Mud beads

Yu Zhu dressed up before going out today.

She straightened her hair with a hair straightener, applied light-colored lip gloss, and changed out of her usual black and white T-shirt into a white shirt that Zhou Qiyu had given her.

The shirt was made of thin fabric, with a good drape and no see-through. The cuffs were folded down to the elbows, the waistline was smoothly cinched, and the hem was slightly upturned. Paired with navy blue denim shorts, it accentuated her slender figure with a touch of playfulness. When Liu Zhengyang saw her that morning, he stood there holding his laptop, stunned for a long time, before finally managing to stammer, "Sister, if you keep acting like this, my resolve is wavering."

After class, she walked along the shade of the trees toward Nong Ning Tea and saw a sign hanging at the entrance that said delivery was temporarily suspended. Her heart skipped a beat.

Pushing open the door, a rush of cold air and a sweet smell rushed out. A tea maker was steaming behind it, and rolls of plastic wrap were piled on the shelf. Liang Xia stood behind the bar, her hair a bit long, casually tied into a bun, her work uniform sleeves rolled up to her elbows, wiping the counter with a damp cloth.

Seeing Yu Zhu enter, she looked up and drawled out, "Who's this? I don't recognize her."

Yu Zhu lifted the tabletop, walked behind the bar, and put her bag in the locker: "Come on."

"Really." Liang Xia stared at her for a couple more moments, then clicked his tongue and said, "How come you've changed so much in just a few days? You've got that vibe again."

"What does it taste like?"

Liang Xia stroked her chin with feigned profundity: "Femininity."

"You're disgusting." Yu Zhu wrinkled her nose and smiled, reaching for her apron. "You're starting to smell like a straight man."

Liang Xia grabbed her arm and said, "Don't rush, let me introduce you to someone."

Yu Zhu followed her gaze.

Behind the curtain, a boy was standing in the reserve area.

He was very tall, with wheat-colored skin, broad and straight shoulders, and wore a loose black short-sleeved shirt with some dust on his shoulders. He seemed to have just finished sorting goods, as he was carrying a stack of flattened cardboard boxes and placing them on the ice machine.

"Hey, little farmhand."

When he heard Liang Xia call him, he turned around and looked at her. His eyes were bright and clean, and his eyelashes were long and black.

Upon seeing Yu Zhu, he paused, his hand still holding the cardboard box high, forgetting to put it down.

"What are you standing there for? Call me 'sister'." Liang Xia frowned as she looked at his dazed expression. "This is Yu Zhu, my buddy. I've told you about her."

Yu Zhu looked at Liang Xia, also a little confused.

The boy put down the cardboard, touched the back of his head, quickly put it down again, and nodded cautiously.

"Hello, Sister Yuzhu."

Liang Xia walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and turned to look at Yu Zhu: "This is my brother, I've mentioned him to you before. Liang Dong, Dong as in winter. He just finished the college entrance exam, but his grades weren't good enough, so he dropped out and came to Chang'an to come and work for me, selling his life for the capitalists."

Liang Dong didn't refute, but called out "Sister" softly with a hint of resentment, then glanced at Yu Zhu before lowering her eyes.

Yu Zhu laughed, putting on her apron as she said, "Hey there! You must have gotten a lot of scoldings following your sister, right?"

Upon hearing this, Liang Dong smiled briefly and nodded emphatically. Seeing him nod, Liang Xia, faster than she could speak, pinched his waist. Liang Dong cried out and tried to back away, but there was a wall behind him, leaving him nowhere to retreat.

As Yu Zhu watched the siblings playfully fighting, the initial unease she felt dissipated.

After tidying up the goods, Liang Dong turned around to wash his hands. He washed them very carefully, scrubbing between his fingers and under his nails. After washing, he dried them with a tissue before daring to stand back near the bar.

"He's new here and doesn't know anything," Liang Xia said. "Don't spoil him; just give him a hand when necessary."

"I will learn," Liang Dong said immediately.

Liang Xia rolled her eyes at him: "Oh right, you can do everything. If a customer complains about you, I'll beat you up."

The evening rush hour comes very quickly.

As school let out nearby, the shop suddenly packed with people. Liang Xia took orders and had her cups made at the counter, while Yu Zhu and Liang Dong were in the back area, one shaking the milk tea and the other brewing the tea. Halfway through shaking, the fructose machine beeped, and before Yu Zhu could say anything, Liang Dong had already brought over two buckets of fructose, unscrewed the lids, and poured it in, his movements steady and efficient.

Yu Zhu said to Liang Xia through the curtain, "I think your younger brother is more perceptive than you are."

"Children from poor families mature early," Liang Xia said dismissively. "That brat's got a sharp mind. If it weren't for taking care of my mom and having to work late into the night playing games for money, he might have gotten into a good university."

"It's not too late to retake the exam now," Yu Zhu said.

"He doesn't want to study anymore." Liang Xia took the milk tea Yu Zhu handed her and put it into the sealing machine. "He said he wouldn't let me be a brother-supporting demon—he knows a lot."

Yu Zhu and Liang Xia chatted away through the curtain, while Liang Dong, engrossed in scrubbing the tea barrel containing the pearls, paid no heed. The brown sugar, having been stored for a long time, had stuck to the barrel's walls, becoming greasy and black. He didn't seem to mind the dirt, scrubbing repeatedly with the brush, his sleeves pushed up to reveal slender, strong forearms, prominent wrist bones, and several old cuts on the back of his hands.

Yu Zhu looked at Liang Dong's drooping neck and her heart softened. It was as if she saw her former self from a different perspective—her time, her books, and her self being devoured bit by bit by her family. Pig feed, firewood, stove, her younger brother's schoolbag—everything was more important than her.

"Liang Dong," she said.

He immediately looked up: "Huh?"

Yu Zhu tore off a cup sticker and stuck it on the cup: "Soak it in hot water before scrubbing, it'll save you effort."

"Oh, okay." Liang Dong nodded, picked up the small acrylic tea canister to fill with hot water, and didn't turn around.

Yu Zhu noticed that he was very focused when he did things, and always seemed to be single-minded.

It was almost 11 p.m. when they closed. Liang Dong took the initiative to mop the floor and close the shop, doing two jobs by himself. Yu Zhu and Liang Xia finished tidying up the rest and sat outside the shop to enjoy the breeze.

"I haven't found him a place yet," Liang Xia said. "How about I stay at your place for the night tonight?"

"Sure." Yu Zhu tidied her hair. "It seems there's only one vacant room upstairs in my building. I saw it advertised for rent yesterday, and it's not expensive."

Liang Xia's eyes lit up: "That's great! If it's suitable, you two can even go home together on the night shift, which is safer."

Yu Zhu nodded: "I have an early class tomorrow morning, so I can take him to see him in the afternoon."

Liang Dong seemed to have overheard their conversation inside. He was carrying a bag of trash, about half his height, in each hand as he walked out, saying, "I can handle it myself. No need to trouble Sister Yu Zhu."

Liang Xia slapped him on the back: "Shut up. You think you can just flaunt a few coins in your pocket?"

Liang Dong lowered his head, glanced at Liang Xia, and remained silent.

Yu Zhu looked up at him and smiled, "No trouble at all, I don't have classes this afternoon."

Moth

The next afternoon after class, Yu Zhu sent Liang Dong the location of her apartment complex, and the two agreed to meet at the entrance.

As soon as she reached the entrance of the residential area, she saw Liang Dong waiting under the tree in the distance.

He was wearing a white T-shirt and a black sports shoulder bag slung across his shoulder. His hair was cut short, into a neat buzz cut, which made his originally gentle features look a bit more rugged. When he saw Yu Zhu coming over, he gave her a shy smile from afar.

"elder sister."

"Have you been waiting long?"

"No," he said. "I just arrived."

Yu Zhu glanced at the sweat on his forehead but didn't expose him.

The building she rented was located towards the back of the complex, with old electric bikes and styrofoam boxes piled up at the entrance. The walls were covered with stickers for locksmiths, drain cleaners, and old appliance collectors, layer upon layer, half torn off and half pasted back on. The hallway lights were dim even during the day, and the edges of the steps were worn shiny.

Liang Dong looked up and said, "It's good."

Yu Zhu looked up at him without saying a word.

This place is terrible. It's damp in the summer and cold in the winter; you can hear the upstairs showering downstairs. When she first moved in, the couple next door would argue until the early hours of the morning, and the hallway always smelled of musty cardboard boxes.

But Liang Dong said it was fine.

Indeed, compared to her house in the mountains, this place is quite good.

Yu Zhu was on the third floor, and the empty room was on the fifth floor, even smaller than the one she was in. The landlady was a woman in her fifties with very curly hair. She was holding a bunch of keys and didn't have a very friendly expression when she opened the door. After looking Liang Dong up and down, her expression softened a little.

"How old are you, young man?"

Liang Dong said very seriously, "I'll be eighteen soon."

"Just arrived in Chang'an? What are you doing here?"

"I work at a bubble tea shop."

The landlord's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he looked at Yu Zhu again: "Who are you to him?"

"I'm his sister," Yu Zhu answered quickly. "She lives downstairs."

The landlord pursed his lips but didn't say anything.

The room contained only a metal bunk bed, a small table, and several patches of plaster bulging on the walls. The window faced the back alley, and when opened, one could smell the cooking fumes from the restaurant kitchen downstairs. The water heater hung by the bathroom door, its casing yellowed, and the pipes wrapped in tape.

Liang Dong stood at the door, turned to look at Yu Zhu, his eyes bright.

"fine."

Again.

"That's right," the landlord immediately replied. "This room has good natural light and is a single room, perfect for a guy. It's 1300 a month, two months' deposit and three months' rent in advance, utilities are separate."

Liang Dong nodded obediently and reached for his sports bag.

Yu Zhu pressed down on his wrist, then quickly released it.

"Auntie," she said politely, "the window in this room faces the kitchen, and it will smell in the summer. There's no washing machine either, so he'll have to fill out forms when he comes in. The apartment we just looked at has less natural light, but it's fully furnished, and it's only 1200 a month. How about this, 1200, you can add a washing machine and refrigerator, so other tenants can use them later. Or we can make it cheaper, 1000, and we'll fill out the forms ourselves."

The landlord looked at her, his expression less heated than before: "Young lady, you're quite good at bargaining."

"We just arrived from out of town, so we really don't have any money." Yu Zhu smiled and pointed to Liang Dong next to her. "As you can see, he's a clean kid, so he always takes good care of your hygiene."

Liang Dong, standing to the side, quickly replied, "Yes, I will pay the rent on time."

The landlord tossed the keys upwards: "One thousand won't do, the lowest is one thousand one hundred."

Yu Zhu wasn't in a hurry; she just sighed and said, "Then let's look at something else."

As she spoke, she pulled Liang Dong along and turned to leave. Liang Dong, being pulled by Yu Zhu, neither asked questions nor struggled, obediently following behind her.

Before he could even step out the door, the landlord called after him, "Hey, come back! Why are you young people in such a hurry? A thousand it is, sign the contract now."

Yu Zhu looked at Liang Dong, whose eyes widened, and he secretly gave a thumbs-up at the hem of his clothes.

The contract was signed at the entrance of the convenience store downstairs. The proprietress borrowed a pen and sat to the side, eating sunflower seeds and watching the excitement. When Liang Dong wrote his name, he held the pen heavily, but his strokes were swift and agile. The two characters "Liang Dong" leaped onto the paper, the strokes vigorous, truly conveying a sense of the bleakness of winter.

After inserting a copy of his ID card into the contract, he counted out ten 100-yuan bills from his bag, counted them again, and then handed them to the landlord.

The landlord counted the money and gave him the keys.

"Young man, I only rented this place to you because you look kind. Don't drill holes in the house, don't keep cats or dogs, and don't bring any random people back."

Liang Dong said seriously, "I've remembered."

After Yu Zhu finished reading the contract, she handed him one of the copies: "Keep this safe. Put the deposit slip in there too."

Liang Dong accepted it with both hands, as if receiving an imperial edict.

As I left the residential area, the sun was already setting.

The two walked toward the lemon tea shop. Yu Zhu walked in front, while Liang Dong, despite being tall and having long legs, followed behind her with measured steps, as if afraid of being impolite to overtake her.

"Thank you for today, sister," he said.

"No need to keep thanking me."

"I know." Liang Dong took a step forward, still half a body length behind her. "But my sister said that when you're out and about, it's not shameful to thank kind people a few times. Face is a renewable resource."

Yu Zhu smiled; those words did indeed sound like what Liang Xia had said.

"What else did your sister say?"

Liang Dong tilted his head and thought for a moment, then gripped the strap of his bag: "You shouldn't have the heart to harm others, but you can't be without the heart to guard against them. Big cities are crowded and chaotic, so don't just respond to any woman who strikes up a conversation, even if she's pretty."

Yu Zhu raised an eyebrow at him and smiled, "You're right."

Liang Xia may appear cold, but she has a warm heart. She rarely mentions her younger brother, but she actually cherishes him dearly.

Liang Dong realized what she meant as soon as she finished speaking, and her face flushed: "I... that's not what I meant."

"Um."

"I'm not saying you're not pretty..." The more he explained, the more confused he became. His eyelashes trembled, and his eyes were damp with sweat.

Yu Zhu's smile deepened: "I know."

Liang Dong lowered his head and stopped speaking, his lips pursed, forming a stubborn line.

After a while, he asked again, "Is Chang'an University very difficult to get into?"

"It's difficult," Yu Zhu answered truthfully.

Liang Dong pursed his lips, as if he had expected this: "My sister says you're smart."

"Your sister is exaggerating."

"She doesn't compliment people much," Liang Dong said, "but when she complimented you, it was genuine."

Yu Zhu didn't speak.

A child was running around with a plastic water gun by the roadside, spraying water onto Liang Dong's trouser leg. He glanced down, wasn't angry, and moved aside. The child's mother called out "Sorry" from behind, and he turned around, waved, smiled shyly, and said it was alright.

The sign for Nong Ning Tea was right in front of them. The setting sun illuminated the glass door brightly. Liang Xia stood inside the shop, waving at them through the glass, her mouth opening and closing, probably scolding Liang Dong for dawdling again.

Yu Zhu and Liang Dong walked to the door side by side. He finally stepped out a step ahead of her, opened the glass door in advance, and stood aside to wait for her to go in first.

Across the street, a black SUV had been parked for a long time.

The car window was half-rolled down, and the smell of smoke drifted out. Ji Yong leaned back in the driver's seat, one hand on the steering wheel, the other holding a cigarette. A long ash was about to fall, but he didn't move for a long time.

"Aren't you leaving yet?" Echizen Toru, sitting in the passenger seat, took off his headphones. He had just finished an online meeting and looked a little tired.

Ji Yong didn't turn around, but reached out and patted Yuejian Che.

"What?" Echizen Toru frowned.

"Look." Ji Yong pointed out the window with her chin and rolled down the car window completely.