Mud beads

Yu Zhu opened the car door, and a strong scent of perfume wafted out.

The car was as warm as summer, and the white leather seats were spotless without a single crease. Zhou Qiyu sat in the passenger seat, half of her body turned around. She was wearing a pale yellow knitted dress with a brown sheepskin vest over it, and the pearls in her ears had been replaced with tassels, which swayed gently as she spoke.

"Just put your bag over there," Zhou Qiyu patted the seat. "Why are you carrying it? Aren't you tired?"

Yu Zhu nodded, took the small bag off her chest, and placed it beside her. The car's heater was on full blast, and she felt hot but was too embarrassed to take off her down jacket. Less than three minutes into the journey, her back was already slightly damp.

Zhou Qiyu turned her head again: "Do you usually go shopping?"

Yu Zhu said, "I don't shop around much."

"Then come with me today." Zhou Qiyu winked, her tone familiar. "I'll show you around."

Yu Zhu sat in the back row, knees together, hands at her sides, unsure what to say. After a long pause, she finally stammered, "Thank you, Sister Nana."

Moth

The shopping mall is in the south of the city. The car enters from the underground parking garage and goes through several bends that resemble mountain roads.

After getting off the car, Yu Zhu followed Zhou Qiyu into the elevator. The elevator walls were dazzlingly bright. Looking at herself, wearing a beige down jacket, standing behind the slender and elegant Zhou Qiyu, she looked like a short mushroom that had just sprouted from the mud.

The elevator doors opened, and Zhou Qiyu pulled Yu Zhu to buy milk tea.

There were seven or eight people queuing in front of the milk tea shop. The electronic menu hung above their heads, and the names were all incredibly strange. Things like salty cheese milk, thick Guanyin tea, and duck poop-scented tea.

Yu Zhu's hometown used to raise ducks. When cleaning the duck pen, the duck droppings on the ground were so thick that you had to use a shovel to shovel them. They had a grassy smell and were not fragrant at all.

Zhou Qiyu swiped her finger up and down on her phone screen without looking up: "Which one does Zhuzhu want?"

Yu Zhu said, "Either is fine."

"I can have either the hardest one," Zhou Qiyu laughed. "Ice or hot?"

Yu Zhu had never drunk milk tea before, but she noticed that few of her classmates chose hot milk tea. It seemed that only girls would drink hot drinks during their special periods.

"It's cold, isn't it?" she said.

Zhou Qiyu gave an OK sign and continued operating on the phone: "Then make rice mochi, less ice, less sugar, okay?"

Yu Zhu looked up at the menu. The price was listed next to "rice mochi." 29 yuan could buy fifteen jin (7.5 catties) of rice.

While waiting, she looked at the bar again. The clerk taped the paper cup to the machine, which beeped, and white liquid fell into the cup.

After receiving the milk tea, Yu Zhu held the cup but didn't drink it immediately. There were two openings on the lid, and she didn't know which one to insert the straw into.

She pretended to look at her phone, glancing at Zhou Qiyu out of the corner of her eye. Zhou Qiyu had already picked up her cup, pushed the lid open with her thumb, and snapped the plastic stopper onto the other side. After inserting the straw, she didn't drink immediately, but stirred it first before bringing it to her lips.

Following Zhou Qiyu's example, Yu Zhu inserted the straw perfectly, step by step. The cool, sweet liquid flowed into her mouth, and the heat on her face subsided slightly.

"How does it taste?" Zhou Qiyu asked. "Do you like it?"

Yu Zhu nodded: "It's delicious."

It tasted pretty much what she expected. The milky flavor was mixed with tea aroma, a bit milder than White Rabbit candy, but more fragrant than lemon candy. The mochi had a sticky texture, which she actually found a little odd.

"That's fine then," Zhou Qiyu said. "If you don't like it, I'll get you something else."

Yu Zhu immediately shook her head. She didn't have the habit of wasting food.

Zhou Qiyu's shopping habits differ from Aunt Wang's.

Aunt Wang is organized and has clear goals about what to buy and what to do. Zhou Qiyu, on the other hand, is very spontaneous. She goes into any store that looks nice and swipes her card on anything that catches her eye. From accessories to clothes, and from clothes to shoes, she sometimes doesn't even try things on; she just "wraps them up."

Several shop assistants recognized her and called her "Miss Nana." While Zhou Qiyu went in to try on clothes, Yu Zhu sat on the sofa with her shopping bags, waiting. The shop assistants, with their exquisite makeup, kept bringing her water and snacks, asking if she was "Nana's sister," and complimenting her on her looks. But Yu Zhu knew these things weren't for her; they were just a little warmth leaking from Zhou Qiyu.

When she reached the third floor, two boys approached her. As soon as they got close, Yu Zhu smelled a very strong fragrance.

In her opinion, the two men were quite handsome and stylish, but Zhou Qiyu refused their request to add them on WeChat without hesitation.

"No."

Before the boy could say anything more, she had already stuffed the straw into her mouth and mumbled, "Sorry, handsome, I have a boyfriend."

Another boy laughed, "Can't I even make friends?"

"No way," Zhou Qiyu said. "My boyfriend is petty."

After saying that, he pulled Yu Zhu and turned to leave.

Yu Zhu followed behind, her mind filled with the word "boyfriend." She didn't know if Zhou Qiyu was serious or just using it as an excuse to reject her. In her memory, apart from Yuejian Tetsu, Songban, and Ji Yong, no other boys had ever been close to Zhou Qiyu.

Yu Zhu lowered her head and took a sip of milk tea, grinding the straw between her teeth and leaving a shallow mark.

Zhou Qiyu led her into an aromatherapy shop.

The shop smelled of various scents: roses, wood, citrus, and earthy scents after the rain, all mixed together. Zhou Qiyu led Yu Zhu to try the perfumes one by one. When they smelled one labeled "Silver Spring," she suddenly looked up and said, "This smells a bit like the scent of Echizen Toru."

Yu Zhu was taken aback.

Zhou Qiyu held the scented card to her nose and fanned it: "Smell it, does it look like it?"

Yu Zhu subconsciously took a half step back: "I don't know."

Zhou Qiyu stuck out her tongue and went to try the next one.

Yu Zhu did not keep up.

The dim lighting in the aromatherapy shop concealed her burning cheeks. Her heart was pounding inexplicably, as if the secret of that night had been suddenly exposed.

When standing next to Zhou Qiyu, she always subconsciously tried to avoid her relationship with Yuejian Tetsu, even though their relationship was just that of a sponsor and the sponsored.

Yu Zhu caught up with Zhou Qiyu and hesitated before asking, "Sister Nana, have you known Senior Yue for a long time?"

"We've known each other since elementary school." Zhou Qiyu put down the incense card, her eyes lighting up. "We were in the same class. He was the most handsome guy in the class, and I was the most beautiful girl."

Yu Zhu smiled.

Zhou Qiyu pulled her towards the door: "He was bad since elementary school. When we were kids, we didn't know any better. A boy in his class called him a pretty boy, and the next day he and Ji Yong cornered that boy in the bathroom and stuffed chalk up his nostrils."

Yu Zhu's smile froze on her face.

"It's terrifying, isn't it?" Zhou Qiyu pouted and continued walking forward. "He's horrifying when he gets angry."

"Really...?" Yu Zhu lowered her head. "Senior Yue is very quiet at home."

Zhou Qiyu remained noncommittal, but shook her finger meaningfully: "You'll find out later."

Next to the fragrance shop was a record store, its window display filled with all sorts of vinyl records. Zhou Qiyu glanced inside as she passed by, chuckled softly, and continued walking without stopping: "Xiao Fang loves this store the most."

Yu Zhu looked up and tightened her grip on the milk tea cup. The ice in the cup had mostly melted, and the cup was damp, whether from moisture or sweat, she couldn't tell.

"You've heard of her, haven't you?" Zhou Qiyu said as they walked. "She has good taste, but she's just not very bright."

Yu Zhu pursed her lips and whispered, "Is what happened with Teacher Fang... true?"

Zhou Qiyu turned to look at her: "Of course."

"She wouldn't have made such a scene if it weren't true." Her tone was confident and casual, not like she was talking about a scandal. "Yoshima Toru definitely slept with her, but she's an adult. She didn't follow the rules, so who can she blame?"

As soon as she said that, the cup in Yu Zhu's hand dented slightly.

Zhou Qiyu, oblivious to Yu Zhu's silence, turned to her and said with a smile, "What's wrong? Has your image of your crush crumbled?"

Yu Zhu shook her head. She didn't know what to say.

She knew Zhou Qiyu had no reason to lie to her, but she also couldn't imagine that Yuejian Tetsu would do such a thing.

The word "sleep" appears frequently in the village. These are the things the village women talk about most when they gather at the village entrance. Liu the Cripple slept with Widow Li, Wu San's uncle slept with his sister-in-law. But these are considered sordid matters in the village, not something that can be openly discussed like Zhou Qiyu's story, nor is it a "game" with "rules."

Zhou Qiyu seemed to see what Yu Zhu was thinking, and patted her head: "No man is without vulgarity. Handsome men are vulgar, and ugly men are vulgar."

The word "vulgar" hurt Yu Zhu even more than sleeping with him. She wanted to say something to defend Yue Jianche, but she had no right to, let alone the right to, discuss him.

She wasn't even allowed to mention him.

Zhou Qiyu got tired of walking and pulled Yu Zhu to sit down in the mall's rest area.

"Me and Toru Echizen..." she suddenly smiled, "I've thought about it before."

Yu Zhu raised her head.

Zhou Qiyu didn't look at her, her gaze fixed on her manicured nails: "But Kojima Toru, he's not persistent, and he has no patience. We could be friends for a lifetime, but as girlfriends, we'd probably be out of a job in three days."

She gave a short laugh, then turned her hand over to look at it again: "Besides, I'm afraid that if I really get together with him, one day when I look in the mirror, I won't even know who's in the picture."

Yu Zhu remained silent.

She could sense Zhou Qiyu's feelings; even though she spoke of him in such a negative light, his affection was undeniable.

Zhou Qiyu finally turned her head to look at Yu Zhu, and waved her hand: "Forget it, why bother talking to you about this? You're still a little kid."

After saying that, she took out her phone and glanced at the time—it was almost dinnertime.

"How about I take you to eat Japanese food?" she said. "Is raw food okay?"

Yu Zhu said, "Either is fine."

Zhou Qiyu put down her phone, her smile fading.

Yu Zhu also became serious.

"Zhuzhu." Zhou Qiyu held up a finger and shook it. "Girls shouldn't always say 'anything is fine'."

Yu Zhu nervously gripped the hem of her down jacket, not understanding what she had done wrong.

Zhou Qiyu's tone wasn't harsh, but her expression was serious: "If you keep saying 'anything is fine,' it saves others trouble. You can have the bad stuff, the troublesome stuff, and the rest."

Yu Zhu lowered her head, her clenched hands loosening and then clenching again.

She never tried saying no. If saying no worked, then wouldn't school bullying, class duties, and even today's date have all been prevented?

After a moment's hesitation, Yu Zhu looked up and said, "Then... I want it cooked."

Zhou Qiyu was finally satisfied: "Hey, that's right, this is much better."

Moth

Zhou Qiyu still took Yu Zhu to a Japanese restaurant, but she said that the restaurant's ramen was very famous and she had to try it.

Yu Zhu nodded and smiled approvingly, though the smile was slow.

The Japanese restaurant was tucked away in an alley in the old town, with a dark blue wave-patterned curtain hanging at the entrance and dim lighting. The two women had just gotten out of the car when they saw Song Keyi and a girl lifting the curtain and walking out.

This is the first time Yu Zhu has seen Song Keyi without her school uniform.

She was wearing makeup, her eyelashes were long and curled, and she was wearing a pink fleece jacket over a light gray plaid skirt, with long stockings covering her slender calves. She saw Zhou Qiyu first, her eyes widened instantly, and her smile immediately became sweet.

"Senior Nana!"

The next second, her gaze fell on Yu Zhu's face, and her smile faltered for a moment.

"Yu Zhu?" she said.