Chapter 13 — People Whose Achievements Are Stolen

The car stopped in front of the gate. The car door opens. Two middle-aged men wearing dark coats walked down first, each holding a briefcase of documents. Then there was a man wearing a light gray suit. About fifty years old. Wear thin metal frame glasses. The hair is half white but is combed extremely neatly. The steps are not fast, but very steady. After getting out of the car, he looked around and saw me.

“Tham Niem?”

“Academician Gu, hello.”

He walked over, took off his glasses, wiped them lightly, and then put them back on. His eyes evaluated me from top to bottom.

“Your results report, I finished reading it last night.”

“Thank you for taking the time to look.”

“No need to be polite.”

“The level of that report is not something that can be described with the word ‘polite’.”

He turned his head to look at the research institute gate behind him.

“Why are you standing out here?”

“My access card has been canceled.”

His glasses flashed a cold streak of light.

“I was suspended from work because of suspicion of data falsification.”

“Access rights are also locked.”

He was silent for a long time. The two accompanying staff members looked at each other softly. Co Hoai An walked towards the hospital gate. Old Ngo quickly raised the railing and slightly bent his back to lead the way beside him. I walked behind Co Hoai An and entered the research institute. The commendation ceremony was held in the large meeting room on the second floor. When we went upstairs, the conference room door was open. There were seven or eight seats inside. Director Tien Duy Quoc stood next to the podium, chatting with representatives from the provincial Department of Science and Technology. There was still that standard smile on his face. Fingers kept turning the lid of the enamel cup. Ly Phong sits in the front row on the left. In front of him was a stack of speech documents. Dao Vien sat next to him, her arms behind the back of the chair, her legs crossed, leaning close and whispering something to a researcher next to her. The first person who saw me when I entered the meeting room... was Dao Vien. His legs immediately lowered from their crossed position. Then there is Ly Phong. His eyes first landed on me. Then passed me... Saw Co Hoai An behind. He did not know academician Co in real life. But he recognized the business card on the chest of the two employees following behind him.

“National Academies.”

His hand holding the speech document was clenched tightly. The corner of the paper was squeezed out with a distinct crease. Tien Duy Quoc also saw it. The lid of the enamel cup in his hand stopped turning. He put the cup lid on the table, secretly wiped his hands on his pants, and quickly walked over.

“Hello, hello… may I ask who you are…”

“Co Hoai An.”

“Functional Materials Key Laboratory, National Academies.”

Tien Duy Quoc's face twitched.

“Co… academician Co?”

“I came to find someone.”

Co Hoai An's voice is not loud. But the entire meeting room suddenly became very quiet.

“Researcher Tham Niem has been included in the list of core members of the Thu Quang Plan.”

“This…”

“Do you guys know?”

Tien Duy Quoc's mouth opened but no sound came out. He turned to look at Ly Phong. Ly Phong stood up.

“Academician Gu, hello.”

“Regarding the invitation from the Thu Quang Plan, I represented the institute to discuss with researcher Tham Niem.”

“Due to health problems, she is temporarily unable to participate.”

“We have officially responded to the preparation committee.”

Co Hoai An turned his head look at me.

“You refused due to health reasons?”

“I have never refused.”

My voice is very stable.

“I didn't even know that invitation letter existed.”

“It wasn't until last week that I discovered it in administrative records.”

“So what about the response letter?”

"It was because Ly Phong used the deputy director's public email to send."

“Impersonate me.”

In the meeting room, the sound of quiet chatter began to echo. Ly Phong's face changed. But the tone still tried to maintain its familiar calmness.

“Tham Niem, don't distort the truth in front of academicians…”

“Distorting the truth?”

I opened my phone and projected the photo taken from the cloud onto the big screen. This meeting room already has a projector because today's recognition ceremony requires it. On the screen appears: Invitation letter from Thu Quang Plan. Response email sent by Ly Phong from public mailbox. Along with the entire sending and receiving history of two emails.

“The invitation address is my personal email.”

“But in the institute's internal mail system, someone has installed automatic forwarding…”

“Transfer the letter to the deputy principal's email box.”

“In my inbox, this email shows 'read' status.”

“But it wasn't me who opened it.”

“I was not in the hospital that day.”

“Can check access history.”

I move on to the next photo.

“The mail history shows that the response email was sent from a computer in the vice chancellor's office.”

“Sending time is 3:17 p.m. on a business day.”

“I was in the second floor laboratory at that time.”

“There were colleagues who testified.”

I transferred one more photo.

“In the response letter, it was written that I was 'inconvenient to participate due to health reasons'."

“Proof of so-called ‘health reasons’…”

“It's a fake pregnancy test report.”

I looked straight at Ly Phong.

“The signature on the report is not mine.”

"In the medical facility's system, this examination record does not exist."

“I have never been to a doctor.”

The entire meeting room was completely silent.