. This was so that they would go forward and help him. This was not the first time he’d used this trick on others.
Zhang Zian knew that he was really in pain. The boy’s face was bright red, and beads of sweat appeared on his face. If he had not cared that he was in school, he would have cried even louder. Here, he held his mouth shut tight and tried very hard to hold back the tears…
He ran over, pried open Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s hands, took off his sandals, and saw that the toe on his right foot was already red and swollen. If one looked closely, one could see a few lavender bristles on his skin. Luckily, the skin on the big toe was thick and rather hard. It helped to reduce the number of bristles that actually penetrated the skin, and the penetration was also rather shallow. Had this been another part of the body, there may have been more bristles.
“Don’t move. I will pull it out for you.”
As a result of the rapid growth of the number of caterpillars, he carried a small roll of medical tape with him all the time. With his fingers, he first pulled out the lavender bristles, and then he used tape to adhere to those that could not be seen by the naked eye.
Little Celery and Wang Yaning realized that Xu Zhuang Zhuang was not pretending to be in pain. They walked over with their umbrella to see the commotion. Amidst the commotion, Wang Yaning took a picture of Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s rather pathetic crying face.
“This is… Was he stung by a caterpillar? What caterpillar is this, and why is it so powerful?”
Wang Yaning did not care about the injury and pain of Xu Zhuang Zhuang. She asked an academic question due to her desire to do well in school.
“That is the larvae of the venomous moth,” Zhang Zian explained while treating the wound. “There are two kinds of caterpillars—one that can become a butterfly and another that can become a moth. The caterpillars that can turn into butterflies are all toxic, and most of the caterpillars that can become moths are not poisonous, such as those ‘hanging ghosts’ over our heads.”
She carefully looked up at the hanging ghosts swaying in the wind and asked, “Which are poisonous?”
“There are three kinds of poisonous ones—namely, the Slug Caterpillar moth, the Tussock moth, and the Tent Caterpillar moth,” Zhang Zian continued. “As long as you don’t touch them or let them fall on your body, there will be no problem. The latter two are more troublesome. Their hair is not as stiff and as attached to their bodies, and when the wind blows, it can be loosened. In addition, some caterpillars may voluntarily eject their hairs, such as this one that has done so on him.”
The ditch in the artificial woods was populated with the Tussock moth and the Tent Caterpillar moth. This had caused the water to have a lot of invisible bristles floating on it. They entered the water because of the wind. Once the water was drunk…the pain that came with it would be unimaginable.
How Xu Zhuang Zhuang felt at this time was probably like a patient with his surgeon standing next to him with a surgical knife. The surgeon then explained all his pains and ailments to the graduate students.
Wang Yaning also wanted to know what obvious characteristics differentiated between these three poisonous moth larvae. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to talk about these things in a short period of time. When faced with caterpillars, it was best not to act like a hero and just take unnecessary precautions. One should treat them as if they were all toxic.
Although the hairs had been removed, because the venom had already penetrated the skin, Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s big toe would be swollen for a while. He obviously couldn’t walk, let alone place his foot on the ground. It was even highly unbearable to even wear shoes at this point.
“Bug… Where is the bug? Quickly squeeze its juice out and wipe it on my feet…” Xu Zhuang Zhuang squinted and looked around, looking for the caterpillar that he’d kicked.
Zhang Zian said, “This is not a Western Chili. Doing that will only make your wound even more painful.”
The venom of caterpillars was generally acidic and needed to be neutralized with an alkaline liquid such as soapy water, light ammonia, or urine. Zhang Zian certainly did not intend to take off his pants and smother him in urine. He also could not find the other liquids around him. Thus, he could only carry the boy on his back, ask Little Celery to lead him to the school’s health room, and call his dad to ask if he could pick him up.
Xu Zhuang Zhuang’s dad was a frequent visitor to the school. When he heard his son was in trouble, he rushed over immediately with much anger. He did not say much. He instead made a fist and wanted to beat up Xu Zhuang Zhuang. Luckily, the teachers stopped him in time.
No matter whether Xu Zhuang Zhuang could attend school the next day, at least for today, the naughty boy who did not enjoy school could finally leave early.
