Chapter 16 — Fascinated by the Rooster Farmer Raising His Children

Immediately after discovering two suspicious incidents happening at the same time, Khanh Vy did not hesitate and immediately called her most trusted lawyer friend for help. Vuong Vu Dang returned to Binh Xuyen as soon as he received an urgent call from Khanh Vy, bringing with him extensive legal experience from many land disputes he had handled. He and Khanh Vy and Vinh Khang sat down and reviewed every detail to find the source of the information leak.

"We need to compile a list of everyone who knows about each specific piece of information that was leaked." Vu Dang proposed, opening his notebook, his eyes serious as if he were handling an important case. "Information about the bank credit review, who knows? Information about the individual land-purchase proposal involving two households had been known in advance? If we find the intersection point, we will be able to localize the source of the leak."

They spent the entire evening listing details, comparing every timeline, every call, every meeting, and an unexpected result gradually emerged: all leaked information were details that Khanh Vy had shared over the phone with exactly one person outside the direct scope of the alliance's work — Chu Nha Dinh.

"No way." Khanh Vy shook her head, trying to dispel the thoughts that had just formed, her voice choked because she did not want to believe what she had just realized. "Nha Dinh only asked about my life, how could it be related?"

But Vu Dang, with his sharp professional eye, did not easily ignore this possibility. "Miss Vy, I don't want to have unfounded suspicions, but we need to check carefully. Is there any way to verify?"

Khanh Vy was silent for a long time, feeling pain and doubt tearing at her heart. In the end, she decided to try a cautious approach: she intentionally shared false information with Nha Dinh over the phone — saying that the farmer alliance was about to sign a big contract with another supermarket chain, completely bogus, just to check if this false information would be leaked or not.

"If it is indeed Nha Dinh, we need to prepare ourselves mentally carefully." Vu Dang said, his voice low and full of sympathy. "This is not just about business, it also involves your family's feelings. I know this won't be easy."

"I understand." Khanh Vy replied, her voice trying to stay calm even though her heart was in chaos. "But if it's her, I need to know the truth, no matter how painful it is. We can't let our personal feelings get in the way of protecting the farming community that believes in us."

*

Three days later, Kieu Dac Nhan, in a secret call with a contact at the supermarket chain that Tuong Bach Uy was pressuring, accidentally revealed information about a "new contract" that the supermarket chain itself had never heard of — fake information that Khanh Vy had just released for testing.

The contact person at the supermarket chain, who had a good relationship with Vuong Vu Dang from before, reported the entire incident to him immediately, along with a recording of the conversation as irrefutable evidence.

When Vu Dang announced this confirmation result to Khanh Vy, she stood still, her trembling hands dropped the phone on the table, feeling like the whole world had just collapsed under her feet again, this time even more painful than the day she discovered the marriage records had been swapped.

"Is it really Nha Dinh?" She whispered, her voice trembling. "My sister... is colluding with someone who wants to destroy everything we built?"

Vinh Khang hugged her shoulders, trying to reassure her while he was also suppressing his anger. "We need more concrete evidence before we can conclude for sure, honey. But if that's true, we have to be prepared to deal with, not only Tuong Bach Uy, but also your own family members."

*

In the following days, with the support of Vu Dang and some legal investigative techniques, they gradually collected more evidence: transaction invoices between Nha Dinh and an account related to Dai Thinh Agriculture Group, recording a sum of money transferred to To Khai Van's account immediately after each information leak - it seemed that this was the reward that Tuong Bach Uy paid for Nha Dinh's cooperation, disguised as financial support for the solution. Settlement of debt for her husband.

Vu Dang compared each timeline of transactions with each unusual event that occurred with the farmer alliance, building a detailed statistical table showing a clear and undeniable cause-and-effect relationship. "This is solid enough evidence for confrontation, but we need more direct evidence about Tuong Bach Uy's role in the entire plan, not just Nha Dinh." He said, his voice full of professional caution.

Dang Nhu Quynh, the journalist Khanh Vy had previously contacted, also quietly independently investigated Dai Thinh Agriculture Group, discovering many similar cases in other provinces - where this group used tactics of internal division, financial pressure, and even implicit threats to force farmers to sell land at cheap prices.

She contacted two former employees who worked for Dai Thinh Group, who were willing to anonymously provide information about how the group operated land acquisition campaigns in the past. Their accounts, although not immediately publicly available due to concerns about personal safety, helped Dang Nhu Quynh build a disturbing picture of the scale and systematic nature of these wrongdoings.

"I have enough documentation to show that this is a systematic pattern of activity, not an isolated case." She told Khanh Vy on the phone. "But I need more direct evidence related to your case to be able to announce it with certainty, avoiding legal risks for both you and me."

Khanh Vy nodded, even though her heart was still painful because of the discovery of her sister's betrayal. "We will continue to collect more evidence. But Ms. Quynh, please keep the information about... the person who leaked the inside information private, at least until I have a chance to confront her directly."

"I understand, and I respect your wish." Dang Nhu Quynh replied, her voice full of professional understanding. "As a journalist, I have always believed that the truth should be published at the right time, in a way that causes as little harm as possible to the innocent people involved."

*

That night, Khanh Vy sat alone on the porch, holding her phone, looking at the last conversation with Nha Dinh - the sweet text messages asking, the fake congratulations on the success of the farmer alliance that she now realized were just a cover to exploit information.

She remembered all the years of trying to treat her half-sister kindly, always giving in, always trying to build sisterly love even though she knew Nha Dinh's hidden jealousy since childhood. She never thought that, to this extent, her sister would be willing to collude with the enemy to destroy not only her personal happiness, but also the livelihoods of dozens of innocent farmers who had never done anything to deserve to suffer the consequences of someone else's personal hatred.

"Why me, Nha Dinh?" She whispered in the dark, tears rolling down her cheeks for the first time since she moved to Binh Xuyen. "What did I do to you that was so wrong that you had to do that? I've always tried to be nice to you all these years, but..."

Vinh Khang walked out, sat down next to her, didn't say anything, just quietly held her hand, giving her the stability she needed in this painful moment. Both know that the upcoming confrontation would not just be a normal business battle, but also a hurtful war between blood relatives, where the truth, no matter how painful, needed to be exposed.

"I won't let this bring me down." Khanh Vy spoke after a long moment of silence, her voice had regained some of its original toughness. "Nha Dinh chose this path, I didn't push her into it. I will be heartbroken, but I cannot let that pain shake my responsibility to the whole community that believes in us."

"I'm proud of you." Vinh Khang said, squeezing her hand tighter, his voice was warm and firm. "No matter what happens next, I will always be by your side, facing everything with you, and not letting you bear this pain alone."