Chapter 4 — Champion Bodyguard of the Female President

The person walking through the wooden door was an old man with a thin figure but a straight back, white hair tied in a bun at the back of his neck, and a long beard that had also turned the color of dew. Even though he was old, his steps were still steady, his bright eyes exuding an aura that was hard to describe in words - both compassionate and majestic, as if he had witnessed many ups and downs of life and still maintained absolute calm.

Tue Lam quickly stood up when she saw him enter, instinctively bowing even though she didn't know how to properly address him. "Hello... senior."

"I am Mo Thanh Hac, the third generation sect master of Van Son Mon." He sat down in the chair opposite, motioning for her to sit down, his eyes observing her from head to toe with an unpredictable pensive look. "Are you Kieu Thanh Nghia's daughter?"

"Yes, senior. I am Kieu Tue Lam." She sat down, her hands placed neatly on her thighs, trying to suppress the nervousness rising in her heart.

Mo Thanh Hac looked at her silently for a long time, as if searching for something in that young face. "You have eyes like your mother, and your facial features look exactly like your father. I still remember, when you were little, you used to run around the villa garden, your hair braided on both sides, always following another boy one year older than you."

Tue Lam's heart tightened slightly. "Senior... know about that?"

"I know very well," he replied, his voice low, carrying a deep sadness. "That boy's father, Tat Dinh Long, was my close friend when we were young. We both came from the same martial arts school in the northern mountains. Later, each of us chose a different path - I went up to the mountains to establish a sect, and Dinh Long went down to the mountains to start a career, becoming the captain of your father's personal security team."

Hearing this, Tue Lam almost held her breath. For eighteen years, she never knew the story behind the fire in the past, only knowing that it was a pain that adults did not want to repeat. "So... that boy, Uncle Dinh Long's son, now..."

"It's still alive," Mo Thanh Hac replied, his eyes flashing with a rare ray of warmth. "That night of the fire, his parents sacrificed their lives to save my family and died in the flames. I received the news and rushed there, just in time to save the nine-year-old child who was standing frozen in the middle of the rubble. I took him up the mountain, raised him as my own son, and imparted all the knowledge of Van Son Mon to him for the past eighteen years."

Tears suddenly rose to the corners of Tue Lam's eyes. For many years, she thought that her childhood best friend had disappeared without a trace, perhaps no longer existed in the world, but now, just a few mountains and forests away from her, he still existed, had grown up, and had become a completely different person.

"So where is he now?" Her voice trembled, unable to hide her emotions.

"He's practicing with his monk brothers in the yard behind the mountain. He doesn't know I'm here yet." Mo Thanh Hac looked at her, his eyes became more serious. "But before I see him again, I want to ask you a question. You didn't come here just to find an old friend, right?"

Tue Lam quickly wiped away her tears and tried to regain her composure. "Yes, senior. My father is currently in a coma due to an incident that I believe is not simply a stroke as initially diagnosed. In the past three months, I have been constantly threatened, was assassinated many times, and someone is plotting to take over my family's corporation while my father cannot speak up to protect him. I no longer know who to trust within the company. Before falling into a deeper coma, my father told me that if I encounter danger, I cannot handle it myself. Please find this place."

Mo Thanh Hac nodded slowly, as if what she had just said was not completely unexpected. "Kieu Thanh Nghia is a person who knows how to keep his promises. Many years ago, after I adopted an orphan, he came all the way here, kneeling in front of the sect all night to thank me for saving his family's life, even though I refused to accept any material compensation. He said, if Van Son Mon needs anything in the future, he will not hesitate to help. And vice versa, if his family is in danger, he hopes Van Son Mon will Don't turn a blind eye."

"So senior..." Tue Lam hesitated, not daring to hope too much.

"The debt of gratitude between our two families has not ended until today." Mo Thanh Hac stood up, walked to the window and looked out at the martial arts training yard in the distance, where silhouettes of people were still practicing in the sunset. "I will send a disciple down the mountain to be your personal bodyguard, protect you and help you find the truth behind what is happening to your family."

The two hands that were placed neatly on Tue Lam's thighs suddenly clenched into fists, and her chest felt light as if a rock had been pressed down for three months - but somewhere under that relief there was still a ripple of insecurity that she couldn't name. "I... I would like to thank you, senior. I will never forget this favor."

"Don't be so quick to thank me," Mo Thanh Hac turned back to look at her, his deep eyes contained many layers of meaning that Tue Lam could not fully understand. "The person sent down was the child who had grown up with me in the Kieu villa in the past. He had grown up and become the best disciple of the sect, with more profound knowledge than anyone else of his age. But he also had a private concern in his heart that he had never told anyone, not even me."

"Confide in what?" Tue Lam tilted her head slightly, a vague worry rising in her heart.

Mo Thanh Hac was silent for a long time, as if considering whether to reveal it or not. "That's his own business, let him decide when to say it. I just want to remind you of one thing - eighteen years is a very long time, enough to turn an innocent child into a completely different person. Prepare yourself mentally, because the person you are about to meet again may not be the same as the memory you still keep."

Tue Lam nodded, even though she couldn't help but feel confused at those hidden words. But at that moment, the door to the guest house opened, and a young disciple hurriedly ran in, bowing his head to report. "Master, Junior Brother Bach Nguyen has finished practicing and is on his way to the main building."

Hearing that name, Tue Lam's whole body trembled slightly. Bach Nguyen. The name that she had tried to forget for eighteen years now rang out clearly like a bell, awakening an entire area of memory that seemed to have fallen asleep.

"Do you want to meet him now, or wait until I prepare him mentally first?" Mo Thanh Hac asked, his eyes examining her reaction.

Tue Lam took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart beating wildly in her chest. "I... I want to meet him now. I've been waiting for this moment for so long."

Mo Thanh Hac nodded slightly, signaling the young disciple to invite Bach Nguyen to the guest house. While waiting, he turned to look at Tue Lam, his voice lowered as if he was considering each word. "Before he comes, I want you to understand one thing. Sending him down the mountain this time is not simply about repaying an old debt of gratitude. I have a hunch that what is happening to your family may be closely related to the tragedy that took away his parents eighteen years ago. If my hunch is correct, the upcoming journey will not only be about protecting you from danger, but also about finding justice for an injustice that has been buried for too long."

Those words made Tue Lam's spine cold. She had never thought about that possibility - that the person who was threatening her life now could be the same person who caused the fire in the past, taking away the parents of the best friend she once loved the most. If that was true, then the journey ahead will not only be a battle to regain control of the corporation, but also a battle to regain justice for two families who had suffered the same pain for nearly two decades.

While waiting, Tue Lam looked around the guest house again, trying to remember every small detail as if she wanted to engrave this moment in her memory. The ironwood pillars blackened by time, the ink paintings of mountain scenes hanging on the walls, the faint smell of incense mixed in the cold air of the mountains and forests - all create a space completely separate from the noisy world she just left behind. She suddenly realized that during the past eighteen years, while she was growing up amidst banquets and board meetings, her close friend had lived a completely different life, practicing hard in silence in this deep forest and mountain.

"Don't worry too much," Mo Thanh Hac said, seeming to notice the restlessness in her eyes. "Even though eighteen years have passed, even though he has become a different person in the eyes of outsiders, I believe that his heart still retains everything that belongs to his childhood days. He has never once mentioned the past in front of me, but I know that he still wears an old red thread on his wrist, hidden under his martial arts uniform, and never takes it off even though it is almost worn out."

Hearing that, Tue Lam's nose suddenly stung. She reached out and gently touched the silver bracelet on her wrist, a gift that the boy had given her a long time ago, then smiled softly through her tears. Perhaps, no matter the time and distance, there are bonds that still silently exist, waiting for the day to be reconnected.

Footsteps sounded from the wooden hallway outside, slowly but surely, each step exuding an indescribable calm confidence. Tue Lam sat up straight, her heart pounding, her hands clasped tightly together in her lap, her eyes glued to the wooden door that was slowly opening.

She didn't know what she was expecting behind that door - whether it was still the image of the innocent nine-year-old boy holding her hand under the old phoenix tree, or a completely strange person that eighteen years of arduous training had trained him to be. But no matter what, she knew, the moment that door fully opened, her life would never be the same again.