Chapter 4 — The Night Before Exam Day

The district admission office also had an answer, as long as my identity was successfully verified, it would not affect my admission to the exam room. The rope I had been holding tight for a while now finally relaxed a little. At four o'clock in the afternoon, Ms. Tan and two police officers and I went home to get the household registration book. My mother cried all the way. She sometimes said I was making a big deal out of it. Then he said that Tham Chu had understood things from a young age and could not harm me. I don't object. There are words spoken over the course of eighteen years that have soon grown roots into a wall. When I got home, my father was standing in the living room smoking a cigarette. The ashtray is half full of ashes. As soon as I walked in, he pointed at me and cursed. "Do you have to ruin the relationship between our two families to be satisfied?" The police officer held up his ID card. "Please cooperate, bring out the household registration book." My father's face turned blue, then white, and finally went into the bedroom to rummage through the closet. When my mother followed in, I saw her hands were shaking. Taking out the household registration book, the police compared the information. Ms. Tan told me to go back to my room to clean up the necessary items for tonight. I pushed open the door, the desk drawer lock was still intact. But I know, intact doesn't mean safe. I squatted down and touched the edge of the bottom board of the drawer. There is a very thin scratch there. There wasn't before. Tham Chu did not open it with a key. He pried it out and put the lock back in place. I stuffed clothes and school supplies into my backpack and accidentally touched the old iron box under the bed. That's the box I used to store my certificates and childhood photos. The lid of the box is not closed tightly. My heart jumped, I pulled it out. The photo at the top has been flipped out. In the photo, for my sixth birthday, Tham Chu is standing behind me, Duong Tue and my parents are standing on both sides. The background is a sycamore tree downstairs in the old dormitory. At first I didn't see anything strange. Until I saw that the back of the photo had an extra pencil mark. It's a small line. Ha Tay, furnace number 7. The handwriting is very old, as if written many years ago. I took the photo and walked out. "Dad, what does this mean?" My dad saw the back of the photo clearly, and the blood on his face drained away immediately. My mother was also stunned. She almost rushed to grab the photo. "Why are you looking for this?" The police stopped her. I looked at my father. "Have you ever been to the old Ha Tay brick factory?" My father's lips turned white. "Never." "So what is furnace number 7?" He was silent. Ms. Tan also looked at him. "Mr. Manh, if you still hide it now, there won't be any benefits for her." My father suddenly raised his head, his voice hoarse. "That was all more than ten years ago!" The living room suddenly fell silent. My mother covered her mouth, her tears falling even more intensely. My chest felt like something was hitting me hard. "What's going on?" My father didn't say anything. At this moment, my phone vibrated. Another text message from that strange number. This time it's not a photo. It's a ten second video. In the video, dim light illuminates a piece of rusted iron chain. At the end of the chain, the woman curled up in the corner of the earthen furnace. She slowly raised her head, revealing half of her face full of wounds. I could barely stand. Because behind her left ear, there is a small mole that looks exactly like mine. At the end of the video, she moves her lips towards the camera. No sound. But I can read it. She is saying is. Her father also went there.06After watching the video, the police immediately reported the situation. The old Ha Tay brick factory, from being a normal threat, has become a scene where people are likely to be detained. I was asked to stay at the motel and was not allowed to go near that wasteland. Ms. Tan stayed with me. She put my exam notice and citizen identification card in a bag close to my body, then checked my exam equipment over and over again. I

sitting on the edge of the bed, palms wet with sweat. My phone was taken away by the police to collect evidence, leaving me with only a spare phone to contact the teacher. I thought that would calm me down. But at six twenty p.m., the landline phone in the motel rang. Ms. Tan picked up the phone, only listened for a second, her face changed. She pressed the speakerphone. The man's altered voice came from the receiver. "Manh Chi, you have forty minutes left." Ms. Tan said seriously: "The police are already there, you can't escape." The man laughed. "They can't get into furnace number 7." "The chain on her body is connected to the kerosene tank." "Manh Chi doesn't show up, I'll light the fire." My fingernails squeezed tightly into my palm. Ms. Tan stood in front of me, using her mouth to tell me not to speak. The man looked like he knew I was right next to him. "Don't let the teacher speak for you." "Don't you want to know, why are you five years from now there?" I suddenly raised my head. Ms. Tan also stiffened. The man slowly said: "It's seven o'clock, the broken wall west of the old Ha Tay brick factory." "Only you are allowed to come with your file bag." "Don't bring anyone." The phone was disconnected. Ms. Tan immediately contacted the police.