Chapter 6 — On Le

“But it seems like she really knows how to do her homework.” “She didn't know before.” Luc Hoai Can's voice stopped. “Maybe someone helps her.” Lam Nhuoc Duong asked in a low voice: “You doubt her?” “I just don't believe that someone can pretend for half a year.” I opened the lid of the cup and went in to get water. Lam Nhuoc Duong immediately wiped his face: "On Le, don't misunderstand." I said: "I don't misunderstand, your voices are very clear." Luc Hoai Can's face darkened: "Is eavesdropping interesting?" "The water room is a public place." I filled it with water. “If you want to talk privately, go to the bathroom.” Lam Nhuoc Duong panicked: “Why are you talking so hard to hear?” I looked at her: "When you stole my notes, your hands were very fast and your ears were fragile." Her face turned white again. Luc Hoai Can stood in front of her: "On Le, don't be too much." There was a cough outside the door. The teacher in charge stood there, holding the ranking board in his hand. "What are you arguing about? The results are out." Teacher Chu also followed: "That's good, let her see the difference." The teacher in charge read: "First place, On Le." In the water room, there was only the sound of water dripping from the faucet. Luc Hoai Can's hand was still blocking Lam Nhuoc Duong's face, like a board that suddenly became redundant. Teacher Chu grabbed the chart: "No way." The teacher in charge was unhappy: "What do you mean?" Teacher Chu stared at the scores: "Is Luc Hoai Can second place?" The teacher in charge said: "Two points behind." Lam Nhuoc Duong asked: "What about you?" "Seventh place." Before tears could fall, she lowered her head to look at Luc Hoai Can's reaction first. Luc Hoai Can didn't look at her, he looked at me. "Who taught you?" I tightened the lid of the cup. "Didn't you say someone would help me? Guess." The second day of the training camp, Lam Nhuoc Duong's uncle arrived. He was wearing a neat shirt, claiming to be a representative of the parents' committee, and called Mr. Chu out to the hallway for a long conversation. In the afternoon, during the presentation, the explanation of the last difficult question that belonged to me was changed to Lam Nhuoc Duong. The teacher in charge turned over the list: "That's not right, last night On Le picked lottery number three." Teacher Chu said: "On Le's personality is unstable, I'm afraid he won't perform well on the spot. Nhuoc Duong explains clearly, let him explain." I sat in the audience: "Have you asked me yet?" Teacher Chu said: "This is an arrangement." Lam Nhuoc Duong stood next to the podium holding the lesson plan, his voice soft: "On Le, I just share the burden with you. If you don't want it, I can give it back to you." I looked at the lesson plan in her hand. Under the cover is a corner of blue paper. That's my scratch paper. Hua Kieu stood up from the back row: "What she's holding is On Le's scratch paper!" Teacher Chu shouted: "Hua Kieu, sit down." Hua Kieu did not sit down: "Last night I saw with my own eyes that On Le wrote until eleven o'clock, at which time Lam Nhuoc Duong said to borrow it for five minutes." Tears immediately flowed from Lam Nhuoc Duong's eyes: "I'm just afraid that I'm not good at teaching so I want to learn a little. On Le, why do you always think I'm so bad?" Luc Hoai Can stood up from his seat: "That's enough. The scratch paper was arranged by Nhuoc Duong herself. Last night I saw her writing." I asked him: "What page did you see her writing on?" He stopped. I said: "On the back cover there was a recipe that I crossed out. Did you also see what she wrote?" Someone in the audience burst out laughing. Lam Nhuoc Duong panicked and flipped to the back cover. Sure enough, there was a line on it: Beef bone soup with little salt, saved for dad. The teacher in charge came over and picked up the lesson plan. "Whose is this?" I said: "Mine." Lam Nhuoc Duong cried and said: "I didn't know there was this thing inside, I thought it was mine." Teacher Chu still wanted to defend: "Maybe he took it by mistake." Hua Kieu scolded: "Every time she takes the wrong thing, why doesn't she give her points to On Le?" Some

The students couldn't help but laugh out loud. The teacher in charge's face was very ugly: "The presentation is based on the lottery results, On Le is up." Lam Nhuoc Duong stood next to the podium, he couldn't even retreat, he couldn't even stand. Luc Hoai Can said to me in a low voice: "On Le, Nhuoc Duong has lost a lot of face." I replied: "When I was kicked out yesterday, why didn't you feel like I lost face?" He choked on his words. I walked up to the podium, holding the chalk. When teaching the third step, a teacher below asked: "Why don't you apply the usual method for this step?" I said: "The usual method is slow. Here, if we change the position of the condition, we can separate it directly." As I talked and wrote, chalk dust fell on the back of my hand. A strange middle-aged man in the back row suddenly sat up straight. The person next to him asked in a low voice: "Isn't this Thanh Le's train of thought?" The chalk in my hand broke a piece. I continued to finish writing the last line. The applause below was not too loud but very steady. Master Chu's face was black from beginning to end. Lam Nhuoc Duong returned to his seat, bowed his head and said nothing. Luc Hoai Can looked at the board and did not put down his pen for a long time. After the presentation ended, the middle-aged man walked up to me. "Classmate, who taught you the solution just now?" I said: "I thought for myself." He gave me a business card.