Chapter 8 — Hoa Mi Revenge of Vengeance

I stood right in front of the door without going inside,
"I have already reported this matter to the aunt. The aunt told her to investigate. So has it been investigated yet?"
Tham Thanh Van's eyes flashed, his hand gently smoothed his sleeve.
"Those are two different things. Now we're talking about the water pipe tea factory."
"She arbitrarily replaced someone, the new person caused the fire, this is her responsibility."
"The new person was replaced by me. But when the new person took office, I told Manager Sun to arrange for a skilled worker to accompany him for three days. Manager Sun, have you made the arrangements yet?"
The string of beads in Ton Quan Su's hand slipped, and the sweat on his face became thicker.
“This matter, the shop was so busy at that time, there was no time to arrange it—”
"There was no time to make arrangements. So when the fire broke out, where was the night watchman?"
"The tea hill has a total of sixteen servants. According to the rules, each night there are two people on duty. Who is on duty that night?"
An errand boy kneeling on the ground moved his knees and whispered: "The person on duty that night was Lao Chu." The lobby suddenly fell silent. Old Chu. That old manager who stole money was dismissed by me, but he was still able to stay at the tea hill and work at night.
"People have ordered eviction, why are you still staying at the tea hill?"
My voice became calm again, my eyes swept from Manager Ton straight to Tham Thanh Van. Consul Ton's head bowed even lower. The corners of Tham Thanh Van's mouth tightened.
"Old Chu has worked at the tea hill for more than ten years. Suddenly being kicked out will have a bad impact. I'll keep him here to help with the transition for a while."
Tham Thanh Van's voice regained its calmness, "That's not important. What's important is how to compensate for the five hundred taels now."
“Isn't it important?”
My voice rose half a tone, "People chased me away but you kept me."
“No one does what I advise to tutor new people.”
"On the night of the fire, the person on duty happened to be the person I dismissed. So you call it unimportant?"
Old Lady Tham sitting next to her placed the teacup on the table with a "clack".
"Okay, okay, what's the use of investigating these things now? The factory is already on fire, so why are you still arguing here?"
"What's a woman like you doing managing a tea plantation? The more you manage, the more confused you become. In my opinion, from now on, let Thanh Van take care of outside matters, you stay at home and rest obediently."
Bach To To stood behind Mrs. Tham, her head bowed, the corner of her mouth slightly raised. That curvature is very small, so small that if you weren't staring at her, you wouldn't be able to detect it. I won't say another word. As we walked out of the lobby and onto the porch, we heard the door behind us slam shut again. A layer of wooden door, Mrs. Tham's voice faintly echoed:
"Thanh Van, you have to be the one in charge of this house. Your wife is taking care of everything, so it continues like this—"
The words behind were blown away by the night wind. Xuan Vu followed behind me, running slowly to keep up, his voice hoarse: "Madam, this is clearly, clearly—"
“Obviously, it's a disaster.”
I finished half a sentence for her, but my steps still didn't stop.
“The fire at the tea star factory was not an accident, it was someone intentionally burying the wrong oven door.”
"Old Zhou hasn't left yet just to wait for today."
“So what should we do?”
I walked to the nightingale cage in the middle of the yard and stopped. The nightingale is bowing its head to peck at the powder layer deep in the trough, its iridescent feathers shining and shiny under the lantern light. Eat very well.
“Xuan Vu, go see where the night watchmen are positioned tonight.”
"Huh?"
"This very night. I want to have plenty of turbid water to fish."
"There was such a big fuss in the lobby, everyone's attention was focused on the tea hill. The people on night patrol were no exception."

Xuan Vu's eyes widened, staring at me for a moment, then turned around and ran out of the hospital gate. I squatted down, looking at eye level with the nightingale in the cage. It raised its head and tilted its neck to look at me. In his blue eyes, the light of the lamp reflected, like two small specks of ghost fire.
“Tonight I will change your master.”
The nightingale opened its beak but did not sing. It's like, I heard it. Chapter 11 When Xuan Vu returned, he brought news and a jar of wine to burn the knife.
"The two women on night patrol have been called to the front yard by Mrs. Tham. It is said that they are to help collect the damage list sent from the tea plantation."
“There is no one guarding this West Court right now.”
“What about the wine skin?”
“Slave, please find it in the kitchen.”
Xuan Vu placed the wine bottle firmly on the table.
“Didn't you say that when you change the charm, the bird will scream?”
"Before entering the door, I took a look around. Truong Truong in the back yard was drunk and singing Tuong, his voice rising and falling, the whole alley could hear it."
"If he took advantage of the opportunity to sing the loudest, the bird would make a sound or two and it would be covered up."
I glanced at her.
“When did you become so smart?”
Xuan Vu tried to tug at her braid and turned away:
"The new slave doesn't bother to be smart, the slave is just unbearably frustrated."
"They've bullied people to the point of failure. Looking at Old Chu's story, it seems like they were intentionally setting a trap."
"It's right for someone to replace someone else, but they still insist on blaming it on you."
“Even that Bach To To girl stood secretly laughing in the back.”
“Slave, this slave is just—”
Her voice became smaller and smaller, the last two words stuck in her throat. I stood up and patted her shoulder.
"Go to the back yard and listen. When Truong Truong reaches the climax of his song, clap your hands three times under the wall and I will immediately take action."

Xuan Vu sniffled, turned and walked out the door. I blew out the oil lamp. Moonlight shines through the window, just enough to clearly see the shape of the birdcage. The nightingale in the cage had her eyes closed, her head buried under her wings, and she was fast asleep. When swallowing luck at night, it is extremely quiet, neither screaming nor moving, just like a five-colored stone that breathes. I took out the new talisman from the cloth bag close to my body. The yellow paper glowed a pale red under the moonlight, and each cinnabar pattern could be seen clearly. In the frame "To" are the eight characters of Tham Thanh Van, each stroke is neat and clear; In the frame "Ich" are the three words To Van Ngam, the ink has dried completely. I squatted down in front of the birdcage, my fingers along the edge of the bottom board. The gap is on the right side, I slide my fingernail in, gently pry, and the bottom board immediately loosens. The nightingale stirred slightly, her wings trembled, but she still did not open her eyes. The bottom board was turned over, and underneath was indeed pressed a sheet of yellow paper. The paper at first glance looked older than the new talisman in my hand, the color had faded, but the cinnabar pattern was almost exactly the same. In the middle frame write four words and two groups of eight characters. The first group we do not recognize. The second group, we immediately recognized them with just a glance. The eight characters of the Patriarch. On the inside of the dome of the birdcage, there was indeed another small talisman, the eight characters on the talisman were also divided into two groups. One group belongs to Tham Thanh Van, the other group belongs to Tham Thua An. One absorbs, one compensates. The destiny of the To family was drawn from the Patriarch's body and then poured directly into the destiny of Tham Thanh Van and his stepson. I carefully peeled off both the old talisman and the downward guidance talisman. The paper was brittle, and as soon as it was touched, it cracked a few lines. The nightingale suddenly opened her eyes. The blue pupils glowed in the darkness, the beak suddenly opened wide. At that moment, from the back yard came the bellowing sound of Truong Dai Tru, singing the most high-pitched part, loudly and deafeningly, just like the sound of a pig being pricked. At the foot of the wall, three crisp claps rang out. I crushed the old talisman and the guiding talisman into a ball, then stuffed it straight into the wine gourd, using a lighter to light it right at the mouth of the gourd. The alcohol vapor ignited, the fire flared up, the paper in the gourd crackled loudly. The nightingale let out a shrill scream. That cry was both high-pitched and long-lasting, as if a embroidery needle was sticking straight into the eardrum. The bird flapped its wings wildly in the cage, feathers flying everywhere. Truong Dai Tru's roar just happened to last for a while, covering more than half of that harsh sound. We insert the new talisman under the bottom board, aim it right at the groove, and press it firmly.