Pet King

While Zhang Zian thought about the problem, Little Celery kept looking at the larva of the Swallowtail butterfly. From the look on her face, she was both curious about and fearful of the caterpillar at the same time.

“Mr. Store Manager, why doesn’t this bug move? Is it dying?” she asked.

“Huh?”

Zhang Zian snapped back to reality and walked to the shop next door. He stood next to Little Celery and watched the bug with her.

Caterpillars moved very slowly. After all, they relied on creeping. If they could run as fast as rabbits, that would be astonishing indeed.

Yesterday, when he’d come across this Swallowtail larva, it had still been able to crawl slowly by the wall. Today it was stiff, almost motionless. It had taken almost a full day to climb from the conspicuous position of the glass door to a small corner. This corner allowed it to avoid the strong sunlight that came in at noon. However, it would not be able to avoid the morning sun that shone down on it.

A person didn’t need to touch it with their fingers. Just by visual inspection, it was possible to tell that its body was not as soft as it had been yesterday. It seemed to be losing a little water and becoming quite stiff.

Zhang Zian looked at it and said, “It is not dead. It is merely getting ready to enter the next stage of life.”

Little Celery blinked and asked, “Is… Is it like silkworm babies that become silkworm larvae?”

“No.”

He shook his head. “You’re confusing the butterfly with the moth. Only the larvae of the moth will spit out a web and build a cocoon. However, this is the larvae of the swallowtail butterfly. It will only spit out a few strands of silk to fix itself in the shade. For example, it may do so at the back of a corner or on a branch. Then the body will slowly harden and form a pupa. In other words, the moth wraps itself in an outer shell, while the butterfly makes its body into a shell. In the simplest terms, moths build shells, while butterflies become shells.”

Little Celery seemed to understand what he’d said. In her mind, images of moths building shells came to her mind.

“It doesn’t matter. I guess this Swallowtail butterfly is going to settle down here to prepare for its metamorphosis. You can observe it on the way home every day and observe the process. Maybe one day, you may even see a butterfly emerging,” he said.

If it was not observed for the utilitarian purpose of completing a piece of homework, the task would definitely be a much more enjoyable experience.

“Yeah!” Little Celery nodded hard.

“A phrase often mentioned in daily life and novels, ‘Emerge from cocoons and become butterflies,’ is actually wrong,” Zhang Zian said. “The only thing that can do so is the moth. It will never be a butterfly. More appropriately, they transform from pupae into butterflies. However, it does not sound as lyrical as the first phrase. Moths are not always dull-looking. In fact, some species of moth are more beautiful and majestic-looking than butterflies. This is, therefore, the source of confusion. This mistake is shared with everyone. It is fine in daily living where we talk about them in casual conversations. However, in science, we must call a spade a spade. There must not be cause for confusion.” He further delved into the topic.

“Oh… This seems to be something I could write about for my homework.” Little Celery caught on to what he’d shared.

“Yes, you can definitely get a good score if you write this in your composition.” He smiled. “Your language teachers don’t necessarily know this… Ah, are you going to take the final exam? If the final language and composition exam is open-ended, where you can write about ‘Interesting Things in My Life,’ perhaps you can write about this mix-up that most people have. The teacher reading it will find your writing especially refreshing.”

The final examinations at primary school would be at the end of June. Little Celery was not the best writer. She paled in comparison to the best student, Wang Yaning. Her compositions were frequently read out by the teachers as model answers. Little Celery always envied her for that. When she heard Zhang Zian’s suggestion, she was so happy that she had already begun to ponder how to write the composition.

Wang Yaning’s composition, in terms of her use of literary devices and tonality, was rather standard. She employed the frequently-used sequential method of storytelling. Although it allowed the story to flow and looked very good on paper, it was rather forgettable. If Little Celery wrote about the mistakes people made about butterflies and started her story off with the phrase, ‘Emerge from cocoons and become butterflies,’ her composition would at least win on the novelty of her writing style.

Anyway, there was nothing to do in the store. The staff had merely come out to see what the excitement was all about with Xu Zhuang Zhuang. Before he went back, Wang Qian said, “If I was back in elementary school, even if I wrote this essay, I would definitely be suspected of plagiarism by the teacher…”

Li Kun agreed, “It is not really like something a child ranked close to the bottom of the class would be able to produce.”

“Idiot! You are second-to-last in class. Who gave you the authority to look down on me?” Wang Qian retorted.

“You two get back into the store and don’t make a fool out of yourselves here.” Zhang Zian rushed the two goons back into the store. Listening to their conversation was simply detrimental to the store’s image.

The two guys continued bickering and reluctantly headed back in. They claimed that the store was too stuffy, and Zhang Zian did not allow them to turn on the air conditioner. It was, therefore, better to come out and breathe fresh air.

Little Celery was excited with all the thoughts about how she would write her essay. She stared at the larva and said, ” It’s amazing! An ugly caterpillar turns itself into a cocoon. After it emerges, it becomes a beautiful butterfly. It’s like an ugly duckling turning into a white swan!”

Zhang Zian’s lips moved. He wanted to say something, but he swallowed it back.

“Ah! I will be late! Elder brother, I’m going to school first! See you tomorrow!” Little Celery looked down at the children’s watch on her wrist, exclaimed, and ran away with joy.

“See you tomorrow! Don’t run too fast. Be careful not to fall and scrape your knees.” Zhang Zian also waved goodbye.

The lively Little Celery had changed into workout shorts and sweatshirt. Without the two ponytails at the back of her head, she did look like a tomboy.

“Master, what did you want to say to her?” Li Kun observed his face and was keenly aware that Zhang Zian had unfinished words lingering on his tongue.

“That you are awful!”

Zhang Zian gave him a look.

“Say it, Master. I also want to hear! It’s good for our experience!” Wang Qian also pleaded, unwilling to give in.

Zhang Zian gave in to them and said, “There was a mistake in what Little Celery said. She said that caterpillars become cocoons and will break out and become butterflies, much like an ugly duckling turning into a white swan. In fact, this is not true.”

“Where is it wrong?”

Wang Qian and Li Kun looked puzzled.

Zhang Zian’s face grew serious and he explained, “After the caterpillar’s pupation, there is a drastic metamorphosis process within the cocoon. Almost all the organs in the caterpillar are digested into the cytoplasm by enzymes. Then, a microcellular structure called the ‘imaginal disc’ uses these digested organs as a source of nutrients to regenerate various organs of the butterfly.”

Wang Qian and Li Kun were still puzzled and did not understand what he’d shared with them.

“For example, in the sci-fi movie ‘Alien,’ A person is unknowingly injected with the egg of an alien creature. After a while, he enters a hibernation cabin to cope with the long duration of space travel. This helped to save on unnecessary energy exertion. During his hibernation, the egg quietly hatched in his body, feeding on his flesh and blood… When the hibernation cabin reopened, he was no longer a human being, but an alien monster. This is the same process of transformation that caterpillars and butterflies undergo.”

Zhang Zian pointed to the larva that was currently going through the process. “You would think that this caterpillar would turn into a butterfly. Actually it will not. It is merely a feeding machine responsible for collecting nutrients. The real butterfly is currently residing as a parasite within it, much like an egg. It waits for the caterpillar to fatten itself and then feeds on it. Person enters, alien emerges. Caterpillar in, butterfly out. So how can this be comparable to ugly ducklings becoming beautiful swans?”

Wang Qian and Li Kun finally understood what he meant, and their faces changed color. It was a hot summer, but they felt chills down their spines. They even had goosebumps.

“There is no poetic or aesthetic sense to this, is there? The truth is, indeed, cruel and brutal.” Zhang Zian smiled bitterly. “The phrase ’emerge from cocoons and become butterflies’ is fundamentally wrong. Even ‘transform from pupae into butterflies’ is somewhat incorrect. After all, the caterpillars are digested while inside and have already disappeared.”

Wang Qian understood. “So you didn’t tell Little Celery…”

“Yeah, because these truths are too dark and cruel. At her age, there is no need to know this. Let her think that caterpillars can really turn into butterflies.”

Wang Qian and Li Kun understood his reasoning.

Zhang Zian stared at the larva. What kind of butterfly was hidden in the body?