Chapter 11 — Betrayed by My Own Mother, Saved by My Mother-in-Law

Dai Tru borrowed the village chief’s motorcycle to take me and Teacher Diep to the district committee. Mother Chau had wanted to come along, but with no one to watch the house and the fields left unattended, she could only lean against the gate and watch us depart. She draped her old, frayed blue cloth jacket over my shoulders. “The wind blows hard up in the district. Be careful not to catch a cold.” Looking at the faint scar on her forehead, my heart ached with profound sorrow. “I will submit my application properly,” I promised. She nodded. “I believe in you.” As the motorcycle pulled away, I glanced back. Mother Chau was still standing there. In the early morning mist, her thin frame appeared remarkably straight, like a pillar supporting the very heavens.

The district town was far busier than I had imagined. The roads were filled with workers on bicycles, students carrying school bags, and stalls selling aromatic fried cakes. On the walls, slogans were plastered: “Educated youth, strive for the exams; the country needs talent to build its future.” I stood there for a long time, staring at those words. Teacher Diep nudged me gently. “Let’s go.”

The District Department of Education was located in a weathered building, its corridors packed with people. There were young men in their twenties, workers in their thirties, and even mothers holding small children, all there to hand in their forms. Everyone clutched their files tightly, their faces etched with nervous tension that glimmered with radiant hope. As it turned out, I was not the only one longing for this door to open. We waited in line until noon before it was my turn. The official receiving the files was a woman wearing cloth gloves, and she flipped through my documents one page at a time.

“Lam Trieu Thu, high school graduate, married?”

I nodded. She lifted her eyes to look at me. “Does your husband’s family agree?”

“They agree.”

“Where is the original household registration certificate?”

My heart skipped a beat. Teacher Diep quickly stepped in to assist. “Ma’am, this student’s situation is a bit unique. We have her original high school graduation certificate here, along with a character reference from the commune where she resides, and a letter explaining her circumstances.” The official furrowed her brows as she flipped through the papers. “The household registration is missing; according to protocol, it must be supplemented.” I panicked. “Ma’am, my birth family refuses to let me take the exam; they will never provide the papers for me.” The official’s hands paused. The corridor was noisy, yet I could only hear the thumping of my own heartbeat. She looked at me for a moment, her voice softening. “Cases like yours are not unheard of, but you must write down the reason clearly and obtain a stamp of verification from the other commune.” Teacher Diep pleaded, “Could you please accept the file for now?” The official hesitated. Just then, a male official approached. “What is the matter?” The woman explained the situation. The man quickly scanned the file, his eyes landing on the letter of recommendation from Principal Nghiem.

“Excellent academic performance?”

I spoke up quickly, “I will work hard and do my best on the exam!” He smiled. “Effort is your business, but procedure is ours.” My heart sank again, but he continued, “We will accept the file provisionally. You have ten days to provide the verification from the commune. If you exceed the deadline, it will be voided.” I was so overjoyed I could hardly believe it. “Is it truly accepted?” The official recorded my name in the ledger. “Consider it conditionally approved for now. Go and prepare the supplemental documents.” I took the receipt, my hands trembling. Teacher Diep let out a sigh of relief.

Outside the office, I stopped in my tracks, and tears began to stream down my face. Dai Tru panicked. “What happened? Did they refuse?” I handed him the receipt. “They accepted it.” He stared at the paper, unable to read the text, yet his mouth broke into a wide grin. “Accepted is good, accepted is good!” Teacher Diep reminded us, “Do not celebrate yet; there is still the hurdle of the commune’s verification.”

Back in the village, Mother Chau was waiting at the gate as usual. I called out from a distance, “They accepted it, Mother!” She stood frozen, then hurried toward me. “Did they really accept it?” I gave her the receipt. Being illiterate, she only traced the red seal with her finger. “Is this the pass to take the exam?”

“Yes, we only need the stamp from the commune now.”

“Whatever is missing, we will make up for it.” She handed the paper back to me, her eyes reddening. “We shall have a feast tonight.”

The “feast” of the Trieu household was merely a tiny bowl of scrambled eggs. The hen had only laid two eggs in three days, and Mother Chau cracked them both into the pan, setting it directly in front of me. I scooped a portion into her bowl, but she pushed it back immediately. “Eat, it’s good for your brain.” I tried to give some to Dai Tru, but he waved his hand as if warding off evil. “I don’t care for this dish.” I looked at the two of them and set my chopsticks down. “If we eat, we eat together.” Mother Chau stood stunned. I continued, “This is not just my journey alone.”

That night, the three of us shared those two scrambled eggs. The taste was so delicious that I knew I would never forget it for the rest of my life. However, going to the commune for verification proved more difficult than I had anticipated. The commune officials insisted on investigating the situation with my birth family to avoid potential domestic disputes. They sent people down to my mother’s village. By the following afternoon, the news returned. My mother had made a scene before the commune officials, accusing me of being unfilial, claiming I was being instigated by the Trieu family, and even slandering me by saying I was sickly and mentally unstable, therefore unfit to take the exam. Upon hearing this, as I was working on my homework, the pencil lead in my hand snapped into pieces. Teacher Diep slammed the table in fury. “How could she weave such malicious lies about her own daughter!”