Chapter 5 — Secret Explosive Burning of Cow Dung

She didn't expect that I would expose it on the spot. The atmosphere in the studio was immediately tense. Tham Kieu wanted to interject. Bach Nhiem laughed first.

“Van Duong, you misunderstood me, right?”

“We're just filming the show.”

“You don't have to be so sensitive.”

As soon as this sentence came out, I knew she was poking the wheel again. She deliberately put me in the position of someone who lost control of her emotions. As long as I argue back, she will label me as an unapproachable and difficult person. I didn't bother to answer her. I picked up the phone on the table, turned the screen face down, and placed it right in front of me.

“Then keep going.”

“Anyway, every sentence can be replayed.”

Bach Nhiem's smile stopped. Luc Van Da on the screen also paused for two seconds. Then he said: "She used to do this move when she was little." Tham Kieu was stunned: "What action?" Luc Van Da said: "Every time she prepares to settle accounts, she will arrange things neatly first." He bowed his head and turned to the next page.

“For example, when she was 11 years old, the time she found lunch money for the whole class.”

My heart jumped. I raised my head to look at him. *Don't say.* But it's too late. Luc Van Da looked straight into the camera, his tone very calm.

"That time the person who lost money was Bach Nhiem."

04 As soon as Luc Van Da's sentence ended, the studio felt like someone had pressed the mute button. Everyone's eyes turned to Bach Nhiem. The smile on Bach Nhiem's face still remained, but the bottom of her eyes quickly turned cold. She put down the glass of water, her voice gentle as if she didn't understand anything.

"Mr. Luc, are you remembering the wrong person?"

“When we were kids, Van Duong and I didn't know each other.”

When she said this, the camera turned at an angle. She really knows how to choose camera angles. Forehead slightly furrowed, lips slightly pale, looking like an innocent person dragged into an old story. Commentators also began to hesitate.

“Didn't Bach Nhiem grow up in the city?”

“What kind of steering wheel is this again?”

"Luc Van Da didn't talk nonsense to defend Van Duong."

I looked at Bach Nhiem. She also looked at me. In that moment, I suddenly remembered a very small face. Thin, white, big eyes. Always wear a faded pink jacket. Back then, her name was not Bach Nhiem. Her name is Bach Tieu Nhiem. Before I was 12 years old, Lien Thuy village primary school had only a few dozen students. Whoever's family has an extra chicken will spread it around the school. What's more, it's a pretty girl who transferred from the town. The first day she arrived, the teacher sat her in front of me. She went back down to borrow an eraser. I lend it. The second day, half of my eraser was gone. On the third day, she cried and said the whole class's lunch money was lost. On the fourth day, my schoolbag was turned upside down for inspection. Luc Van Da pushed the old diary forward a bit.

“I don't remember wrong.”

"At that time, her name was Bach Tieu Nhiem."

Bach Nhiem's fingers stopped on the edge of the cup. Tham Kieu immediately asked: "Is Bach Tieu Nhiem's old name Bach Nhiem?" Bach Nhiem smiled.

"My family just called me the name I offered when I was a kid. Is this still considered evidence?"

Luc Van Da looked at her.

“You just said you don't know Van Duong?”

The corners of Bach Nhiem's mouth stiffened slightly. She quickly replied.

“When I was young, I changed schools a lot many times, not remembering clearly is also normal."

I finally spoke up.

“You don't remember clearly, but I do.”

Bach Nhiem looked at me, with a little more warning in his eyes. I don't shy away.

“That day the lunch money was collected by the whole class.”

“Each person gets from 1 to 3 yuan, a total of 86 and a half yuan.”

“The teacher kept it in a cookie box, in the drawer of the teacher's desk.”

“After the second period, the money disappeared.”

Tham Kieu listened very attentively.

“And then what?”