Chapter 6 — Secret Explosive Burning of Cow Dung

I said: "Then the teacher locked the classroom door and forced everyone to empty their school bags."

“In my pencil case, there is an extra 10 yuan bill.”

Comments immediately flow faster.

“Isn't this like picking fire out of someone's hand?”

"It's also possible that Van Duong really took it."

“Wait, this number of 86 and a half yuan is too specific.”

Bach Nhiem said softly: "Van Duong, don't let your childhood misunderstandings go too far."

“At that time everyone was still young.”

“I just lost money so I'm very scared.”

With just one sentence, she put herself in the victim's position again. I laughed.

“Are you so scared that you hide money in the hole in the wall behind the women's restroom?”

Bach Nhiem's face finally changed. Quy Hanh couldn't help but sit up straight. Tham Kieu asked: "Did you find the money then?" I nodded.

“Found it.”

“I found it.”

“Because that 10 yuan bill is not mine.”

“The food money my mother gave me that day was a 2-yuan bill with a torn corner.”

“When I was robbed, Bach Nhiem kept crying, but her eyes kept looking out the window.”

"Out the window, you look straight at the women's restroom."

No one interrupted me in the studio. I continued: "I dragged Luc Van Da and the boys to look for them."

“The hole in the wall is too high, I can't reach it.”

"Luc Van Da squatted down and let me step on his shoulders."

“I reached in and pulled out the box of cookies, there wasn't a penny missing.”

Luc Van Da added one more sentence.

“When she climbed down, she missed a step and sat on my neck.”

I glared at him.

"It's okay if you don't tell me this."

The already tense atmosphere at the scene was relieved a bit by laughter. But Bach Nhiem couldn't laugh. She bowed her head and slowly took a sip of water. When she looked up, the corners of her eyes rose to a thin layer of mist.

“So what?”

“Just because I lost money as a child, are people now going to accuse me of stealing?”

Her voice was a bit shaky.

“Van Duong, since I was a child, I have had a group of boys defending me.”

“Of course you would think that the whole world must believe you.”

“But at that time I was so close to her that she moved to study in the village, did anyone listen to what I said?”

As soon as these words were uttered, the comments began to tilt again.

“Bach Nhiem sounds really angry.”

“Van Duong at that time led a group of boys to search the hole in the bathroom wall, that sounded scary.”

“When children quarrel, it's hard to say who is right and who is wrong.”

I watched her act. The old anger in her heart was fanned by her fan. I was just about to open my mouth when a photo suddenly appeared on the backstage screen of the show. It was a yellowed class photo. Standing in the first row are two little girls. One is me, my hair is cut short and ragged like a dog's gnaw. The other child wore a pink jacket, with a messy handwritten name tag on his chest. Bach Tieu Nhiem. Next to the photo there is a text. *Souvenir of the spring trip of 3rd grade students at Lien Thuy Village Primary School.* The blood on Bach Nhiem's face immediately drained away. Tham Kieu stared at the big screen, her voice lowered.

“This is an old photo sent by a netizen.”

“Bach Nhiem, just now you said that you and Van Duong don't know each other at all.”

Bach Nhiem was silent for two seconds. Then she raised her head and looked at me, tears really falling.

“I remember out.”

“But that money was not hidden by me.”

"It was Van Duong who forced me to hide it."

05 As soon as her words were spoken, the atmosphere at the scene turned cold. I watched Bach Nhiem shed tears. She cried very well. Tears lingered on my lower eyelids, neither struggling nor losing face. It's like having practiced it a thousand times before. Tham Kieu was clearly upset by this backbite, which upset the script.

“Bach Nhiem, what do you mean that the events of that year still have some twists and turns?”

Bach Nhiem sniffled.

“I don't want to say.”