Chapter 8 — Floating Market Without Water

An found her mother's signature in the floating market support file, right below the clause that no one read out loud.

The file is in the cooperative cabinet, stamped "complete". The factory sponsors berth repairs, provides life jackets, supports dredging costs and "has the right to coordinate the operating schedule of regulatory items related to cargo flows". Term: twenty years.

An's mother's signature is on the last page, next to Mrs. Sau's signature.

An looked at the familiar handwriting for a long time. Her mother, who only had a fifth-grade education, signed her name in large strokes and always added an underline. There are fingerprints on the side.

Mom was on the boat, re-boiling the pot of porridge with water bought from the wharf. An brought down the file. She didn't ask right away, just put the page on the pot lid.

Mom wiped her hands on her apron. “Where did you find it?”

“In the cooperative closet.”

“Mom signed a long time ago.”

“Do you know this clause?”

"Mrs. Sau read that it was a support receipt."

“There is also the right to regulate water.”

Mom looked at the words, then covered the pot. "If you don't sign, they won't fix the wharf. That season, the wharf collapsed and the mother boat almost sank."

“But mother signed the right to coordinate for twenty years.”

“Mom signed a paper so I could sell it.”

An felt his voice about to rise. She lowered.

“Do you keep a copy?”

"Are not."

“Did Ms. Sau say the water would go through the south branch?”

"I don't know which branch. I only know the factory said to keep the flow."

Mother looked at her daughter. “Do you want me to tell you I'm wrong?”

“I want to know if mom knows.”

"I know I need money. Is that enough?"

The question made An silent. She thought the records would give her a clear answer. But her mother's signature turned the water issue into a debt between the two.

Khai arrived later and listened to An's story. I don't defend the contract. He just asked when to sign. An's mother remembers that it was after a flood season, when her husband had just passed away and the porridge pot was the only source of income.

“The factory gives you money once?” Khai asked.

"Give it to the cooperative. They said the wharf will belong to the community."

“Can someone explain the appendix?”

"A technician read it. Said this was a coordination schedule so the boats wouldn't collide."

Khai closed his eyes. “Not just boat schedules.”

An brought the photocopy to the editorial office's law department. Lawyers say this clause does not automatically make the factory a water owner, but gives them the right to operate certain items if approved by the government. The problem is whether the cooperative received the money and whether the signer received a full explanation or not.

“Can the contract be canceled?” An asked.

"It's not easy. But it is possible to request disclosure and review if the provisions affect public use rights."

“What if the whole market has benefited?”

"Enjoying benefits does not remove responsibility. It only causes responsibility to be divided among more people."

Ti sent a profile photo. He used a scanner at school, revealing the ink hidden under the stamp. There is the letter "M-07" and the date is the same as the date of acceptance of the pumping station.

“Mom signed after the valve was accepted,” An said.

Khai looked at the day. “No. Acceptance must come first.”

“What is the date of the minutes you signed?”

“Day 18.”

“12th Support Contract.”

Khai holds the paper. “So they are committed to coordinating before the project is accepted.”

“Who gave permission?”

“Station chief.”

“Do you have the minutes?”

Khai shook his head. “My copy is gone.”

Ms. Sau came to the newspaper office in the evening. She knew An had read the contract. She wasn't angry, just tired. She placed a stack of receipts on the table.

“The funding has been used up,” she said. "One part is to repair the wharf, one part is to buy life jackets, and the rest is to pay off the dredging debt."

“I know the terms and conditions coordinate?”

“I read.”

“Still signed?”

“I signed because if I don't, the market will sink in mud.”

“Do you know that coordination includes discharging the south branch?”

Mrs. Sau looked at An's mother through the glass window. “I know the factory has a valve opening schedule. I didn't know they put mud through there.”

“Why don't you check?”

“Because the water was clear at that time. Because everyone has a new station. Because anyone who asks will be told it makes it difficult to provide support.”

An heard the phrase "because the water is clear" and thought about today, when the water had dried up, everything was buried with no cover left.

Mrs. Sau pulled out a small piece of paper from her pocket. “There is an addendum that has never been brought to the meeting. I kept it because I was afraid.”

The appendix records the schedule for discharging the south branch on off-peak market days, but there is an additional line: "If you need to discharge sludge, prioritize 2:17 a.m., avoid customer hours."

An looked at Mrs. Sau.

“Whose words?” she asked.

Ms. Sau replied: "I don't know."

An's phone vibrates. Ti sent another photo: her mother's signature was taken and marked in red ink.

On the photo there is a caption:

“The signer must bear his share.”

An doesn't know if the person who sent the photo wanted to warn or threaten. She texted Ti asking if anyone approached him. Ti answered no, but said his mother had received a silent call. An told him to change his school time and not go to the station alone.

Khai said he should report it to the police. An agreed, but when he arrived at headquarters, the officer asked if there was evidence that the caller was related to the pipeline. An gave the call history and photos, the officer noted it but said it was not enough to open a threat file.

“We have to wait for something to happen to the victim?” An asked.

“No. But the behavior must be determined.”

Khai smiled faintly. “Log deletion behavior also needs to be determined.”

An did not want to turn everything into an argument with officials. She asked for confirmation of receiving the information, then kept it in her file.

Ms. Sau organized reading the contract in front of the households. She hired an independent lawyer, not someone from the factory. The lawyer explained that "coordination" does not mean "full decision-making authority", but the right to operate can create liability if damage is caused.

A boat owner asked if he had received support money, could he sue?

The lawyer replied: “Receiving money does not take away the right to claim security. But need to prove damages and terms.”

An's mother held the copy and pointed to the signature. “I received money to repair the wharf. If the new wharf destroys the old water line, who do I have the right to ask?

"Have."

“Ask where?”

“There are minutes in the meeting.”

Mrs. Sau wrote that sentence in the notebook.

An asked Duy about the appendix. Duy said the factory did not prepare a contract, only signed the technical support part. An gave the copy with the factory seal and asked who read it to the people.

“I'm not present.”

“Your father?”

Duy stopped. “Maybe.”

“You don't remember?”

“I don't want to use my father as an excuse.”

“I'm asking for facts.”

“I will look.”

Duy later sent an old recording in which his father explained that the new wharf would help the market avoid landslides. There is no water control section. But at the end of the paragraph, someone asked "what about the south branch?". Father Duy's voice replied: "After completion."

“Completed what?” An asked.

Hearing and speaking may be complete and accepted.

“Or finish leveling the tank,” An replied.

Little gave his mother's signature photo to the teacher. The teacher said the underline was askew, indicating that she signed in a hurry or was told the location, but it cannot be inferred that she did not agree.

An maintains that conclusion. She didn't want to turn handwriting analysis into false evidence.

That night, the cooperative received a request from the factory to return the borrowed technical map. Mrs. Sau searched the cabinet and discovered a map The root has lost its corner and has a southern branch. No one remembers who held it last.

“Do you have a book to borrow?” An asked.

"Have."

The book has Vinh's name on it, but the return date has been crossed out.

Khai looked at the brick lines. “It's not the word Ms. Hanh.”

“Whose word do you recognize?”

“The old station chief's letter.”

The station chief has been gone for three years.

An's mother brought her a bowl of hot porridge. She said she didn't want An to forget to eat because of the paperwork.

“I'm afraid you'll turn into someone from the market,” she said.

“I already left the market.”

“No. I just stood somewhere else to watch.”

An looked at her mother's signature. She understands that she cannot be a reporter without being affected by the story, but she also cannot use familiarity to absolve anyone of responsibility.

On the signature photo, the caption has disappeared. The sender just left a new sentence:

“Not everyone who signs gets to read it.”

An asked Ms. Sau to give the contract to each household to read, not just to the board of directors. They divided the sale into small sessions because many boat owners could not miss the sale. An's mother read slowly, stopping at each clause and asking a lawyer when she did not understand.

One person said that if he had known that the coordination authority was so broad, he would not have signed. Others said he signed because the new wharf would save boats, the benefits cannot be denied. There was no applause at the meeting, only the sound of pens writing.

Mrs. Hanh brought her map book to borrow. She said the map was borrowed three times: once by the factory, once by the economic department, once by the cooperative. The last return was missing the south branch corner. No one made a missing record.

“Why didn't you say?” An asked.

“I thought Mrs. Sau knew.”

Ms. Sau said she thought the missing part was because the map was old and rotten. Assumptions connecting together make a corner of the paper disappear without anyone intentionally tearing it up in front of everyone.

Khai checked An's mother's signature with other documents. He did not say she was forced; only commented that the signature was in the right place but there was no confirmation line that the appendix had been read. The lawyer said this is a point that needs to be clarified, it does not automatically cancel the contract.

An's mother listened and said she did not want to be seen as someone who did not understand anything.

“I understand I need a berth,” she said. “I just didn't know that the wharf was on the same waterway.”

An asked if I should post this question. Mom nodded.

In the evening, the factory sent an explanation that coordination was only to ensure safety, and did not include the right to discharge sludge. An asked why the appendix uses the words "regulatory items" instead of "boat schedule". Duy replied that he would ask for a legal explanation.

Ti put the map, contract and van photo next to each other. He used a colored wire to connect the word "coordination" to M-07, but An told him not to draw conclusions. I took off the wire and replaced it with a note saying "needs checking".

“Are you tired of working as a journalist?” he asked.

"Have."

“Still doing it?”

"Because you're tired, you can't make the water clean on its own."

Outside the dock, the sound of the pump fell at exactly 2:17. An's mother looked at the clock and wrote the time on the back of the water bill for the first time.