Chapter 7 — I Don't Need Your Late-Found Affection

She stiffened. Those standing nearby could not help but burst into laughter. Tan The Hai immediately let out a shrill howl.

"Look at everyone! This is the top scholar of the entire province! Her own birth mother is kneeling right in front of her, and she still has the nerve to smile!"

I turned my gaze toward his phone.

"Don't leave, everyone in the livestream room."

"Today, I also have a few questions for them."

The comments flooded the screen at breakneck speed. Some were hurling insults at me, while others were demanding that Tan The Hai answer the questions. I pulled out a piece of paper.

"First, Tan The Hai, Lieu Phuong Cam, you claim to have been searching for me for twenty years."

"Where is the police report receipt?"

Tan The Hai stiffened. "Back then, people in the countryside didn't understand these things!"

"Second, where are the missing person notices?"

Lieu Phuong Cam sobbed, "We were poor! How could we afford to place advertisements in the newspaper?"

"Third, where are the DNA profiles in the national database?"

Tan The Hai stammered, "We didn't know such a thing existed!"

"Fourth." I held up a sheet of paper with the name Tan Phan Nam written on it. "Who gave me this name?"

Tan The Hai’s face paled. Lieu Phuong Cam’s wailing grew softer. The comments in the livestream began to shift.

"Tan Phan Nam? What kind of twisted name is that?"

"Phan Nam—hoping for a son? The more you think about it, the more horrifying it becomes."

I continued. "Fifth, when I arrived at the welfare institute, I was suffering from pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. The institute paid thirty-two hundred for my treatment in advance. Do you know about this?"

No one answered.

"Sixth, back when the police came to your home to investigate, why did you tell them the child had been given to relatives?"

Tan The Hai shouted, "Who knows if those ragged old files were real or fake!"

I unlocked my phone and played the recorded testimony of Officer Truong. The old man’s voice was steady and calm. "I participated in the investigation of that infant abandonment case back then. Based on the identification bracelet from the health clinic and testimony from neighbors, we traced the case to the home of Tan The Hai. Tan The Hai refused to admit it, and Lieu Phuong Cam never appeared. Soon after, the Tan family moved away from Happiness Street, and the trail went cold."

As the video finished playing, a heavy silence fell over the school gates. The comment section exploded.

"So they never looked for her at all?"

"They abandoned their daughter, and twenty years later, they came back to demand money?"

"All of you who were just insulting the top scholar, come out and apologize!"

Tan The Hai lunged forward, trying to snatch the phone from my hand. Teacher Ngo immediately stepped in front of me. "What do you think you’re doing?"

The school security guards closed in. Tan The Hai pointed a finger at my face, shouting, "Lam Van Tri! Are you truly going to force your own father to his death?"

I looked at him. "You aren't kneeling here today to welcome me back." I paused for a moment. I nearly said something biting, but chose my words carefully. "What you are kneeling before is the camera lens."

"What you are begging for is eight hundred thousand."

Tan The Hai’s face turned from blue to white. Lieu Phuong Cam remained on the ground, sobbing until her voice went hoarse. "Van Van, I truly know I was wrong. I was so young back then, I had no other choice!"

I crouched down to look at her. "When I was three, I had no other choice either."

"I was running a fever, hungry, cold, and crying until I couldn't even make a sound outside the gates of the welfare home."

"Did you hear me then?"

Lieu Phuong Cam froze. I continued, "You feel aggrieved after kneeling for ten minutes."

"I waited at the welfare home for seventeen years."

"And when I finally waited for you to show up, it was only so you could sign papers on my behalf, stealing my scholarship money to send Tan Dieu Tong abroad."

Her lips trembled. "I will make it up to you later..."

"It’s too late." I stood up. "I don’t need anything from the people who owe me."

"The law will settle the accounts."

In the distance, the wail of police sirens grew louder. Tan The Hai’s face went slack. Lieu Phuong Cam looked panicked. "You called the police again?"

I said, "You are suspected of harassment, defamation, and are involved in falsifying power of attorney and attempted fraud."

"This time, it isn't just my word."

"The entire livestream has heard everything."

The police car pulled up to the gate. Officer Ly stepped out and walked up to Tan The Hai. "Tan The Hai, Lieu Phuong Cam, please come with us to assist with the investigation."

Tan The Hai tried to yell again, but Officer Ly looked at the sign hanging around his neck. "Turn off the livestream."

Tan The Hai’s hands shook for a long time. The final image in the livestream was of him being led away by the police. Lieu Phuong Cam kept looking back at me as she wept. "Van Van, are you really this heartless?"

I looked at her. "The most heartless I’ve ever been was calling the police."

"When you were heartless, you discarded a three-year-old child."

Her crying stopped. At that moment, the only sound left at the school gate was the wind. Teacher Ngo had teary eyes and patted my shoulder gently. "Van Tri, go inside."

I looked up at the school banner. The bright red was blinding. I suddenly felt the air that had been compressed in my chest for so many years finally begin to loosen. That evening, the Department of Education posted an announcement.

"The scholarship money that was improperly transferred to the account of an imposter has been frozen in its entirety and will be claimed directly by the rightful recipient. The fraudulent documents have been seized, and the individuals involved have been handed over to the authorities."

The school also issued a formal statement.