After running for a short while, they heard the sound of whimpering.
It was Tian Yu’s voice.
Anxious, Yan Feifan suddenly picked up his pace again. Rounding a bend up ahead, he saw Tian Yu and Yanyan walking toward them.
Tian Yu was clutching the left side of her neck with one hand, her face streaked with tears as she cried uncontrollably.
"Xiaoyu, what happened?"
Seeing Yan Feifan, Tian Yu’s crying intensified. She sobbed, "Mr. Yan... a stinging caterpillar... it hurts... it really burns."
As she spoke, Tian Yu took her hand away, tilting her head and turning her body so Yan Feifan could get a better look.
A large, red, swollen patch stretched from the left side of her neck all the way to her shoulder.
Yanyan explained in a small voice, "Mr. Yan, a stinging caterpillar somehow fell onto Xiaoyu’s neck."
"The pain was so bad that her vision went black and she almost collapsed."
The "yanglazi," or Chinese slug moth caterpillar, has venomous spines on its body. Contact with human skin causes swelling, itching, and a sharp, stinging pain.
Hearing that it was a sting from one of those and seeing that Xiaoyu’s words and actions were otherwise normal, Yan Feifan relaxed.
He saw that the red, swollen area on her neck and shoulder was nearly half the size of his palm and couldn’t help but chuckle. "Xiaoyu, did you happen to crush that caterpillar?"
"Mr. Yan, I feel like I’m dying from the pain, and you’re laughing!"
Tian Yu was so angry she stopped crying. She balled up her little fists and lightly pummeled Yan Feifan a few times. "I felt something land on me and it hurt, so I brushed it away with my hand, and then it turned into this!" she said angrily.
"Mr. Yan, and you’re still laughing! The pain was so bad my vision went black. I almost fainted!"
Yan Feifan stopped laughing. "Your vision went black because of the body’s emergency response to intense pain."
"The fact that you’re over it now means you’re fine."
"Come on, let’s go back."
Yan Feifan continued to explain, "When we get back, we’ll first use adhesive tape to lift the toxic spines out of the swollen area. Then we’ll wash it repeatedly with soapy water to neutralize the acidic venom."
"After that, we’ll apply some toothpaste. Once it dries, we’ll peel it off, and the pain should mostly be gone."
Tian Yu wiped the tear stains from her face and said, looking aggrieved, "Why am I so unlucky?"
"Yanyan runs on this path every single day and she’s fine. I come to run with her for half a day, and I’m the one who gets hit."
"You think this is unlucky?" Yan Feifan said, trying to console her.
"In the ER, I’ve seen people who are ten, even a hundred times unluckier than you."
"Two months ago, there was a scaffolding collapse at a construction site near the Affiliated Hospital."
"A boss who came to inspect the site was dozens of meters away from the scene of the accident, but through a stroke of terrible luck, he got hit in the head by a piece of flying debris."
"He died..."
As Tian Yu walked back, listening to Yan Feifan’s stories about all sorts of unlucky people, she found that her sting didn’t hurt quite as much anymore...
About ten minutes later, the group emerged from the fitness trail and turned onto the paved road leading to the mountaintop villa. A car was parked in front of the villa’s small yard.
Yanyan cried out happily, "My mom’s back...!"