Mud beads

Teacher Fang stood outside the school gate.

She wore a thin beige trench coat, her long, black hair cascading over her shoulders, and carried a white sheet music folder. The sunlight after school wasn't strong, but she wore large brown sunglasses, which made her face appear even paler and smaller.

Yu Zhu stood inside the small gate of the junior high school section, clutching the strap of her schoolbag in her hand.

The school gate was packed with cars. Even though it wasn't raining, parents and drivers were all holding umbrellas and waiting by their cars. The car windows were all dark, so no one could see anything.

"What the hell? Is she crazy?"

"You dare to come back? You're shameless!"

"Didn't she already resign?"

"Being fired is the least of your worries."

The sounds came from all directions. Yu Zhu walked with her head down in the crowd, not daring to stop.

Echigo Koshima emerged from the high school, surrounded by a group of smartly dressed men and women. The students blocking the school gate spontaneously parted to make way for him upon seeing him arrive.

When Teacher Fang saw him, she took a step forward.

"Toru Koshima".

She didn't shout loudly.

The surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Echizen looked up.

Just one glance.

The driver had already opened the car door for him. The black Bentley was parked on the side of the road, its surface so clean that the row of camphor trees at the school gate were reflected in its reflection. He didn't stop or say anything, but bent down and got into the car.

Teacher Fang paused for a moment, then chased after the car, her voice trembling: "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

The car door closed with a very soft electric suction sound.

He stepped on the gas and sped away, without rolling down the window the entire time.

The school gate was bustling again.

"She really thinks Echizen Toru would pay any attention to her?"

"Do these 90s-born 'older women' think they're so charming?"

"Wasn't it her own fault for sticking with them in the first place? Now that things have gone wrong, she's accusing them of lying to her."

"Toru Koshima is so unlucky."

Yu Zhu finally stopped. She stood behind the camphor tree, looking at the woman who was standing there in a daze, her gaze scrutinizing.

Ms. Fang didn't cry or make a scene. She just stared in the direction the car had gone, the sheet music folder in her hand clenched so tightly it was slightly deformed.

Yu Zhu didn't understand Teacher Fang. But she understood the feeling of having nowhere to hide when you're being watched by many people. It's just that Teacher Fang was prettier and more presentable than her, and even her embarrassment was handled cleanly.

The security guard walked over and whispered, "Teacher Fang, please don't stand here. It's not a good look."

The woman finally moved.

As she turned around, her gaze swept across the crowd and she spotted Yu Zhu hiding behind a tree.

Yu Zhu immediately lowered her head.

A classmate walked past her from behind and said, "Isn't that amazing? Do they not have melons like this in the mountains?"

Yu Zhu hugged her schoolbag tightly, not daring to turn around or say a word. Many kinds of melons grow in the mountains, but she knew the melons they were talking about weren't the ones she knew.

On the way back, Yu Zhu kept thinking about Yue Jianche.

The way he got into the car was indifferent, calm, and deliberate.

He was clearly at the center of the storm, but he didn't need to say anything; others had already said it for him.

Moth

On Saturday morning, Toru Eshima was not at home.

He left home early in the morning.

Yu Zhu saw him coming downstairs in the second-floor corridor. He was wearing a black tight-fitting jacket, silver goggles on his head, and black half-gloves on his hands. He looked as sharp and efficient as an assassin from a comic book.

Aunt Wang said that the young master is going to the suburbs to practice shooting and won't be eating at home today.

Yu Zhu had never seen target practice, only the shotguns of the village hunters. One of them was very large, and it was later said that it was confiscated and the person involved almost got sentenced.

But Aunt Wang spoke in a very ordinary tone, as if she were talking about Etsuya Toru going to the library. The gate closed, a car sounded outside, and then the house fell silent again.

With Echizen Tetsuya not home, Yu Zhu was writing on the coffee table in the living room.

Her homeroom teacher gave her a calligraphy copybook by Zhao Mengfu. She wrote slowly, taking a long time to trace each character. After carefully finishing, she looked up and saw that the whole piece was still crooked and messy.

Aunt Wang is arranging flowers on the first floor.

Every morning, someone delivers flowers to the Yue family. The flowers are wrapped in semi-transparent paper, and you can never see any mud on the stems and leaves. Aunt Wang always takes silver scissors to trim them, cutting them into staggered shapes, before placing them in different vases.

When the doorbell rang, Aunt Wang had just gone to the kitchen.

The screen on the wall in the entryway lit up, and Teacher Fang was standing on it.

Yu Zhu called out to Aunt Wang, but no one answered. She hesitated for a moment, then opened the door, but didn't pull it all the way open.

Peeking through the gap, Ms. Fang was still wearing that beige trench coat, only this time she wasn't wearing sunglasses. She looked up; her eyes were a little swollen.

"Hello, classmate." Her voice was very pleasant, soft, with a slight huskiness. "Is Toru Echizen here?"

Yu Zhu leaned against the door, saying nothing.

She didn't know how to say it.

Teacher Fang added, "I'm sorry to trouble you, I'll only say a few words to him."

She's being too polite.

Yu Zhu was afraid of being spoken to in that tone. Liu Guizhen never asked her for favors, only scolded her. Yu Dahai also never asked her for favors, only gave her orders. When someone became too polite, Yu Zhu didn't know how to refuse.

Yu Zhu said, "He went out."

"When will he be back?"

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

Teacher Fang glanced into the courtyard.

The Yue family's lawn had just been mowed, the tips of the grass as even as if they had been measured with a ruler. White pillars, dark wooden doors, green plants hanging by the windows, and an empty space in the garage.

Aunt Wang came out quickly.

Her expression remained polite, but her tone was colder than usual: "Teacher Fang, the young master is not here. Please leave."

When Teacher Fang saw her, she looked a little embarrassed: "I just wanted to say a few words to him."

"The school has already handled it," Aunt Wang said. "They've given us the explanation we were entitled to. It's really not appropriate for you to come to our house like this again."

"I didn't mean anything by it."

Teacher Fang lowered her voice, her tone becoming somewhat urgent: "I'm not here to ask for money, nor am I here to cause trouble. I just want to ask him one question."

Aunt Wang's expression remained unchanged.

When Yu Zhu heard the word "money," she remembered Yu Dahai saying in the main room, "Eighty thousand, one hundred thousand."

It turns out that even city dwellers have prices to pay for getting things done.

Teacher Fang said, "I didn't touch the card you gave me. I just asked him one question and left, really."

Aunt Wang's face darkened: "Teacher Fang, the young master is still a minor."

The courtyard gate fell silent.

Yu Zhu didn't fully understand, but she knew the sentence was very serious. So serious that Teacher Fang lowered her head and her lips trembled slightly.

"I know," Teacher Fang said.

Aunt Wang said, "If you know, please leave. The property management has already seen it. It's not good for you to stay any longer."

She spoke as if she were considering Teacher Fang's best interests. But Yu Zhu could tell that Aunt Wang was trying to get rid of her.

Teacher Fang suddenly looked at Yu Zhu: "Student, could you help me make a phone call?"

Yu Zhu was stunned.

Aunt Wang frowned: "Teacher Fang, please don't make things difficult for the young girl."

"I'll just say one thing," Teacher Fang said, staring at Yu Zhu. "I promise, just one thing. Please help me, okay?"

Yu Zhu lowered her head, her fingers gripping the hem of her clothes.

She remembered the laughter at the school gate, and the sight of Yue Jianche getting into the car. She didn't know what had happened between Teacher Fang and him. All she knew was that, in everyone's eyes, Yue Jianche was innocent.

But she didn't think Teacher Fang was a bad person.

She probably really had something important to say.

Yu Zhu hesitated for a moment before handing over her phone.

Aunt Wang glanced at her, didn't stop her, but sighed.

The phone rang three times.

connected.