The Sound of Truth

(PLVN) - Nam decided to go to the social protection center. He did not come as a journalist. He just came as "Mr. Nam", a volunteer who talked to the children.

Hey, listen... In the cold night.

Sweetly beside you, a sound of the guitar!

(To Huu)

The first news appeared on a large fanpage: “A 10-year-old boy plays the guitar in front of the hospital to ask for money to treat his mother’s cancer. The mother lies on a stretcher, about to die…”

Just a few hours later, the clip spread across all platforms. The image of a skinny boy, holding a guitar bigger than himself, sitting in front of the gate of K Hospital, his eyes dry, his hands playing awkward chords... behind him was a woman lying on a stretcher, her head covered with a coat, a blanket over her shoulders. A sad song, the wind rustling. The scene seemed cut from a movie.

Millions of people shared the call: “Let’s help him!”. A TikTok account called for support, citing the bank account number of “the baby’s mother”.

Two days later, the amount transferred was more than 650 million VND. But on the same day, another account accused: “The scene was staged. The mother does not have cancer. They are a mother and daughter who live on the streets, pretending to beg for money.”

Outrage ensued. People dug up old clips: the same boy, the same guitar, but another time he was “asking for money to buy warm clothes”, another time he was “raising an orphan”, another time he said his mother was paralyzed. The online community was outraged: “Trust fraud!”, “Crying for real money!”, “Needs prosecution!”.

Three days later, the ward police invited the mother and son to interview. They confirmed their identities, but concluded that there were not enough elements to constitute fraud - because no one had forced anyone to transfer money. The boy was taken to a welfare center. The mother was taken for a check-up, and it was determined that she did not have cancer, just chronic gastritis.

The story ended in a moment of disappointment on social media. The crowd turned away as quickly as they had praised them. No one cared about the mother and child anymore.

Except for one person.

Journalist Nam happened to see the clip while on duty at night. He has been a journalist for more than 15 years, and has seen countless cases of “good people suddenly turning into scammers”. But this time, something made him hesitate.

He looked at the boy's face again and again - not with a lying look, but with a melancholy bewilderment that he had seen on his own brother's face years ago - when Nam's parents divorced, leaving the two brothers to live with their grandmother.

Nam decided to go to the social protection center. He did not come as a journalist. He was just “Mr. Nam”, a volunteer who talked to the children. The boy’s name was Ti. He was ten years old, but only less than 1.3 meters tall. His hair was cut short, his skin was dark brown. At first, Ti did not speak. He just sat huddled in the corner of the yard, his fingers in the slit of his shirt, his eyes wandering somewhere.

It was not until three visits that Nam heard the first words.

“Do you have a guitar?”

“Yes. I can play a few songs.”

“Can you play the song “The Little Stork”?”

Nam nodded. The fourth time he came, he brought an old ukulele. He played it for Ti. The boy smiled. His first smile.

From then on, Nam began to listen to Ti tell stories.

Ti told the truth. He didn’t know what “fraud” was. His mother often said: “We’re poor, we have to tell people about it so they’ll love us.” So every day, the mother and son went to a different corner. K Hospital was a place where many people easily cried. His mother said: “We don’t steal, we don’t pickpocket. We just need to play the guitar, and if people love us, we’ll give it to them.”

Nam asked: "Does your mother make you lie?"

Ti shook his head: "Mom said... if anyone asks, I'll tell the truth. But if they don't ask, then that's fine."

There was a silence between the two. Nam suddenly felt his heart sink. That boy... wasn't lying. He just didn't understand the adult world . But then there was a detail that startled Nam. Ti said: "My mother said: if I play the right cards that day, someone will give me money. Someone once told my mother that." Nam began to doubt. Who told his mother? Who arranged it? Why did it need to be right?

He reviewed the viral clip. At the 12th second, there was a figure behind Ti - a man in a black jacket, wearing a baseball cap, holding a phone to film, then disappeared.

Nam followed and found a group of “social content creators” who had posted clips. After many days, he approached a person named M., the channel owner. In the role of a new collaborator, Nam started a conversation and heard M. say: “We don’t stage everything, we just find people with real circumstances, then guide them to “re-enact”. The script is simple. Once filmed, edited, and added music, it will be a million views.”

Nam asked: "What about the money raised?"

M. smirked: “They are really poor. We only keep a small part to operate. The rest... they take care of themselves.”

Nam asked: "Who holds the account to receive the money?"

M. stopped. Then he said softly: “The account is ours. Damn it, I can't read.”

Nam was speechless.

Nam’s article appeared a week later, with the title: “When the guitar apologizes to life”. No excuses. No justifications. Just a journey – from a viral clip to the truth behind it.

No one fooled anyone. They were just taken advantage of. They never understood the game of social media. The unexpected happened after the article. A charity organization came to the shelter. They offered to adopt Ti - on the condition that his mother learn a trade and stabilize her life. A small music center promised to give Ti a scholarship to study music formally. A group of professional musicians gave him a new guitar.

Two years later. A TV show invited the boy Ti - now 12 years old - to perform in the music night "Street Children's Singing". He wore a white shirt, his hair neatly combed, and held a guitar with the words engraved on it: "Music is my first home".

The host asked, “Do you have anything to say to the audience today?”

Ti smiled gently and replied: "I just want to thank a journalist who believed that... I am not a bad person."

Behind the scenes, Nam stood still. The lights cast a gentle glow on his face. He didn't need anyone to know who he was. Because for a journalist like him, the truth being understood correctly... was the greatest reward.

A few months later, social media went viral with a clip of a group of people pretending to be sick to ask for charity money at a wholesale market. A fanpage reposted the story about Ti, but added: “After receiving help, the boy’s mother escaped from the hospital, took the money and ran away with her boyfriend.”

Nam did not write a rebuttal. He just quietly sent emails to each editorial office, with evidence: the woman who was slandered was currently working as a chef for a charity kitchen, cooking 100 free meals a day for poor patients.

Nam's old editorial office reprinted the whole truth - this time, with a bold line:

“Sorry to those who were hurt by the rush of the crowd.”

And then, Nam continued his familiar work - reading, listening, searching for small stories amidst the sea of ​​fake news. He didn't need the spotlight. Just each small truth was kept - like the fragile sound of a guitar on a tin roof on a rainy day.

Short story by Tran Duc Anh

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/thanh-am-cua-su-that-post552479.html