Mud beads

Yu Zhu is really gone.

She took a step forward, and her heel sank into the soil again. Instead of bending down to pull it out, she simply used her ankle to lift it up, and the thin heel brought out a small patch of damp soil.

Echigo Koshima stood in the car headlights looking at her.

The mountain path was narrow, with a slope on one side and a drainage ditch on the other. The sky was shrouded in morning mist, not yet fully bright, and the lights in the distant village were gradually going out. The listless clucking of chickens and ducks came from behind the courtyard walls. Yu Zhu was only wearing that black dress, her shoulders and back exposed to the damp, cold air, and a chill ran down her spine when the wind blew. She walked slowly, each step heavy.

The car quickly caught up.

The driver turned on his high beams, moving at a snail's pace. The tires crunched over the gravel, making a soft, screeching sound. The headlights shone on her from behind, stretching her shadow to her feet and then pushing her forward again and again.

Echizen sat in the shadows of the back seat, his gaze fixed on Yu Zhu's back, his brows slowly furrowing.

After following him for ten minutes, he rolled down the car window halfway.

"Get in the car."

Yu Zhu did not turn around.

She continued walking along the dirt path, her heels sinking repeatedly into the mud, their original color long since indistinguishable. Her heels were chafed raw, the skin rubbing against the edges of her shoes, first hot, then burning painful. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms, and kept walking.

Echizen Toru watched her retreating figure and felt it was absurd.

The road was still a long way from the nearest town. It was still dark, the road was muddy and slippery, she had no phone, no money, and was wearing an inappropriate dress and a pair of high heels only suitable for banquet halls—how far could she walk? She would walk until her shoes were worn out, her feet were bleeding, and it was already dawn, but in the end, she would still have to get on the bus.

He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and looked at the watch on his wrist.

Less than four minutes had passed.

Yu Zhu is still walking.

She didn't look at the car, nor at him. There was a crack in the roadside; she walked around it, stumbling as she turned and nearly falling. Echizen Toru's hand touched the car door handle for a moment, then stopped.

He tugged at his collar in frustration and said to the driver, "Slow down."

The sky gradually turned gray, and the village was slowly left behind. Reaching a fork in the road, Yu Zhu stopped and stood there for a while.

To the left is a narrow path, half-covered by weeds at the entrance, with a crooked utility pole standing beside it. To the right is a newly built main road, passable by vehicles, but pedestrians have to take a longer, winding path around the mountain. Yu Zhu had walked this narrow path many times when she was a child, and villagers also used this path to go to town.

Echigo Echizen sat in the car and watched her stop. He then raised his hand to signal the driver to stop.

However, the next second, Yu Zhu started moving again and walked onto the path.

Seeing that Yu Zhu started to move, the driver stepped on the gas again and turned the car to the left. The dirt road was too narrow, with a rock wall on one side and bushes on the other. The car scraped against the bushes, and the branches scratched the paint, making a screeching sound.

"Mr. Yue, the car can't get in."

As Echizen looked at the increasingly distant dark figure ahead, several veins bulged on his jaw.

Moth

He pushed open the door and got out of the car.

Hearing the car door open, Yu Zhu quickened her pace. The dirt road hadn't been repaired for years, and rainwater had eroded it into numerous gullies. Her high heels sank into the dirt one moment and rubbed against the stones the next. Dewdrops from the bushes brushed against her calves like a row of fine, cold needles.

"Yu Zhu," Echizen called from behind.

She shouldn't.

"Come back with me."

She still didn't respond.

Yuejian Che caught up in a few steps and reached out to grab her wrist. Yu Zhu shook him off without turning her head, ran two steps forward, and distanced herself from him.

Echigo didn't grab her a second time, but just followed behind her, his breathing a little heavier than before.

He was wearing leather shoes with hard soles, and even they made him unsteady on the damp ground. She, in her high heels, had actually walked like that for so long, swaying precariously.

"Do you know where this road leads?" Toru Echiza asked.

"Know."

"How long has it been since you last walked here?"

Yu Zhu kicked away a protruding stone at her feet: "That's still more familiar with it than you are."

Echizen Toru was speechless and laughed at her words.

Before dawn, the bushes along the path blocked out the light, making it even darker. The path descended, becoming narrower and narrower, with the slope beside it becoming steeper. The soil, soaked by the night dew, was sticky and slippery, and the exposed grass roots made walking even more difficult. After walking for a while, Yu Zhu simply bent down and took off her shoes.

My feet touched the wet, cool ground, and I suddenly landed on the ground.

Her feet were already numb, and she didn't feel much even when the pebbles dug into the soles. She picked up her shoes and walked mechanically, and surprisingly, she found her steps became more steady.

Echigo looked at Yu Zhu's sleek, white back. She was like a snow-white deer in the mountains.

She was light and nimble, deliberately stepping on soft grass, but the path was complicated, and she inevitably stepped on gravel. He watched as the soles of her feet, raised alternately, changed from white to black, and then from black to red.

The unease in Echizen's chest suddenly took on a different flavor.

"Alright." He ran forward a few steps, not pulling her along, but just following closely behind her. "Get in the car, let's go back."

Yu Zhu ignored him.

"I'll take you home."

She kept moving forward.

"Your boyfriend hasn't been able to contact you for so long, do you think he might call the police?" Echizen Toru stared at the soles of her feet. "Aren't you worried now?"

Yu Zhu stopped.

Koshima Toru also stopped.

She turned to look at him, her face pale from the morning mist: "You know I have a boyfriend?"

Echizen's face darkened.

These words were harsher than the mountain wind, striking him directly in the face and making his temple throb. Before he could speak, Yu Zhu had already turned and started walking again. She walked even faster, as if the wind was on her feet, leaving him far behind.

It was still dark.

The morning sun, which should have peeked through the mountain ridge, was obscured by thick clouds. The distant mountain range hung dark and heavy, and the wind carried a damp, fishy smell. The branches of the bushes trembled and rustled in the wind, and Yuejian Che could faintly hear the sound of water, distant and muffled, like a stream at the foot of the mountain, or like the approaching rain in the distance.

He looked back.

The driver and the car were long gone, nowhere to be seen. He got out in a hurry, throwing his coat and phone on the seat, with only half a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in his pocket.

"Yu Zhu," he called out.

Yu Zhu continued walking.

"Yu Zhu, come back."

Her figure grew smaller and smaller.

Finally annoyed, Echizen Toru quickly caught up with her, picked her up from behind, and tossed her onto his shoulder.

"Haven't you gone crazy enough?"

He carried her back.

Caught off guard, Yu Zhu was suddenly thrown onto his shoulder. The pressure of his shoulder against her empty stomach sent a sharp, twisting pain through her. She struggled, crying, "Put me down!"

It's going to rain soon.

"Down!"

"You think you're so tough, dressing like that and getting soaked in the rain in the mountains?"

Yu Zhu looked at the back of his head, both angry and annoyed, and slammed the high heel she was holding into his back: "You insisted on bringing me here!"

Koshima Tetsuya's back muscles tensed, and he reached out with his other hand to hold the legs that were thrashing in front of his chest: "I'll take you back now."

"Didn't you understand human language when I told you to let go?"

Echigo didn't reply to her. His gaze swept over her feet, which were dangling in front of her. Mud and blood were smeared together, her toes were curled up from the cold, and her nails were bluish-purple. He pursed his lips and quickened his pace.

Yu Zhu lost one of her high heels, which hit a rock and rolled into the grass. She leaned against his shoulder, her stomach churning from the impact. Afraid of vomiting, she stopped talking and could only press against his back to support herself.

The person on his shoulder shifted their center of gravity, and just as Echizen was about to adjust his posture, his shoes slipped in the wet mud.

He held her, with bushes behind him offering no foothold. He could only brace himself with his heels. The soil crumbled under his weight, leaving a hollow beneath.

Yu Zhu felt Yue Jianche's body suddenly sink.

She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, and at the same instant, Yuejian Che tightened his arms, pulling Yu Zhu into his embrace. The bushes behind them collapsed, revealing a grassy slope underneath.

The two of them tumbled down together. Grass, twigs, and pebbles whipped their bodies like whips. Everything happened so fast that when the tumbling stopped, Yu Zhu closed her eyes, feeling the blood still coursing through her veins.

After a while, she opened her eyes and tried to lift her head, but found she couldn't move.

One hand is fixed behind the head and the other behind the shoulder.

Echizen Toru pulled her into his arms.

The pain from the impact came back a beat later; the first thing to enter Yu Zhu's body was the soreness caused by his constriction.

She lay on Echizen Toru's chest, propping herself up slightly, and looked down at the man beneath her.

His chin was scraped and bleeding, his face was covered in mud, his eyes were closed, and his long eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Yuejian Tetsu..." Yu Zhu called him softly, her voice dry and unfamiliar.

Koshima Tetsuya did not respond.

Yu Zhu paused for half a second, her heart pounding.

She lay down again, pressing her face against his damp, cold shirt. Hearing his strong heartbeat, she paused for a few seconds, then propped herself up on her elbows and got back up.

They fell into a patch of wild grass. Beneath their feet was a sloping hillside, below which flowed a babbling brook.

"Toru Koshima?"

Yu Zhu went to check his head. There was no blood. She then touched his shoulders and ribs; they were all fine. But when her hand touched his right leg, he suddenly grabbed her wrist with great force.

"Don't."

Echizen Toru had his eyes closed, his breathing was erratic, and his hair was covered in sweat.

Yu Zhu hurriedly lowered her head and swallowed.

His right leg was in the wrong position; his trousers were torn below the knee, revealing a swollen, red calf covered in abrasions. The worst spot had a small piece of flesh torn off, and blood was flowing down, soaking a small patch of ground.

Yu Zhu looked away and quickly reached for the pocket of Yue Jianche's trousers.

"My phone is in the car."

Echizen opened his eyes, his lips were very pale, yet he still managed to smile.

"Now is the best time for you to leave me."

Yu Zhu ignored him.

She struggled to her feet, looked up, and shouted towards the hillside, "Is anyone there—help!"

No one responded from the slope; only her own voice echoed twice before being torn apart by the mountain wind.

Yu Zhu took a breath and continued to call out, "Is anyone there? Someone here is injured—"

Watching her back as she walked back and forth, Tetsuya Echizen felt the pain clearly in his body, but his shoulders slowly relaxed.

The skin on Yu Zhu's back was still smooth, with only a few minor abrasions on her shoulder blades.

He loved things that were pure white and beautiful. He would mark that pure white space inch by inch, and fall asleep with his head resting on her back.

"If you leave quietly now, no one will know I'm here," Tetsuya Echizen said slowly, a smile in his eyes. "Once the rain starts, I'll die of hypothermia in less than three hours."

Yu Zhu gazed at the distant dark clouds. The cloud was drawing ever closer, and the air was already damp with the impending rain. She had just pulled a lighter from Yuejian Che's pocket; if she could find some dry grass to light and create wisps of smoke before the rain started, perhaps someone could—

Koshima Tetsu continued to coax him gently: "Think about it, once I die, you can live the life you want."

"So annoying!"

Yu Zhu turned around, squatted down, and covered Yue Jianche's mouth with her hand. "Shut up!"

Echizen looked down at the hand on his mouth, and his eyes slowly curved into a smile.

Yu Zhu let go of his hand, knelt on the ground, and looked at his legs again.

"Don't move around." She sighed.

Yuejian closed his eyes briefly, then reached out and grasped her wrist: "Yuzhu, I won't let you go even after we get out."

"Then let's all just die here!"

"Alright." Echizen Tetsu laughed, but his laughter was cut short by the pain. "What a pity, we'll be buried together in death, but we haven't even shared a bed in life."

A muffled thunderclap rolled across the mountaintop.

Yu Zhu looked up at the sky.

A raindrop hit the corner of her eye.