Chapter 12 — Tuition Fees for Other People's Daughters

The other girl also said: "Before, when you cried, we all comforted you. Now that I think about it, every time you cry, the person in trouble is Tham Chi." Tong Nhiem's tears were about to fall again. Chu Duong immediately said: "Take it back, the dorm doesn't take back fake tears." Tong Nhiem gritted his teeth, pulled his suitcase and left. The wheel got stuck in the doorway, making a shrill sound. After she left, the quiet girl walked to my table and put down a bottle of yogurt. "I liked the story on the forum before." She bowed her head, "Sorry." I looked at the yogurt bottle: "Thank you." She breathed a sigh of relief: "In the future I will no longer arbitrarily take other people's sides." Chu Duong crossed his arms: "Remember today's sentence." I saved the envelope and brought it to Principal Tan's office in the afternoon. Director Qin looked at the photo and frowned: "Shen Kien Quoc still wants to take action against Giang Van's reputation." "He wants to prove that your mother actively relied on him, so his taking the money will become official." "The photo can't prove anything." Director Tan said, "But what public opinion is most afraid of is information manipulation." Ms. Co sat next to her, wearing glasses and looked for a long time, then suddenly pointed to the corner of the photo: "Isn't this the day the embroidery factory opened that year? I was also present." I asked: “Are you there too?” “Yes.” She searched in her cloth bag and took out a small album, "That day Giang Van invited many people. Tham Kien Quoc came to thank him as the person whose life was saved by Co Minh Xuyen." The album was opened, inside there were photos of the same scene. In the group photo, my mother stood in the middle, Tham Kien Quoc stood at the outer edge, with three other people between them. Ms. Co snorted: "He cropped the photo." Director Tan immediately said: "This picture is very important." Ms. Co turned over another picture: "And this one. After Minh Xuyen crashed, the rescued people gave the flag to Giang Van. Tham Kien Quoc also signed it." On the flag is written: Life-saving grace, never dare to forget. Among the signatures is the name Tham Kien Quoc. I looked at those words and suddenly felt so absurd. The speaker never dares to forget, but later forgets it completely. Director Qin scanned the photo for storage: "If he dares to post the cropped photo, we will post the entire original photo." That evening, Tham Kien Quoc actually posted. He opened a new account, posted a long article, saying that that year Giang Van brought her child with her and had nowhere to go, so he didn't criticize her and instead married her. He said that Tham Chi was instigated by others and refused to even admit to her mother's difficult situation that year. The attached photo is the cropped photo. At first, there were still people in the comments who sympathized with him. Ten minutes later, the official account of the Relief Society published the completed group photo and signed flag. Ms. Lam also used the flower shop account to post a camera clip, the title had only one sentence: Don't cut flowers, don't cut people. On camera, Tong Nhiem said Uncle Tham's money would be hers sooner or later, his voice clear. Chu Duong gave me the phone: "This time you don't need to act, he crashed his head into the wall." I looked at Tham Kien Quoc's account and was scolded to the point of having to close comments, asking: "Where is Tong Nhiem?" Chu Duong glanced: "She was also scolded. Wait, she posted something new." Tong Nhiem posted a photo in the hospital. The content said that Uncle Tham was forced to the point of being hospitalized. If anything happened to him, Tham Chi would be the murderer. The hospital hallway smelled strongly of disinfectant. When I arrived, Tong Nhiem was crying while broadcasting live. Tham Kien Quoc lay on the hospital bed, his face yellow as wax, the back of his hand with a needle inserted. "I don't understand why good people always get hurt." Tong Nhiem said to the camera, “Uncle Tham just wants to help others, but his daughter

forced him to be like this." Chu Duong was about to scold me but I held him back. I went to the door of the hospital room: "What did the doctor say?" Tong Nhiem saw me, the crying stopped for a moment and then immediately got louder: "Chi Chi, you've finally come." Uncle Tham has become like this, do you still want to pursue him?" Comments during the live stream run very quickly. I didn't look at the phone, just asked the nurse: "How is the patient's condition?" The nurse looked at the medical record: “Acute gastritis, discomfort due to emotional agitation. After transmitting, stay and observe.” Chu Duong leaned into the camera: “Do you hear me clearly? Gastritis, not caused by Tham Chi's death." Tong Nhiem turned off the sound and gritted his teeth: "Do you have to force him to death to be satisfied?" I went to the bed. Tham Kien Quoc opened his eyes and said in a weak voice: "Chi Chi, you're here." I said: “I didn't come to visit you. I came to confirm that you are still alive, to avoid anyone pretending to pity you." The weak expression on his face stiffened. Tong Nhiem held up the phone: “Did you hear that? This is her attitude towards her adoptive father.” I turned my head to look at her: "Are you still broadcasting live?" She didn't speak. I said: “That's even better. You asked Tham Kien Quoc if he agreed to sign the consent form to check the books in front of everyone.” Tham Kien Quoc's eyelids twitched: "I'm sick." "If you can say it, you can sign it."