Every time that woman went to the supermarket to collect rations, Jing Shu saw tiny bugs spring from the woman's scalp. Some crawled into the woman's nostrils, some wriggled into the woman's ears, and some, after playing around, bounced right back out. The woman pretended not to notice and completely ignored the worms.
Only when the worms went too far would the woman dig them out.
She still walked through the crowds with that floor-length hair, dragging it behind her under everyone's stunned stares. When her head got too heavy, she would cradle the hair bundled with red nematodes in both arms and keep going. At night, to keep the red nematodes from roaming and disturbing her sleep, the woman wrapped her entire face and let the red nematodes do as they pleased.
She said, "If you ignore them, they'll die in a few days. Once they're dead, it's fine."
But because the woman had to brave the torrential rain to get rations every day, the moment her hair got even a little wet, countless red nematodes would swarm it. She ignored everyone's looks. Wherever the woman passed, people silently stepped aside. This was not someone you wanted to provoke.
Only later did Jing Shu learn why. When the woman was eighteen, her childhood sweetheart enlisted and told her, "I'll marry you when your hair reaches your waist."
He never returned after heading to the rescue during the 2008 Sichuan quake.
She never cut her hair again. To this day, she has not married.
If fate allowed it in this life, Jing Shu wanted to see that woman again. The woman had once helped her.
…
Grandma Jing watched the rain for a long time, never getting enough of it, smiling from ear to ear. The whole family stood at the villa's doorway with chopsticks still in hand. Grandpa Jing said, "Good. This rain is just what we needed."
It was the perfect time to appreciate the PVC mega-canopy Jing Shu had set up. The downpour streamed off the four corners, and a strip at least a meter wide outside the courtyard gate stayed dry thanks to the canopy's extended coverage.
Even the villa walls did not get splashed. For safety, Jing Shu had still packed the place with desiccant.
Outside, Xiao Dou danced in the rain, happy and reckless, but its clucks gradually sounded wrong.
At the same time, the community erupted into a rising chorus of wails.
"What's going on? What's happening?"
Under the weak lights, they seemed to see long, thin strands hanging all over Xiao Dou's body.
Xiao Dou looked much bigger all of a sudden.
At last, Xiao Dou screeched and flew back toward home, staring pitifully at Jing Shu for help. Xiao Dou's eyes blinked furiously, pleading.
Jing Shu put down her bowl and chopsticks, rushed forward, and used a big fork to pin Xiao Dou at the courtyard gate. No way was she letting a chicken covered in red nematodes into the villa.
Only under the courtyard lights did they see clearly. The family gasped in unison. Grandma Jing even staggered back a step. "Good heavens, thank goodness I didn't go out."
Jing An shielded Su Lanzhi behind him. "What bugs are those? Are they poisonous? Can we still save No. 1?"
"What do we do?" Su Lanzhi circled anxiously.
Xiao Dou looked absolutely horrific. It was miserable to behold.
Red nematodes poked their heads out everywhere, tangled through Xiao Dou's feathers, on the head, in every patch of plumage, even along the thighs.
It looked like a huge black ball had wrapped around Xiao Dou. The bird pecked frantically at its own feathers to bite the red nematodes off, but with one hard yank, Xiao Dou tore out a clump of feathers instead.
Even after ripping out a few tufts, the bare patches were instantly covered again. Dense red nematodes twined into tight ropes. There was no way to tear them off one by one. They were tough and they were united.
As the saying goes, unity is strength. A single chopstick breaks easily. A bundle of chopsticks does not. That was exactly what this was.
They clung like little vampires, binding Xiao Dou fast. Xiao Dou, the chicken always praised as a fierce fighter, had no solution this time.
Xiao Dou stared at Jing Shu, then looked down at its own body, then back at Jing Shu again, as if to say, please get these damned bugs off me.
"Should we use scissors and cut them off?"
"Wouldn't that mean shaving all the feathers?"
"This chicken's going bald for sure."
A collective shiver ran through the family. The bugs were terrifying enough, but the thought that the rain carried so many bugs was worse. Xiao Dou had only taken one loop outside and returned in this wretched state. Would it even be safe to go out in the future?
Wu You'ai ran out with her phone. "Don't go outside. There are tons of bugs in the rain." She stopped short when she saw the entire family gathered around Xiao Dou, which looked at everyone piteously and let out two clucks.
"The chat just said someone took a shower in the rain and their hair got wrapped in countless bugs that wouldn't come off. Looks like these are the same bugs. So far, no reports that they actually bite people."
Still holding Xiao Dou down, Jing Shu told Wu You'ai, "Go get a bag of salt from the kitchen. It should work on soft-bodied bugs."
Salt was the great nematode-killer.
But salt was precious in the apocalypse. Most people did not have enough salt to drive off red nematodes. In her previous life, Jing Shu would rather shave her head than waste salt on them. That was how rare and valuable salt had become.
"Oh, I get it! Soft-bodied bugs secrete and excrete through the skin. They're sensitive to changes in the osmotic balance between internal and external fluids. Salt raises the fluid density and pulls water out of their cells, making them shrivel. Jing Shu, you're so smart!" Wu You'ai dashed off to get salt.
Jing Shu: "???"
A top student was a top student. Say one sentence and Wu You'ai could connect a dozen concepts. Jing Shu had just learned the actual reason herself. She felt a little guilty. If she could be reborn back to her school years, she would study hard every day and keep far away from slackers.
Wu You'ai brought the salt.
"Stand back," Jing Shu said. She covered Xiao Dou with a large hood, then sprinkled a generous handful of salt evenly inside.
The family watched, tense and silent. Xiao Dou caused a lot of trouble on normal days, sneaking Su Lanzhi's little white apricots whenever possible. Su Lanzhi often chased Xiao Dou with a broom, while Xiao Dou reveled in the feeling of getting away with it.
Even so, Xiao Dou had brought the family endless laughter and eggs. No one wanted Xiao Dou to die.
There came a rapid series of thuds against the cover, loud and violent at first, then weaker, and finally silent. Jing Shu lifted the cover. On the ground lay a carpet of hair-thin bodies, curled together and utterly still.
Xiao Dou let out a long, comfortable moan and shook out its feathers. Aside from the patches it had plucked itself, everything else was intact. Xiao Dou was back.
But when Xiao Dou looked toward the rain again, there was wariness in its eyes. It lowered its head, glared at the piled red nematodes, and, with a vindictive cluck, pecked every last one clean.
"That scared me half to death. This chicken really is tough," Su Lanzhi said, patting her chest. She grabbed Xiao Dou and hurried inside. "We'll see if you still feel like fooling around out there. Learn your lesson."