Rebirth: My college entrance exam score was stolen? I turned the tables and made a billion.

(This article is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.)

"quiet!"

"The defendant, Chen Defu, taking advantage of his father Chen Jianguo's position as the then director of the county education bureau, colluded with Wang Shouzheng, the director of the county education bureau's admissions office, and Zhao Youcai, the head of the county public security bureau's household registration section, in July 1992 to forge and switch files and transcripts, enabling him to impersonate the plaintiff Liu Guangming's college entrance examination scores and gain admission to Beijing Normal University."

"After graduation, the defendant Chen Defu entered the public service system with his academic qualifications, and served successively as a staff member of the county education bureau, deputy mayor, and director of the county education bureau."

After speaking, the presiding judge paused for a moment and turned the page.

"Upon investigation, the defendant Chen Defu's actual college entrance examination score was 312 points, while the plaintiff Liu Guangming's actual college entrance examination score was 587 points, a difference of 275 points."

"The facts are clear, and the evidence is conclusive!"

"The verdict is now announced: the defendant, Chen Jianguo, is guilty of abuse of power and sentenced to five years in prison."

"The defendant, Wang Shouzhen, was convicted of abuse of power and forgery of official documents of state organs. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for the crimes.

"The defendant, Zhao Youcai, is guilty of forging official documents of state organs and is sentenced to three years in prison."

"The defendant, Chen Defu, was convicted of forging official documents of state organs and sentenced to three years and six months in prison. His academic qualifications and degree certificates were revoked in accordance with the law, and his public office status was cancelled in accordance with the law."

The gavel struck for the last time.

"The above judgment is a first-instance judgment. If any defendant is dissatisfied, he/she may file an appeal within ten days from the date of receipt of the judgment."

In the dock, Chen Defu lowered his head, his suit was wrinkled, and he looked completely different from when he was interviewed on television three months ago.

Back then, he was sitting behind his desk, talking eloquently to the camera about educational equity.

Chen Jianguo, who was sitting next to him, was over seventy years old with completely white hair and never raised his head from head to toe.

Zhao Youcai, on the other hand, turned his head and glanced to the side as the bailiffs took him away.

The plaintiff's seat is on the side.

At this moment, a man is sitting in the plaintiff's seat.

It was Liu Guangming.

At 53, with a full head of white hair, he looked older than Chen Jianguo, who was over 70, in the dock.

The verdict was read aloud, but he didn't move.

The lawyer was talking to him, but he didn't hear it.

People in the courtroom stood up one after another, and reporters raised their cameras to take pictures in this direction, with flashes going off one after another, but he didn't even blink.

He remained silent, tears streaming down his face.

Thirty years have passed.

In the summer of 1992, he scored 587 points, but instead of receiving a university admission notice, he only received a result of 312 points.

He didn't understand and asked, "How could I have scored 312 points? Why didn't I get an admission notice?"

The admissions office said that's how it is; if they don't have it, they don't have it.

"impossible!"

He was eighteen years old that year. He stood at the entrance of the admissions office and shouted all day, but to no avail.

His third sister, Liu Cuilan, took him to the provincial capital to file a complaint. Before they left, his four older sisters killed the last old hen in the house and made him a soup to help him recover.

The older sister said, "Guangming, go find a place to reason with them."

Our parents passed away early, and our four older sisters are not capable. They are counting on you to study hard and make something of yourself.

You studied so hard and had good grades before, there's no reason why you only got 312 points.

Later, people from the petition offices in both the city and the provincial capital collected the materials and said they would investigate.

I waited for three months, but there was no response.

I went again, but the materials were missing, so they told me to fill them out again.

I filled it out, and now I'm waiting.

When spring came the following year, he received a letter with an official seal and four lines of printed text. After checking, it was found to be correct.

The eldest and third sisters read the letter over and over again seven or eight times, then remained silent, squatting on the threshold, covering their faces with their sleeves and crying.

My second sister didn't come because her husband, who used to work at the brick factory, was inexplicably fired, so she has to do odd jobs to support the family.

Fourth Sister didn't come either.

She was teaching at a primary school in town, but the principal told her that she didn't need to come anymore and that she should hurry up and find a job.

So Liu Guangming stopped looking and went to work at a brick factory in the south.

Carrying bricks and mixing mud, one yuan and two jiao a day.

The calluses on my hands were worn down layer by layer, and the red brick dust under my fingernails could never be washed off.

Later, he worked at the brick factory for three years, and then went to work in the mine.

There was a mine collapse once, and he was buried for four hours. When he was dug out, his left leg was broken, and he was bedridden for half a year.

At the age of thirty, he married a divorced woman from the next village through an introduction.

The woman had a four-year-old boy with her. They made do, but life wasn't good either, and they didn't break up.

When he was forty, the woman left.

He didn't die; he went with a long-haul truck driver.

Before leaving, he took all the bankbooks and the eight hundred yuan he had hidden under his pillow.

The fact that the person took the place of another was eventually discovered by family members; it was purely coincidental.

My third sister, who works odd jobs, overheard some gossip: "How come Chen Defu, the director of the Education Bureau, is only this competent?"

"I don't know, I heard that they scored an exceptionally high 100 or 200 points on their college entrance exam!"

"Hey, do you think it's possible that he's impersonating someone else...?"

"Don't talk nonsense, or you'll be arrested!"

Just then, a case of college entrance exam cheating was reported in the media, and my third sister immediately became alert.

The four older sisters then discussed it and decided to tell Liu Guangming.

And so, the four old men, some sick and some over sixty, took a taxi overnight to the city where Liu Guangming worked.

The older sister held his hand, her whole body trembling.

"Guangming, your life...it might have been stolen."

Then, naturally, they petitioned again and filed a lawsuit.

But it's not that easy.

Chen Defu has an entire system behind him.

Although his father, Chen Jianguo, has retired, his network of relationships built up over decades still exists.

The first time I went to the county court, my materials were returned three times, with the reasons being that one document was missing or another was unqualified.

They won't say what's wrong with it.

He hired a lawyer a second time. While the lawyer was investigating and collecting evidence, two middle-aged men in leather jackets came directly to the construction site where he worked.

"Liu Guangming, let's not bring up the past. It won't do anyone any good."

One of them slammed a brown envelope in front of him.

"Here's 200,000 yuan. Take it, go back to your hometown, build a house, and live a good life."

Two hundred thousand.

He had worked as a bricklayer for thirty years and a miner for three years, and he had never seen so much money in his entire life.

He looked at the envelope for three seconds, then put it back.

"You can't calculate how much my life is worth."

The man smiled, put away the envelope, and left with a parting remark.

"Have you thought this through? Your sisters' children are all attending school locally."

The next day, red paint was splashed on the door of Liu Cuiying's house.

On the third day, the eldest sister's window was smashed in the middle of the night.

None of the four older sisters backed down.

The older sister said, "Guangming, go ahead and sue. Smash it, put it back together; spill it, clean it up. Our parents are watching from the afterlife; we can't let anyone bully us for nothing."

The lawsuit lasted for one year and four months.

They changed lawyers three times, made eleven trips to the provincial capital, and my older sister was hospitalized twice.

The case only truly got moving after the provincial supervisory team intervened.

Today, the verdict was handed down.

As Liu Guangming sat in the plaintiff's seat, tears streamed down his face as he listened to the gavel fall one by one.

Justice has come.

But it was thirty years too late.

An eighteen-year-old boy should have entered university, stood on the podium to teach and nurture students, let his four older sisters enjoy a better life, and lived a different kind of life.

That kind of life was stolen from me.

The thief lives with his degree, in the house he deserves, earns the salary he deserves, and lives the life he deserves.

He had worked as a bricklayer in a brick factory for thirty years, nearly lost his life in a mine, and had all his belongings taken by a woman. Now, at fifty-three, he was all alone with a full head of white hair.

The law gave him justice, but no one can give him back his life.

After he had cried all his tears, he suddenly felt dizzy.

A sharp pain shot through my chest, and I suddenly couldn't breathe.

The lawyer next to him was organizing documents when he caught a glimpse of Liu Guangming leaning to one side.

"Uncle Liu?"

The lawyer reached out to help, but then realized something was wrong.

This person was clearly completely limp!

"Someone come quick! Call an ambulance!"

"No heartbeat! Who can perform CPR? Quickly!"

The courtroom erupted into chaos.

The bailiffs were maintaining order, some people were calling 120 (emergency services), and some were shouting "Make way, make way!"

Liu Guangming could not hear any of this.

However, he heard other sounds.

It's the crowing of chickens nearby and the barking of dogs in the distance.

Liu Guangming suddenly opened his eyes.

Above was a blackened wooden beam, with spider webs hanging from it.

Newspapers were pasted on the left wall; they were yellowed and curled at the edges, and the words "Adhere to Reform and Opening Up" were printed on them.

Suddenly, footsteps came from outside the door, followed by the voice of a young woman.

"Guangming! Are you up yet? The college entrance exam is tomorrow, I boiled you an egg!"