Mud beads

After the installation technician left, Yu Zhu was left alone in the study.

The computer sits on the desk, its curved screen resembling a small television; the technician explained it's called an "ultrawide monitor," a popular style these days. The mouse is hollowed out, feeling very light in the hand. The keyboard is plain white, but when you press a key, the keycaps shimmer with multicolored lights.

Yu Zhu pulled out a chair and sat down, carefully using the mouse to create a Word document. When she typed the first letter, her fingertip only touched the key a little bit, and the key didn't respond. She pressed it a little harder, and only then did a "1" appear on the screen.

She stared at the number, a slight smile unconsciously playing on her lips, which she quickly suppressed. As if suddenly remembering something, she got up, moved the water glass from her desk to the bedside table, and carefully picked up the eraser shavings from the table, tossing them into the trash can. While wiping the table, she didn't dare touch the cable under the monitor, afraid of loosening one. The damp wipe left a slight dampness on the surface, so she wiped it again with a dry tissue.

The school's learning platform software was already installed. Recalling how she used it in the library, she entered her account and password. The page popped up, and suddenly the middle of the screen went white, leaving only a gray circle spinning around.

Yu Zhu sat up a little straighter.

She stared at the spinning circle, sweat beading on her back. She didn't know where she'd gone wrong, and she didn't dare close the window and start over. The mouse cursor was stuck on the screen, her hand resting on it, too afraid to move for a long time.

Half a minute felt like an hour before the page finally loaded.

She looked at the class schedule, winter vacation homework, error notebook, and class notices on the interface, and her tightly pursed lips finally slowly relaxed.

She had never owned anything so valuable.

The last thing that truly remained was a pair of sandals given to her by Aunt Liu from the village. Aunt Liu bought the sandals at the market that morning, but her daughter drowned while playing by the reservoir that afternoon, before she even had a chance to wear them. Everyone else in the village considered them unlucky, but Liu Guizhen didn't mind. Yu Zhu didn't mind either; her shoes were already too small, pinching her feet, and every night when she took them off, her toes would ache.

Yu Zhu sat in front of the computer from morning until noon. When Aunt Wang came up to call her for lunch, she had just learned how to import her math mistakes into a folder.

"Let's eat first," Aunt Wang said. "The food is here; it won't run away."

Yu Zhu ate very quickly.

She was worried about the computer upstairs, always afraid that some weird virus or interface would pop up when she wasn't there. Aunt Wang saw her looking towards the stairs twice, smiled, and just said, "Don't ruin your eyes."

After going upstairs, Yu Zhu washed her hands, dried them with a tissue, and immediately sat back down at her desk. A red dot notification appeared in the upper right corner of the school's online platform page; clicking it immediately brought up a message: "Welcome to create your personal AI agent."

Below is a line of smaller print explaining that a learning plan can be generated based on the course schedule, incorrect answers, and homework progress to assist with answering questions.

Yu Zhu read the instructions three times and then pressed confirm.

Page redirection: Please name your intelligent agent.

The input box is empty.

Yu Zhu did not type it in hastily.

She liked to name things. She secretly named the hen in the yard "Chirp Chirp" and the old tree behind the house "Year After Year." The crazy woman next door once told her the story of *The Little Prince* when she was lucid; the woman said that things with names would be given new meaning.

Toru Echizama gave her a new meaning.

Yu Zhu typed "Panpan" into the input box.

Pandi's Pan.

She looked at them as if she were seeing a piece of cloth cut from an old garment and secretly sewn into a new one.

The next page is the preferences settings.

She checked "Step-by-step explanation," "Generate a plan for incorrect answers," and "Speak at a slower pace." Below was a custom input box; she thought for a moment and began typing—

Don't scold me.

The cursor moved backward, and the four characters were deleted again.

She typed again: Please explain patiently when I don't understand.

Creation successful.

A new dialog box pops up on the page, with a virtual little girl's avatar on it.

Hello, I'm Panpan. Is there anything I can do for you?

Yu Zhu smiled and looked down. Just as she put her hands on the keyboard, her phone rang.

The caller was from an unfamiliar number.

Yu Zhu hesitated for a moment, answered the phone, and had just said "hello" when she heard a girl shout, "Zhu Zhu, help!"

It's Zhou Qiyu.

It was noisy on the other end of the phone, with the sounds of traffic and car horns. Zhou Qiyu's voice was bright, with a hint of complaint at the end: "My best friend stood me up. We agreed to go shopping today, but after I arrived, she said she wanted to go to an exhibition. What exhibition? She's obviously prioritizing her girlfriend over her friend!"

Yu Zhu didn't know how to respond, so she just let out a soft "Ah".

"What do you mean, 'huh'?" Zhou Qiyu laughed. "You'll come with me."

Yu Zhu's mind went blank: "But..."

"But what?" Zhou Qiyu's voice rose and then softened. "Zhuzhu, how can you bear to let me shop alone? I've already put on my makeup, and the driver is on his way. I'll pick you up in twenty minutes, OK?"

Yu Zhu held her phone, but didn't say anything.

She didn't want to go. She didn't even know if she could go.

She wasn't familiar with Zhou Qiyu, nor with shopping malls. She had only gone shopping once with Aunt Wang, when they first arrived to buy necessities. No matter how big the Yue family's house was, once the doors were closed, it was still a fixed world. The outside world was different; such a vast place would only make her insignificance and ignorance stand out all the more.

But she wouldn't refuse.

Zhou Qiyu didn't give her time to think: "Dress nicely, I'll text you when I arrive."

The phone hangs up.

Yu Zhu put down her phone and looked at her computer. The screen still displayed the message: "Hello, I am Panpan."

She looked at it for a while longer, then minimized the page, got up, and went to the next room.

The door to Toru Koshima's room wasn't closed properly.

The room was dimly lit, and the movie footage flickered on the wall frame by frame. Echizen Toru sat on the carpet by the bed, leaning against the edge of the bed, with large headphones on his head.

Yu Zhu stood at the door, knocked gently, but did not go in.

Echizen Toru's gaze shifted over, indifferent and devoid of emotion.

The movie paused, the screen seemingly frozen at a crucial moment. A blonde woman in a yellow bodysuit held a samurai sword, her eyes resolute, her body covered in blood.

Yu Zhu said, "Sister Nana just called and asked me to go shopping."

She kept her eyes down, her phone clutched to her chest, standing very properly. She didn't express her thoughts, because the decision-making power was never truly hers.

Koshima Toru remained unresponsive: "I know."

After that, the movie started playing again.

Yu Zhu didn't say anything more. She put her hand on the doorknob, thought for a moment, and then let go.

Zhou Qiyu told her to dress nicely, but she didn't know how to meet Zhou Qiyu's standards. Aunt Wang said the snow outside had melted and it was a bit cold, so she should wear something thicker, and she put on a thin down jacket.

Half an hour later, a white Porsche stopped at the gate of the courtyard.

Yu Zhu had just stepped out the door, phone in hand, when she saw Zhou Qiyu lean out of the passenger seat. Zhou Qiyu wore sunglasses, her long hair was tied in a high ponytail, and her lips were glossy. She waved to her, her voice cheerful: "Get in the car."