Keith sat on a row of chairs that was against the wall, rested his elbows on his knees and intertwined
his fingers. He said very seriously, “I have liked her since I first met her. Later, I have known that she
has come to the school in the village to become a teacher. She does not receive salary, but she buys
books for the children. From then on, I know that she is a kind and good girl. After interacting with her, I
am sure that she is a very kind and caring girl.”
After he had mentioned that, he paused for a while, “She is unwilling to mention a lot of things about
her past. I really want to understand her. In the future, I want to become her relative, her dependence
and a person who can take care of her.”
After hearing so much, Boyce was concerned about something, “The two of you…are in a
relationship?”
“To be precise, I am currently courting her. You are her friend. You hope that she will be blissful, don’t
you?” Keith stared at Boyce’s facial expression.
Although Keith was already very smart, he was not capable enough of getting information out of
Boyce’s facial expression.
For some reason, Boyce’s mind was inexplicably at ease when he heard that Keith was still courting
Jasmine and they were not in a relationship.
Boyce was in good spirits, but his words showed no mercy towards Keith, “Of course I want her to be
blissful. But you are still a university student. Can you support yourself? How are you going to take care
of her?”
“I will graduate from my university a year from now. I will then have a job…”
“You should talk about this when you have graduated and have a job,” Boyce interrupted him
mercilessly.
“As a friend, you should not say this. You should wish her well and approve of her finding happiness…”
At that moment, Jasmine had gone through the discharge process and walked towards them, “What
are the two of you talking about?”
The corners of Boyce’s mouth quirked up. He said, “Nothing much. Can we go now?”
“Of course,” Jasmine said with a smile on her face.
Keith stood up and walked to the position beside Jasmine. He smiled and looked at Boyce, “You are
our guest. We should entertain you. Let’s go.”
After he had finished speaking, he held Jasmine’s hand and walked in front of Boyce to lead the way.
Jasmine looked at him incredulously, “You…”
“Shh.” Keith leaned towards Jasmine and whispered, “You already held my hand just now, so I will hold
your hand now.”
Jasmine was very uneasy, “I did it out of desperation…”
“No matter what situation you were in, you held my hand anyway. You must return the favor now.” Keith
smiled.
Boyce stared at Keith’s hand that was holding Jasmine’s hand and felt vexed. He kept on thinking,
‘Why didn’t Jasmine push him away?’
‘Is it possible that Jasmine has a crush on him?’
‘What is so good about that young man?’
‘What kind of gaze is she having?’
The more he thought about it, the unhappier he became. He was getting more and more annoyed.
He quickly walked forward and yanked Jasmine’s hand away. Jasmine was surprised and looked at
him, “You…”
Boyce pretended to be calm and said, “If the two of you want to walk, the two of you should walk
properly. The two of you are occupying a lot of space in the hallway if the two of you are holding hands.
That way, how can others walk?”
After he had finished talking, he strode in front of them.
Keith clasped his hands. When Boyce didn’t approve of him courting Jasmine, he suspected that Boyce
had a crush on Jasmine. Boyce’s actions at that moment indicated that he clearly had feelings for
Jasmine.
‘He is much older than Jasmine. If I am unsuitable for Jasmine, he will be even more unsuitable for
Jasmine. How can he lack so much self-awareness?’
“Let’s go.” Boyce noticed that they didn’t follow him. He turned around and said to them.
As Jasmine blinked her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttered. She lowered her gaze, walked up to him
and walked beside him.
Keith was unwilling to be outdone and walked beside Jasmine. The hallway was originally not wide.
Since they walked side by side, they occupied all the space in the hallway.
After they had walked out of the hospital, Jasmine walked forward and wanted to hail a taxi. Since
there were many taxis in front of the hospital, it was easy to stop a taxi. Keith wanted to perform well in
front of Jasmine, pulled her aside and said, “I will go and hail a taxi.”
Jasmine replied, “There is no need for that.”
She didn’t want to cause trouble for others.
“You are a girl. Don’t always be dominant. Don’t always be so courteous to me. We are already so
familiar with each other.” Keith grinned playfully.
She thought that she would seem pretentious if she declined again. She nodded, “Sorry for the
trouble.”
“It is no trouble.” Keith walked to the roadside, stopped a taxi and asked about the fare. After he had
decided that the fare was reasonable, he called Jasmine and Boyce over, politely opened the front door
and said to Jasmine, “Your friend should sit on the front passenger seat. He has injuries. If we sit with
him, we might knock into him, and as a result, his injuries might worsen.”
Jasmine thought that what he had said made sense. When she was about to agree with him, Boyce
spoke, “I am not so delicate. These small injuries mean nothing to me.”
After he had finished talking, he pulled Jasmine down on to the back seats.
Keith didn’t say anything.
Boyce and Jasmine were sitting on the back seats. If he sat on the back seat, it would be a tight
squeeze. He could only sit on the front passenger seat.
During the journey, Keith looked back from time to time. Boyce didn’t say anything and only looked out
the window.
After the taxi had travelled half of the distance, Boyce suddenly asked, “Is this place far from City B?”
“It is not very far away. The distance is around one hundred kilometers,” Jasmine answered.
Boyce nodded.
Half an hour later, the car stopped at the entrance of the village. Jasmine wanted to pay the driver, but
Keith didn’t let her, “Let me pay.”
Jasmine decisively refused, “You don’t have a lot of money. A few days later, you will return to school.
You will need to pay for your expenses. I had a lot of online classes last month, so I have extra money
now.”
While speaking, she paid the driver.
Boyce had nothing except for a set of dirty clothes. When the two of them were insisting on paying the
driver, he could only watch from the sidelines.
He was the oldest of the three of them. At the moment, he was the poorest and the least capable of
having a say in the matter.
“Let’s go,” Jasmine said to Boyce.
Boyce nodded.
There were no paved roads in the village. All of the roads were dirt roads. It was still very easy to walk
on if it was not raining.
Jasmine pointed at a school that was in front of them, “That is the school in the village. I am a teacher
in the school.”
Boyce looked in the direction pointed by Jasmine and saw a cluster of tile-roofed buildings. There were
six or seven of them. There was even a field at the entrance.
It should be recess time. There were a lot of students.
“Teacher Jasmine! Teacher Keith!” A sharp-eyed student saw them and shouted loudly. Soon, a few
children who could run fast ran up to them.
Jasmine pointed at Chris and said to Boyce, “He found you that time.”
Chris scratched his head and smiled, “I thought that you were dead.”
“I have learned something from television. If you want to check whether a person is dead, you need to
touch his nose. You definitely didn’t touch his nose,” a student said.
Chris suddenly realized that he should have done that, “That is true. Next time, I must first touch his
nose to check whether he is breathing.”
“All of you are so silly.” Jasmine wiped their sweat, “There are not that many dead people for you to
touch their noses. Go back and attend the lessons.”
“We want to attend Teacher Jasmine’s lessons. Are you giving us lessons today?” Chris and two other
students looked at her eagerly.
Jasmine gave it some thought, “Later. When I am free, I will come over here. You can first ask Teacher
Keith to give all of you lessons.”
Keith was unhappy with the idea, ‘If I go and give them lessons, isn’t Boyce going to spend time with
Jasmine without me?’
That man seemed to have feelings for Jasmine, but sometimes, he looked very serious. It confused
Keith. Keith could not figure out whether Boyce had feelings for Jasmine.
In his mind, he still rejected the idea of the two of them being together.
“Then, the principal can first give them lessons. Your friend is still wearing dirty clothes. He has almost
the same height as me. I will go and take a set of my clothes for him to change.”
Jasmine nodded, “Sorry to trouble you.”
She didn’t know why she forgot that Boyce was still wearing dirty clothes. He definitely felt
uncomfortable wearing them.
“You go home and take the clothes. We will first go back,” Jasmine said.
Keith nodded.
At that moment, the school bell rang. The children ran back to school.
Jasmine brought Boyce to her house. There were two rooms that had cement floors. In the outer room,
there was a gas stove. She could cook meals using the stove. There were also a folding table, two
stools and a bookshelf that was against the wall. Although there was only a limited variety of furniture,
everything was clean and tidy.
In the inner room, there was a bed. Beside the window, there were a study desk and a computer. In the
back of the room, a shower curtain was hung there. A small water heater was installed behind the
curtain. It was the shower area.
“Although this house is simple, I am living a stable life here.” Jasmine stood by the door.
Although there were two rooms, one could see everything in a glance.
Boyce pursed his lips. The facilities were basic. If she continued her studies, she would have a bright
future ahead of her.
He turned around and looked at Jasmine, “Jasmine, you are still very young and have a bright future
ahead. This place should not be where you belong.”
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