Chapter 5 — Five Years of Unjust Prison

He looked at the chairman: "That year I didn't dare to say anything. My son was in America, my wife had just had surgery. I retired early and hid with these evidence for five years."
“Until a month ago, Co Tram found me.”
Everyone looked towards me. I stood in place, my stomach no longer hurt. Only cold calm remained.
"He said: 'Uncle Trieu, I don't need you to testify for me. I just want to know the truth.'" Trieu Kien Quoc's voice was a bit choked. “A child was sent to prison for five years by his own parents, and when he gets out, he just wants to pray for the truth.”
"I'm over sixty years old, I should do something worthy of my conscience."
He pushed all the documents towards the secretary: "This is a copy of the original appraisal report, a copy of the handwriting from the recording of the conversation the lawyer tried to find me, and a copy of the leadership's directive that year."
"To Van's thesis data was indeed stolen by herself. On Co Tram's computer, besides some review materials, there was nothing."
The chairman started flipping through those documents. My parents were stiff in the courtroom, like two statues. To Van suddenly stood up, her voice shrill: "He lied! It's all fake! This old man was already fired, he holds hatred in his heart..."
“Plaintiff wants to control his emotions!” The chairman gave a stern warning.
But my father lost control. He walked around the table, pointed at my nose and scolded: "Co Tram! You absolutely want to destroy this family, right?! You found this kind of person to defame us?! You unfilial child!" He looked so strange. Like a wild animal forced into a corner. My mother also stood up, but she didn't say anything, just stared at me.
“Smear?” I finally opened my mouth, my voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the court heard clearly. “What Uncle Trieu said is only the first part.”
I took out a file bag from under the defendant's chair.
“This is the second part.”
I gave the file bag to the police:
“Five years ago, when To Van first came to my house, my father took her for a blood test.”
The court immediately fell silent. Even the chairman was stunned. My mother suddenly turned her head and glared at my father: "What test?!" My father's face turned from white to green: "Tieu Tram! What nonsense are you talking about!"
“I'm not talking nonsense.” I opened the file bag and pulled out the copy. "This is the test report. The genetic match rate is ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent. To Van is my father's biological daughter."
The copy was presented to the chairperson by the legal police. My mother grabbed it, her hands shaking and turned it over. Her breathing became more and more rapid. Then she raised her head, her eyes were terrifyingly red: "Co Vien Chau... is this real?" My father opened his mouth but no sound came out.
“You say it!”
My mother shouted. "Since when did you have your own daughter?! You hid it from me for more than twenty years?! You brought her home and let me raise her as an adopted daughter?! You even sent my son to prison for her sake?!" She picked up the thermos on the table and threw it at my father. Hot water splashed all over him.
"Chu Uyen! Calm down!" My father struggled to avoid it.
“I'm calm?! How calm am I?!” My mother went completely crazy. "I said, why do you treat him better than your own son? I said, why did you push Tieu Tram into the fire pit? It turns out he is yours! I am your wife, Co Vien." Chau! Tieu Tram is your son!”
She rushed forward and scratched my father. The police quickly stepped up and pulled her out. To Van sat bewildered on the plaintiff's chair, her whole body as if her soul had been drained. Livestream comments ran so fast that the words could not be seen clearly:
“Heavenly melon!”
“TV dramas don't dare act like this!”
“So for your stepdaughter, you sacrifice your main son?!”
The chairman used force to tap his gavel: “Order! No noise in the court!” My mother was detained by the police, still crying and scolding until her voice was hoarse. My father's vest was pulled askew, his hair was also messy, no longer as leisurely as before. He looked at me, his eyes complicated. There was anger, there was fear, there was also a trace of... guilt I had never seen before. But there is only one ray.
“Chairman.” I calmly said, “I have a third piece of evidence.”
Everyone looked at me. Even my mother stopped crying.
"To Van's biological mother's name is Vuong Tu Lan, from Van Son district."
I pulled out a few photos. “Twenty-five years ago, my father went there to volunteer to teach and had a relationship with her. After To Van was born, she always raised her alone, until five years ago when she became seriously ill, she was able to contact my father. In the photo is a simple house, a thin yellow woman, and To Van in her youth.
“My father took To Van out, changed her household registration, so she could call my parents teachers. In order for her to completely escape her past, my father began to pave the way for her.”
I looked towards To Van:
“But you're too hasty. She quickly wanted to stand out, quickly wanted to prove that she was not inferior to anyone. So she stole the data, wanting to write a famous thesis."
“After the incident was revealed, my father thought of every possible way.”
“But every path will leave its mark and will affect your future advancement.”
“Until he saw me.”