Chapter 1 — 58 Lakhs And His True Face

When my boyfriend Tan Dieu stuffed the pen into my hand, his fingertips were wet with sweat and unpleasantly sticky. He pointed to the "buyer's signature" section on the car purchase contract, his voice so excited that it trembled slightly:

“Tieu Ninh, sign quickly, 57.80 thousand yuan, I bargained for two days to get this price down.”

The showroom lights were blindingly white. The silver-gray car lay under the light, cold like a lifeless large-scale model. I raised my head and saw the car logo reflected in Tan Dieu's eyes, the light flashing... so strange that it sent chills down my spine.

"Tan Dieu, that's the money my father prepared for me to buy a house."

I also found my voice strangely calm. The smile on his face stopped, and he quickly frowned, his eyes looking like he was looking at a child who didn't understand.

"Isn't a car also an asset? It's still in your name, so what should you worry about?"

As the salesperson approached, the POS machine lit up a green light:

“Miss Lam, pay now, you can drive home today.”

I let go. The pen fell onto the cap, making a very soft "click" sound.

“I don't buy this car.”

My dad always said, money is a mirror that reflects demons. He said this thing can reveal the truest part of a person's heart. Before, I didn't believe it at all. I always think that emotions can withstand everything, that the true heart can overcome material things. Until he transferred 580,000 yuan to my account. It was a Friday afternoon, slanting sunlight streaming through the office window. I'm still lamenting with my colleagues about how to "chat" at next Wednesday's quarterly report. The phone screen suddenly lit up, and the bank message tone rang out with a clear sound. I conveniently opened it, a series of numbers caught my eye, I didn't have time to prepare. Units, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, ten thousand. I stared at “580000” three times in a row. Fingertips are a bit numb, breathing is also disordered. Right after that, my father's phone rang, the ringing sound in the quiet office sounded strangely shrill. I quickly picked up the phone and walked quickly to the stairs. My father's voice, Lam Kien Quoc, came through the receiver, behind him was the buzzing sound of the cutting machine in the hardware store.

“Tieu Ninh, have you seen the money?”

His voice was calm, as if just asking me if I had eaten yet.

"Dad, why do you move so much? Is there something wrong with our family?"

My heart was beating rapidly, my palm holding the phone was wet with sweat. The first reaction is panic, even a little fear.

“There's nothing wrong, it's all good things.”

My father laughed, a relieved laugh.

"Your father and mother contribute little by little, and have already planned to save it for you."

"You can keep this money and use it as a dowry."

“If you want to buy a house in Hangzhou, pay a deposit, even better.”

“In general, it's your money, it's your support.”

My mother, Truong Hue Lan, grabbed the phone and her bright voice rang out.

“Girl, don't waste your money, don't regret it.”

“If you should spend, just spend, don't put psychological pressure on yourself, do you hear?”

Hanging up the phone, I leaned my back against the wall of the stairs, still unable to recover for a long time. In my hometown, a small town, that amount of money is enough to buy a pretty decent house. In Hangzhou, where I work, the deposit is enough for a decent small apartment. My heart is both heavy and warm. I know every penny in there was my parents saving little by little in the hardware store gas. They don't say it's hard, but they always give me the best. The stairway window was slightly open, the early summer wind was coming in, bringing with it a bit of heat. For some reason, I suddenly wanted to meet Tan Dieu. We have known each other for two years, our relationship is still stable, now we are talking about marriage, and both families have met. I feel like this money is the starting capital for our future, we should have let him know and even plan together. That feeling of wanting to share quickly overcame the initial bewilderment. That night, Tan Dieu came to pick me up from work, and we went to our familiar Sichuan restaurant. The pungent smell spread in the air, the heat rising up made people's faces a little blurry. I tried to suppress my excitement and told him the whole story. He was picking up a piece of boiled fish, his chopsticks stopped in mid-air, his eyes immediately lit up. That light… was brighter than any time I had ever seen him. So bright that... it's a bit dazzling.

"Really? 580,000 yuan? Uncle and aunt love you so much?"

He put down his chopsticks, wiped his hands, reached across the table and grabbed my hand.

“Tieu Ninh, this is really good news, extremely good news.”

His excitement was hot, as if it was about to overflow from this small table. I also smiled, the uneasy feeling in my heart gradually subsided.

"Well, I also feel like I'm dreaming. My dad said to let me make my own decisions."

“Then we have to calculate it properly.”

Tan Dieu squeezed my hand, his eyes began to waver, as if he was calculating very quickly.

“This is a large amount of money, we must let it generate maximum value…”

Looking at his serious appearance as he planned "our future", the last bit of doubt in me disappeared. At that time, I thought we were tied together, bearing the same sweet pressure. Unexpectedly, in his eyes, that so-called "sweetness"... was probably just his own decompression switch. That night, he was especially considerate, took me downstairs, and stood at the door hugging me for a long time. He said: "Tieu Ninh, don't worry, I will definitely give you a comfortable life in the future, regardless of your uncle's kindness." The night wind blew, his voice sounded so sincere that it was easy to believe. I believed. I even started to imagine that, with this money, we could really put down roots in this city. During the two days of the weekend, Tan Dieu appeared to be particularly busy, calling and texting continuously, saying the company was rushing to run the project. I didn't think much, stayed at home and looked up a few real estate projects that I liked, and even roughly calculated the monthly installment payment. In my heart, a small voice rang out: Lam Hieu Ninh, maybe you are about to really have a home of your own. Sunday afternoon, the sun was very beautiful, I sat on the window sill, sketching the layout of the future house. Place a desk here, put green plants there, and the balcony must have a few pots of succulents. I took a photo of the sketch and sent it to Tan Dieu, with the sentence: "Look, our future house." It took him a long time to reply: "Not bad, tomorrow I'll show you something even better." I looked at those three words "even better", feeling a little uncomfortable in my heart, but I couldn't say what was wrong. On Sunday nights, he rarely takes the initiative to video call me. In the frame, the scene looks like it's outside, it's quite noisy, and you can occasionally hear car horns. On the face he was an unconcealed smile, almost too excited.

“Hieu Ninh, tomorrow Monday, please take half a day off.”

“What are you asking for leave for?”

I looked at the familiar face on the screen, my mind full of questions.

“Let me see something cool.”

He deliberately lowered his voice and appeared mysterious.

“It's guaranteed to be a surprise, a big surprise regarding our future.”

I asked him what it was, he refused to say anything, just told me to trust him once. His excitement penetrated the screen as if it was about to overflow, I suddenly thought, could it be a proposal? Or did he choose a certain house and want to give me a surprise? As I was lost in thought, I was dragged along by the suspense he deliberately created. After all, who doesn't like surprises? I even felt a little embarrassed because of my suspicions about his strangeness these past few days. I agree. Monday morning, I took the day off, followed the location he sent and took the car over. The address was in the eastern development area of the city, and the more the car drove there, the more I realized something was wrong. Until the taxi stopped in front of a bright, lavishly decorated 4S car showroom. I was stunned for a moment. Behind the large glass are rows of shiny cars, under the spotlight reflecting a cold light. I got out of the car and stood in front of the door, momentarily a bit bewildered. Tan Dieu quickly walked out from inside, his suit straight, his hair combed neatly, and the smile on his face was dazzlingly bright. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, not giving me time to react, and pulled me inside.

“Let's go, I've been waiting for you for a long time.”

His strength was so strong, I was almost half pushed and half pulled forward.

“Tan Dieu, what are we doing here?”

Being pulled away by him, the uneasy feeling in my heart became increasingly heavier.

“Let me show you our 'new home'.”

His voice was excited, as if declaring a proud achievement, pointing to the silver car with sharp lines placed in the middle of the showroom. I recognize that logo. A famous brand for performance, not cheap, is the dream of many young men.

“This car?”

I stopped and turned to look at him.