Chapter 8 — Dad's Wishes

I folded the other letter and put it in a velvet box. In the empty box, there should have been a necklace lying there. Now there are only faint indentations left on the green velvet layer pressed down by the years. The police took Trieu Khai and Tham Kien Quoc to coordinate the investigation. Luu Xao Tran chased him to the door crying. “Kien Quoc, say something!” Tham Kien Quoc turned his head to glare at Tham Van So. "Are you satisfied? You ruined your mother's house!" Tham Van So's body staggered. Grandma pointed at her nose and scolded: "Comet! I shouldn't have given birth to you that year!" She has heard this sentence all her life. Every time she heard it, she cringed. This time too. She leaned against the wall, slowly squatted down, holding her head with her hands. Waiting for everyone to leave, lawyer Van stayed behind to help me arrange documents. Uncle Chu took a photo of the broken door lock. “Thanh Hoa, come stay at my uncle's house tonight.” Tham Van So suddenly raised his head. "Impossible." She looked at me, with a panic in her eyes as if she was about to lose everything. “Thanh Hoa, this is your home, you can't leave.” I said nothing. She got up and went to the kitchen to get a broom. She swept the broken glass into the trash, her movements panicked and clumsy. "Mom cooked rice for you. You haven't eaten all day, what do you want to eat? Tomato and egg noodles?" The same sentence, she had said many times before. Before the university entrance exam, I was stressed, so she cooked tomato and egg noodles. The first time I fell in love, she also cooked tomato and egg noodles. The night my father was diagnosed, she still cooked that bowl of noodles, sitting at the table crying until she couldn't hold her chopsticks. Those years are not fake. But that care that cannot be faked could not withstand the fact that she pushed me over and over again at the feet of the Tham family. Lawyer Van said softly: "Miss Hua, tomorrow morning we will go to the notary office to get the original, then go to the bank to confirm the safety of the account." The broom in Tham Van So's hand fell to the ground. “Are you really this wary of me?” I raised my eyes to look at her. “It's the mother who teaches the child.” Her face was pale. “I raised you for more than twenty years, and in exchange for just this sentence?” At the door, Uncle Chu couldn't help but speak: "Van So, before leaving, Truong Bach asked you not for money, but to stop hurting the child." She suddenly laughed, laughing until tears fell straight down. "He begged me? He guarded against me like he guarded against a thief!" “When I was alive, money wasn't given to me, and when I die, money wasn't given to me either.” “I'm the one who lives with him day in and day out!” I looked at her bloodshot eyes. “Mom lived with dad day by day, so on the day dad had chemotherapy, she transferred 200 thousand to you?” Her lips moved. No sound is emitted. Lawyer Van gave me a list. "There are also directions to the assets Mr. Hua has rearranged, including clues about your biological mother's remains." The last line reads: Gold necklace inlaid with jade, suspected to have been sold by Dieu Que Phan at Phuc Thinh gold shop in the old neighborhood, around May 2004. Tham Van So saw that line and suddenly knelt down. “Thanh Hoa, don't ask anymore.” She grabbed my pants leg. “That necklace… even if I looked it up, it would be useless.” I bowed my head. "Why?" She closed her eyes, as if her strength had been drained from her. “Because the person who bought the necklace is Trieu Khai's mother.” Early the next morning, lawyer Van accompanied me to the old neighborhood. Phuc Thinh gold shop is still there, it's just that the shop owner has changed to the son of the old owner. The old boss heard about the gold necklace inlaid with pearls from twenty years ago, squinted his eyes and thought for a long time. “Impressed.” He pulled out an old notebook from under the counter. "At that time, the people who came to sell were quite fierce, an old lady brought a young woman. The necklace was very good, the jade was also good. At first I wanted to force the price, but they quickly used the money, and sold it for 8 thousand yuan." 8 thousand. What my biological mother left me, they sold for 8 thousand. The old boss pointed to the name on the book. "The buyer is the daughter-in-law of the Trieu family next door. She said she was saving money for her son's engagement and protecting Ngoc to take care of him." The son of the Trieu family is Trieu Khai. Lawyer Van took a photo of the books. “Can you testify?” The old boss sighed. "Maybe. I remember that necklace, the back of the pendant was engraved with a very small word Hoa." Coming out of the gold shop, Tham Van So made more than ten phone calls to me

i. I didn't listen to any calls. At noon, Trieu Khai was released. The evidence still needs further verification, for the time being he has not been detained. But as soon as he got out of the police station, he posted a long message to the relative group. Say I'm not Tham Van So's biological son, but I take over the Hua family's inheritance. Say I forced your adoptive mother to kneel down, causing you to be taken away by the police. He said that when he was alive, my father was confused and I coaxed him into making an unfair will. Tham Niem Tu transferred that paragraph to several of my unit groups. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the library director called me into his office. She looked at me, her voice awkward: "Thanh Hoa, what happened in your house is a bit loud. Now someone is calling to complain, saying you have ethical problems." On the table were printed screenshots of the chat. Each sheet was like a slap. I didn't cry, nor did I explain too much. Just put the police receipt, lawyer's letter, and notarized photocopies of documents in front of her.