Mud beads

The next evening, after rehearsal, Yu Zhu went to the school gate to pick up Liang Dong.

He stood outside the guardhouse, wearing a clean white T-shirt, dark jeans, and a backpack, looking more like a student than any other student. Amidst the bustling crowd at the school gate, he still stood out.

Yu Zhu walked over and said, "I'm sorry, it's a little late."

"Just arrived."

He followed Yu Zhu inside, pausing briefly as they passed the bulletin board. The board displayed scholarship notices, lecture posters, club recruitment announcements, and a drama festival notice. Liang Dong glanced at it for a few seconds, then looked away.

"How were your grades before?" Yu Zhu asked, then immediately added, "It's okay if you can't answer."

Liang Dong said, "It's alright."

"Not bad?"

"Top five in the class."

Yu Zhu slowed her pace a little.

Liang Xia kept telling her that Liang Dong's grades were not good.

Liang Dong looked up at the sycamore trees along the tree-lined path: "It's not very interesting. If I keep studying, my sister will still have to support me."

His tone was very calm, and you couldn't tell what emotions he was expressing.

Yu Zhu felt a little uncomfortable.

"You shouldn't have kept it from your sister."

Liang Dong did not answer.

One by one, the streetlights lit up, and the shadows of the trees fell to the ground, scattered by people's feet.

After a while, he said, "She's twenty-five this year."

"What's wrong with being twenty-five?"

"She should live her own life." Liang Dong looked at the road ahead. "When my mother was alive, the family clung to her, but now that my mother is gone, I can't cling to her anymore."

Yu Zhu fell silent.

From Liang Xia's perspective, she felt that Liang Dong was right. But from Liang Dong's perspective, he shouldn't have been deprived of his education.

Sometimes, a person's fate truly seems predetermined.

Yu Zhu stopped in front of the side door of the small auditorium and turned to look at him.

"That's true," she said. "You can learn at university, but you don't necessarily have to be at university to learn."

Liang Dong's jaw twitched, but he didn't speak.

"Whatever books you want to read in the future, I'll borrow them for you from the library." Yu Zhu smiled, raised her hand, and pushed open the side door of the small auditorium. "Come on in."

Moth

The door hinges were stiff, making a long scraping sound when pushed open. The stuffy air inside, accumulated over the day, made the smell of old wood and dust even more pronounced. Yu Zhu reached for the light switch on the wall and turned on only two lights above the stage.

As soon as the light came on, a beam of light descended. Tiny specks of dust swirled in the air, flying slowly and falling slowly, like a melody about time.

Liang Dong stood at the door, not going in immediately.

Yu Zhu turned around: "What's wrong?"

Liang Dong shifted his gaze from the stage in front of him to the audience below, gripping the straps of his backpack with both hands: "It feels... a bit strange."

"Nervous?" Yu Zhu put her bag on the front row and waved to him. "Come on, there's no one here, come up and give it a try."

Liang Dong looked at Yu Zhu.

She stood under the stage lights, her shoulder-length hair falling over her shoulders, her eyebrows and eyes curved, and her smile carrying a faint glow.

Seeing that he didn't move, she continued, "Stand up there and imagine there are people sitting below. At least the interview won't be any more intimidating than this."

"it is good."

Liang Dong stepped onto the stage.

The steps weren't high; the wooden planks creaked softly when stepped on. Two beams of light shone directly down from above the stage, so bright and empty that standing beneath them felt as if a layer of clothing had been peeled off.

He subconsciously lowered his head, his fingers gripping the bag strap again. The dark red seats below the stage were empty, yet they felt heavy, as if a group of people were truly sitting there, silently watching him.

Seeing his embarrassed expression reminded Yu Zhu of herself when she stepped onto the stage that afternoon. She walked over and, mimicking Teacher Meng, patted him on the back: "Look up, look down."

Liang Dong looked up and smiled shyly.

"What are you laughing at?" Yu Zhu said again, "Don't you get a lot of viewers when you're live streaming?"

"That's different."

"You can think of this as a live stream," Yu Zhu thought seriously for a moment, "I am the live chat."

As she spoke, she crossed her arms and took two steps.

Liang Dong laughed and turned her face away: "Stop messing around..."

After saying that, he seemed to suddenly remember something and cleared his throat: "What are you queuing for?"

Yu Zhu didn't react immediately: "What?"

"I'd like to see your performance," Liang Dong said, standing under the light, her voice a little lower. "Is that alright, sister?"

Yu Zhu was stunned.

She brought him here so he could practice, not to perform for her. But Liang Dong asked very seriously, without teasing or joking. He stood there, his eyes dark and deep, carrying a hint of expectation that a young man couldn't hide.

Yu Zhu felt uncomfortable under his gaze and lowered her head to flip through the script.

"I...I haven't finished lining up yet."

"You just said I was nervous," Liang Dong laughed.

Yu Zhu held the paper tightly, pressing her fingertips against the corner. The small auditorium was too quiet, making her hesitation all the more noticeable. Finally, she stood up and walked onto the stage.

Liang Dong stepped aside.

Yu Zhu didn't stand in the center, but stopped at the edge of the light. She looked down at the script twice, the pages obscuring half her face. When she looked up again, her voice was still soft, the first sentence almost a whisper from her throat.

"He promised me a golden crown, he promised me a palace, he promised me I would never be forgotten at the feasts of the gods—"

Dust drifted past her shoulder, the light illuminating her profile in a thin glow. Liang Dong noticed her eyelashes drooping, her lips pursed, then relaxed.

He said, "As long as I turn back."

When she said the second sentence, her voice was a little louder.

"As long as I stop. As long as I surrender my name, my body and my fear to Him, He will grant me glory."

Yu Zhu took a step forward and stepped into the light.

"But what would I do with this glory?"

Liang Dong's fingers stopped.

Yu Zhu didn't look at him. She looked at the empty chairs below the stage, at the dark, somber red, and suddenly her voice rose.

"I don't want to be a flower placed on his table after his victory, nor an ornament on the rim of a wine glass for others to praise! I'd rather be swallowed by the sea, devoured by the night, and forgotten by everyone!"

She looked up.

"As long as the fall was the path I chose."

The auditorium fell silent.

Liang Dong heard her own heartbeat, echoing and reverberating along with her voice.

Even though he was standing right next to her, he inexplicably felt very far away from her.

She no longer seemed to be the resident carrying garbage bags downstairs from the old third-floor apartment, no longer the part-time clerk silently labeling cups behind the bar, no longer the girl running with him in the rain.

When she stood on the stage reciting her lines, she exuded a kind of brightness that seemed to come after the sky had been torn open.

Liang Dong felt something hit his chest, making him feel extremely stuffy.

That's about it.

After Yu Zhu finished reading, she looked down at the script. Feeling a little embarrassed after what she'd just said, her voice returned to its usual even tone.

Liang Dong didn't say anything.

Yu Zhu looked up: "Is it strange?"

Liang Dong shook his head.

After a few seconds, he said, "It's fine."

Yu Zhu became even more uncomfortable after hearing his words, and left the stage with her script in her arms: "I sent you a poem on your phone, you can try it."

Liang Dong took out his phone; a few lines of text were displayed on the screen.

"Shakespeare?" he asked.

"Sonnet Twenty-Nine." Yu Zhu sat back in the first row. "I found an easier-to-understand translation. It means that a person feels that fate has thrown him into a very low place, that no one sees him, no one listens to him. He envies others who have friends, a future, and a respectable status. Then he thinks of someone and realizes that he's not so miserable after all."

Liang Dong stared at the screen for half a minute before hesitating to speak.

"I am rejected by fate and the eyes of others, and I look down on my own situation alone. I cry out to the heavens, but the heavens do not heed my cries. I am disgusted with my own fate and envy the fates of others."

Yu Zhu sat in the audience and said softly, "You can go a little slower."

Liang Dong paused, nodded, and began to read again.

"I envy others who have friends, a future, and a respectable name. I envy this person's hope, and I envy that person's talent."

His voice slowly emerged.

"But when I think of you, my heart rises from the gloomy ground, like a lark soaring towards the heavens at dawn. Because I remember your love, I refuse to exchange my fate with the king!"

As the last sentence fell, Yu Zhu clapped.

Liang Dong held his phone, his ears burning, but his face remained tense. It was as if he had spoken something he shouldn't have to say to thin air, and then wanted to take it back immediately.

Yu Zhu looked at him and smiled happily: "You are very talented."

Liang Dong lowered her eyes: "Is that so..."

"Yes," Yu Zhu said, "you pronounced the word 'love' a little too forcefully."

Liang Dong turned her head away, her voice very soft: "Really?"

Yu Zhu nodded, a hint of a smile in her eyes: "Yes. Like collecting a debt."

Liang Dong lowered his head and smiled.

The phone vibrated at that moment.

He looked down and a new message popped up on the screen.

How about trying instant noodles tomorrow morning at 10:00?

Liang Dong stood in that beam of light, looking down as he replied to the message.

convenient.