Chapter 9 — I Overturned My Own Sentence

"She needs to admit that that year was directed by the Tran family."

“She won't open her mouth easily.”

“Then let's see how you get her to open her mouth.”

I looked out the window at night. The light of Hac Thanh reflected in my eyes was as cold as ice.

“I will go myself.”

"You have a criminal record. If you want to go to the province, you must report it."

"I know."

“Let me arrange.”

On the night of the tenth day, I boarded the high-speed train to Tham City. After arriving, I rented a bed in a youth hostel. The next morning, I went to the training center where Truong Vy worked. She is standing on the podium teaching English to young children. I stood in the hallway looking at her for ten minutes. About twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. Smile very gently. Not the type of person who would ruin other people's lives. After class, I stopped her.

"Hello."

She looked at me.

“Are you a parent?”

I calmly replied.

“I am Lam Van.”

The smile on her face disappeared.

“I am the person you took the exam for, the person who has been in prison for three years.”

She took a step back.

“What do you want to do?”

“I just want to ask you a question.”

“I don't know anything.”

“So do you know?”

I looked straight into her eyes.

“Just because of your false testimony, I spent three years in prison.”

“My mother died.”

“My life is ruined.”

Her eyes turned red.

“It's not me…”

“Not you?”

I go one step further.

“So who told you to use my documents to take the exam?”

“Who gave you twenty thousand yuan?”

She was forced back to the corner of the wall.

“You go… I don't want to talk…”

“Truong Vy.”

My voice was cold.

“That year you used the fake name Vuong, right?”

“Her real name is Truong Vy.”

“My hometown is An Binh district, Van province.”

“Dad is a farmer.”

“My mother left when I was five years old.”

“When I was in college, I took out a student loan, and then someone came to me and said that if I just took the exam for her once, he would give me twenty thousand yuan to pay off my debt.”

Her face was pale.

“You… how do you know?”

“Do you think it's been three years and no one will investigate anymore?”

Her voice trembled.

"I can't say. They said if I dare say a word..."

“What did they say?”

I stared at her.

“Do you really believe it?”

Truong Vy shook her head and nodded. The whole body trembled non-stop.

“Truong Vy.”

I squatted down in front of her, forcing her to look straight into my eyes.

"I was eighteen years old and was falsely imprisoned. Locked up for three years."

“When I went out… the grass on my mother's grave had grown almost half my body high.”

“Do you know how I lived those three years?”

Truong Vy's tears fell.

“I don't need your apology.”

I stared at her.

“I need the truth.”

“I don't dare…”

“What are you afraid of?”

Her voice trembled to the point of breaking.

“The Tran family once said… if I change my testimony, they will make me disappear.”

“So it's really the Tran family?”

She stopped. Only then did I realize I had made a mistake.

“Who is in the Tran family?”

I pressed every word. Truong Vy covered her face, her whole body shaking violently. A long time later... She burst into tears.

“Tran Duyet.”

“The person who contacted me… was Tran Duyet.”

I used my phone to record everything Truong Vy said. She confessed a lot. At the end of May 2019, someone came to her through an intermediary. At that time, she was in her third year of university, owed more than 20,000 yuan in student loans, and was about to graduate but still couldn't pay them back. The broker said yes a “simple thing”. Exam for a high school student. Salary twenty thousand. She hesitated for a long time, but finally agreed. The person who directly contacted her... was Tran Duyet.

“She gave me a set of cheating equipment, along with the exam admission notice and identification.”

"She said that the female student knew about it and hired me herself."

“What happens after that?”

"Halfway through the exam, I was arrested. When the police arrived, I realized I had been tricked."

“After you were arrested?”

“I was detained for one day.”

“Then a lawyer came to see me and said he was hired by the Tran family.”

"He told me to bite me to death that it was Lam Van who spent twenty thousand yuan to hire me. Just cooperate, and after leaving, the Tran family will take care of my work and life."

“What's that lawyer's name?”

"Don't know."