Chapter 15 — 120 Thousand Yuan And A Divorce

One afternoon, To Thanh came again. This time it's not about business, it's just about visiting the baby. She sat on the sofa, hugged my baby, and gently touched his cheek with her finger. The child looked at her for a long time, seriously as if thinking about something, then the corner of his mouth curled up slightly.

“It's laughing!” To Thanh jumped up, his voice rising, "Nhiem Nhiem, he's laughing!"

“Just a reaction.” My mother said from the kitchen, "It's not a real laugh yet."

“That counts!” To Thanh lifted the baby up and brought it closer to me, "Look, it's clearly smiling!"

I looked at that tiny face. I couldn't help it... but laughed. Before leaving, To Thanh stood at the door and called me back.

“Nhiem Nhiem, that person's last message... I haven't finished it yet.”

I looked at her.

“He said one more thing.”

She stopped for a moment.

"He said, he met you once, saw that you were not an easy person, and hoped you would be better in the future."

I stopped. Ever met me? To Thanh shrugged.

"Don't say where we met, don't say when, that's all."

She pushed open the hallway door and walked out. The door closes. I stood still for a moment. Have met before. Wish me well in the future. I don't know who that person is. Maybe... I'll never know. But that sentence… I went back into the room. My mother was rocking her baby to sleep, softly singing a very old tune. It's a song she used to sing to me in the past. I sat down on the edge of the bed and listened quietly. Outside the window, the leaves swayed in the wind, sunlight filtered through the leaves, falling in long streaks on the floor. I remember what my mother said. House is a dead thing. New people are living things. I bent down, opened my phone, and wrote a line in the notes section.

“My story, step by step.”

After writing, I put down the phone. Raise your head. Soft singing... filled the whole room. On the baby's first month, my mother boiled red eggs, dyed a large, bright red plate and placed it on the table. Aunt Truong arrived, bringing along her neighbor's daughter, carrying two cartons of milk, and as soon as she entered, she smiled brightly. To Thanh also came, carrying a large cake with a few words written on it in white cream. I bent down to look.

“Everything will be fine later.”

I smiled, said nothing, and helped her put the cake on the table. The room became bustling, everyone took turns holding the baby, each person leaned closer to take a look, in the end my mother took it back, saying not to hold it too much, to let it sleep. While eating, To Thanh raised his glass.

“Nam Nhiem, have a glass.”

Her cup is juice. My cup is warm water.

“With what?” I asked.

“Bless you… things will go well in the future.”

I raised my glass, lightly touching it. Warm water flows down the throat. Warm to the belly. In the middle of eating, my phone vibrated. But not entirely strange. Chu Minh Khai. I answered the phone.

“Nam Nhiem…” his voice came from the other end of the line, very calm, “my baby is a month old today… I won't bother you, just wanted to ask… is he okay?”

I looked at my child, he was lying in my mother's arms, his round eyes blinking, staring intently at the light.

"Fine." I said, "I'm getting fatter."

“Yes…” the other end of the line was silent for a beat, then replied softly, “that's good.”

Another long silence.

“Next month… I'll come visit him.”

“Okay, remember to text first.”

He hung up. I put the phone down on the table, To Thanh glanced at me but didn't ask anything, and I didn't explain, just picked up another piece of food and continued eating as if nothing had happened. After that, everything gradually became stable. The house is rented, The rent is regularly transferred to my account every month, enough for us to live, and there's even a small amount left over. I didn't touch a penny of my mother's 1200,000 yuan and deposited it into her separate account as her old age pension. She refused, I firmly said that it was hers and had to be left to her. Mother and son argued a few times, in the end she couldn't win against me, so she had to let me decide. To Thanh helped me find a reputable early education center, saying I could send my child to trial school in the future. I wrote it down but wasn't in a hurry, because my child was still very young, and I still had a lot of time. Afterwards, I only heard about Lam Vy's story vaguely from To Thanh. The project's withdrawal has been transferred to the police, the file has been prepared, and the process is being followed. Because Chu Minh Khai knew about the incident, he was called to work several times, but because he did not directly participate, he was not prosecuted and was only a witness. His job remained, but life certainly wasn't easy. After hearing those stories, I left them there. It's not my job, nor my responsibility. One afternoon, when the child was asleep, my mother was in the kitchen. The whole house was so quiet that you could clearly hear the clock hands. I sat by the bed, played back the recording from the day of the verdict, and listened from beginning to end. My mother-in-law's voice, Chu Minh Khai's voice, Chu Kien Quan's voice, and my own voice, every sentence and every word rang out clearly. After listening, I turned it off, saved the file to the cloud, and then threw it into the deepest folder. Keep it, but don't open it anymore. Outside the window, the tree has sprouted new shoots, green, slender, trembling slightly in the wind. I sat and watched for a while, suddenly remembering what my mother once said: home is a dead thing, people are a living thing. Then I remembered the words on To Thanh's cake: "From now on everything will be fine." And also the nameless person's words: "Hope you will be well in the future." I let those words pass by in my heart, then stood up and went to the kitchen to help my mother wash the dishes. My mother turned her head to look at me and asked a very light question: "Why are you here?"

“It's natural to be free.”

She gave me the bowl, didn't say anything else, just tilted her head and smiled. That smile has wrinkles and traces of years, but it strangely makes people feel secure. I took the bowl, turned on the faucet, warm water flowed through my hand. The child in the room moved a little, then went back to sleep. Outside, the leaves are still shaking in the wind. The days ahead… are still very long.