Chapter 5 — Between Two Worlds: A Bride Exchanged for a Dumpling

Two months have passed since the night the first ceramic vase was exchanged, Bai Tro village has begun to experience changes that even those involved can hardly believe. In the corner of the land that used to be an abandoned warehouse floor, there is now a row of warehouses built firmly with wood and thick thatch, where Thua An stores the rice, salt, and medicine he receives through the gate every night. There were no longer small hidden bags of rice like before, but regular, organized shipments, enough for him to start thinking about distributing them more systematically to the whole region.

He realized that simply dividing wealth haphazardly, relying on temporary sympathy, would not save the village in the long run. He needed a system, and Tieu Mien was the one to help him build it. With her good memory and inherent carefulness, she began to record each family in the village, their situation, the number of people, the number of mouths to feed, and the level of urgency, helping Thua An distribute food more fairly instead of just relying on feelings or acquaintances.

Along with the relief work, Thua An also began looking for valuable antiques to exchange through the gate. He did not rob or take advantage of other people's desperation - every time he heard that a family still had a few old heirlooms but were facing hunger, he asked to buy them at a price much higher than their imagined value, enough for them to last through the famine season, at the same time not revealing that those seemingly discarded items, when they reached Pham Dinh Nam in modern times, were worth hundreds of thousands of times more than the amount he paid.

"Do you think you're taking advantage of people's money?" Tieu Mien once asked, when he saw Thua An bringing back an old bronze urn that he had exchanged from an old man in the neighborhood for just a few pounds of rice and a little scrap silver.

Thua An pondered for a moment before responding. "I pay them more than anyone else could under these circumstances, enough to get them through the hungry season. I don't hide that I'm making a profit, but I also don't force anyone, I don't deceive anyone about the true value of the item in a way that makes them worse off if sold to someone else. If one day I can pay them more while still maintaining the balance to feed this whole system, I will do it."

That answer did not completely erase the guilt in Tieu Mien's heart, but she understood that in this difficult situation, there was no absolutely perfect choice. The important thing is that Thua An always considers and questions his conscience before making every decision, unlike those who only know how to profit from the suffering of others.

Thua An's prestige in the village grew quickly. People began to call him "Ky's son" with a mixture of respect and gratitude, instead of the judgmental look given to a stranger of unknown origin like in the early days. He hired a small group of healthy young men in the village - who previously only knew how to wait for death - to help with transportation, guarding warehouses, and building more houses. These are jobs that pay the same amount of food they need, creating a cycle of helping each other instead of one-way giving.

One afternoon, when Thua An's homemade rice carts - which were just a few improved carts made of scrap wood but sturdy enough to carry goods - passed by the village communal house, Village Chief Ma Dac Uy stood on the communal house's steps and watched. His face, which was already more alert than most of the villagers thanks to the donated food he had silently cut down, now flashed with an expression of unbearable discomfort.

"This Mr. Ky," he muttered to the clerk next to him, trying to sound calm, "has he acquired so much wealth in just a few months? Where did he come from, what is his origin? Have you questioned him carefully?"

The clerk shook his head again and replied that the villagers only knew that Thua An was a wanderer from another area, his hometown was unknown, they only knew that he found the wealth thanks to a secret vault in the abandoned warehouse floor. Ma Dac Uy squinted his eyes, not completely believing in that simple explanation, but there was no evidence to make things difficult, so he nodded, silently remembering that name in his heart like a thorn to watch out for.

Thua An was unaware of that scrutiny, or perhaps he had a hunch but didn't want to pay too much attention while work was still chaotic. What worried him more now was that a group of hungry migrants from the surrounding area, who were accustomed to robbing vulnerable families to survive, had begun to pay attention to Bai Tro village when they heard rumors about the unusual prosperity here.

One night, that group of migrants came and tried to break into Thua An's warehouse. But thanks to the youth guard he had organized in advance, and the fact that he had wisely prepared a sum of food and money for "negotiation" instead of violent confrontation, the seemingly dangerous encounter ended peacefully. Thua An personally met the leader of the exile group, offering them a regular portion of food in exchange for not harassing Bai Tro village, and suggesting that they could work in exchange for work instead of robbing.

"You all have to risk your life like this just for food," Thua An said to the leader of the exile group, his voice calm but not afraid. "If you are willing, I can share some of the food in exchange for labor - carrying goods, clearing more land, digging wells to find water. It's better than having to live in hiding, every day worrying about being captured or killed."

That unexpected proposal made the exile leader stunned. He had prepared himself for a bloody battle, but did not expect to receive such a straightforward invitation to cooperate. After a moment of consideration, he nodded in agreement, and from then on, that group of migrants became part of Thua An's labor force, helping him expand more farmland and dig more wells in places with remaining underground water sources.

News of how Thua An resolved a seemingly bloody threat with wisdom and tolerance spread throughout the region, further strengthening his reputation in the eyes of the villagers. People began to see him not only as a lucky person who found wealth, but as a person with vision and courage to lead an entire community to overcome adversity.

Since then, the scale of Thua An's work had also grown exponentially. He no longer just exchanged a few odd antiques every night, but began to carefully list what Bai Tro village needed most in order of priority — drought-resistant seeds to prepare for the next crop, well-digging tools that were stronger than the crude forgings in the area, and some disease-preventing medicines that Pham Dinh Nam advised to stock before the humid rainy season came, easily causing epidemics after a long famine. In return, in addition to antiques, he also sent typical items of this arid land that Pham Dinh Nam said modern collectors were very fond of — naturally crystallized rock salt, some wild herbs that only grow in infertile lands, even special clay samples used to make pottery that ancient pottery kilns in the area were famous for before famine wiped out most of the traditional craft.

Tieu Mien, as an increasingly proficient book manager, began to suggest small improvements: a secondary warehouse should be built to separate relief food from bartered goods, to avoid confusion; You should create a separate book to record each person's labor to avoid disputes about wages; You should have a separate reserve in case the crop failure lasts another year. Each of her suggestions made Thua An more respectful, realizing that the seemingly weak wife he married with just one dumpling is gradually becoming an indispensable pillar of the entire emerging business.

That evening, when Tieu Mien heard the whole story, she looked at her husband with eyes full of pride and a little worry. "You've done well," she said softly, "but the more people know about you, the more people will keep an eye on you. I'm afraid that not everyone sees your good intentions like the common people."

Thua An held her hand and nodded in agreement. He knew clearly that the road ahead would not only have grateful faces, but also envious eyes and conspiracies lurking in the dark. But when he looked around Bai Tro village, saw the rooftops starting to have kitchen smoke more regularly, saw the sounds of children playing gradually replacing the cries of hunger and thirst, he knew that no matter the danger, the path he was on was still the right path.