Chapter 104
Raspberries were known scientifically as Rubus idaeus, but Veronica referred to them by their common name lest Matthew didn‘t understand what she was referring to. “Is food all you have in mind?”
The two were each holding an umbrella. As Matthew stared at her, the raindrops that fell between them from the umbrellas looked like a thin curtain of rain that lent a beautiful touch to everything.
“It‘s not something to eat? Tsk, who knows what you‘re giving me? I can‘t read your mind, after all,” Veronica said. She felt that Matthew was deliberately keeping her in suspense, but she nonetheless took what he handed to her, only to find that it was an exquisitely made small box. She lowered her head to take a sniff at it, and it had a faint yet pleasant herbal scent,
Matthew said, “This is an ointment that I asked an old traditional medicine practitioner in the neighboring village to prepare. It speeds up the healing of wounds and removes scars.” Women were relatively particular about their appearance and disliked having scars left on their bodies, so Matthew went to a traditional medicine practitioner to ask for the ointment.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Veronica clicked her tongue while opening the box. Seeing the creamy white ointment inside the box that was giving off a refreshing scent, she couldn‘t help but ridicule, “Are you trying to be nice to me? I‘ll take it then.” She closed the little disc–shaped box and put it into her pocket before looking up at him. “Just spill it. What‘s the favor you‘d like to ask of me?” Matthew can‘t be so attentive as to give me an ointment for no apparent reason. He‘s definitely up to something.
Matthew was having a faint smile on his good–looking face just a moment ago. The next instant, however, his expression turned somewhat chilly, and he gave off piercingly chilly vibes, as though he was covered with frost from head to toe. After darting a sidelong glance at Veronica with chilly eyes, he went past her right away.
Veronica couldn‘t help feeling perplexed as she stood where she was while watching the man walk on in the mud. “This is baffling. Why is he angry all of a sudden?” Is it because I didn‘t thank him? She hurriedly caught up to him as they headed for the school together.
It took the pair an hour to get to the school by foot due to the relatively long journey. The heavy rain pattered down as large raindrops splattered down onto the earth with a loud pattering sound, but the sound couldn‘t drown out the voices of the kids reading aloud in school. The kids were reading aloud, as though they were entirely
oblivious to their surroundings with their minds focused on their studies.
The simple school building was made of mud bricks, whereas its roof was covered with uiles. As rainwater dripped from the eaves, a man in a blue raincoat climbed up the ladder onto the roof to fix the roof and prevent it from leaking.
“I also went to this kind of school when I was little.” Veronica stood in the rain. As she looked at the scene before her, she felt like she was being taken back to her childhood.
Matthew, on the other hand, was born into a wealthy family. Even in childhood, he would never have experienced what it was like to have the roof leaking in his classroom all of a sudden while he was attending classes.
In order not to disturb the kids while they were in class, the pair merely glanced at them from a distance. Then, they went to the newly vacated library in the school.
As they had expected, the library‘s roof was leaking badly. Some of the donated books were yet to be unpacked, whereas some were already unpacked, and there were a dozen books that had been drenched in rain. Veronica couldn‘t find anything to collect the rainwater, so she had no choice but to stand in front of the bookshelf with her umbrella to protect the books from the rain.
There were four classes in the school. The first–graders and the second–graders were attending classes together, whereas there was a class for the third–graders, the fourth graders, and the fifth–graders, respectively. However, there were only two teachers. In such a difficult environment, the two teachers gave a lot for the mere 40 to 50 students of the school. At the thought of this, Veronica was deeply touched.
After a long time, the rain finally stopped, and the sky cleared up. The man in the raincoat rearranged the tiles on the leaking roof. After everything was fine, he trotted up to Veronica and Matthew while panting for breath with an affable smile. “Sorry, I was fixing the roof just now because of the heavy rain.”
“It‘s okay, Mr. Pearson. We came here to take a look because we had nothing else to do. Anyway, it‘s really admirable of you and your wife to stay here in the mountains to teach the kids,” Veronica praised sincerely.
“Haha! We‘re used to it already. These kids are the future of our nation, so it‘ll be a shame if nobody cares about them,” Mr. Pearson replied while taking off his raincoat. Then, he hurriedly poured Veronica and Matthew some drinking water.
“No, we‘re good. You don‘t have to do this.” Veronica quickly stepped forward and stopped Mr. Pearson. Then, she took off her backpack, took 40,000 in cash out of it,
and handed the money to the dark–skinned and skinny teacher. “What was given to te school earlier was donated to you guys by our company, whereas this is a token of my regard. Please keep it and use it as living expenses for you and your wife. The kids will only do better when you two are doing better.” Veronica had met Mr. – Pearson and his wife after coming to Dawnpol Village. They were an incredibly kind hearted couple who taught students without expecting anything in return, which was something that countless people were unable to do.
When Matthew saw the scene from the sidelines, his obsidian–like eyes flickered with surprise. He had always thought of Veronica as a woman who cared for nothing but money, but he never thought she would give away 40,000 to Mr. Pearson and his wife at one go, especially because to the best of his knowledge, Veronica was not only hard up but also penniless.
Mr. Pearson refused the money, saying, “No, no, no, you don‘t have to. You‘ve given us a lot, so you really don‘t have to give us the money.”
However, Veronica shoved the 40,000 into his hand in an uncompromising manner. “Just take it. It‘s a token of my regard for you and the kids, so please don‘t refuse it.” With that, she took Matthew‘s hand and ran away for fear that Mr. Pearson might give the money back to her again if she were a little late.
The two‘s trouser legs were stained with yellow mud as they ran in the mud, but Veronica was in a very good mood. Standing on the hill, she sniffed the fresh air after the rain before catching a glimpse of a rainbow at the other end of the hill. “Look, Matthew! It‘s a rainbow! It‘s so beautiful. Come on, Matthew, come and take a picture of me. Oh, forget it. Let‘s take a picture together as a memento of our first time doing charity.”
Matthew didn‘t refuse her. “Okay.”
He came to Veronica‘s side, whereas Veronica took out her cell phone and held it up, only to find that the man was too tall. She shot him a glare and complained, “You‘re so tall that you‘re out of the frame.”
Matthew‘s distinctly outlined face showed a hint of helplessness. “Are you blaming me for your short stature?”
“In that case, can‘t you squat down a little?”
Matthew was rendered speechless. With his personality, he should‘ve ignored her unreasonable quibbling, but he stood beside her while bending his knees slightly.
Veronica held her cell phone up high and turned on the selfie mode. After looking at
Matthew and herself in the frame, she said to him, “Squat a little lower.”
Matthew didn‘t say a word in response, though he obediently squatted down a little lower
Veronica wrapped her arm around his shoulder as they posed for an intimate photo together. At the click of the shutter, the photo captured them standing before the hillside with a huge mountain not far behind them. The mountains were enveloped in a veil of mist, and the sun shone in all its splendor, making the rainbow look unusually gorgeous. The photo‘s background was beautiful, and the man and woman in the photo were good–looking and well–matched, too, making the photo even more beautiful.
“Nice! It looks pretty good. But Matthew, what‘s the matter with that look on your face?” Veronica stared at the photo, only to find that while she was looking at the camera, Matthew had tilted his head slightly to look at her. “I wanted to take a friendship photo with you. Why would the photo look like those taken by lovers instead? No, this won‘t do. I‘m gonna delete this.”
