Mud beads

Yu Zhu and Zhao Jie chatted for a while longer.

Not long after, Zhao Jie's mother called, saying that the newly hired English teacher had arrived and that she should return immediately. Zhao Jie reluctantly hung up the phone, maneuvered her wheelchair off the bench, and waved to Yu Zhu before leaving.

The motor revved slowly, the wheels rolled over the gaps in the stone bricks, and soon disappeared on the lakeside path.

Yu Zhu didn't go back immediately; she sat alone on the bench for a while.

The sun overhead had faded sometime during the night. The light that had been covering the lake surface quickly receded, and the willows on the shore became a blurry, dark color. A breeze swept in from the distant lake, pulling the loose trousers back against the calves, and the air was filled with the smell of damp mud being turned over.

Yu Zhu raised her face.

The light of day was visibly dimming.

She immediately grabbed her cane, got up, and started walking back.

Just as she left the rest area, a raindrop fell on her cheek.

Yu Zhu paused in her steps.

A muffled clap of thunder rolled overhead, followed by a downpour of rain.

Yu Zhu didn't dare to stop, gripping her white cane tightly and continuing forward.

The rain blurred her already hazy vision, turning it a grayish-white blur. The tip of her cane swept out, only cutting through the flowing water; the faint sound it made was quickly swallowed by the rain. She could only rely on the vibrations transmitted back to her palm to barely judge where it would land.

The next second, the tip of the cane sank into a soft spot.

There is a meadow in front of us.

Yu Zhu gripped the white cane, her fingers tightening their hold.

She lost her sense of direction.

She had seen rain heavier than this and had been to darker places; the wind and rain of nature had never been a source of fear for her. But now, walking on this road she took every day, standing in the safe and spacious courtyard of the community, she felt a sense of unease for the first time.

Yu Zhu slowly pulled her foot back from where she had already stepped out.

Rain streamed down her face, and her breathing grew more rapid. She felt as if she were trapped in a small, gray square surrounded by a curtain of rain, with no distinction between front, back, left, or right—just a damp and empty void.

Suddenly someone called her name in the rain.

As a series of hurried footsteps approached, a dark shadow emerged from the rain and appeared before her.

"Going out without checking the weather forecast or taking your phone?"

Echigo ran up to her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her under the umbrella.

Rain pelted against the umbrella, and Yu Zhu looked up, wiping the water from her eyes. Familiar yet hazy patches of color appeared in her vision.

She stammered, "Didn't you go out...?"

Koshima Toru adjusted the umbrella handle in his hand, tilting it forward slightly to block the oncoming wind. The car keys in his palm collided with the umbrella handle, making a soft sound.

"Yes." He sneered coldly, "Go out and gamble away twelve cents."

Yu Zhu lowered her head and withdrew her gaze.

The hand that landed on her shoulder was warm, its palm pressed tightly against her soaked clothes. The panic she had felt earlier had vanished, but her heartbeat hadn't calmed down with Echizen Toru's arrival.

Echizen pulled her back.

When they entered the courtyard, both of them were basically soaked.

Echizen closed his umbrella, and rainwater immediately streamed down its surface and onto the ground. Yu Zhu was changing her shoes by the entrance, her wet socks sticking to her heels and difficult to remove, when Echizen bent down and ripped them off. He casually tossed the socks next to her wet shoes and told her to go take a shower first.

As the hot water cascaded down, Yu Zhu stood under the showerhead for a while, her breathing gradually calming down.

After showering and changing, she pushed open the bathroom door, and there was a blurry figure standing outside.

A cup was handed to me.

"I drank it."

Yu Zhu reached out and caught it: "What?"

The cup was very hot, and she couldn't see clearly, only vaguely making out a dark mass hovering in front of her.

"Hot Americano".

Echizen Toru walked past her in a calm tone and went into the restroom.

Yu Zhu lowered her head and took a sniff.

It's Isatis root.

Moth

In the afternoon, Echizen Toru did not go out again.

The study door was always closed. Across the corridor, you could occasionally hear distorted human voices leaking through the crack in the door, mixed with the soft sounds of a keyboard and mouse.

After dark, the aunt prepared dinner.

The soup steamed, and the stir-fried vegetables were served on white porcelain plates, their oil glistening slightly under the restaurant's overhead light. Even after Yu Zhu finished eating, the meeting in the study was still ongoing, and Yuejian Che hadn't emerged.

The food sat on the table for a while, and the surface steam gradually dissipated. After checking the time several times, the aunt packed each dish into a food storage container and put it in the refrigerator.

Yu Zhu was listening to an audiobook in the living room when she heard the refrigerator door open. She then told the housekeeper to go home first.

It was nearly eight o'clock when the study door finally opened.

Echigo Echi came out, his hand pressed to the back of his neck, two buttons undone on his shirt. Yu Zhu heard him come out, took off her headphones, and groped her way up from the sofa.

She went into the kitchen and took a food container from the refrigerator. The container was just a blurry light color in front of her. She used her fingertips to identify the shape of the lid and placed the food into the microwave one by one.

The button clicked a few times.

The machine's interior lights up, and behind the glass door, the food storage container slowly rotates with the turntable.

Echizen Toru didn't approach her; he just leaned against the kitchen door frame and watched her.

"Feeling guilty again?"

Yu Zhu ignored him.

She looked down and reached for the oven mitts on the counter, slowly putting them on. The microwave beeped, and she reached for the door.

"alright."

Echigo Koshima walked over and took the heat-resistant gloves off her hands.

"I'll do it myself."

Yu Zhu did not argue with him.

She put the gloves back on the counter, turned around and went back to the living room, sitting back down on the sofa.

She put the earphones back in her ears, and the stopped audio resumed playing. A female voice read a passage smoothly, and the next passage quickly followed. Yu Zhu listened for a while, paused, and then pressed the rewind button.

Moth

After the 11 PM phone notification sounded, Yu Zhu went to bed on time.

The bedside lamp went out, and the remaining outlines of the room disappeared. The heavy curtains were drawn back, blocking out the bright moonlight after the heavy rain, and she quickly closed her eyes in complete darkness.

In the middle of the night, Yu Zhu woke up from her sleep.

The room was quiet, and the bed beside me was flat and cold.

She sat up to clear her head and slowly got out of bed. The bedroom was only a few steps from the bathroom; the foot of the bed, the corner of the wall, and the door frame were already ingrained in her body, so she didn't need a cane to guide her.

She stepped barefoot onto the carpet, walked to the door, slipped on her slippers, and slowly walked out, her fingers lightly touching the wall.

The bathroom light was on.

A hazy white light leaked out from the half-open door, illuminating a nearby corner like a layer of dispersing cold mist.

The main light in the bathroom was off; only the light on the mirror cabinet was on.

Between the half-open door and the door, Toru Koshima stood with his back to her, one hand braced against the wall outside the shower room, the other hand placed in front of him.

Suppressed breathing reached my ears.

Yu Zhu stood there, frozen in place.

In my line of sight, the edges of Echizen Toru's body were gradually peeled away from the light, and scars slowly emerged from his arched back.

In the cold, white light of the mirror, he turned his head and met her eyes.