Chapter 4 — Floating Market Without Water

The sign "TECHNICAL AREA - ACCESS PROHIBITED" was placed across the river entrance before An arrived at the wharf.

The sign is new, the letters are still bright. Below are two security guards wearing raincoats, even though it's not raining. One person holds a list of boat owners' names, the other holds a box containing the M-07 crank that was just found in the cooperative warehouse.

“Who gave permission to erect the sign?” An asked.

The person holding the list said: “Coordination between the town and the factory.”

“Where is the text?”

“Mrs. Sau does.”

Ms. Sau was standing on the boat, arguing with a person from the economic department. An heard the words "safe", "don't provoke" and "keep the image of the market". Little stood behind the water tank, the camera was in his jacket.

An took his press card. “I need to film the scene.”

The guard raised his hand. “There is a temporary halt to filming.”

“Whose orders?”

“Regional management unit.”

“This area is a public riverbed.”

“But valves belong to engineering projects.”

An pulled out his phone and turned to the sign and the guard. The other person stepped to block the lens.

“I said no.”

“You are obstructing public filming.”

“I'm staying safe.”

Khai walked over and pulled An back. “Don't argue here.”

“You also want me to turn off the phone?”

“I want you to not be pushed as a reason for them to close the terminal.”

“If everyone stays quiet, they can close whenever they want.”

Khai did not look at her. He looked at the crank box in the guard's hand, then asked:

“Who took it from the riverbed?”

“Technical team.”

“Which team?”

The guard did not respond.

Mrs. Sau walked down. “An, get in the boat.”

“Did you sign the ban on filming?”

“I signed the safety coordination protocol.”

“Is there a ban on the press?”

"Are not."

“So why did they ban it?”

Ms. Sau turned to protect. “Let her shoot from the outside.”

The other person was not happy but took a step back. An turns on the phone. She recorded the signs, the fenders, the location of the valves, the water support tanks, and the boats lying sideways in the mud. She did not turn away from the sellers who were crying because of damaged goods.

Ti took the photo from the other side of the wharf. A technician passed by, holding a file in his hand. On the edge of the file is the same symbol as the night shift plastic piece.

“An,” Ti called, “I caught the person using the crank.”

An signaled him to send the photo. In the photo, the other person is turned sideways, wearing a mask. The name tag can only read the last three words: "... Vinh".

Khai realized. “Vinh used to work at a pumping station.”

“You know me?”

“Used to be someone under my command.”

“He works for the factory?”

“After the station was dissolved.”

Khai spoke as if each sentence had to be paid with a portion of his memory. An asked him if he knew what Vinh was doing at the valve area.

"Are not."

“You knew but didn't say anything?”

"I know the name. I don't know the job yet."

Mrs. Sau took An into the office. On the table is a temporary document from the town: the factory is allowed to support the survey, and the cooperative coordinates protection. The appendix records the M-07 pipeline as a "flow regulation item of the flood prevention project". There is no name of the operating unit.

“The flood protection project does not mean the factory can take water,” An said.

“I know.”

“So why did you sign?”

Mrs. Sau took off her glasses. "Because if you don't sign, they will say the cooperative will arbitrarily let people go to dangerous areas. They can close the wharf all week."

“You're trading the right to know for a few days of business.”

“And if those few days cause thirty households to lose money to pay their debts, will you accept it?”

An looked at her mother at the dock, washing the pot with the last bottle of water. She didn't have a clean answer.

In the afternoon, the factory announced that they did not ban the press, only requested it “respect the technical area”. Duy sent An a new map. On the map, M-07 lies to the east, no longer coinciding with the pipe traces exposed in the mud.

“This map is wrong,” An said.

“That is the approved technical map.”

“So the old map is wrong?”

"Maybe."

“Two maps with the same valve but two different locations?”

Duy sighed. “The river changes banks.”

“Iron valves do not follow the shore by themselves.”

Duy did not answer.

Khai took An to Mr. Nam's boat workshop. The old man was planing a board, the smell of new wood overpowering the smell of mud. When he heard about the map, he pulled a roll of oiled paper from the floor.

“Not open here,” he said. “Someone is looking at the workshop.”

An returned. On the road, a gray motorbike stopped near the electric pole and then left.

Mr. Nam hid the roll of paper in a box of nails. "I'll open the drawings tomorrow. But before that, you have to promise one thing."

“What?”

“If the drawing shows that the market also used pipes, don't just write factory.”

An looked at him.

“Because the market used to ask for water,” he said. “The applicant is not innocent just because the grantor has more money.”

That night, the editorial office received an anonymous email. The attached file is a photo of the M-07 crank on the factory table, next to a minutes signed by Khai.

The subject line is only four words:

“Don't shoot the rest.”

An does not open attachments on the main computer. She transferred it to an offline machine and then reported it to the editor. The photo of the crank on the factory table may be old, but the corner of the paper next to it clearly shows a "checked" stamp. The editor told her not to speculate on the photographer.

“I don't speculate,” An said. “I'm looking for time.”

Khai came to the editorial office with the crank wrapped in his bag. He said Vinh left it at the old station and left. An asked why he took it.

“So that no one continues to use it.”

“Have you decided?”

"Are not."

“So you just did what everyone else did.”

Khai put his hand down. "I brought it home because I knew if I left it out in the mud, the lace would be ruined. But yeah, I don't have the right."

An wrote down that sentence, even though Khai didn't like it. She said they couldn't ask others to respect the process if they broke it themselves.

“You want me to stand and watch the valve work?” Khai asked.

“I want you to make a record.”

“The minutes will be in someone's locker.”

“Then send it to three places.”

Khai looked at her. “Who did you learn to say that from?”

“From people who always say they don't know.”

Ms. Sau called and said the factory wanted to send a technical team to measure safety around the wharf. The cooperative was asked to coordinate, but the press was not allowed to enter the wire area. An asked if she would sign.

"I have not."

"Good."

“But if you don't sign, they will say the cooperative is hindering rescue.”

“You can sign the safety part, but don't sign the information prohibition part.”

Ms. Sau was silent, then asked An to send her the minutes form.

Ti went to school to get a camera. He said the teacher heard the news and asked students not to take pictures at the station. He asked An if he should return the phone to his mother.

“Do you want to pay?”

"Are not."

“So keep it, but don't put yourself in danger.”

“You sound like your mother.”

“My mother will say it more harshly.”

Little smiled, but the smile quickly disappeared when he looked at Vinh's photo again. He enlarged the nameplate, only seeing the word "Vinh" and it was unclear whether it was the name or the team code.

“If it's a code, I might be the wrong person,” he said.

"Correct."

“So why did Mr. Khai recognize it?”

“Because he used to work together.”

“Adults look at others with old stories.”

An looked at him. “And what do you see with?”

“By what the camera captures Okay."

In the afternoon, the technical team built more fences. One person used spray paint to mark the mud around the M-07, but the mark was off the actual valve cover. Khai discovered it and asked to re-measure it. The captain said the sprint made the coordinates difficult to determine.

Khai took the old map and put it in the mud. The real valve cover is located exactly where the three wooden stakes create the corner, while the new mark follows the existing embankment. The two markers are four meters apart.

“Who asked for the mark?” An asked.

“Survey unit.”

"Name?"

“Don't remember.”

Another sentence I don't remember.

In the evening, Ms. Sau brought a commitment of support to the editorial office. The appendix page has An's mother's signature, but the coordinating authority is sandwiched behind an advertisement. Ms. Sau said she only saw it when looking for the invoice. An asked why it wasn't published.

“Because if I publish it, people will ask why I signed.”

“Are you afraid of questions?”

“I'm afraid the answer won't save the station.”

An took photos of each page. She did not take the original. Ms. Sau scanned it herself and sent it to her lawyer and the environmental department. Three copies are created right in front of each other.

“This is the first time I did it right,” Ms. Sau said.

“It's not too late.”

“It might be late with the boats lying in the mud.”

At night, An received a notification from the editorial system that someone had logged into the photo folder. The password was not changed, but a van image file was opened. She called the editor and locked the folder.

Little text from home: "There's someone standing outside the window."

An calls you right away. Ti said that person had left, leaving only wet shoe prints on the steps. His mother did not want to report to the police because she was afraid of attracting attention.

An told Ti to turn on the lights, lock the door and not erase the sign.

On the other end of the line, the sound of Ti's camera turned on.

“What did you capture?” An asked.

“Can't see anyone. But I saw their silhouettes on the water.”

The black shadow extended all the way to the pipe under the mud.

An told Ti to send her a silhouette, but not to post it. She called him to ask how long that person stood.

“About five minutes.”

“Do you see your face?”

"Are not. But that person looked down at the water, not at the house.”

Khai heard and said that people who know pipelines often look at the shore, while people who know valves often look at the water surface. Ti said in the photo the silhouette of a person is long, but there is no reflection from the dock lights. Maybe that person is behind the trees.

An turned back to the newspaper office window and saw a trail of mud under the steps that looked like the sole of a shoe in the photo. She didn't step up, just took a photo and called security. The editorial office locked its doors earlier than usual. The editor said they could work remotely for a few days.

“If everyone leaves the station, who will still record it?” An asked.

“Remembering doesn't mean you have to put yourself in danger.”

An knew he was right, but that correct statement did not make the shadow disappear. She set up a safety board for the group: always go with two people, report the location, don't touch the valve, don't keep the only copy. Ti was given a reflective vest with An's phone number.

The next morning, the mud under the editorial door had dried. In it is a small piece of silver paint, the same color as the lettering on the M-07 tube.