Mud beads

Cheng Fu perched his sunglasses on his head, his eyes first scanning over Yu Zhu before landing on the name tag on her chest.

Stage performance and teaching assistant.

A few words were printed inside the transparent card sleeve, with an employee number underneath. Yu Zhu was still clutching the audition registration form in her hand; she had gotten up in a hurry, and the pen tip had drawn a crooked blue line on the paper.

"Miss Cheng." Yu Zhu recognized her quickly.

Cheng Fu's smile deepened: "You have a good memory."

Yu Zhu didn't react much, her tone remaining polite: "Who are you looking for?"

"Do I need to make an appointment to go back to my own workplace?" Cheng Fu tilted his head, his tone soft and his voice light, sounding like a joke.

Yu Zhu paused for a moment: "I just arrived, so I'm not sure."

The door to the office at the end of the corridor opened.

Old Xiao strode out, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms, his hair blown about, and his face radiating the enthusiasm honed from years of receiving parents.

"Oh dear, who's back!" he laughed from across the front hall. "You didn't even tell me you were coming back, so I could have come downstairs to meet you."

Cheng Fu ignored Yu Zhu and walked towards Lao Xiao in his high heels, the prickly look on his face gone: "What's wrong, Mr. Xiao? It's not like I'm here for the first time."

"That's different." Old Xiao led her into the office. "How's Mr. Yue doing lately?"

Cheng Fu's smile lasted for less than half a second.

"He's busy," she said.

Old Xiao nodded immediately: "It's good that you're busy. Being busy means you have a lot to do. If you need anything, just tell me."

Cheng Fu smiled, her voice soft: "Okay."

Hearing the commotion, several teachers in the common office area peeked out. Miss Liu, with a straw in her mouth, mumbled "Coming." The people at their workstations exchanged glances; some had bright eyes, while others smiled awkwardly, their eyes lingering on Cheng Fu's bag and shoes.

Cheng Fu didn't seem like he hadn't been back for a long time.

She knew the last name of everyone in the office. She knew who had been promoted to a major last month, who had a cat, and whose husband was a chief physician at the hospital. She recounted these trivial matters on her tongue, casually, as if they had never left her.

Yu Zhu sat back down at her computer and reorganized the files at the front desk.

After that day, there were many subtle changes happening in the organization.

The class schedule was rearranged, and Cheng Fu's name was added to Wednesday and Friday afternoons. The two expression classes that Yu Zhu had temporarily taught were given to her. Old Xiao also appeared more often. Before, apart from the Monday meeting, he was only seen when entertaining important clients. Now he comes every two days, a silk shirt draped over his arm, strolling back and forth between the public areas and the office.

The colleagues also joined in the lively atmosphere.

As the frequency of ordering milk tea increased, those who did would casually ask Cheng Fu if she wanted some. Someone would use the excuse of printing course materials to walk around to her seat and ask if New York was a good place to live. Cheng Fu always answered perfectly. She didn't talk too much, nor did she create awkward silences; she'd mention art, aesthetic education, and rain at the beach, then pass the conversation back to someone else.

"I really envy you," Miss Liu said. "You really know how to live."

Cheng Fu inserted the straw into his iced Americano and chuckled, "What kind of life is this? No matter where you are, you're just getting by."

Someone in the office immediately chimed in: "Why don't you let us have your turn?"

Several people laughed.

Yu Zhu sat near the door, her head down revising the lines for the children's version of "Pandora's Box".

Cheng Fu's gaze would occasionally fall on her.

Yu Zhu doesn't participate much in casual conversation. If someone mentions which parent is difficult, she'll listen attentively, then continue writing her lesson plans. People who don't want to work a particular class will always ask her to switch; she's easy to talk to and doesn't care much about scheduling.

Cheng Fu had subtly inquired about their opinions of Yu Zhu. As long as she didn't show any obvious bias in the conversation, everyone generally had a positive view of Yu Zhu.

Cheng Fu observed it for several days but couldn't figure it out.

She had originally thought Yu Zhu would be smarter.

She was pretty, but too plain and uninteresting. She seemed unable to accept favors offered to her. When Lao Xiao asked if she wanted to teach a few more classes after the summer break, she thought for a moment and said it would depend on how busy the school was. When parents asked if she could teach at their homes, she looked at the electronic contract and said the institution didn't allow it.

Cheng Fu was touching up her lipstick when she heard this. After the parents left, she closed her small mirror and asked, "Are you trying to create a persona?"

Yu Zhu looked up: "What do you mean?"

Cheng Fu looked at her.

After a while, she chuckled softly, "It's nothing. You're being very good."

Upon hearing the words "quite well-behaved," Yu Zhu's brows slowly furrowed.

Cheng Fu didn't say anything more.

She took out her phone and sent a message to Echizen Toru.

Old Xiao is quite sentimental; he didn't even dismantle the cabinet for me.

The message was sent, but there was no response.

She stared at it for a while, then placed the phone face down on the table. A moment later, she picked it up again, almost as if possessed.

There was still no reply.

Echizen Toru hasn't contacted her for a long time.

After that rainy night, he gave her a new card and told her to move out of Moon Garden. He didn't say they were breaking up, nor did he say they would contact each other again, after all, it seemed they had never really been together.

Over the years, she'd only been with one person: Yuejian Tetsu. She met him in college, went on two dates, and never dated anyone else. After graduation, she said she wanted to find a job, so he arranged for her to work at Lao Xiao's agency, where she received a full-time salary regardless of how many days she worked per month. Later, she went abroad with him, flying all over the world, taking almost a year off from her classes. Everyone at the agency knew she had someone Lao Xiao wanted to curry favor with, and she wanted them to know.

A few days later, a minor accident occurred during rehearsal.

Mili refused to play Dorothy anymore.

She had her hair tied in two buns, and her red ballet shoes were brand new from the organization—overly bright. One second she was standing on the yellow brick path reciting her lines, and the next she suddenly squatted down and stuffed the dog plush toy back into the prop box.

"I'm not acting anymore."

Yu Zhu walked over and said in a very soft voice, "Mili, tell Teacher Yu what happened?"

Mili lowered her head, tears falling onto her red shoes: "My mom said Dorothy is the prettiest. But I just tore my skirt."

As she spoke, she lifted the tulle skirt wrapped around her waist, revealing a small hole in the pink organza.

Outside the glass door, a woman in a white dress was looking inside. She held a phone in her hand, her brow furrowed, as if she was preparing to talk to the teacher after class.

Before Yu Zhu could speak, Cheng Fu pushed the door open and came in.

She naturally squatted down in front of Mili, first brushing the dust off her skirt, then turned and smiled at the woman outside the glass.

"Mili's mom, let me see what's wrong, don't worry."

The woman's expression softened a little.

Cheng Fu closed the door, his voice low and soft: "Oh dear, whose little princess is crying?"

Mili lifted her skirt, her sobs pausing slightly: "I'm not a princess anymore, I'm not pretty."

Cheng Fu paused.

Yu Zhu took the dog plush toy out again and placed it next to Mi Li.

"Dorothy wasn't made the main character because she's pretty," Yu Zhu said. "She kept falling, getting lost, and wanting to go home. She wasn't always beautiful, but she was always brave, and so are you."

Mili raised her head and wiped away her tears.

Cheng Fu glanced at Yu Zhu.

After class, Cheng Fu escorted Mi Li's mother to the front desk. She was very good at tactful, changing "the child's excessive attention to appearance" to "the child's beginning to understand the character's inner motivation," and praising Mi Li's strong empathy, saying that her performance would be more nuanced later on.

Mili's mother was satisfied with the lesson and even extended it for two more sessions before leaving.

Cheng Fu returned with the signed form, leaned against the door of the prop room, and laughed: "Teacher Yu, parents won't understand your line of reasoning."

Yu Zhu squatted beside the cabinet, folding a cloak: "You're absolutely right."

"I didn't explain it well," Cheng Fu said, placing the renewal slip on the table. "But what I said, someone is willing to pay for."

Yu Zhu looked up and smiled: "Very impressive."

Cheng Fu had originally intended to say something sarcastic to her, but upon hearing this, he paused.

The prop room had no windows, the light bulbs cast a pale glow, and the cabinets were piled with tree plaques, crowns, witch's hats, and a haphazardly folded blue dress. Cheng Fu reached out and touched the sheer edge of the dress.

"My mom liked to dress me up when I was little," she suddenly said. "We live in a small coastal city, so there's not much aesthetic sense here, but she always thought that if a girl dressed up nicely, her future would be smoother."

Yu Zhu didn't reply. Liu Guizhen had never dressed her up. When she was little, she wore hand-me-downs from her older sister, Yu Laidi. The only dress she owned was a gift from Yu Laidi for her seventh birthday; it was kept at the bottom of a trunk, and she had only worn it once. Liu Guizhen usually wouldn't let her touch it, and wearing a dress made it inconvenient for chores.

"I think my mom wasn't wrong." Cheng Fu stared at Yu Zhu's drooping eyelashes, crossed his arms, and leaned against the door. "Take myself for example. If I weren't pretty, I'd just go to an ordinary university, find an ordinary job, marry a passable man, and live a life I could foresee the future—"

She seemed to remember something, and tilted her head with a smile.

"Toru Koshima told me that the best thing for a person is to know what they can exchange for what. What's dangerous is wanting something but pretending not to want it."

Yu Zhu paused for a moment when she heard Yuejian Che's name.

Cheng Fu looked at her: "Do you think he's right?"

"I just want a life where I can see the end from the beginning." Yu Zhu closed the cabinet door, looked up at Cheng Fu, "But there's nothing wrong with wanting a better life."

Cheng Fu raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Everyone wants different things." Yu Zhu stood up, supporting herself on her knees. "If everyone wanted the same things, our organization would be a fight club by now."

Cheng Fu chuckled. After laughing, she paused for a moment, then quickly stopped herself: "You're really good at pretending."

Yu Zhu looked at her.

Cheng Fu turned and walked out of the classroom: "Never mind."

She picked up the renewal slip from the table, but paused again as she walked to the door.

"Do you know what's most annoying about people like you?"

Yu Zhu asked, "Where?"

Cheng Fu said, "You make others look dirty."

Moth

[This book rejects any plot suggestions. I will only write what I want to write, and I will not be influenced by others. The male and female protagonists are unique and unchanging. As long as one person is reading, I will continue writing.]