Chapter 17 — Between Two Worlds: A Bride Exchanged for a Dumpling

Since the night the truth about the gate was revealed, Thua An and Tieu Mien had established a new habit: together carefully checking all items received through the gate before storing them, no longer leaving Thua An alone to handle them silently like before. The night the shipment was interfered with by Kieu The Vy, the two sat together, taking turned counting each item according to the list previously agreed upon with Pham Dinh Nam.

When Tieu Mien picked up a strange hairpin, the carving was exquisite but there was something strange about it, unlike any style she had ever seen in the antiques Thua An often brought back, both of them paused. Attached was a neatly folded letter. The paper seemed old, but when Thua An opened it and read it, the handwriting and writing style were somewhat awkward, not as natural as regular letters.

The content of the letter made both of them cold: the lines hinted at a "fairy" waiting for someone in a distant world, a secret love affair that crossed the boundaries of two worlds. If it were before, when Tieu Mien still didn't know the truth about the gate, a letter like this falling into her hands would have caused a terrible shock, enough to break all the trust she had in her husband. But now, with all she knew, she felt only a sharp wariness.

"This is not a real confession," Tieu Mien said, her voice surprisingly calm, her sharp eyes scanning every word. "This handwriting is too stiff, as if deliberately imitating an old style without being truly familiar with it. And this brooch," she turned it gently in her hand, "has a delicate pattern but the lines are too even, too perfect, not like the way traditional craftsmen do it."

Thua An nodded, recalling Pham Dinh Nam's vague warning letter about "upheaval" on the other side. He connects all the clues together. "This is definitely a deliberately planted plot, perhaps related to what brother Pham mentioned in the previous letter. Someone in modern times has learned the secret of the gate, and is trying to use these things to sow doubts and divide us."

The two decided to keep this a secret, hiding the brooch and the letter in a small wooden box locked carefully in a private room, intending to write a letter to ask clearly about Pham Dinh Nam in the next exchange, while not revealing any unusual signs to the outside. They did not expect that, that very night, Ga Tu - who still silently remained in the family team even though he had changed his behavior to be more discreet after the fall of Ma Dac Uy - overheard part of the conversation through the door, enough to understand that there was some kind of "evidence" related to Mr. Ky's suspicious love affair being kept in the room.

Late at night, when the whole family was asleep, Ga Tu secretly unlocked the wooden box with a master key that he always carried in his room, stole the brooch and the letter, then immediately went to Ma Dac Uy's house, even though it was late, to report the news and hope to receive a generous reward, and at the same time find a place under the old owner after his defeat.

Ma Dac Uy, even though he was struggling to restore his dignity after being exposed for embezzlement, his eyes lit up when he saw the brooch and read the content of the letter. This was exactly the weapon he needed to turn the situation around, to humiliate the person who had made him lose all authority in front of the entire village.

"This time," Ma Dac Uy sneered, his voice filled with malice, "I will not publicly accuse him like last time and then have it exposed. I will let the rumors spread on their own, let the world's tongues kill his reputation." He began a much more silent campaign than the last time - no longer public accusations in front of the village communal house, but whispers skillfully spread through a few talkative women in the neighborhood, who loved to gossip, whom he secretly showed through the strange brooch and whispered about the hidden content of the letter.

Not stopping at spreading rumors, Ma Dac Uy also carefully calculated going one step further. He secretly sent another anonymous letter, imitating the tone of the original letter, to several reputable elders in the village - those who had testified in support of Thua An in the previous search case - to sow doubts even among those who had defended him. He understood that to defeat a person with a solid reputation, he could not rely solely on the whispering crowd, but had to make the very spiritual pillars of that community waver.

"I'll be patient this time," he said to the trusted clerk, his eyes narrowed calculatingly. "There is no need to rush to publicly accuse. Just let the rumors slowly permeate, so that even his wife will have doubts, so that those who once supported him will also falter. When the time is ripe, I will strike decisively, not giving him the opportunity to reverse the situation like last time."

Within just a few days, rumors about "Ky's son having a fairy" began to spread throughout Bai Tro village like a smoldering fire. People whispered and discussed every time Thua An passed by, their eyes of curiosity mixed with scrutiny gradually replaced the previous respect. Some people even added that his "trips to the mountains to visit his master" were actually to meet his secret lover in another world, that perhaps even his huge fortune was given to him by that "fairy" in exchange for affection.

Tieu Mien was the first person to feel the weight of those malicious rumors. One morning, when she went to the village well to get water, she heard a few women whispering to each other. They fell silent as soon as they saw her approaching, but their eyes of pity mixed with curiosity said it all. Even though she knew the truth, even though her trust in her husband was unwavering, Tieu Mien still couldn't help but feel heartbroken when she saw that her efforts to build her reputation over the past few months were being blatantly tarnished by malicious rumors, right when her family seemed to have overcome the biggest challenge.

When she got home, she told everything she heard to Thua An and Tieu Ha. After hearing this, Thua An's face sank, he immediately ran into his private room to check the locked wooden box - and discovered that the lock had been picked, and the brooch and letter had disappeared without realizing it. He clenched his fists, anger rising when he realized he had been too subjective. He did not expect that Ga Tu was still hanging around his house, continuing to act as Ma Dac Uy's undercover agent even after his master had gone bankrupt.

"Ga Tu," Thua An said through gritted teeth. "I thought that after Ma Dac Uy lost his position, he would no longer have the courage to do bad things. I was too negligent."

Tieu Ha, upon hearing what had happened, immediately stood up, her eyes burning with anger. "Let me go find out where Tu is currently hiding, and see how Ma Dac Uy spread this rumor and how far it has gone. We can't sit still and wait for the rumor to spread further. We have to find a way to deal with it right now." She immediately put on her coat, and along with a few trusted people in the purchasing team, spread out to scout news throughout the village, trying to grasp the extent of the rumor's spread as well as clues to the traitor's hiding place.

Thua An sat down next to Tieu Mien, holding his wife's hand tightly, his voice full of determination even though he could not hide the worry in his heart. "This time, we will not let this baseless rumor destroy what we have built. Do you believe me?"

"I trust you absolutely," Tieu Mien replied without hesitation, squeezing his hand in return. "But I'm worried that this time, it's not just Ma Dacwei who's behind it. Someone on the other side of the gate is also involved, and we need to find out who it is before things go too far."

That night, Thua An stayed awake and wrote a long letter to Pham Dinh Nam, recounting the entire incident about the brooch and the anonymous letter, asking directly whether the "upheaval" he mentioned was directly related to this matter or not. He placed the letter at the gate with unprecedented impatience, hoping for an answer that would help him expose the person behind this dangerous plot, before the rumors could spread irreversibly, destroying everything the couple had worked hard to build together for nearly a year during the harsh Great Hunger Year.