Chapter 2 — The Bookbreaker Suddenly Got 749 Points, After Investigation... The Whole School Was Silent

I bent down to pick up the medical records. The toe of Phuong Man's shoe stepped on the top sheet. On it were clearly written the words: "dialysis", "critical", "hospital debt". She glanced once, her smile stopped for a moment, then quickly moved her feet away.

"It's useless to pretend to be pitiful. Everyone has difficulties."

The stairs were filled with bustling people watching. I stuffed the medical record back into my bag, turned around and went down. Just arriving at the door of the house, Ky Minh Triet's phone rang. After picking up the phone, his voice carried an undisguised excitement.

“Tham Te Nguyet, the school gate is crowded with people.”

“You better not come.”

“If I come… it will only make me lose more face.”

When the school's iron gate appeared at the corner of the street, a group of people holding up their phones simultaneously turned their heads to look at me. In front of the security room, it was filled with students. The date of announcement of scores is not required to go to school. But today, as scheduled, everyone crowded outside the gate just waiting for me to appear. Someone shouted:

“749 is here!”

The crowd immediately burst into laughter. Ky Minh Triet stood in the front. Clean white shirt, hair neatly combed. Next to him is Uc Dung. Behind them are the principal, head of school and teachers from the academic department. As soon as he saw me, Uc Dung immediately frowned.

“Tham Te Nguyet, why are you here now?”

Without waiting for me to answer, she lowered her voice again:

“Do you know that because of you, the school phone is dead?”

“The Provincial Examination Institute has received the complaint.”

“If we really find out the problem, not only will I be ruined, but the school will lose face as well.”

Ky Minh Triet sighed softly.

“Teachers, stop scaring him.”

“Who knows… he was also tricked by someone else?”

That statement seemed to conveniently attach a crime to me. I don't know when Phuong Man and To Nhue arrived. To Nhue is holding a livestream on her phone.

“Everyone, she's finally here.”

“Now the teacher will take her to the conference room.”

“I will continuously update to see how the bottom ranking explains 749 points.”

Uc Dung frowned, but did not force her to turn off the livestream. The principal looked at me. The air conditioning in the meeting room is very low. On one side of the long table is the school's leadership team. The only other side is me. Ky Minh Triet stood behind Uc Dung, just like an obedient student coming to attend an audition. Uc Dung pushed a stack of scoreboards in front of me.

“This is all my monthly exam results throughout the 12th grade year.”

"Highest literature score 98 points, highest math score 26 points, highest English score 41 points, highest natural combination score 67 points."

“Third practice test total score 213.”

The sound of paper flipping was deafening. The principal asked:

“Tham Te Nguyet, how do you explain?”

I raised my head.

“I missed a lot of monthly exams at school.”

The head of the block laughed coldly.

"The university entrance exam is not a monthly exam. Do you think that if you skip the exam a few times, you can spend 749 points?"

Uc Dung immediately continued:

“Don't beat around the bush.”

"What everyone wants to hear is, on what basis can I get this score?"

The room door was pushed open. Ky Minh Triet's mother walked in, wearing a neat office dress, holding a file of documents in her hand. She is the president of the parents' association and is also in charge of a large exam preparation center in the city. As soon as she sat down, she placed the phone on the table. On the screen is an action video Lang of my house. To Nhue's eyes turned red and she accused me of pushing her. Ky's mother looked at me, her voice cold.

"Classmate Tham, if your scores are abnormal, you can investigate."

“But if you threaten your classmates and refuse to cooperate, then the nature of the story is different.”

The principal's face darkened.

“Take out your admission card first.”

The cloth bag was placed on my knee. My finger touched the edge of the exam card... then stopped. Uc Dung immediately stared at me.

“What's wrong, don't you dare?”

Ky Minh Triet bowed slightly, his voice neither loud nor soft.

“Tham Te Nguyet… on the back of your admission card, you didn't write anything that couldn't be seen by others, right?”

In the meeting room, all eyes were on my bag. When my fingertips touched that hard card, my palm was drenched in sweat. I stuck my exam card in the middle of my medical records. The front is very clean. But the back is not. The night before the university entrance exam, my mother left a few words there. There are also a few series of numbers I wrote in pencil. I don't want anyone to see. Don't want Uc Dung to see. Don't want Ky Minh Triet to see. I don't want the people who see me as a joke to see it. The principal tapped lightly on the desk.

“Tham Te Nguyet.”

“Now it's no longer a matter of whether you want or don't want to.”

I placed the exam card on the table, front side facing up. Uc Dung immediately took it. ID number, exam score, exam room, seat number... all match. The head of the block took a photo and sent it to the Provincial Testing Institute. A few minutes later, his phone rang.

“Yes, the document numbers match.”

“We also asked to extract the exam room camera.”

“Students are at school now.”

I don't know what the other end of the line said, but his expression still did not calm down. After hanging up, he looked towards me.

“The examiner's notes show that I completed the test about fifteen minutes early in all four subjects, with no unusual behavior.”

Ky Minh Triet's face immediately changed. But very quickly, he spoke again:

“Finishing the exam early is even more strange.”

“Normally, he can't complete the multiple-choice test.”

Ky's mother pushed the file into the middle of the table. Inside are several printouts of the chat. Someone said that before the exam, they saw me at the used book market in the south of the city. Someone said I once bought a bunch of "internal prediction questions". There are also people who claim that the question is so similar to this year's exam that it's scary. The head of the class slammed the stack of papers on the table.

“Tham Te Nguyet, have you ever been to the used book market south of the city?”

Uc Dung's eyes immediately turned cold.

“One week before the university entrance exam.”

In the meeting room, the sound of breathing was filled with pressure. Ky Minh Triet looked at me, the corners of his lips pursed tightly, as if he was finally waiting for me to reveal an opening. The principal's voice lowered.

“What did you buy?”

“The Five-Third Series, a synthesis of natural sciences and an English literature sample book.”