Chapter 11 — Debt Book at the End of the Alley

Nam stopped by the restaurant on a midweek afternoon, this time not wearing a formal suit like before, but just wearing a regular shirt, seemingly taking advantage of his lunch break to actually stop by for a meal, not just for work reasons.

“Give me a portion of rice with ribs, like you used to eat in the past,” he said, sitting down at the familiar table near the window.

Dieu scooped rice for him and sat down opposite while waiting for him to eat. The atmosphere between the two of them was less tense than the first time they met, although the wariness was still there, hidden behind the usual gossip.

“How is your work these days?” Dieu asked, trying to keep his voice natural.

“Also busy,” Nam replied, and unintentionally, perhaps because he was familiar with each other again, he blurted out more. “The Ben Cat Riverside project is urgently completing the documents, your boss is rushing all the time.”

Dieu paused. "Ben Cat Riverside? Is it a project in our alley?"

Nam realized he had just said something wrong, put down his chopsticks, his face looked a little confused. "Yeah... that's right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it right now, the project hasn't been officially announced yet."

“So the project name is real, not just a preliminary survey,” Dieu said, her voice tense. "Tell me, what is the specific plan? When are they going to do it?"

Nam sighed, seemingly deciding he couldn't hide it any longer. "As far as I know, the company is in the process of collecting consent signatures from households, expected to be completed within the next two months. If they reach the required consent rate, they will conduct legal procedures for clearance and compensation."

“Two months,” Dieu repeated, her mind racing with calculations. At that moment, she suddenly remembered that Kim Phat's loan was due in thirty days, and an uneasy premonition throbbed in her heart. "Mr. Nam, did that two-month period coincide with any special time? Like, what factors did they calculate based on that date?"

Nam frowned, seemingly not understanding the meaning of the question. “Why do you ask?”

Dieu hesitated for a moment, then decided to tell him about the Kim Phat loan, about the thirty-day deadline hanging over her family's head, and about the restaurant being used as collateral. She carefully observed Nam's reaction while telling the story, trying to find any signs that he knew about this in advance.

Nam's face gradually changed color when he heard the story, surprise was clearly visible, it didn't seem fake at all. "You said Kim Phat? Kim Phat Financial Company?"

“That's right, how do you know that name?” Dieu asked, her heart beating faster.

Nam was silent for a moment, as if trying to organize his thoughts in his mind. “I heard this name a few times within the company,” he said slowly, his voice somewhat cautious. "But I'm not sure. I don't dare to make random assertions. Let me find out more and then tell you again. Don't rush to any conclusions right now."

“Mr. Nam,” Dieu said, her voice serious, looking straight into his eyes. "If there is any connection between your company and the financial company that is tightening your shop's debt, you need to know. This is not a joke, this is my mother's and my whole life."

“I know,” Nam replied, his voice low, his eyes showing torment. “I promise to find out, and if there's anything you need to know, I'll tell you, no matter how it affects my work.”

Dieu looked at him, not entirely sure whether to trust him completely or not, but she recognized a sincerity in his eyes that she could hardly deny. They sat in silence for a while. The meal in front of Nam had cooled down but he was in no mood to continue eating.

“I'm sorry for ruining your meal,” Dieu said, trying to force a forced smile.

“It's okay,” Nam replied, also smiling slightly in response. “This is much more important than a meal.”

Before leaving the shop, Nam lingered a little longer, his voice becoming unusually serious. "Dieu, I want you to know, even though my work is related to this project, I will never let it affect how I treat you and Ms. Hanh. If I have to choose, I will choose to stand with the truth."

Dieu nodded, touched by that promise, but she also understood that promises and actual actions are sometimes two completely different things, especially when the pressure of work, money, and complicated relationships begin to overlap.

After Nam left, Dieu sat alone, took out the piece of paper summarizing the clues, and wrote a new line: "Ben Cat Riverside project - two months to collect consent. Kim Phat loan - thirty days. Is it a coincidence?" She looked at that line for a long time, feeling like a web of conspiracy much larger than she had ever imagined was gradually emerging before her eyes, and she, whether she wanted it or not, was drawn into its center.

Uncle Tu, when listening to Dieu recount the entire conversation with Nam in the afternoon, sat quietly for a long time, his face unusually pensive. "If it's true that these two things are related," he said slowly, "then this is no longer a simple matter of debt. This is the type of people deliberately pressuring people to sell their land and houses at cheap prices."

“Do you really think they did that?” Dieu asked, her voice could not hide her fear.

"I can't confirm," Uncle Tu replied, "but I've heard about tricks like this in other areas. They lend at high interest rates, knowing in advance that the debtor can't pay, then force them to sell the assets at cheap prices to clear the debt, then collect the land and resell it for large projects at many times higher prices."

Dieu felt a chill run down his spine when he heard Uncle Tu's description. If so, her mother's eighty million VND loan was not simply a personal financial mistake, but could have been part of a larger, carefully calculated plan targeting the most vulnerable households in the area.

“So what should we do, uncle?” she asked, her voice both worried and determined.

“First of all, you need to collect more evidence,” Uncle Tu said, his voice more certain. "If it is true that there is a connection between Kim Phat and that real estate company, it will be important evidence to denounce, not only saving our shop but also helping many other households in the alley who are facing similar situations."

Dieu nodded, a new determination arose in her heart. She realized that this war was no longer just a matter of her family, but could be related to the fate of the entire community that had supported her throughout her childhood.

That evening, Dieu walked around the alley, visited a few familiar neighbors, and cleverly asked if anyone had ever borrowed money from strange financial companies similar to Kim Phat. The results made her even more worried — little At least three other families in the alley confirmed that they had or were borrowing money from similar sources, although not all of them knew the specific company name.

"Have you heard anything about selling land for any project?" Dieu asked the last family she visited, a middle-aged couple who lived not far from the restaurant.

“I heard a little,” the husband replied, scratching his head in thought. "But no one has officially come to talk to my family. What's wrong, child, is something wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just asking," Dieu replied, not wanting to spread confusion when she herself didn't have enough solid evidence.

On the way home, she felt more clearly than ever the weight of responsibility that was gradually placed on her shoulders - not only protecting her mother's restaurant, but possibly also protecting a small community that was at risk of being caught up in a sophisticated financial conspiracy that most of them had not yet realized.

Returning to the shop, she saw that her phone had a new message from Nam, sent at nine o'clock in the evening. "I'm sorry for having to talk about this via text message. I just asked for some information. I'll see you tomorrow morning to explain more clearly. It's not convenient to text everything here."

Dieu read the message, feeling both nervous and worried. She texted back agreeing to meet, then put down the phone, sat quietly looking out at the dark courtyard of the shop, where the streetlights shined in, creating dappled streaks of light on the old brick floor.

She thought about everything that had happened today — from the lunch with Nam, to the conversation with Uncle Tu, to the evening visit to ask the neighbors. Each new piece of information was like a brick added to a wall that was slowly taking shape, a wall separating the peaceful world she knew of this alley, and the complex, calculating reality she was only just beginning to see.

She took out her notebook, wrote down a list of families that had confirmed loans from sources similar to Kim Phat, marked it carefully, preparing for a step that she felt she needed to take soon: gathering enough evidence to not only save her mother's restaurant, but also to warn and protect the neighbors who had supported her family for many years.

Before going to bed, she sent another message to Huong, updating all the new developments. Huong answered immediately, even though it was late. "That sounds stressful, Dieu. Be careful, don't reveal that you're investigating before you have enough solid evidence, otherwise they'll be wary and erase all traces."

That reminder made Dieu even more cautious. She turned off the light and lay down, but her mind kept plotting the next steps for the investigation that she, an ordinary accountant who never thought she would have to face such complicated things, was now forced to engage in herself.