Mysterious Love

The Kingdom Of Cambodia, formerly known as Khmer, is located on the Indo-China Peninsula, bordering Thailand in the west and northwest, Laos in the northeast, Vietnam in the east and southeast, and facing the Gulf of Siam in the south.
There you can find the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, and the capital Phnom Penh.

It is one of the least developed countries in the world.

July. 

On the third day that Ruan Nianchu arrived in Cambodia, the weather was fine and the outdoor temperature was as high as 36 degrees Celsius.
The rainy season is scorching hot.

She is here to teach.

Their target are several teenagers left behind In a small village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

Like most villages in Cambodia, it is poor here, and most young and middle-aged people choose to go out to work, leaving only the elderly and children.
The educational conditions are also poor and there is only one teacher with a junior high school education in the whole village.
Therefore, the arrival of the missionary group is undoubtedly a timely help, and the villagers are very happy.

There are more than 30 students in the rural primary school, ranging from six years old to fifteen years old.
They all crowded into one class regardless of grade.
Ruan Nianchu is in charge of teaching English, and occasionally, she also teaches the students to sing.
She has a gentle personality, and the children like it whenever they see this beautiful and kind Chinese teacher.

The English class is not long and ends in a short while.

Ruan Nianchu finished assigning homework to the students, walked out of the classroom and went directly to the playground.

It is said to be a playground, but it is actually just an empty muddy field with broken walls on all sides, dry and cracked by the sun.
Someone greeted her from afar, waving and calling her name.

Ruan Nianchu glanced at them.
There were about four or five people in the group, including men and women with different skin tones.
All of them, just like her, were volunteer students of the HELLP BRIDGE team coming from all around the world.

Ruan Nianchu smiled at the few people, walked over, and asked casually in English, “What are you talking about so happily?”

One young man took out his mobile phone while talking.
There was a new WeChat message from Ruan's mother reminding her that she had to review the IELTS exam questions every night.

At this time, an African boy said in English, “We plan to camp outside tonight, catch and grill river fish and shrimp.
Ruan, we have free time anyway, let's go together.”

I don't know if it's God's will or not, but the village is located in the delta between the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap Lake.
The water quality is good, and the plump fishes and shrimps are visible to the naked eye.

Ruan Nianchu thought about the WeChat message just now, compared the two, smiled, and agreed without hesitation, “Okay.”

In fact, since childhood, her academic performance was just average.

In terms of intelligence, she is only average; in terms of diligence, she is not that involved.
Her only advantage is her beautiful face and good vocal cords.
The high school teacher used to worry about her, saying that she was too lazy, and it would be difficult to even get accepted into college.
She suggested that Ruan's father and mother send Ruan Nianchu to study vocal music and take the route of Arts and Sports students to go to college.

Ruan's father and Ruan's mother were so worried that they were pulling their hair, grabbing at the life-saving straw.
Naturally, they would not let it go.

Later, Ruan Nianchu became an art student at a top-notch college.
Although the major is not very well divided, she is still happy.
She had not expected much of her life since she was a child, and it was already a surprise to have this result.

She is an easy person to satisfy.

The family planned for her to graduate from university and go abroad for further studies.
This entered Ruan Nianchu's left ear and went out her right ear.
Her parents couldn't do anything about it so they enrolled her in an IELTS class during the summer vacation.
However, Ruan Nianchu did not want to go so she simply joined HELLP BRIDGE to teach in Cambodia.

She felt that in life, it is always good to do something meaningful.

She is not a high achiever student.
Letting her go abroad to dedicate love is much more reliable than letting her go abroad to study.

*

The students of this primary school are all day students.
As soon as school is over in the afternoon, the small and dilapidated campus is empty and deserted.

The group of students who came to teach had some free time so they went  to grab a fishing net and a grill and ran out chatting and laughing all the way.
Ruan Nianchu and the black girl who lived in the same room walked last, carrying some barbecue seasonings and bamboo skewers in their hands.

The  roommate’s name  is Lila.
She clapped her hands and said cheerfully, “You know Ruan, I've never grilled fish by the river with my friends, this should be fun!”

When Ruan Nianchu saw her like this, she became playful, so she narrowed her eyes slightly and lowered her voice to frighten her: “Hello.
Phnom Penh has civil strife, and here is the famous Mekong River Basin.
Are you not afraid of encountering any danger?”

Lila was horrified, “…No way.”

She burst out laughing instantly, “You're so timid.
I'm just kidding you.”

“……” Lila was furious and raised her hand to hit her.
Ruan Nianchu dodged to the side, pulled a leaf and threw it at her roommate's head.
The two of them ran to the river laughing.
The sun was setting in the distance and the red sun was shining in the sky, and the water of the Mekong River was rippling with light.

The missionaries are all young college students, and they got to know each other in a few days.
Everyone has a clear division of labor and are very busy.
The boys are responsible for setting up tents and catching fish, while the girls are responsible for roasting the meat.
Before you know it, the sun has completely set over the mountain.

Around eight o'clock in the evening, the night was as thick as ink and the stars hung in the sky.

All the grilled fish and shrimps were already eaten, and the group of people had nothing to do after eating and drinking so they simply sat in the tent and chatted about celebrity gossip.
Ruan Nianchu was not interested in this topic and had enough to eat so she took a walk along the river with Lila.
Talking all the way, only after returning to her senses did she realize that they were already hundreds of meters away from the camping site.

The two were ready to go back.

At this moment, Lila suddenly covered her stomach and said with a cold breath, “…
Oh, my stomach hurts.”

Ruan Nianchu was speechless, “Who told you to be reincarnated like a starving ghost, you can eat things before they are cooked.” While talking, she looked around and pointed to a big tree, “You go there to solve it.
I'll wait for you here, just call me if you have anything.”

“Okay.” Lila nodded and ran over in a hurry.

She was bored and stood in place while listening to the song.
Suddenly, she noticed a ray of light from the narrow and dark river in the distance, flickering through the dense water and grass.

Ruan Nianchu just thought it was a local fisherman, and didn't think much about it.

Until the ship got closer, and finally moored by the river.
There were faint voices, talking in Cambodian Khmer.
She couldn’t understand.