Chapter 16 — Between Two Worlds: A Bride Exchanged for a Dumpling

After being reluctantly allowed by Pham Dinh Nam to "participate" in the business of strange items, Kieu The Vy was not satisfied with the role of a passive beneficiary. He began to carefully study the entire transaction book that Pham Dinh Nam was forced to share part of under the agreement, trying to find out the operating rules behind this mysterious source of goods. As a keen trader with a sharp analytical mind, he quickly realized something strange: the amount of goods and the value of exchanged items were not regular in a fixed cycle, but fluctuated erratically over time periods that could not be explained by any normal market laws.

He noticed that there were periods when the supply was abundant and of outstanding quality, and there were other periods when the supply was suddenly scarce, and there were times when it almost completely stopped for several days. When asking Pham Dinh Nam about the reason, he just hummed, saying that "the other side sometimes has some unique difficulties", but his avoiding eyes made Kieu The Vy even more curious and determined to find out the truth.

He began to carefully study the letters exchanged that Pham Dinh Nam, under pressure, was forced to let him see part of - even though the most sensitive details were omitted. Among them, he noticed that the person on the other side, although never revealing his real name or specific identity, often mentioned a woman with special respect - sometimes asking to buy an item "for my wife", other times expressing joy that "my family has just overcome a difficulty". Comparing those timelines with fluctuations in the source of goods, Kieu The Vy gradually pieced together a bold hypothesis: it seems that the stability of this strange source of goods is closely related to the married life of the mysterious man on the other side.

"Interesting," he muttered to himself in his office, his lips curling into a cold, calculating smile. "If his marital happiness is what feeds that magical gate, then just by destroying that happiness, the supply will fall into the hands of whoever can control the situation at its most chaotic." Kieu The Vy is not someone who hesitates before cruel calculations if it brings great enough benefits. He began to draw up a meticulous plan to sow suspicion and divide the marital relationship of the mysterious person who held the key to a huge fortune.

He paid to hire a highly skilled jeweler to order an elaborate hairpin, deliberately blending classic style with a few sophisticated modern details that only knowledgeable people would recognize — enough to create a strange, unusual feeling if someone in an ancient era came across it. He also engraved on the brooch an ambiguous text that could be interpreted in many different ways, suggesting a deep emotional relationship without naming anyone. At the same time, he hired a person knowledgeable in ancient calligraphy to write an anonymous letter on paper processed to look old. The content hinted that the recipient of the letter was having a "secret love" in another world, vaguely alluding to the image of a beautiful "fairy" waiting for him in a distant world.

"As long as these things reach the right person at the right time," Kieu The Vy thought to herself, her eyes sparkling with satisfaction, "his marital happiness will collapse without me having to act directly." He understood that in an ancient village community, rumors about adultery, about demons bewitching men, always had more destructive power than any logical evidence.

To make the plan more perfect, Kieu The Vy also carefully calculated the time of action. He knew that if he simply sent a strange brooch and an anonymous letter, the recipient would be completely suspicious, wary, and easily recognize that it was a slanderous plot instead of authentic evidence. Therefore, he deliberately arranged for both items to be placed among other legitimate items in the shipment, in a position that was not too obvious but not too difficult to detect — enough to create the feeling that they were "slipped" in by accident, as if there was a mistake in the packaging process on the other side, rather than a deliberate insertion. He understands that the more random and random a false evidence looked, the easier it was for people to believe it than a piece of evidence that was presented too perfectly and too clearly.

He also did not forget to prepare a backup plan. In addition to placing the brooch and letter in the shipment sent to ancient times, Kieu The Vy also secretly copied the content of that anonymous letter and kept it carefully, in case the first plan did not succeed as expected. He still had other ways to spread false rumors later. He also secretly learned more about the relationships that Pham Dinh Nam might have on the other side of the gate. Although he did not have specific clues, he believed that as long as he was patient enough, he would find a way to intervene further into that mysterious world, not just stopping at setting traps from afar like he was doing now.

The opportunity came one afternoon, when Pham Dinh Nam had to leave the store urgently to handle an unexpected family matter, leaving the preparation of regular exchange shipments to a new employee, who did not fully understand the strict process that Pham Dinh Nam always carried out himself. Kieu The Vy, who had been silently monitoring this schedule for many weeks, immediately seized the opportunity, using the excuse of checking the books according to the cooperation agreement, sneaking into the back room and cleverly inserting the brooch and the anonymous letter into the middle of the pre-packaged shipment, before the gate opened according to the predetermined cycle.

The new employee, unaware of the intervention, packed the shipment as usual and placed it at the gate on time. When Pham Dinh Nam returned and checked the books as was his usual careful habit, he discovered something did not match - a small item in the list of goods to be sent that he had not prepared. But by the time he realized that anomaly, the gate had long since closed, tonight's shipment had completed its trip to the other side, there was no way to take it back anymore.

Pham Dinh Nam stood dumbfounded in front of the silent wooden cabinet, a premonition of something bad rising in his heart. He didn't know exactly what Kieu The Vy had installed, but his instincts told him that, whatever it was, it would definitely bring big trouble to the strange friend he had been silently protecting for so many months. He quickly sat down, wrote an urgent letter, trying to warn Thua An about the possibility of a strange item appearing in this shipment, even though he knew that the letter, if sent in time on the next trip, would be too late to prevent what was about to happen.

Pham Dinh Nam turned to question the new employee, trying to find out if anyone else had been alone in the back room before packing time. The employee, with a panicked look on his face, admitted that he had let Kieu The Vy check the books for a while in accordance with the cooperation agreement that Pham Dinh Nam himself had signed, not thinking that it would be a fatal loophole. Pham Dinh Nam gritted his teeth, realizing he had underestimated Kieu The Vy's malice. He quickly called him and questioned him bluntly, but the other end of the line only responded in a calm tone, denying all accusations, and even blamed Pham Dinh Nam for unreasonably doubting his business partner.

That night, Pham Dinh Nam sat alone in the dark shop, his heart heavy with a feeling of helplessness. He remembered the image of the mysterious man on the other side of the gate - a person he had never met but through each letter exchanged, he felt the sincerity, kindness, and deep family love that not everyone has. Now, because of his own weakness and mistake in letting Kieu The Vy get in, he may have accidentally pushed that friend into a dangerous storm without that person even knowing. He promised himself that he would find every way to correct this mistake, even if it cost him his own safety or honor. Outside the window, the city was still brightly lit like every night, the bustling stream of people were unaware that, in just a small room behind an ordinary antiques shop, a wrong decision had just been made that could shake an entire home countless years ago.