Mud beads

Teacher Shen supported her arm from the side, her palms were very warm. Yu Zhu's ears were still ringing, even through a thick layer of water. She raised her hand to touch her face, her fingertips brushing against the burning flesh, and only then did the pain slowly creep up.

"Ms. Su." The deputy secretary of the college stood behind his desk, his face extremely grim. "The matter hasn't been clarified yet. No matter what, you can't hit a student in the school office."

Mrs. Su was stopped by the department head, her chest heaving violently. She was usually impeccably dressed, in a beige suit, with light makeup, even the chain on her wrist was delicate and restrained. Now, a few strands of her hair were disheveled, her eyes were red-rimmed, and she pointed at Yu Zhu, her voice shrill, piercing the cold air in the office.

"A student? She doesn't even deserve that title!" she gasped. "My son is only in sixth grade! How can a sixth grader lie about something like this?"

The office fell silent.

Yu Zhu finally heard clearly.

Sixth grade, kid, lying.

The combination of these three words sent a chill down her spine.

"Mrs. Su." Yu Zhu straightened up with the help of Teacher Shen's arm, and as she spoke, a rusty taste came from her mouth. "Please make yourself clear."

"Stop pretending!" Mrs. Su's tears rolled down her cheeks. "You threatened him not to tell the family, and even gave him your hair clip as a token of your love—you, you're disgusting! How could you do that?"

As she spoke, she took a small object out of her pocket and threw it on the ground.

It was the brown hair clip that Su Yan had asked for that day.

Yu Zhu's face stung from the slap, but her mind cleared up a bit.

She looked down at the hair clip, then looked up again, her voice a little hoarse: "He asked me for it."

"Why did he ask you for it?" Mrs. Su stared at her intently. "Why would a little kid like him ask a female teacher for something like that? Doesn't he understand? Don't you understand either?"

"Whether he understands or not is a question he should ask himself." Yu Zhu's eyes turned cold. "I only know that injuring someone for no reason is a violation of public order, and in serious cases, it's a criminal offense."

"you--"

"Enough." The deputy secretary slammed his pen down on the table, cutting off Mrs. Su's words with a loud bang. "Ms. Su, these kinds of accusations are very serious. If you insist, the school suggests we call the police directly. We promise to cooperate with the police investigation, but before the investigation results are available, you'd better not arbitrarily convict our students."

Mrs. Su's tears flowed even more fiercely. She rummaged through her bag, pulling out a stack of folded papers: "Call the police? My son is already terrified by her, are you going to drag him out and question him again? This is the children's hospital's diagnosis report, in black and white, how could it be fake? He hasn't slept well these past two days, he trembles at the mere mention of school!"

The stack of papers was handed to the deputy secretary and then passed around the office.

When Teacher Shen took it to look at it, Yu Zhu recognized it from the side—it was the report that was on the coffee table when she came to teach the class for the second time.

The lingering ringing in Yu Zhu's ears gradually subsided.

"This report was prepared before my second lecture," she said calmly. "If you already had doubts after my first lecture, why did you still invite me to give it a second time?"

Mrs. Su paused.

Yu Zhu took her phone out of her canvas bag. The screen had been dropped once, and there was a small crack in the corner. She opened WeChat, found Mrs. Su's profile picture, and scrolled through the chat history.

"This is the message you sent me." She turned her phone towards the teachers, then looked at Mrs. Su. "You said Su Yan has been very enthusiastic about learning these past two days and wants to hear me continue my lectures. Is that correct?"

Yu Zhu held up her phone, but the teachers didn't come up to check it.

Mrs. Su's face slowly drained of color, quickly replaced by a surge of even fiercer anger: "That's because he's afraid of you! A child who's been wronged will try to appease the person who hurt him. What do you know?"

Yu Zhu looked at her and gave a light scoff.

This phrase is all too familiar. To appease the one who hurt you after being wronged—she doesn't know if this counts as a form of backlash.

She wanted to laugh, but her face hurt and she couldn't.

The deputy secretary's expression darkened further: "Ms. Su, we understand your feelings as a parent, but we cannot condone your rash actions."

Several teachers who had heard the commotion were crowded outside the office. One of them was glanced at by the deputy secretary and quickly closed the door again. With the door closed, the figures outside became blurred, and only the cold air and the oppressive silence remained in the office.

Seeing that no one was on her side, Mrs. Su dialed the phone with trembling hands.

"You come to the school right now!" she ordered the person on the other end of the phone, her voice urgent and angry. "They're protecting that female student. She's ruined Yan Yan like this, and she even said she'd call the police!"

Yu Zhu couldn't hear what was said on the other end of the phone.

While waiting, Teacher Shen poured Yu Zhu a glass of warm water. Only when the paper cup was handed to her did she realize her hands were trembling. She took it with both hands, took a small sip, and felt no taste as the water slid down her tongue.

The department head stood by the window, making a phone call and quietly confirming procedures with the school office. The deputy secretary sat back down at his desk, flipping through the reports, his brow still furrowed.

Yu Zhu did not sit down.

She was afraid that she would go limp if she sat down.

Footsteps came from outside the door.

Minister Su and Echizen Toru walked in together.

Minister Su was wearing a dark short-sleeved shirt with neatly creased trousers, and his face was somber. Upon entering, he glanced at his wife first, then at the teachers in the office. Mrs. Su abruptly stood up, and he waved his hand, silencing her before she could say anything more.

Echizen Toru stood half a step to his side, dressed in casual clothes. The composure he displayed at the tea ceremony was still there, but his face was adorned with just the right amount of seriousness.

"I'm so sorry to have troubled the school leaders." Minister Su's expression was not good, but his tone was very polite.

"Mr. Su..." The deputy secretary glanced at Minister Su, then at Yue Jianche, clearly taken aback. "Chairman Yue?"

Echigo Koshima nodded slightly, his smile gentle: "I happened to be with Minister Su. I heard there was some urgent business here, so I stopped by to see if there was anything I could do to help."

Yu Zhu lowered her eyes and involuntarily turned the half of her face that had been hit back.

This is the second time.

The last time he saw her being beaten was in front of the main hall of the Yu family.

He always managed to witness her disheveled state perfectly.

Minister Su walked over to his wife, but did not sit down. He simply said in a low voice, "Calm down first."

"Your son was—"

"I said, calm down." Minister Su's voice was not loud, but Mrs. Su immediately stopped talking.

He looked up at the deputy secretary and the department head, his tone low, even tinged with self-reproach: "What happened today was my wife's fault. When people are anxious, they easily lose their composure. We cannot shirk our responsibility for her actions."

He paused for a moment as he spoke, his gaze sweeping across Yu Zhu's face before quickly returning to his own.

"It's just that this involves a child—" Minister Su wasn't in a hurry. He raised his hand to adjust his watch, his voice still steady, "Yanyan is young, and whether she can speak clearly or not needs to be asked by adults. People outside believe everything they hear, and if half a sentence gets out, it will hurt more than one person in the end."

He looked at the deputy secretary, his expression so sincere it was impossible to find fault.

"The school has its own rules, and I fully respect them. We will verify what needs to be verified and keep records where necessary. Everyone here today is a responsible person, and I believe the school will handle this in the best possible way."

He sighed softly as he finished speaking.

"As for Teacher Yu, we will take responsibility for her medical expenses, missed classes, and any follow-up matters. I will have someone coordinate with the college to follow the proper procedures, so as not to make things difficult for our school or disappoint the students."

After he finished speaking, he still had a respectable smile on his face, but everyone in the room understood what he had said.

Yu Zhu closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Minister Su's words were quite shameless.

Logically, she was slapped, and even if she couldn't retaliate, the matter should at least be resolved. Emotionally, if things escalate, it will be bad for the school, the teacher, and herself.

She didn't want to cause trouble for the school. She had also experienced being framed by rumors before.

The department head spoke first: "Minister Su, your wife hit one of our students in your office. This is such a serious stigma; we can't just dismiss it with a simple 'I was emotional' statement."

Minister Su looked at him, her smile unchanged: "Director Chen, I understand."

"Understanding is not the same as solving the problem." Director Chen insisted, "Was anyone else present at home during the first class? Could they testify? If not, and both sides have conflicting accounts, I still suggest calling the police."

Looking at Director Chen's furrowed brows, Yu Zhu suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

"Teacher Chen." She reached out and gently tugged at Teacher Chen's sleeve. "I—"

"I don't think it's appropriate."

Echigo stood by the door, relaxed, his eyes clear: "I was also there for Teacher Yu's first class. Minister Su and I heard everything clearly."

Minister Su's smile suddenly froze.

Toru Koshima looked at him, his fingers stroking his chin, tilting his head thoughtfully: "I remember you said something like, 'The little teacher's explanation is quite interesting'—right?"

Minister Su's expression showed a moment of surprise, but he quickly returned to normal.

"Toru Eshima!" Mrs. Su suddenly looked up.

"Yes, I'm here." Echizen Toru nodded, smiling handsomely. "Please guide me."

"Alright." Minister Su's lips twitched, and he spoke slowly, "The child is too young; sometimes he confuses feelings with facts."

Mrs. Su was stunned.

"What do you mean?" She turned her head sharply. "You mean Yan Yan lied?"

Minister Su glanced at her briefly, then turned back to her, a composed smile returning to his face: "My wife was too impulsive today. The school doesn't need to worry about how to handle this."

The deputy secretary closed the report, his voice still cold: "The school will keep records of Ms. Su's accusations. If there is any further dissemination that damages the student's reputation, the school will not stand idly by."

Minister Su nodded: "Of course, of course."

"Why isn't the person involved saying anything?" Yuejian Tetsu's gaze suddenly shifted to Yu Zhu. "Teacher Yu, how do you intend to handle this?"

All eyes in the office immediately turned to him.

Yu Zhu clenched her hands, half her face still burning with pain. She could hear her own heartbeat, and the laughter of the students in gym class outside the window. The laughter drifted up through the glass, soft and distant.

She raised her head, her voice calm.

Apologize to me.

Mrs. Su stared at her with wide eyes. Her eyes held anger, humiliation, and a hint of bewilderment at being forced to bow her head.

She didn't speak immediately, but Minister Su's hand pressed on her wrist, his knuckles pressing against her flesh.

"Oh, I've blocked it." Echizen Toru smiled and moved his body to the side a little, giving Mrs. Su more space.

Mrs. Su still didn't move.

"Apologize." Minister Su turned his head, revealing a truly ugly expression for the first time. "Isn't this embarrassing enough?"

Mrs. Su's chest heaved a few times, her eyes red, but no tears fell. She looked at Yu Zhu, her lips trembling for a long time before finally squeezing out three words through gritted teeth: "I'm sorry."

Yu Zhu looked at her for a while, then slowly said, "I accept your apology."

She paused, then added coldly, "At least you're a mother who knows how to protect her child."

Tears welled up in Mrs. Su's eyes and fell.

"And another thing," Yu Zhu said, gritting her teeth as she looked at Minister Su, "you also have to pay the compensation, not a penny less."

Minister Su raised his eyelids, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Yu Zhu met his gaze without looking away.

She could refuse to accept Su Yan's tuition fees, but this was a civil compensation claim, and the money wasn't a hot potato; she should take it.

Minister Su nodded, took out his phone and sent a message in a considerate tone: "We will arrange medical treatment, missed classes, and compensation for emotional distress this afternoon. Please write a clear note so as not to put Teacher Yu in a difficult position."

"It's student Yu Zhu," Director Chen corrected.

Minister Su paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Yes, Yu Zhu."