Chapter 5 — After the Rain, There's No Turning Back

I put the pen on the table.

“The signature page in the prenuptial property agreement has a scratch on the back, the notary office also has a scanned copy.”

“They took it and grafted it onto the memo. The date of the paper, the location of the mark, and the oxidation level of the ink all did not match.”

Ky Tram Chu was silent for two seconds.

“Miss Trinh.”

“Yes?”

“You are not suitable for love.”

“Why?”

“It's very easy to put the opponent in jail.”

I seriously thought about it.

“So it proves that the opponent should have gone to jail.”

Ky Tram Chu burst out laughing. The smile was very faint, like a ray of light passing through a gap in the clouds before the rain stopped. What really made me determined to destroy Zhou Tu Bach was not that press conference. It was a review of the incident half a year ago. Thanh Nhai district had heavy rain, a section of mountain road collapsed, three cars were buried, two people died. At that time, the locality was testing the "Son Hoa Nhung" system of Trung Hai Technology. The system does not issue a warning. After the news was posted, I immediately felt something was wrong. The mountain structure in that area is red sandstone. When soil moisture reaches a certain threshold, landslides can easily occur. According to my "Vu Dang" model, a yellow warning must have been issued at least forty minutes before. But the review report of Trung Hai Technology wrote: Extreme weather is a force majeure case, the model does not trigger the risk threshold. I started investigating “Son Hoa Nhan”. By the third week, in a zip file sent anonymously by a retired engineer, I saw a familiar code structure. Variable names are changed randomly. The comment has been deleted. But the framework of the core model remains. Like a child whose clothes were stripped, his arms and legs broken, and then forced into an unfamiliar shell. What's more scary is that in order to reduce the "false alarm rate", they removed the cautionary layer in my original model. The model would rather overreport three times than miss one. Because flash floods are not pop-up ads on the screen. Turning off notifications doesn't mean life will be quiet. Once missed, the price to pay is human life. That day I sat in front of the computer, my hands and feet were cold. When Chu Tu Bach returned, he brought a bouquet of flowers. He asked:

“What's wrong?”

I looked at him and suddenly asked:

“If a system intentionally raises the warning threshold to pass acceptance, resulting in no warning being issued before the landslide, what do you think it is?”

4. He put the bouquet in the vase.

“We have to look at the specific situation.”

“What if someone dies?”

His movements stopped.

"Kien Vi, no technical system is absolutely safe. You cannot place all responsibility on the developer."

At that moment, I knew he knew about it. At least, he knows some of it. I don't argue. Do not break flower vases. Don't ask him why. I just started the next day, copied all the public documents I could access on his computer, backed up our chat history, contacted the engineer who quit, and sought Ky Tram Chu for advice. I'm not afraid of loving the wrong person. Loving the wrong person is nothing to be ashamed of. The shameful thing is knowing clearly that you were wrong, but because you don't want to admit defeat, you continue to base your fate on a corrupt debt. After my father passed away, my mother once told me:

“Kien Vi, don't bring it up when you're heartbroken decision."

I remember the following: When you are awake, you must make a decision. A week before the trial, Chu Tu Bach invited me to meet. The location is the tea shop we used to frequent before. At first I didn't want to go. Ky Tram Chu says:

“You can go.”

I asked:

“Aren't you a lawyer? Don't you advise me to avoid personal contact with the other person?

“Since they took the initiative to make an appointment with you, they most likely want to propose reconciliation. Just listen to what conditions they offer.”

“What if he attacks your feelings?”

Ky Tram Chu put the recorder in my pocket.

“So you have to listen even more.”

The tea shop is located in the old town. Outside the window there is a very large camphor tree. In summer, the branches and leaves are lush. Rainwater falls on the leaves, emitting a bitter smell. Chu Tu Bach sat next to the window. He was thinner, his jawline was sharper, and his eyes were full of blood. On the table is cinnamon flower oolong tea that I used to like. After sitting down, I didn't touch it. He looked at me.

“Kien Vi, do we have to go to this step?”

I said:

“Since you stole the source code, we have come to this step.”

He smiled bitterly.

“You always know how to talk to the end like that.”

I didn't answer. Silent for a moment, he took out a file.

“This is a new mediation solution.”

I opened it to see. Chenghai Technology agreed to compensate eighty million yuan. Give me three percent of the shares before listing.

“Vu Dang” and “Son Hoa Nhung” will be merged, I will take on the position of person in charge of the combined laboratory.

The condition is that I withdraw the lawsuit, publicly admit that there was a previous misunderstanding and continue to carry out the marriage contract. The last four words are really the key. I closed the document.

“Chu Tu Bach, have you ever thought about why I want to marry you?”

He was stunned. I said:

“It's not because I have money.”

“It's not because your mother finally reluctantly accepted me.”

“But because I thought we were doing the same thing.”

"I thought you understood that 'Vu Dang' was for people in the mountains to use, not to tell stories to the capital market."

His eyes wavered slightly.

“Of course I understand.”

“I don't understand.”

I said.

“What I understand is that this sounds really good.”