Chapter 1 — Forty Billion And People Only Ask For A Kitchen

I knew I won the lottery on the day the company laid me off.

In the afternoon, the head of human resources talked a lot about restructuring, cost optimization and new directions. I only heard one sentence: from next month, I don't need to come to the company anymore. I signed the minutes, took a small box of paper and walked through the alley behind the building.

It's raining in Saigon. At the corner of the street there is a computerized ticketing point. I bought one out of habit, choosing the series of numbers from the day my mother was born, my parents' wedding day and the last number of the old car's license plate. I don't believe in luck, I just like the feeling of choosing something at random.

That night, while my husband was showering, I turned on my phone to check the results. The series of numbers appears one by one. I checked three times, then called the operator to confirm. Jackpot prize: 42,600,000,000 VND. After taxes, the amount is more than 38 billion.

I sat on the living room floor for nearly ten minutes, neither crying nor laughing. Minh Khang walked out, his hair still wet, and saw me holding a cardboard box.

“What's wrong with you?”

“I got laid off.”

He sat down in front of me. His salary as a hotel maintenance technician is just over ten million, his savings are less than twenty million. Yet he held my hand very firmly.

"It's okay. I'll take care of you."

I have been married to him for four years. He's not rich, but every month he gives me his salary after paying the rent, keeping just enough for gas. When I had a stomach ache, he learned to cook porridge. When my mother was hospitalized, he asked to change shifts to take her. I believe that statement.

But I also know that his sister, Ngoc Han, is in debt of nearly four billion because her event decoration company failed. Her husband, Duc Tai, always showed off the big contract and then quietly asked Minh Khang to pay the deposit. My mother-in-law, Mrs. Huong, considers it her duty for her son to help her.

I'm not talking about the ticket. The next morning, I went to the bank to open two new accounts, asked a lawyer to complete the procedures for receiving the reward and dividing the money into several layers. I bought a small apartment in my own name, set up a safe deposit fund, put some in bonds and kept enough money to start over.

In the afternoon, I saw Minh Khang wrapping a gold watch in a box.

“I give it back to Ms. Han,” he said. “I've already paid a deposit, but our house has to be tightened.”

I looked at the watch that cost nearly thirty million. He returned it because he thought I was unemployed.

“Are you angry?”

“Probably yes.”

He smiled tiredly.

"If you're angry, let me bear it."

I put the ticket in the secret compartment of my bag. Forty billion is in the new account, and the man in front of him is still worried because of a gift from his sister.

I want to know, if my family thinks I no longer have any income, how will they treat me?