The Child's Past Life by Cai Jun

Author:Cai Jun [Jun, Cai]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781477825921
Publisher: AmazonCrossingEnglish
Published: 2014-11-10T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 44

June 9, 2011.

Nanming High hadn’t changed much, except for all the high-rises around it, creating an expansive and cluttered skyline.

She signed in with the doorman and crossed the familiar sports field. It was almost summer break. The students were preparing to go home, but they turned to look at her as she passed in her white dress. Her face was as even as ivory. Her old-fashioned bangs and shiny almond eyes made her look like a goddess whose real age was impossible to guess.

The fence at the edge of the sports field was still lined with rose bushes. She stood by them and petals falling on her face turned the scene into a simple, beautiful watercolor. She plucked a few petals and crushed them into a red ball, then ground that into the dirt.

“Fallen like mud and ground like dust, only the scent remains.” She whispered this line from the poet Lu You, and remembered a day from sixteen years ago: June 19, 1995.

It was the rainy season, and it always rained after lunch. She was in Section 2 of the senior class. Pacing by the sports field, she ran into the dazed Mr. Shen. The man who had just lost everything looked at her with an unreadable expression. He backed away.

“Don’t talk to me . . . don’t come any closer.” Shen Ming avoided her eyes. “I’m not a teacher anymore.”

“I heard you’ll have to leave. When will you go?”

“Tonight—eight o’clock.”

“Can it be later? I’ll wait for you at 10:00 p.m. at the Demon Girl Zone.”

“Demon Girl Zone?” He looked at the petals at his feet.

“There’s something I need to tell you, but it’ll be better to tell you later.”

She looked around, careful of eavesdroppers. Why ten o’clock? Because she needed to go over the school’s fence. Part of it was low and easy to flip over, but people would see her if she did it any earlier.

“Fine, I promise you. I need to tell you something, too.”

The eighteen-year-old girl went deeper into the bush, brushing back her hair. “Ten o’clock, Demon Girl Zone.”

That was the last time she saw Shen Ming. He had been so preoccupied. Thinking about it now, she wondered if it was because he’d been thinking about the murder he ended up committing that night.

She was Ouyang Xiaozhi.

He went to the Demon Girl Zone.

Then he died.

Sixteen years later, she was still here. But where was he? In another life? Or was he a ghost?

Ouyang Xiaozhi straightened her hair and walked to the teachers’ building, heading for the top floor. She knocked on an office door.

“Come in.”

Sitting behind the desk was Nanming High’s most famous teacher. Most people would be flustered by her stunning beauty, but Zhang Mingsong seemed unaffected.

“Mr. Zhang, I’m Ouyang Xiaozhi. I’m here to report for my first day.”

“Ms. Ouyang, welcome to Nanming High. I got your file from the Education Bureau.”

She nodded at Mr. Zhang politely and looked outside at the multipurpose building. “It’s great being back at the alma mater as a teacher!”

“You graduated in 1995, right? I think I remember you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.