Chapter 1 — I Overturned My Own Sentence

Before I even stepped into the exam room, I was arrested for "cheating on the university exam". That afternoon, exactly 2:10 p.m. Math class started less than ten minutes ago. As soon as I walked out of the school gate, I was stopped by two people in uniform. They didn't say another word, one person stood on the left, one person stood on the right, and directly escorted me to the police car parked on the side of the road. My mind was completely blank at that time.

"You guys have the wrong person, right? I didn't take the exam today."

No one answered me. When I arrived at the police station, they took me into a small room with only a table and a chair. The tube light on the ceiling emitted a shrill buzzing sound, making others feel uneasy and suffocated. An older police officer sat across from me, his eyes sharp as if he wanted to see through every lie. I had never entered an exam room, yet I was arrested for "cheating on college entrance exams". That afternoon, exactly 2:10 p.m. Math class started less than ten minutes ago. As soon as I walked out of the school gate, I was stopped by two people in uniform. They didn't say another word. They held me tightly from left and right, then escorted me straight to the police car parked on the side of the road. My whole body was completely bewildered at that time.

"You guys are wrong, right? I didn't take the exam today."

No one answered me. When I arrived at the police station, they took me into a small room with only a table and a chair. The tube lights on the ceiling emit a shrill buzzing sound, making people so frustrated that it's hard to breathe. An older police officer sat down across from me and opened a file.

“Lam Van, female, eighteen years old, student of class 12A2 at Hac City High School No.

He raised his head to look at me.

“Did you hire someone to take the university entrance exam for you?”

I thought I heard wrong.

"I haven't even entered the exam room yet, where can I hire someone to take the exam for me?"

He didn't answer, just turned his head and called out the door. A young police officer walked in, holding a transparent plastic bag in his hand. Inside is a headset, a tiny signal receiver and a strap-shaped transmitter.

“This was found in your uniform pocket.”

I stared at those items, my mind blank.

“Not mine.”

"It's not yours? Then why is it in your clothes?"

"I do not know."

The old police officer closed the file and leaned back in his chair.

"Classmate Lam Van, at exactly 2:00 pm today, we arrested a woman at room 302 of Hac Thanh Hotel. That person had her exam notice and ID, and was taking the Math exam on her behalf."

“No way!”

I jumped up, the chair scraped hard against the floor, creating a deafening sound.

"My exam notice is always in my briefcase, my ID is also..."

I frantically searched all over my body. The exam notice has disappeared. The ID is also gone.

"Sit down."

I slumped back into my chair.

“I don't know that person at all.”

“She claimed that she spent twenty thousand yuan to hire me.”

"I still don't have two thousand! My mother sells vegetables at the market, where can I get twenty thousand?"

The two of them glanced at each other. At that moment, the door opened again. Class leader Dang walked in with a cold face.

"Teacher! Tell them, I can't cheat. My test results are always in the top three grades..."

Teacher Dang didn't look at me. He gave a stack of papers to the police.

"This is her performance in the last three mock exams, along with the scorecard from the tenth and eleventh grades. Before, she was only average, but from the second semester of the eleventh grade, she suddenly jumped to the top. Our professional team has always suspected there was a problem."

I looked at him dumbfounded.

“Teacher Dang… what are you talking about?”

“Call me teacher Dang.”

He finally looked towards me.

“Lam Van, if you are willing to honestly admit your mistake, the school can still consider handling it lightly.”

"I didn't cheat! My results increased because I studied until two in the morning every day!"

Teacher Dang shook his head then turned and left. The sound of the door closing was like a slap in my face. I looked at that door for a long time, still unable to say a word. The interrogation lasted until nine o'clock in the evening. I said "it's not me" a hundred times, but in the minutes, what they wrote down was only one sentence:

“The suspect refused to plead guilty.”

I asked to call my mother. The call rang eight times before being picked up.

"Van Van? Where are you? Why don't you take the exam?"

My mother's voice was lost from crying.

“Mom, I'm at the police station.”

The other end of the line was silent for three seconds.

“What did you say?”

"They said I hired someone to take the exam for me. Mom, it's not me. Come pick me up, tell them..."

The call was interrupted. It's not like my mother turned off the phone. It was the police who directly pressed interrupt.

"Your mother will come soon. Let's cooperate with the investigation for now."

The door opened and a woman in plain clothes walked in. In her hand she held a laptop. After turning on the device, she turned the screen towards me. On it is a surveillance camera. In front of Hac Thanh Hotel, a girl wearing a hat was walking into the lobby. The right corner of the screen shows the time: 3pm yesterday. Woman presses pause.

“This is you.”

I stared at the blurry figure on the screen. About the same height as me, wearing the exact same gray coat as mine.

"It's not me. Yesterday afternoon at three o'clock I was in the school's self-study room. At least twenty more classmates can testify."

The woman opened another video. This is a picture of the hotel reception desk. The other girl was checking in. On the registration book were clearly written two words:

“The results of the handwriting assessment have been sent.” The woman said.

“Those aren't my words.”

“Before the results come out, you still have to stay here.”

“You can't do that!”

I stood up again.

"I was falsely accused! Someone intentionally harmed me!"

The old policeman slowly took a sip of tea.

“Everyone who was brought here said the same thing as you.”

At ten o'clock at night, my mother arrived. I saw her through the glass of the interrogation room. Her hair was messy, her apron had not yet been removed, and her feet were still wearing plastic sandals to go to the market. Mom said something to the staff on duty. The other person shook his head. Mom spoke again. The other person still shook his head. Mom knelt down. I hit the table hard.

“Let me go see her!”

"The procedure hasn't been completed yet, it's not possible."

I could only watch helplessly as my mother knelt on the cold ground stone floor, each stroke of her head resounding with a chilling sound. A female police officer quickly stepped forward to help her up. Her mother's forehead was torn, blood flowed down the bridge of her nose, but she seemed to feel absolutely no pain. She just kept saying something. I can't hear it. But I could read my mother's lips.

“My daughter did not cheat.”

“My daughter did not cheat.”

“My daughter did not cheat.”

That night, I was taken to the detention center. Before the iron door closed, I turned my head to look at the end of the hallway. Mom was still standing there. The blood on his forehead had dried, forming a dark black scab.