Chapter 12 — On Le

Students from other schools also arrived, Mr. Chu sat in the front row, his face as if covered with a layer of ash. Lam Nhuoc Duong sat in the corner, holding a tissue in her hand, Luc Hoai Can sat in an empty seat away from her. I took the chalk and walked up to the podium. Below, someone was whispering. "Is it her? I heard that she was almost disqualified." "She can preach the first sentence?" "Didn't Mr. Chu say that she normally stands near the bottom?" I wrote the topic on the board. Teacher Co sat next to the podium: "On Le, let's start." I said: "The error of this article lies in the last sentence. At first glance, only half of the limiting conditions are missing. In fact, the answer will have one more type." I wrote the second line, and Mr. Chu suddenly stood up. "Wait. If you say the question is wrong, you can't just rely on your mouth. You have to give a counterexample." I nodded: "I'm planning to write." I wrote out the counterexample. The teachers below lowered their heads and calculated at the same time. Luc Hoai Can raised his head to look at the board, the pen moved quickly on the paper, then stopped at the third step. Hua Kieu sat in the back row, just wanting to stand up and scream. Lam Nhuoc Duong suddenly raised his hand: "On Le, can you apply another condition to eliminate this counterexample?" Teacher Chu seemed to see a straw that saved his life: "Yes, what Nhuoc Duong said makes sense." I asked: “What conditions?” Being stared at by me, Lam Nhuoc Duong stubbornly said: "It's just normal conditions." Someone below burst out laughing. I said: "In competition there are no conditions called normal conditions." Hua Kieu laughed out loud. Lam Nhuoc Duong's face turned red: "I just asked a question." I wrote the condition she called common on the other side of the board, deducing three lines. "Adding this condition, the problem immediately turns into another problem. Lam Nhuoc Duong, do you want to change the problem or do you want to correct the error?"She was speechless. Teacher Chu still wanted to speak, but the gray-shirted old man knocked on the table: "Let him finish his lecture." The chalk was worn out, so Mr. Co gave me a new one. At the end, I wrote the correct question in the middle of the board. "If you add this half sentence, you will have the only answer. Setting the question is not afraid of difficulty, just afraid of being wrong. A wrong question does not become correct just because it is printed on the test." As soon as this sentence ended, there was silence below for a few seconds. The old man in the gray shirt was the first to clap. Master Khau clapped along. Applause quickly spread from the first row to the last row. Not chaos and excitement, but recognition after everyone heard and understood. Teacher Chu sat there, the pen cap in his hand was cracked. Teacher Co stood up: "The first question in this practice test is cancelled, the scores for the remaining questions are recalculated. On Le discovered a serious error, which was recorded separately in the evaluation opinion." Lam Nhuoc Duong suddenly raised his head: "What about rankings?" Teacher Co looked at her: "You are not qualified to take the test." Her face instantly lost all life. Luc Hoai Can stood up: "Teacher Co, I want to see On Le's work on the following sentences." Master Co asked: "In what capacity?" Luc Hoai Can paused. "Classmate." "After the exam, we will publicly agree." Luc Hoai Can sat down, as if he had been rejected for the first time. After the lecture ended, many students surrounded me to ask questions. I answered in turn. A male student from another school asked: "Your name is really Thanh Le?" Before I could speak, Hua Kieu interjected: "His name is On Le. Thanh Le is a pen name, not for you to call him." I almost burst out laughing. Luc Hoai Can stood outside the crowd, waiting for everyone to disperse before walking over. "On Le, I've been looking at you wrong for the past half year." I packed up the chalk: "Yes." He didn't seem to expect me to answer with only one word. "I'm sorry." "I got it." "I'm not tutoring you for money." I stopped and looked at him. He quickly said: "At first I really needed money, but then..." I asked: "What happened after that?" He was silent. I said instead: “After that, you get used to me giving you money and buying things

bag for you, pay your mother's hospital bills, save your face. He both accepted and felt that I was vulgar. Luc Hoai Can, it's not that you don't like money, you just hate money given from my hand." His face gradually stiffened. Lam Nhuoc Duong stood next to listen and suddenly laughed: "On Le, you speak so loudly, didn't you still like him?" I looked at her. "I really liked it." Luc Hoai Can's eyes moved slightly. I continued: “So I accept. It's also wrong to have poor eyesight at people." Hua Kieu whispered behind her: "It's good that it can be fixed." Teacher Co walked over holding the documents: "On Le, you will also participate in the appraisal meeting in the evening." Teacher Chu immediately stood up from his seat: "Is she participating too?" Teacher Co said: "She is an insider, also the person who signed on Thanh Le's old manuscript." Teacher Chu's face was unsightly: "A student participating in the examination does not comply with regulations." The old man in the gray shirt walked in through the door: "The rules I set can be changed." Finally, Mr. Chu couldn't help but ask: "Who are you?" The old man looked at him: "City competition committee, Ha Vien Son." The pen cap in Mr. Chu's hand fell to the ground. Luc Hoai Can also raised his head. Lam Nhuoc Duong took a step back, almost hitting the chair. Ha Vien Son looked at me: "Little girl, I'll pay for the noodles tonight." I said: “Plus two vinegar coins.” He laughed loudly: "Okay."