Chapter 2 — The First Foundation Stone

It's been a month, this is the first time she proactively contacted me. "To Van, I'll come visit you this weekend." I typed a line: No need to come. Hesitate for three seconds, delete it, type again: Depends. Saturday afternoon, the doorbell rang. I opened the door, my mother stood outside, next to a strange man. Over forty years old, beer belly, wearing a gold necklace, smiling and looking greasy. "To Van, this is Uncle Vuong." I looked at the other man and said nothing. "Come on, I'll buy you some fruit." He carried two bags of groceries and walked in.
inside, like entering your home. I blocked the door. "I didn't invite you in." My mother pulled my arm. "To Van, don't be rude." "This is your house. It's up to you to decide who gets in." The man's smile stiffened. My mother panicked: "To Van!" "I want to see you, then come in. He can't." The man's face was a bit unnatural, he smiled awkwardly twice. "It's a child, get used to it slowly. I'll go downstairs and wait for you." He placed the fruit at the door, turned around and went downstairs. My mother entered the house, her face complicated. "Why are you like that?" "Like that
What?”“Someone was willing to visit you…”“He came to visit you? He came to see this house." My mother paused. I leaned on the sofa. "Mom, it's your business to remarry, but don't bring strange men to my house." "He's my boyfriend, sooner or later you have to call..." "I won't call anyone 'uncle', 'dad'." She looked at me, suddenly sighing. "This child, why are you more and more like your grandmother." This was the first time she mentioned her grandmother. Grandma My grandmother passed away three years ago, before losing contact with my mother
not good, last year we didn't even meet. When I was young, my grandmother took care of me for two years, then she and my mother argued to the point of turning against each other. "Isn't it good to be like you?" My mother did not answer this question. She sat for half an hour, left two thousand yuan and left. Before leaving, she looked at this house, her lips moved, but said nothing. After the door closed, I put the two thousand yuan away. It's not that I don't need your money, it's that in my place, every penny helps. Love is love, survival is survival. That night I checked
foundation. Income this month: sixty-three thousand yuan. That's more than the pocket money my dad's new wife gives him every month. But no one knows. I don't need anyone to know either. On the day of the art festival, the whole school was excited. Tien Tu Tu wore a white evening gown, standing backstage applying makeup, surrounded by a circle of people surrounding her. "Tu Tu, you're so beautiful today!" "The piano recital is definitely the best in the whole school!" She looked at the mirror and smiled, her smile was certain, as if she had grasped the part.
win in hand. I was in the corner of the room adjusting the equipment, three cameras, two recording microphones, and a gimbal. Tran Doa helped me hold the reflector. "Are you really not going on stage?" "I'm in charge of recording." "What a pity." In the morning, the performances took place one after another, Tien Tu Tu was ranked third from the bottom. She played Chopin's "Fantasy Impromptu", her technique was not bad, her stage manner was also solid. After the performance, the whole audience applauded. She stood up and bowed, her eyes scanning the audience seats, finally stopping above
my camcorder. The meaning in that look was: have you seen it? This is the distance. I pressed the record button without emotion. In the afternoon of the awards ceremony, she won first prize in individual talent. Not surprising at all. But what really made the whole school explode was the news that was posted that night. The school's official account posted a video promoting the art festival. Three and a half minutes. I built it. After three hours, the comment section exceeded eight hundred comments. "Who built this? It's movie class!" "Professional team
Is the job done right? It can't be a student." "The rhythm of the music is really great, I watched the last transition ten times." "Is this school hiding a master?" The student council account increased by two thousand followers. No one knew that I did it. Except for Co Ngon. At 10:00 pm, he sent a message: The video response was very good, thank you. I replied: I said no names. Him: Of course. But the principal asked three times who did it. Me: What do you say? Him: Outsourced. Me: Okay. I sent another message: I don't have any talent
so keep it hidden. I will not reply to this message. Turn off the phone, look at the platform data. The behind-the-scenes video of the art festival posted by my account tonight has exceeded five hundred thousand views. In the comments, someone said: Where is this school? Looking at the architecture, it seems to be from Jincheng city. I blurred out all recognizable images of the field in the video, then reposted it. It's too negligent. This type of error cannot happen again. Three days after the art festival, things changed. Tien Tu Tu posted one
paragraph in the class group: "Someone anonymously posted a video of our school online, including my performance, without my consent, is that considered an invasion of privacy?" Accompanied by three angry emojis. Someone in the group immediately followed suit. "That's right, who filmed it? You can't post it without consent."