Mud beads

Beds in the North District dormitories will be cleared out at the end of the month.

If she doesn't attend the high school section of the same school, her bed will have to be freed up. Yu Zhu didn't apply for boarding at the No. 1 Middle School. Boarding students need to register when they return late and sign in when they leave school on weekends, so she needs time after school.

She rented a small room outside the east gate of No. 1 Middle School.

The sixth floor of the old apartment building had a perpetually damp and dusty smell in the hallway. Patches of plaster bulged on the walls, and the stair railings were rusty from long periods of neglect, with cobwebs clinging to the corners. Her room was a one-bedroom apartment of less than 30 square meters, facing north, requiring the lights to be on even during the day. Outside the window was a narrow alley, and across the street, on the ground floor, a doorman sold roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) and started chopping meat at 4:30 in the morning. The sound of the knife hitting the chopping board thudded against the glass.

Yu Zhu wasn't picky about her surroundings; even the most dilapidated house in the city was better than her home in the Qinling Mountains. She needed this simple freedom more than comfortable confinement.

That evening, Aunt Wang called to say that she was going back to her hometown to take care of her sick father and had also quit her job in Nanhu.

The phone was noisy; there was an announcement, and the sound of someone dragging a suitcase across the floor. Aunt Wang said, "Zhuzhu, eat properly, don't be so stingy. If you have any difficulties, just ask the young master; the Yue family won't be short of food."

Yu Zhu stood by the window, her fingers picking at the old dust on the window screen. She didn't respond, only saying, "Aunt Wang, be careful on the road."

After hanging up the phone, she transferred 100,000 yuan to Aunt Wang's account. She had a vague feeling that her only connection with the past might just be severed.

Moth

During the rest of the summer vacation, Yu Zhu became familiar with the streets around Dongmen.

The stationery store wasn't hiring, the convenience store thought she was too young, and the bakery owner said girls don't have the strength for this job. Each time she was rejected, she would thank the owner and leave, walking along the shade of the trees to the next job.

Leaving the affluent area, Yu Zhu realized just how hot and filthy the summers in Chang'an were.

The locust leaves by the roadside had turned gray from the sun, and the oil pans at the breakfast stalls were left out late, leaving brown dough stuck to the griddles. A half-empty cup of milk tea lay beside a trash can, its sweet aroma attracting a swarm of small flies. Yu Zhu walked along the road with her schoolbag on her back, sweat trickling down the back of her neck, leaving a dark stain around her collar.

The recruitment poster for Nong Ning Tea was pasted on the outside of the glass door, the brown paper faded and curled from the sun.

Part-time job, weekend work, 18 yuan per hour.

As Yu Zhu pushed open the door, the wind chimes on the door tinkled softly.

The shop wasn't large, but the air conditioning was on full blast. There was no overly sweet milky aroma, only a subtle scent of tea and lemon. Behind the counter, a woman in her thirties, her hair piled up, wearing a black work cap, was slicing a lemon. The knife fell on the cutting board, peeling off thin, even slices of lemon.

A little boy, wearing the uniform of the elementary school next door, was sitting in a booth next to the bar, playing with an eraser while hunched over the table. An arithmetic notebook lay open in front of him, with only half of the multiplication problems written in a crooked, illegible hand.

The woman glanced at Yu Zhu as she entered, then lowered her head to continue chopping: "What would you like to drink?"

Yu Zhu said, "I'm here to apply for a part-time job."

The woman looked up and scanned her from head to toe: "How old are you?"

"Sixteen in a row."

"That won't do." The woman swept the lemon slices into the box. "I have a lot of late shifts here, and it's hard for students to schedule appointments."

The little boy writing nearby looked up, called out "Mom" to the woman, and urged, "Is my lemon tea ready yet?"

The woman didn't speak, but glared at him, then looked at Yu Zhu with a displeased expression: "Why don't you ask someone else?"

Yu Zhu didn't move. She thought for a moment and said, "I'm in the experimental class at No. 1 Middle School."

The woman looked up, her eyebrows furrowed, giving her an expression as if she'd been starved of reading: "So what? Is the milk tea from No. 1 High School sweet?"

Yu Zhu glanced at the child beside her and said, "When the shop isn't busy, I can tutor him." Before the woman could answer, she added, "I'm from the mountains; I can endure hardship."

The little boy looked up at her, a pencil in his mouth.

The woman chuckled, but her laughter was rather lukewarm: "A freshman, huh? High school students don't even have enough time to study, let alone work."

"I can come for three hours after school during the week, and I can come all day on weekends," Yu Zhu said. "I live right next door, it's a ten-minute walk."

"What can you do in three hours?"

"We're closing up shop," Yu Zhu replied quickly. "I can do everything: wash the tea barrels, take out the trash, and mop the floor."

The woman didn't speak, but stared at her for a few seconds.

Yu Zhu didn't lower her head; her hands hung at her sides, her nails digging into the seams of her trousers. She had done her research; not many people were willing to work the night shift, and even fewer wanted to work the closing shift. Besides, she was getting paid an hourly wage for part-time work, doing the dirtiest and most tiring jobs in the store—it wasn't exactly a bad deal.

"Hurry and bring her here, Sister Liao—"

Suddenly, the curtain to the backup area was lifted, and a young girl came out carrying a garbage bag half her height, her voice drawn out: "You keep telling me to close up shop, at least send someone to take over the shift."

Yu Zhu looked over when she heard the sound. The girl looked about the same age as her, thin and small, with neat short hair, a black T-shirt, jeans, and a long tattoo on her forearm.

Sister Liao turned and glanced at her, then chuckled, "What's wrong? Did you suffer some injustice?"

"I'm not wronged, I'm not wronged." The girl dragged the trash bag around the bar, passed Yu Zhu, winked at her, and shouted, "I'm a workhorse, I'm the one who milks all the milk in the shop."

Yu Zhu lowered her head and smiled.

The girl pushed open the door and went out, and the wind chimes rang again.

Sister Liao glanced at Yu Zhu, then at her son who was staring blankly at his homework, and sighed: "Go get your health certificate first, then come back."

Yu Zhu quickly bowed and said, "Thank you, sister."

As she stepped out of the lemon tea shop, the street-side fried food stalls had just been set up, the oil bubbling and steam rising in people's faces. She walked to the intersection, stopped, looked up at the sky, which was so hot it seemed to have turned white, and smiled.

She has a job now.

Moth

The No. 1 Middle School in the city is very different from private schools.

There were no luxury cars parked at the school gate; bicycles, electric bikes, and buses were crammed together, their horns blaring incessantly. A breakfast cart was set up at the gate, soy milk in styrofoam boxes, surrounded by a large group of students. The students wore identical, oversized blue and white school uniforms, collars loose and baggy, their trousers ill-fitting. Boys pushed and shoved their way in from behind, while the girls were bare-faced and without makeup.

Yu Zhu followed the flow of people into the door.

The school building's staircase was narrow, and before the morning reading bell even rang, the corridor was already packed with people. The smells of sweat, fried dough sticks, ink, and damp mops mingled together as they climbed the walls. She stopped in front of the notice board and found her class.

The experimental class for the first year of high school.

When she entered the classroom, the teacher hadn't arrived yet. About 40-50% of the new students were scattered around, none of them recognizing each other, and they all kept their distance. Upon seeing her enter, all eyes turned to her. Yu Zhu quickly lowered her head and randomly found an empty seat in the middle.

She had just sat down when someone gently patted her shoulder. Turning around, she saw the girl at the table behind her smiling.

"You're so beautiful."

Yu Zhu was stunned.

The girl, wearing black-rimmed glasses, smiled shyly: "Which school did you go to?"

Yu Zhu said, "Elegant style."

The boy sitting one seat away from the girl immediately leaned over: "It's a private school, right? I heard the tuition is very expensive. It seems that most students there don't take the college entrance exam; they go abroad to study after finishing high school."

Echigo's face flashed through Yu Zhu's mind. She didn't know how to answer, so she simply nodded: "Probably."

The girl pushed up her glasses: "Then why don't you continue studying in high school there? Going abroad is much easier than taking the college entrance exam."

Yu Zhu was very frank: "I have no money."

After that question, the girl who had asked it didn't respond, only giving an awkward laugh, while the boy next to her also turned his head and sat up straight. Yu Zhu was a little embarrassed, lowering her head to stuff her books one by one into the desk drawer, her face expressionless.

She was telling the truth, but the other party was probably waiting for a more complete and respectable explanation, such as pursuing good grades, wanting to prove herself, or liking the atmosphere of the No. 1 High School in the city.

She was used to this way of speaking. She had never made friends and rarely chatted with people, so she didn't need to worry about tone or expression when talking to Panpan.

A short while later, the homeroom teacher arrived.

Mr. Li, a middle-aged man in his forties, teaches math, just like Teacher Zhao. There was no class in the morning; he only assigned seats and cleaned the classroom. The seats were arranged by height, and Yu Zhu, being tall, was assigned to the second-to-last row. The boy who had spoken to her once before became her new deskmate; his name was Liu Zhengyang, and he was the top science student in the neighboring city's middle school entrance exam.

At noon, Yu Zhu went to the cafeteria for lunch. On the way, clubs were recruiting new members, with tents set up under the trees, creating a lively atmosphere. Someone announced over the loudspeaker that the basketball club's interview location had been moved to the playground. A boy came over with an anime club application form and asked her if she was interested in cosplay.

Yu Zhu shook her head repeatedly: "I don't understand."

She didn't know what cosplay was, she only knew cosine.

The boy didn't give up and kept asking her, "Teacher, let's add each other on our list. We can contact each other if we're interested in the future—"

"No."

"Wow, so cold-hearted."

Yu Zhu walked quickly forward, leaving the boy behind. This seemed to be the second time today that her words were difficult to follow.

But she felt that Zhou Qiyu made a good point. Girls shouldn't always say "it's all okay."

Hot things are too tempting; everyone wants to touch them. If it's a little cool, at least there'll be less gossip.

ㅤ ㅤ

After school, Yu Zhu took her newly obtained health certificate to Nong Ning Tea.

Liao Jie's son sat next to the bar, his math notebook open, facing a chicken-and-rabbit problem. There were no other customers in the shop, and Liao Jie wasn't there either, so Yu Zhu didn't rush to find her. She put her schoolbag aside and started explaining the problem to Liao Jie's son.

Upon hearing Yu Zhu's voice, the girl she had seen before emerged from behind the curtain once again.

"Liang Xia." She extended her hand to Yu Zhu across the counter. "What's your name?"

Yu Zhu hesitated before taking her hand: "Hello, Yu Zhu."

Liang Xia was very helpful, teaching Yu Zhu how to take orders, prepare food, and close the shop. She said she started working when she was fourteen. Her father died in an accident while working on a construction site, and they didn't receive a penny of compensation. Her mother has an intellectual disability and is cared for at home by her younger brother, who is in high school. The whole family depends on her for support.

Looking at Liang Xia's indifferent smile, Yu Zhu once again felt the so-called "order." Leaving Yue Jianche, far away from the villa area and private school, she felt as if she had returned to the real world.

Yu Zhu became famous very quickly at No. 1 Middle School.

She used to be famous because of her poor background, unfashionable style, poor grades, and introverted personality. Now she's famous because she attended a private junior high school, is good-looking, has good grades, and is introverted. Except for her personality, everything else is the opposite.

She still kept her distance from everyone. She didn't have lunch with anyone, didn't chat during breaks, and would head straight to the bubble tea shop as soon as school was over. The workload at No. 1 High School was heavy, and there was an unspoken competition among the students. Everyone had their own things to do, and no one had time to make things difficult for her.

Until Friday evening.

After evening self-study, a group of students from the city's No. 1 High School flooded into the lemon tea shop. Some had just finished playing basketball, their hair still wet, their school uniform jackets draped over their shoulders; others were carrying basketballs, shouting as they entered, "Sis, hand-beaten lemon, half sugar, regular ice."

The order printer kept beeping, and Liang Xia poked her head out from the rear storage area, shouting loudly, "Scan the code yourself!"

As usual, Sister Liao wasn't there; only Liang Xia was working in the shop. Yu Zhu took off her school uniform and put on an apron, gathering her long hair in her hands and tucking it into a black hairnet. She stood behind the counter, picked up a stack of injection-molded cups, and began deftly labeling them.

A girl recognized her first.

"Hey." The girl nudged the person next to her with her elbow. "She's from our school, right?"

Several pairs of eyes turned to them.

"It looks like it, she's wearing school uniform pants."

"Just say it looks familiar."

Yu Zhu didn't look up, took the lemon tea Liang Xia handed her, and put it into the sealing machine: "Customer No. 73, your meal is ready."

A boy carrying a basketball squeezed to the front desk, holding his hand high: "Hey beautiful, mine's mine!"

After a wave of customers passed by, the order processing machine stopped, leaving only Yu Zhu and Liang Xia in the store.

"Hey, isn't it awkward to run into a classmate?" Liang Xia stretched as she walked out of the back area. "Are you short on cash?"

Yu Zhu was washing her shaker by the sink, without looking up: "I guess so."

What does "consider" mean?

"I owe someone a lot of money." Yu Zhu looked up and turned the cup upside down on the drainboard. "Although he's not in a hurry to ask for it back, I can't just sit around and do nothing."

"That sounds so inspiring." Liang Xia clicked her tongue and handed over a cup of lemon tea. "Try it, it's my special."

Yu Zhu reached out and took it, smiling.

She always felt very relaxed when she was with Liang Xia.

The lemon tea has a very refreshing taste. With lots of ice, you can feel the cool liquid flowing down your neck and into your stomach when you drink it.

The last time Yu Zhu drank milk tea was when she was in the first year of junior high school, shopping with Zhou Qiyu at the mall. At that time, she stood outside the bar, watching the machine continuously dispense milk tea.

Liang Xia gets off work early, so Yu Zhu closes the shop alone in the evening. The tea barrels have been soaking in tea leaves all day, so they need to be scrubbed with a brush when washing them. The towels are divided into three colors: white, blue, and red, and they need to be soaked separately in disinfectant in different boxes. The store closes at nine o'clock at night, and by the time Yu Zhu finished tidying up, locked the door, and came out, it was already past eleven o'clock.

Back home, downstairs people were drinking and playing drinking games. The electric fan whirred by the table, blowing out hot air. Yu Zhu pasted the English words she had copied during the day onto the wall and then bent down to do math. Panpan noticed a notification popping up in the lower right corner of the computer screen about accounting; she clicked it off and continued calculating.

Moth

On Monday, as soon as Yu Zhu entered the school gate, some unfamiliar classmates secretly stared at her. As soon as she sat down in the classroom, her deskmate, Liu Zhengyang, mysteriously pushed his phone, tucked inside his book, in front of her.

"Take a look at this, I don't know who submitted it."

She looked down; her phone screen was displaying a message posted by the school's campus wall.

Is the girl named Dongmen Nong Ningcha from No. 1 Middle School? Could you please tell me her name?

Below is a photo.

Yu Zhu's fingers trembled; the memory of being secretly photographed and meme-worthy in junior high school was still vivid in her mind. She glanced at Liu Zhengyang, clicked on the picture, but it wasn't an ugly photo at all.

A young woman in a black apron stood behind the bar, her long hair tucked into her hat, her head slightly lowered, her face turned to the side, revealing a delicate nose and a long, fair neck. She wasn't looking at the camera, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a takeout bag in her hand, and her lips pressed into a very thin line.

There were many comments below, extending to areas out of sight on the screen. Yu Zhu didn't read them all, only seeing the most upvoted one.

Yu Zhu. Formerly from Class 3 of Ya Feng. Always a customer who was taken care of by others.