Mud beads

After asking the question, Yuejian Tetsu's smile remained on his lips, and the moisture in his eyes lingered, carrying a dampness that seemed to hold back the rain. Yu Zhu stared at him for a while, then leaned down and kissed him again.

Echigo held her arm, his brows furrowed, as if he had something more to say. But just as their lips were about to part, Yu Zhu pressed forward, deepening the kiss.

Echizen paused for a moment, a very soft sigh escaping his throat.

He didn't ask any more questions, tightened his grip on Yu Zhu's waist, and rolled over to press her back onto the bed.

When Yu Zhu woke up, it was still dark.

A pale gray hue peeked through the curtains, and the furniture in the room was just emerging from the darkness. Toru Echizen lay on the other side of the bed, a distance that wasn't too close or too far from her, his lips tightly closed, but his breathing shallow; he was still asleep.

Yu Zhu looked at him for a moment, then gently lifted the covers and got out of bed.

The physical exhaustion only started to surface now. She steadied herself by holding onto the edge of the bed, picked up her clothes that had fallen on the carpet, and put them on one by one.

She quietly opened the wardrobe and pulled the sample book from the bottom layer of clothes. A corner of a Polaroid camera tucked inside peeked out; she pushed it back and put the book and a few changes of clothes into her bag.

Most of the items in the wardrobe no longer belonged to her. Some still had their tags on, wrapped in plastic bags and neatly hung at the back. They were exquisite and well-organized, filling her life to the brim, yet none of them were suitable to be taken away.

Yu Zhu closed the cabinet door, picked up her bag, and turned to walk out of the bedroom.

The study curtains were not drawn, and the thin morning light filled the room. Outside the French windows, the courtyard lights were still on, and the yellow light from the lampshades fell on the neatly trimmed shrubs, their edges glistening with moisture.

Yu Zhu opened the desk drawer, inside which was a black business card holder.

There were only two ID cards in the business card holder, inserted in the same compartment, their four corners overlapping and tightly stacked together.

Echizen was in front, and hers was behind.

Yu Zhu's hand, which was resting on the drawer, suddenly stopped. Yue Jianche's words from last night echoed in her ears again—

If you want, we can go to the Civil Affairs Bureau at dawn.

She looked up at the window.

It was already daylight.

Yu Zhu pulled out her ID card from the hidden compartment; the remaining one, losing its support, tilted slightly to the side.

She walked out of the study and found Etsuya Tetsu standing at the bedroom door.

He was shirtless, arms crossed over his chest, traces of pleasure still visible on his body. The corridor lights were off, his face hidden in the dim light, only his eyes coldly watching her.

Yu Zhu stopped in her tracks.

Echizen's gaze moved from the bag on her shoulder to her feet, and then back to her face.

Where are you going?

Yu Zhu remained silent for a moment before slowly saying, "Let me go."

"What if I don't?"

Yu Zhu sighed: "You can let me stay this time, but I'll still leave next time."

Koshima Tetsuya remained silent.

His gaze remained fixed on her face, but the coldness gradually faded, replaced by a deeper weariness.

Yu Zhu lowered her eyes and softened her voice: "Let me go."

Koshima Toru didn't move.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse: "What if I beg you?"

Yu Zhu gripped the backpack strap and did not answer.

"Never mind." Echizen Toru suddenly smiled.

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and went back into the room.

In Yu Zhu's view, all that remained was the clean, empty corridor.

She stood there stunned for a moment, then quickly recovered and glanced down at the time on her phone.

The door lock clicked open, and the morning breeze blew in from outside, causing the bedroom curtains to sway slightly.

Echigo stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching Yu Zhu's figure shrink smaller and smaller until she turned the corner and disappeared completely.

He released his hand from the window screen, and before the white curtain fell, his lips moved slightly.

Goodbye, Yu Zhu.

Moth

The high-speed train journey from Chang'an to Qindao takes seven hours.

Yu Zhu sat by the window, where the familiar mountains still stretched out before her. The deep blue ridges rose one after another, villages were squeezed into narrow slopes, and roads and rivers wound their way around the foot of the mountains, as if everything had to consult the mountains before it could find its way.

The train kept moving forward, and the tunnels gradually became fewer.

The mountains receded to both sides, their undulations gradually easing until only a few blurry shadows remained on the horizon. The land stretched out before her, patches of lush green wheat fields flashing past the car window, rows of poplar trees standing along the field ridges, their trunks mottled and pale, their branches bent in the wind in the same direction.

Seven hours is enough for a mountain to disappear.

Yu Zhu kept looking out the window.

She didn't know what this journey meant; she just wanted to see it for herself.

Look at the land a person comes from, and where his gaze first falls.

My neighbor was a mother and her child.

The woman was in her thirties and spoke with a Northeastern accent. Beside her was her five-year-old son. The boy initially lay on the small table looking at the fields and woods, but soon got bored, opened a bag of biscuits, and played with the crumbs everywhere.

While wiping his hands, the woman asked Yu Zhu if she had gone to Qindao for tourism.

Yu Zhu nodded: "I guess so."

"It's a bit early to go now." The woman had the straightforwardness typical of northerners. "The seawater is too cold to swim in now, but it's fine to enjoy the breeze and climb the Great Wall. However, in two months there will be too many tourists, and the beach will be packed like dumplings in a pot."

She spoke casually about her hometown, complaining about the strong winds, long winters, and numerous unlicensed taxi drivers at the train station. After saying that, she couldn't help but tell Yu Zhu where the sea was clean and where was the best place to watch the sunrise.

Yu Zhu then asked her, "After getting off the bus, is it far to Shanhaiguan?"

"It's not far, it'll be there in less than an hour." The woman crumpled the tissue she had used to wipe her child's hands into a ball and stuffed it into the trash bag in front of the seat. "The older generation talks about the area inside and outside the pass, and Shanhaiguan is that gate. This side of the gate is North China, and that side is Northeast China. There are a lot of people from Northeast China in Qin Island."

Yu Zhu turned her head to look out the window.

No wonder Liang Dong sometimes emphasizes a few words when he speaks; it turns out his voice always carries the air of the Northeast.

The child sitting next to her made a fuss for a while, but eventually fell asleep with his head on his mother's lap. The woman took off her coat and covered him with it, then handed Yu Zhu an orange.

Yu Zhu thanked her and took the orange in her hand.

The orange peels emitted a faint fragrance from the heater in the carriage. The sunlight outside the window gradually slanted, illuminating the endless plain. Occasionally, a low-lying town would appear in the distance, its chimneys, buildings, and red and blue factories huddled together, only to be quickly left behind.

By the time the train arrived in Qindao, it was already dark. The doors opened, and a cool, damp night breeze rushed into the carriage from the far end of the platform.

Yu Zhu stood on the platform, watching all sorts of travelers and those returning home pass by, and suddenly felt a sense of bewilderment.

She smelled the faint scent of the sea in the wind and inexplicably recalled the mudflats of that day. The tide washed over her feet, and Toru Echizen lifted her high on his shoulders. She looked up and felt as if she were very close to the sky.

Now, she is very close to the sea.

As people exited the station, pushing their luggage, Yu Zhu followed the flow of people out of the station and boarded a bus bound for Shanhaiguan.

There weren't many people in the car, and the driver was playing upbeat DJ music. The blue line on the navigation screen gradually shortened, until the three characters for "Shanhaiguan" stopped at the destination, waiting for her.

At 11 p.m., Yu Zhu finally arrived at the guesthouse.

The guesthouse was tucked away on a quiet little street, flanked by two- or three-story self-built houses. The restaurant downstairs was already dark, its roller shutter displaying faded advertisements for seafood and beer. A breeze swept along the street, swirling up a few neglected flyers lying on the roadside.

The girl at the front desk was looking at her phone on the table. When she heard someone come in, she slowly stood up from behind the bar.

She silently took Yu Zhu's ID card, entered the information into the computer, and pointed to the camera next to the counter.

"Look at the camera."

Yu Zhu raised her face.

The white box on the screen encircled her face and quickly turned green.

The girl handed her the ID card and room key back to her, then sat down and started playing on her phone again.

Perhaps because it wasn't close enough to the sea, or perhaps because it was the off-season, there were no other guests in Yu Zhu's four-person room. Two bunk beds were arranged against the wall, with blue curtains tied to the four corners of the bedposts. Yu Zhu put her backpack on the lower bunk by the window and then went to the front desk to buy a bucket of instant noodles.

The water heater in the public area heats up very slowly.

After the water boiled, she lifted the paper lid, and the smell of instant noodles quickly filled the empty room—a familiar, cheap, and warm aroma.

Yu Zhu sat at the long table and quietly finished her meal.

The next day was a bright and sunny day.

Here, close to the sea, the wind blows away the clouds and dust, and the sky seems much higher than in Chang'an, a deep blue and serene.

Yu Zhu stood at the entrance of the guesthouse and looked up for a while before opening WeChat and sending her location to Liang Xia.

The chat window had been silent for a long time, and she thought she would have to wait a while, but unexpectedly, a new message popped up in less than half a minute.

Liang Xia: What are you doing?

Yu Zhu's heart started pounding.

She typed slowly: Could you send me your hometown address?