Boyce fainted and fell down.
The man threw away the stick and was a bit scared. He worried that he had killed the man with a stick.
Nowadays, there were so many bad guys. He appeared in the water for no reason. He must not be a
good person either. He consoled himself and then carried the man up and threw him to a deserted
place.
Then, he ran back, packed up his things and ran away during the night.
He was afraid of being blackmailed for money and afraid that he would have to go to jail if he killed
someone, so he took the opportunity to escape.
This was a remote village a hundred kilometers away from City B. The people in the village were not
rich and most of the young guys had gone out to work, leaving the elderly and children at home.
After her mother’s death, she had no incentive to earn money. After burying her mother, she wanted to
stay in her hometown and find a job to simply gain a living. However, the people in her hometown
always talked bad about her. So, she left.
She was once a volunteer in the village. She knew that the people there were poor and no one wanted
to become a teacher here. So, she left her hometown and came to this village which was a hundred
kilometers away from City B to work as a teacher.
She came from a poor place as well so she knew how difficult it was for children from poor families to
go to school. Since she did not have a mother to look to, she put all her hopes on these children.
There were five classes and three teachers in the school in total. Apart from her, there were two other
teachers who were the headmaster, who was in his 50s and a teacher who came back to the village to
support the children after studying at university because the school in the big city had not yet started.
After some time, he would leave.
Jasmine taught Year 2 and Year 1 language, and Year 3, 4 and 5 drawing and singing.
Her first class this morning was Year 2 language. Chris, the best-performing and most disciplined
person in the class, was late.
As soon as he entered the classroom, he shouted, “Ms. Burke, it’s not good ...”
Jasmine, who was writing the words that needed to be recognized on the blackboard, did not look back
and said, “Sit down first and tell me after taking a breath.”
Chris still stood in the doorway akimbo, “I saw a dead man on my way to school.”
Jasmine put down her chalk and frowned, “What are you talking about?”
“I said, I saw a dead man,” Chris said word by word.
“Where is it?” Jasmine walked over, “Bring me there.”
“Okay, you come with me.” Chris tugged on Jasmine’s sleeve. The students also wanted to see the
dead body. Seeing her walk away, they also got up from their seats. However, Jasmine ordered them to
sit down, “No one is allowed to leave the classroom.”
‘Don’t know who is it. If he is dead, it’s better not to let the children see as they are still young.’
“Assistant monitor, you lead the class to read the text in chapter five,” Jasmine said.
The assistant monitor stood up and said, “Yes.”
“Ms. Burke, come with me quickly.” Chris was in a hurry and dragged Jasmine along.
The condition of the road was bad. Jasmine reminded him, “Slow down a bit.”
“I’m afraid that the person will disappear,” Chris said.
Jasmine shook her head helplessly, “You said that it was a dead man, will he get up and walk away?”
Chris scratched his head, “Sounds true.”
Jasmine rubbed his hair. She thought that he was so cute. She followed him to the path behind the
school. She vaguely saw a man lying on the ground not far away.
She became nervous suddenly, “Chris, when did you see that?”
“On my way to school, I was very scared that time.” Chris patted his chest.
‘That man’s bleeding terribly. He’s lying on the ground. I’m still very scared now.’
The nearer Jasmine walked towards the body, the more she felt that the back was familiar, but she
could not remember where she had met him.
“Ms. Burke, shall we call the police?” Chris asked.
Jasmine approached and said, “Of course we shall call the police ...”
Before she could finish her words, she saw the face of the man lying on the ground.
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