Chapter 4 — 7 Fingerprints Found In My New Home

I replied coldly.

“That's my goods.”

Chu Bang took out his phone. Struggling for a moment then shrugged.

“I don't have money.”

“Just give me your credit.”

"Put it down. Get out."

The smile on his face immediately disappeared.

“Don't think I don't know.”

“Your store lease is about to expire, right?”

“I told you.”

“If you continue to cause trouble, he will no longer help you renew your contract.”

Khuong Le turned his head to look at me.

“What qualifications does it have to help you renew?”

“Didn't you open this store yourself?”

Chu Bang burst out laughing as if he had just heard the funniest thing in the world.

“Does she have that ability?”

“Back then, if my brothers hadn't helped me find a location, could she have opened the store?”

I slowly wiped the flour on the work surface.

“Chu Bang.”

“Your brother really said that?”

"Of course."

Chu Bang was immediately pleased.

“Women, don't be so stubborn.”

“My mother said so.”

“Tomorrow I will go home and apologize to my grandmother.”

“Give the main bedroom to my sisters.”

“This matter is over.”

Khuong Le immediately raised the phone.

“I started recording.”

“You keep talking.”

Chu Bang took a step back.

“What should I write down?”

“You women really like to play this game.”

I went to the door. Open the door wider.

“Lam Van, you are really unreasonable!”

Khuong Le took the scissors and knocked hard on the glass door.

“Don't get out now.”

“I will tell you how to cut the flower stems.”

“And how do people fix it?”

Chu Bang turned pale. In the end, I could only walk out in gray. Before leaving, he deliberately kicked the carpet in front of the door. Khuong Le locked the door. Turn your head to look at me.

“Hear that?”

“That's what Chu Canh Xuyen says about you outside.”

“He takes all of your credit for himself.”

I looked at the oven door reflecting my faint image. First day of opening the store. Chu Canh Xuyen actually helped me put up an advertising poster once. But then... Renovate the premises. Enter ingredients. Try the recipe. Staying up all night making cakes. It's all my responsibility alone. At that time I always thought. Husband and wife together. No need to calculate too clearly. Only now do I understand. Things that are not clear. Sooner or later, someone else will take away their merits. The phone vibrated again. It's the second message from an unknown number.

“The system recorded that yesterday afternoon, when registering fingerprints, there was an admin password change.”

“The person performing the operation used the primary account owner's authority.”

I immediately replied:

“Can you find out who that person is?”

Response messages arrived almost immediately.

“It is necessary to read the data directly at the scene.”

“Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, I will go to your store.”

Khuong Le leaned his head over to look.

“The warranty company locked the door.”

“Is it trustworthy?”

I placed the phone face down on the table.

“At least more trustworthy than Chu Canh Xuyen.”

It started to rain outside. Thick raindrops hit the glass. I stayed at the store to bake two batches of bread and pillows. Didn't sleep all night. Three o'clock in the morning. Suddenly there was a very soft noise from the back door. Khuong Le, who was lying on the folding bed, immediately sat up.

“What is that sound?”

I went to the back door. Take a look through the cat's eyes. Outside is Chu Canh Tinh. She is holding the baby. Behind are two large suitcases.

“I know you're in there.”

"Open door.”

“My children and I have nowhere else to go.”

Half of Chu Canh Tinh's hair was wet by the rain. The child slept on her shoulder. Khuong Le immediately blocked in front of me.

“What she said to you during the day, have you forgotten?”

Outside, Chu Canh Tinh knocked twice more.

“I'm not here to cause trouble.”

“My mother kicked me out of the house.”

I opened the door halfway. But the safety chain is still intact.

“What do you mean?”

Chu Canh Tinh saw the chain locking the door. His face immediately became unsightly.

“Are you wary of me?”

Khuong Le says:

“You deserve it.”

Chu Canh Tinh gritted his teeth.

“My son is sleeping.”

“Let me inside and talk.”

“What is said here?”

She turned her head to look at the rain behind her. The voice softened a bit.

“Mom said that from now on, the main bedroom will be for Chu Bang to live in.”

“Make me sleep in the children's room.”

“Today the boy peed on the sofa, she scolded me for being useless right in front of my aunt and uncle.”

“I got divorced and brought my children home.”

“In her eyes, it was a loss of face.”

I looked at her.

“So why did you come to me?”

“Doesn't your store have a mezzanine?”

Chu Canh Tinh's voice became lower and lower.

“Let me stay for two days.”

Khuong Le burst out laughing.

“During the day, she even told people to go sleep on the mezzanine.”

“Now I'm running to ask to sleep on the mezzanine.”

“Retribution came really quickly.”

Chu Canh Tinh's face turned red.

“I admit that during the day I speak in a difficult way.”

“Once you admit it, you can live in it?”

Chu Canh Tinh looked at me.

“I know you hate me.”

“But the baby is innocent.”

I've heard this sentence too many times. The child is innocent. The mother is innocent. The younger brother is innocent. It seems everyone is innocent. Only I have to give in. I calmly replied:

“There is a hotel that operates twenty-four hours nearby.”

“Go out the door and turn left.”

Chu Canh Tinh immediately panicked.

“I don't have my ID with me.”

“It's in my mother's bag.”

“You can report to the police for assistance.”

She stared at me. The voice gradually became sharp.

“Are you really that heartless?”

"After all, I am Canh Xuyen's biological sister."

Khuong Le pushed the door a little more.

"If you're a real sister, go back to your brother's house."

“Don't come and suck my sister-in-law's blood.”

Chu Canh Tinh immediately put his hand on the door.

“Don't force me.”

“I have things from your store in my hand.”

I stopped. She took out a yellow file bag from her pocket. The mouth of the bag was wet with rainwater. Inside were several sheets of paper.

“My mother told me to search the closet in your bedroom.”

“Find your savings book and personal money.”

“Then I saw these.”

“There is a lease contract for the store.”

“Goods receipt.”

“There is also some kind of agreement regarding the cooperative central kitchen.”

Khuong Le's face immediately changed.

“You searched her bedroom?”

Chu Canh Tinh avoided her eyes.

“I don't take money.”

I held out my hand.

“Let me stay for two days.”

“You must agree first.”

I looked at her shoes that were wet from the rain. The edge of the shoe sole still has soil from the mint pot on my balcony. That proves one thing. She didn't just rummage through the closet. She even went all over my house. Even the balcony is not overlooked. I spoke slowly:

“Chu Canh Tinh.”

“Do you know what the consequences will be for arbitrarily holding other people's documents?”

She hugged the child tightly little.

“Don't scare me.”

“How can you call things stolen in the house?”

“So have you shown these to your mother?”

Chu Canh Tinh did not answer. But the answer was clear on her face. Khuong Le was so angry that he immediately removed the door chain. Rushed out to try to snatch back the file bag. Chu Canh Tinh immediately dodged aside. The baby was startled awake. Cry out loud. The hallway lights were bright. The owner of the convenience store next door poked his head out.

“What's all the noise at midnight?”

Chu Canh Tinh immediately hugged his child and squatted on the ground. The voice was full of self-pity.

“I just want to find a temporary place to stay.”

“And yet the two of them bullied a woman raising children like me.”