Mud beads

Chapter 10 Countdown

Song Keyi glanced down at her phone, tapped the screen with her long pink nails, and smiled: "You mean this?"

The comments section was still focused on Yu Zhu's sneezing face.

The girl next to her leaned over to look: "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Delete it," Yu Zhu said.

Her voice was very soft, and the footsteps of people passing by in the stairwell almost drowned out her voice.

Song Keyi put her phone away: "It wasn't me who sent it."

"The video you posted."

"What's wrong with me posting a video?" Song Keyi exchanged a glance with the girl beside her, pouting. "I posted a hand gesture dance, not you. The comments were from someone else; if you want to find someone, find that person. Why are you calling me that?"

Yu Zhu gripped the strap of her schoolbag tightly, her palms sweaty.

"I didn't call out," she said.

Song Keyi's smile faded slightly.

She turned off her phone screen, crossed her arms, and leaned against the wall: "Yu Zhu, get this straight, you were the one who peeked at my phone first, and I haven't even said anything to you yet."

The girl next to her immediately chimed in, "Yeah, that's so rude."

Yu Zhu looked up, her breathing a little rapid: "I didn't peek."

Song Keyi suddenly handed her the phone.

"Okay," she said. "Delete it."

Yu Zhu was stunned.

The phone screen lit up again, and Song Keyi swiped the screen as comments scrolled by.

She didn't know which button could delete comments, nor did she know if pressing the wrong button would damage someone else's phone.

They use the same phone as her, called Apple, but the entire village's apple harvest in a year can only buy one such phone.

Song Keyi pushed the phone forward a little more: "Delete it."

Yu Zhu did not answer.

A few boys stopped to watch the commotion at the stairwell. Xu Jiayan was there too, holding an iced Americano with water droplets clinging to the glass. He leaned closer and asked, "What's going on?"

Song Keyi glanced at Yu Zhu: "They asked me to delete the comments."

Xu Jiayan naturally took the phone and scrolled through the screen: "Which one?"

Song Keyi clicked on the picture.

Xu Jiayan saw it clearly and almost spat out his coffee: "Holy crap, who's so talented?"

It was that familiar jerk of laughter again.

Yu Zhu stood there, her ears ringing.

Song Keyi said, "Look, everyone finds it funny, so be more generous."

Yu Zhu did not speak.

Song Keyi put away her phone, took the hand of the girl next to her, and gently bumped into Yu Zhu's shoulder as she passed by.

"Don't peek at other people's phones next time." Song Keyi smiled slightly. "It's really rude."

Xu Jiayan walked slowly behind, and when he passed Yu Zhu, he shrugged and spread his hands.

The stairwell was soon empty.

The setting sun shone through the glass window, casting Yu Zhu's solitary shadow on the wall.

Moth

At 2 a.m., after finishing his last game of CS, Toru Ichima closed the game interface and leaned back in his computer chair to scroll through his phone.

The voice group chat was still going on in my headphones.

"Damn, those kids in the junior high are real beasts." Ji Yong's voice was muffled, as if he was smoking a cigarette. "Have you guys seen Nana's new Douyin video? The comments section is full of freshman emojis."

Another male voice came through the earpiece, tinged with laughter, "I heard he's a new charity student."

"Isn't this bullying an honest person?"

"How do you know she's an honest person?" Song Ban asked again.

Ji Yong didn't reply. Yue Jianche's phone vibrated. He opened WeChat messages and saw that Ji Yong had just sent a picture in the group chat.

It is Yu Zhu.

"How can you tell the difference if there's less?" Ji Yong asked him through the earpiece.

Echizen chuckled silently, casually saved the image to his meme collection, and scoffed, "Serves you right."

"You're a beast too," Ji Yong continued to conclude.

Koshima Tetsuya did not refute.

My WeChat vibrated again; it was Song Ban Gang sending a Ji Yong emoji in the group chat.

"Fuck your mother, Song Ban."

Echizen Toru raised his hand to take off his headphones and put his phone on Do Not Disturb mode.

Moth

Before the midterm exams, the homeroom teacher wrote a countdown on the blackboard.

Seven days.

The chalk was heavy, and two lines were drawn under the numbers. The atmosphere in the classroom became tense. Some students memorized vocabulary during morning reading, while others did practice problems during lunch break. The printer in the corner of the blackboard was spitting out paper all day long, and the teacher came in carrying stacks of test papers.

Yu Zhu also became nervous.

She carefully placed each exam paper into a file folder, sorting them by subject. But no matter how neatly she arranged the papers, she still couldn't solve the problems. The math problems were full of symbols, and when the English listening comprehension came on, the sound flowed through the speakers, and she could only grasp a few scattered words. The Chinese composition topic was "The World Through My Eyes," and she sat in the exam room thinking for a long time, finally writing a few lines about the Qinling Mountains and rain on her scratch paper.

After she finished writing it, she crossed it out.

She was afraid her teacher would think she was unsophisticated.

The essay she submitted was very short, with a blank space at the end. The proctor glanced at her as they collected the papers but didn't say anything.

The school doesn't publish the rankings of the top ten students in each class, but some people still manage to get their hands on the complete leaderboard.

During break, a group of people squeezed over to watch.

Yu Zhu remained seated, without moving.

She heard someone say, "He Xu is number one from the bottom."

He Xu himself was also nearby, wearing a mask, his voice muffled: "I only took the exam for one day, so it doesn't count, right?"

"Who's second to last?"

It quieted down for a moment.

Soon someone laughed: "Yu Zhu."

Yu Zhu lowered her head and used the tip of her pen to make a black dot on the book cover.

Song Keyi turned to look at her: "Congratulations, Yu Zhu, you did better than He Xu. He usually ranks in the top twenty."

He Xu pulled his mask down and coughed twice: "Student Yu, you're welcome."

The class burst into laughter.

The laughter hadn't completely stopped when the teacher entered. The homeroom teacher, surnamed Zhao, was in her thirties and always had her hair tied up tightly. She glanced at the back row and tapped the podium: "Stop crowding around, go back to your seats."

The students dispersed in a commotion.

Yu Zhu's pen was still frozen on the book, and a new dot appeared on the roof of the character "学" (xué, meaning "to learn") in mathematics.

Teacher Zhao said that the class's overall score in this exam was not ideal, and they did not qualify for the "Excellent Class" award. Therefore, the number of spots for the math competition was reduced to one.

A chorus of groans erupted in the classroom. Some students turned to look at Yu Zhu, their eyes filled with resentment.

Teacher Zhao tapped the blackboard: "Not getting a spot isn't just one student's problem. We have to consider average grades, discipline scores, and activity scores. Why aren't you complaining here now? Where were you all before?"

Yu Zhu kept her head down, not turning the pages of the book for a long time.

As soon as the bell rang, Song Keyi closed her book: "Yes, it's okay. We were just collectively unlucky."

Someone chimed in: "It's mainly because some people are just too lucky."

Xu Jiayan laughed: "Don't say anymore, Lao Zhao already said, 'It's not the problem of one particular student.'"

He emphasized the words "a certain one" so much that some people in the class laughed.

Zheng Nan did not laugh.

She packed her books into her bag and moved her chair a little to the side. A few days ago she only moved it slightly, but now it was much more noticeable. A gap appeared between the two tables, and a faint gray line stretched across the floor.

Yu Zhu looked at that line.

She wanted to move the table back, but she didn't dare.

Zheng Nan noticed her gaze and whispered, "Don't look at me."

Yu Zhu immediately lowered her head.

After a while, Zheng Nan said again, "They've said that to me before too."

The sound was very soft.

Yu Zhu looked up.

Zheng Nan had already put the earphones into her ears.

Moth

After class, Teacher Zhao called Yu Zhu to her office.

"Yu Zhu, your foundation is too weak."

Ms. Zhao sat behind her desk, flipping through her math test papers.

Yu Zhu lowered her head and listened to the rustling of the exam papers, not daring to speak.

"These are all the most basic questions, and you left them all blank." Teacher Zhao put down the test paper, her tone not harsh. "I've heard about what happened to you, and I understand. But my understanding doesn't mean you can continue like this."

Yu Zhu nodded, still not daring to look up.

Teacher Zhao sighed: "Starting today, you'll come to the office for an hour every day after school for extra tutoring. You'll take turns tutoring Chinese, Math, and English. I'll let the other teachers know. You need to put in the effort; the school is giving you this opportunity, not letting you just coast along."

Yu Zhu's eyes welled up with tears: "I understand."

"And one more thing," Teacher Zhao said gently, "Don't pay attention to what's going on in the class. You're here to study; don't think about or listen to anything else."

Yu Zhu nodded.

But she never coveted anything; it was those voices that forced their way into her ears, leaving her nowhere to escape.

From that day on, Yu Zhu went to the office every day after school.

Most of the junior high students had left, but she was still sitting on a small stool next to the teacher's desk, doing her homework. The sky outside the office gradually darkened, and the lights in the corridor came on.

She gradually got used to walking out of the empty teaching building alone, and even began to like this feeling called "loneliness".

When she returned to the Yue family home, it was often past dinnertime.

Aunt Wang knew that Yu Zhu ate dinner in the cafeteria, but she would still save some food for her every time. Sometimes it was soup, sometimes steamed egg custard, and sometimes a small dessert made by the chef. When she looked in the mirror, she even felt that she seemed to have gained a little weight, and her cheeks were not so gaunt.

Aunt Wang never asked her why she came home so late, only saying, "Eat first, then write."

Yu Zhu said, "Thank you, Aunt Wang."

Aunt Wang would sometimes casually say, "Young Master has already gone upstairs."

Yu Zhu lowered her head and ate her food.

She hadn't seen Toru Echizen for a long time.

She left early in the morning, and Yue Jianche hadn't come downstairs yet when she left the courtyard. When she returned in the evening, his bedroom door was closed, and she could occasionally hear the sounds of games or cello playing from inside. Every time she passed by the door, she would subconsciously tiptoe.

One day, Teacher Zhao called an impromptu meeting, and the tutoring session ended early. Yu Zhu, carrying her workbook, came out of the administration building and passed by the side door of the auditorium, where she saw Yuejian Che standing on the steps.

He was always surrounded by several handsome boys and beautiful girls from the high school, each one radiant. A girl with long, wavy hair handed him a sheet music. He glanced at it, smiled, and said something. The girl then gently punched him in the chest.

Yu Zhu watched from around the corner, feeling incredulous.

Someone actually dared to act like this in front of Echizen Toru—she didn't know how to describe it. Was it natural, or presumptuous?

She continued walking towards the school gate only after the group had entered the auditorium.

She has no right to bother him.

Moth

On Friday after school, Yu Zhu, as usual, carried her workbook to the office.

As she reached the stairwell, Song Keyi called out to her from behind.

"Yu Zhu".

Yu Zhu stopped.

Song Keyi smiled naturally: "Teacher Zhao isn't in her office. She wants you to go to room 902 to find her."

Yu Zhu didn't move.

Song Keyi raised an eyebrow: "Why are you looking at me like that? If you don't believe me, go to her office and see if she's there."