Chapter 10 — The Night Before Exam Day

Ms. Tan immediately called the district admissions office. The other party urgently froze the application, transferring my information to manual checking. But the staff also reminded at the same time. "Tomorrow there will be a lot of people, any delay in the system could affect the exam." Ms. Tan tightly held the phone, the blue veins on the back of her hand clearly visible. "She is the victim of the test, you must make sure she gets into the exam room." The other end of the line was silent for two seconds, only saying that a specialized person would be arranged. I listened to their conversation, but inside I gradually calmed down. Same goes for Tham Chu. The same goes for Duong Tue. The same goes for the person named Tham Truong Bach who hasn't shown his face yet. The more they wanted to drag me out of the exam room, the more I couldn't back down. My aunt looked at me, as if she knew what I was thinking. "Chi Chi." "Don't turn around tomorrow." "If anyone calls you, don't turn around." I nodded. But I didn't tell her, that message said that person would be standing right behind me. At eleven o'clock at night, the police took Ms. Tan and me to a motel near the exam site. My parents were taken to give statements. My aunt is under police protection. After being controlled, Duong Tue still refused to say a word. Tham Chu still hasn't found it. Ha Vu Vi was also taken for questioning. I washed my face and sat in front of the desk to check my school supplies. Pencil. Ballpoint pen. Eraser. Exam admission notice. Citizen identification card. Temporary explanation paper. Everything is here. Ms. Tan sat next to her, so sleepy that her eyes turned red, but she was determined not to sleep. "Go to sleep." She said. "You watch." I shook my head. "Miss, you're also injured." She laughed. "What's the point of this little wound." "I've been teaching the senior class for more than ten years, this is the first time someone dared to steal a student's exam notice right from under her eyelids." "Manh Chi, do well in your exam tomorrow." "Don't let them get the best of you." “My eyes are hot. At two o'clock in the morning, I finally fell asleep. In the dream, it was furnace number 7 again. This time, there was no iron chain on the earth wall. There is only one table. On the table lay a college entrance exam paper. I sat at the table, pen in hand. Someone bent down behind me and spoke softly in my ear. "You shouldn't have been born." I woke up startled. Outside the window the sky was just dimly lit. Ms. Tan immediately sat up. "What's wrong?" I shook my head and took the exam notice. The paper surface is clean and blank. But when I turned over, my heart suddenly skipped a beat. On the back there are four very light words. Get the exchange card. The handwriting looks like it was carved by fingernails. I obviously checked it out last night. Ms. Tan's face changed drastically and she immediately called the police outside the door. But the door lock was never picked. The windows are also latched from the inside. Objects were touched by hands and feet right under our eyelids. At seven o'clock in the morning, I got in the car to go to the exam site. Both sides of the road are full of parents taking their children to take exams. Someone hugs flowers. Someone wears a red shirt. Someone shouted loudly, come on. Those simple bustles entered my ears, as if in another world. Outside the test site, the staff in charge of me was waiting. Ms. Tan helped me step forward. I handed over the papers. The staff checked my ID, then looked at my exam notice, and finally asked me to look at the camera. The machine's green light flashes once. I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when red text suddenly appeared on the screen. Candidates entered through a special entrance. The police officer next to me immediately pressed the radio. "Block the internal passageways of the test site." Ms. Tan's face turned white. I raised my head and looked towards the lecture hall building. At the end of the hallway connecting the second floor, a female student wearing the same uniform as me was standing there. She wore a mask and held a transparent file bag in her hand. Behind her is a middle-aged man. Man wearing exam inspection card. Between the thumb and index finger

yes, there is an old scar that is very deep. He looked away from the crowd and slowly raised his hand. In that hand, was holding a copper card identical to the one in my red cloth wrapper.13The red text on the screen was so dazzling it hurt. The employee's hand stopped on the keyboard, his face also turned pale. "The system displayed, she passed through the East special entrance." Ms. Tan grabbed the edge of the table. "The person is here, how could she pass?" The police immediately split into two directions and rushed into the test site. I was sheltered next to the security tent, the parents giving the exam around still didn't know what was going on, only to see this side suddenly in chaos. The female student in the second floor hallway turned and walked away. The other man was in no hurry. He looked at me from the crowd, the bronze card in his hand reflecting the dim yellow light in the morning light. For the first time I saw his face clearly. About fifty years old, very high eyebrow bone, and an old scar at the corner of his mouth. His eyes and Tham Chu's are very similar. Cold, narrow and long, like gaps always waiting to plot other people's plans. He slowly raised his hand, stuck the copper card on the back of the inspection card in front of his chest. The next second, the door to the second floor hallway was locked from the inside by someone. The sound of police banging on the door echoed down.