Chapter 10 — Floating Market Without Water

Khai used a nylon bag to catch the turbid water leaking from slot M-07.

Black seeds settle to the bottom very quickly. An does not touch the bag. She called the district environmental department, but the person on duty said they had to take samples according to procedures, with records and witnesses. Mrs. Sau called the neighborhood leader. Ti turned completely from the outside of the barrier.

“Don't make your own conclusions about sewage sludge,” Khai said.

“I haven't concluded yet.”

“But people will draw conclusions.”

“Because they see.”

Khai took one water sample in the main channel, one sample in the mud ditch and one sample near the discharge tank. He marked the time, location and person who took it. Duy appeared with two factory employees, saying they could not enter the valve area because it was sealed.

“Do you see this line too?” An asked.

"I see."

“Will the factory take samples?”

“There is a specialized team.”

“Are factory samples independent?”

Duy looked at Khai. “Your model is not sure yet.”

“Then let's take it together and seal it together.”

Duy did not answer immediately. He said if there is a foreign substance, it is necessary to determine the source: natural mud, motor oil, tank cleaning chemicals or industrial waste. An agreed, but requested that all samples be recorded.

Ms. Sau pulled from the cooperative office a box containing sample bottles. The box is old, there is a pump station mark on the lid. A factory employee laughed and said the cooperative had no right to do testing.

“We have the right to keep the sample,” Ms. Sau replied.

“Keep it for what?”

“So that no one says the water itself is dirty.”

A light rain began to fall. The mud on the river bed softened, making footprints overlap each other. Ti turned to An:

“If the rain erases everything, will my photos still be there?”

"Still."

“What if they say the photos aren't enough?”

“Then let's find something else.”

“What if you can't find it?”

An looked at him. “I said I couldn't find it.”

Khai opened the old screen on the embankment. Below that is a small trench that carries water from M-07 into the secondary sedimentation tank. The trench was partially filled with sandbags, but water still leaked. The sack has the factory logo and the production date is newer than the sprint date.

Duy looked at the sack. “This is used to reinforce the shore.”

“Reinforcement right on the trench?” Khai asked.

"I do not know."

An took the sack, then marked the location. If mud goes from M-07 into the ditch, it does not enter the market channel directly. It entered the secondary settling tank first, but the tank was partially filled. When the water recedes, the mud flows back.

“When was the settling tank filled?” An asked Mr. Nam over the phone.

He said that after the embankment, part of the tank was leveled to make a parking lot. The cooperative received support money, the contractor worked quickly before the tourist season. No one re-measured the volume.

“So pipes don't just carry water,” An said. “It leads sludge into a tank that has lost its capacity.”

Khai looked at the black seeds in the sample bag. “If the plant washes the tank at 2:17, the sludge can follow the south branch.”

Duy responded: "The factory does not clean the tank this way."

“Do you have hygiene records?” An asked.

"Have."

“Send me.”

“I will send it through the law.”

“You can send it before the law is rewritten.”

Duy looked at her, angry but did not leave.

A specialized vehicle from the district came to take samples. Environmental officers made three records and took samples with Khai and Duy as witnesses. Ms. Sau signed in the community representative section. An's mother also signed because the sample was taken near the porridge boat.

When the officials left, the factory asked to temporarily suspend sales in the downstream area until results were known. The fishmongers protested. They said if the market closes, the goods will spoil before testing is completed.

Ms. Sau proposed moving the market to a temporary wharf, but the temporary wharf does not have washing water or access roads. Every choice matters That's a loss of money.

An called the editorial office. The editor said the investigation article needed to have sample results, otherwise it would be considered inflammatory. She agreed, but asked to post a photo of the mechanism of the mud going through the pipe.

“Do not attach the factory name,” he reminded.

“I will label projects and contracts.”

“The project name can also lead to the last name.”

“If the truth is only written when it won't upset anyone, it's advertising.”

That night, Ti backed up the photos on three devices: the school computer, the An computer, and a hard drive that Mr. Nam hid in the workshop. He set the password to the time 2:17, then changed it back because An said he wouldn't use something everyone knew.

Khai stood outside the factory door, looking at the screen.

“My younger brother works at the factory,” he said. “If this story blows up, he could be cut off.”

An looked up. “You want me to stop?”

"Are not."

“So what do you want?”

“I want you to stop writing as if everyone in the factory is on the side of the pipeline.”

"I will write down the name of the signer, the operator, and the person in charge. Not writing down their profession is a crime."

Khai nodded, but did not leave.

“I used to think I just needed to change operators,” he said. “Now I see the pipeline is designed so that no one knows who it belongs to.”

During the night, the sound of the pump echoed down from upstream. No one knows if the machine is pumping or paying.

For the first time, black water flooded through the south branch and disappeared under the temporary residential area.

An wanted to follow the flow but Khai stopped him. The ground is mushy, one wrong step can cause the entire trench to collapse. They use a yellow rope to tie it to a stake, mark the direction of the water, then stand on the bank and wait for the current to stabilize.

An's mother brought two bottles of clean water. She didn't ask who was right, just told everyone to drink. Duy received a bottle, thanking her. An's mother said:

“Thank you, then tell me tomorrow whether the water is clean or not.”

Duy did not answer.

The student group used safe dye to test the stream, but environmental officials asked not to pour it in without permission. They switched to dropping markers of wax in the secondary trench. The wax drifts slowly, disappearing below the residential area.

“There are empty holes,” Khai said.

Mr. Nam came with the drawings. He pointed to the old curve and said that under the land there used to be a wide drainage ditch. The new embankment has blocked the top surface, but the hollow foundation remains. Water flows under the population as if it were in a trough without anyone checking.

An called the neighborhood leader and asked if anyone had heard a vibration in the background at 2:17 a.m. Five people said yes, three said no, one said it was a truck. An records it all.

Ti went from house to house asking to take pictures of cracked floors, but An reminded him not to enter other people's houses. He asked first, wrote down his name and purpose. An old woman showed black water stains around the mouth of a dry well. She said it happened last season, but she didn't know who to report it to.

“Why didn't you report?”

"It's been reported. They say it's due to natural mud."

An recorded it on the board, but did not use it as a conclusion.

Khai took a sample from the mouth of a shallow well, saying this sample could help determine how long the water flow had been underground. Duy asked who paid the testing fee. Ms. Sau said she would temporarily take the cooperative fund, then divide it according to responsibility.

“Divided according to unspecified responsibilities?” Duy asked.

“If no one temporarily pays, there is nothing to determine.”

Duy remained silent and transferred the advance payment to the laboratory. He said this money is not tied to media conditions. An requested it be recorded in the minutes, Duy agreed.

The factory announced a temporary reduction in capacity, but asked the market to stop posting photos of the mud. Ms. Sau said deny. Some boat owners say if they don't receive support, they will lose money. Ms. Sau said they had the right to receive it, but no one could sign on their behalf.

Khai went to check M-17. The side door has been locked with a new lock. On the drive there is a grease mark of the same type of crank. He didn't open it, just took a photo.

An asked Vinh who placed the nest. Vinh said he didn't know, but admitted he had the key.

“Do you open on rainy nights?”

“I opened it to relieve the pressure.”

“By whose orders?”

“According to the schedule.”

“Factory or cooperative calendar?”

"Both."

“Is it recorded in mud?”

Vinh looked down. "Are not."

An did not record that sentence as a confession. She recorded it as a calendar hole.

At night, An's article received many comments. Some people thanked her for speaking up, some people told her to ruin her clothes, some people sent old photos of the station. One photo shows the M-17 warning sign before the embankment was built, but the word "sludge discharge" was painted over.

The photo has no clear date. I looked in the corner of the photo for a fruit price list and compared the season to estimate the time. He said around that year, but he wasn't sure.

“Just an estimate,” An reminded.

“I know.”

The editor asked An if he had enough for the big article. She said no. He said sometimes articles have to wait, but readers don't wait.

An looked at the files and saw that each file contained an incomplete piece. The operating panel is missing names, photos are missing people, drawings are missing angles, contracts are missing maps.

For the first time, black water flooded through the south branch and disappeared under the temporary residential area.

Then, from the floor of a house, a long cracking sound was heard.

People in the cracked house area are invited to record the condition of the house. No one repaired the crack themselves before the officers took photos. Some people are hesitant because they fear being forced to relocate, but Ms. Sau said that recognition does not mean losing their home.

Khai marked the mouth of the trench with white paint, and Ti placed a horizontal ruler to monitor the mud level. An takes a photo every hour. The water sometimes disappears, then appears in another hole a few meters away.

“The ground is more hollow than we thought,” Mr. Nam said.

Duy received the map and asked the factory to support a stratigraphic detector. Ms. Sau agreed but asked for an independent unit to operate it. Duy accepted, even though he knew it made the factory unable to control the results.

An calls that test "measuring before repairing", not calling it verifying the mud source.

At night, the cracking sound under the residential floor stopped. But a new damp line appeared on the wall, stretching straight towards the south branch. I took a photo and recorded the time as 2:17.