Chapter 2 — I Don't Need This Family Anymore

“He was never a voiceless person.” I looked at him.

“He just doesn't want to talk.”

“Because in that house, you and I are the same — both people who can be sacrificed.”

“No… it's not like that…” he hastily defended, but pitifully weak.

“You let Luu Ngoc Tran put everything on Tu Duong and Tu Khai.”

“You let them take money from me time and time again.”

“Even when it was unclear whether I lived or died, he still chose to stay silent, chose to hide.”

“Tu Ve Quoc, you are not useless.”

“You are just cowardly and selfish.”

"You came to see me today, but you're not really worried about your mother."

"You're just afraid that when she dies, Luu Ngoc Tran and Tu Duong will put all the responsibility on you, making you feel uneasy."

My words are like a scalpel, peeling away your pretense. Tu Ve Quoc stood still, looking at me like I was a stranger. His face gradually turned pale, eventually only gray remained.

“So…” he muttered, “you won't help… right?”

“Why should I help?” I asked again.

“A person, when I needed help, stood with the person who harmed me to celebrate... now turns around and asks me to save them?”

“Tu Ve Quoc, don't you find it funny?”

He was completely silent. A moment later, he pulled out a bank card from his pocket and gave it to me.

“In here… there are fifty thousand.”

“It's money my dad secretly saved for the past few years.”

"I'll take it... see if I can advance part of it..."

I looked at the card and didn't accept it.

“That's your mother, you can play it yourself.”

“Tieu Tham…”

“I said it all.”

I'm about to close.

“Wait!” he called back.

“Do you… do you really hate us that much?”

I looked at him, thinking for a moment. Then shook his head.

“No regrets.”

“I just… don't recognize you guys anymore.”

Having finished speaking, I closed the door. Through the door, I heard a long, desperate sigh. I thought Tu Wei Quoc would take that fifty thousand to the hospital. But unexpectedly, he did not do so. The next morning, I received a strange call. The opponent claimed to be a real estate broker.

“Excuse me, are you Ms. Hua Tham?”

"It's like this, your father - Mr. Tu Ve Quoc - wants to mortgage an old house in his name to borrow money for his mother's medical treatment."

I stopped. The house we lived in for nearly thirty years, the red book was in Tu Ve Quoc's name alone. That was his last support.

"But," the broker continued, "we found out that the ownership of the house is currently in dispute. Your mother, Ms. Luu Ngoc Tran, is in the process of divorcing your father, asking to divide the house."

"So the loan can't be made. Your father said you might have a way. Can you come over for a while?"

I was silent. Luu Ngoc Tran... to keep the other six million, he even used the tactic of divorce. She wanted to cut off all retreats for Tu Wei Quoc, forcing him to only turn to me.

“I know, I'll be right over.”

I asked the manager for a half day off. He didn't ask anything, just approved it. When I arrived at the brokerage company, Tu Ve Quoc was sitting huddled on the sofa, like a child who made a mistake. Seeing me, he immediately stood up.

“Tieu Tham, you're here.”

I didn't look at him, turned to ask the broker directly:

“What's the specific story?”

The broker gave me a stack of documents. A copy of the petition. Plaintiff: Luu Ngoc Tran. Defendant: Tu Ve Quoc. Requirements: divorce, and division of common property — including the old house and one half the compensation amount of six million yuan. I looked at the application and felt so funny that it made me cold. Because she did not want to spend money on medical treatment for her mother-in-law, she was ready to drag her husband to court. Selfish to the extreme.

“Your mother said,” Tu Wei Quoc spoke up in a low voice, “unless Dad signs a paper giving up his share of the six million, she will withdraw the application.”

“So have you signed yet?”

He shook his head, smiling bitterly.

“Three kilos… what will your grandmother do?”

I looked at him. For the first time, I saw in him a bit of a man's responsibility. Even though it came too late, too weak.

“So you called me here… what do you want me to do?” I asked.

"Tieu Tham..." he looked at me, his eyes filled with pleading, "can you... go and talk to your mother? She doesn't listen to dad, but maybe she will listen to you."

Tell me to advise Luu Ngoc Tran? Go beg her?

“I'm not going.” I refused straight away.

“Because I know she won't listen.” I said, "She only sees money now, no one talks about it in vain."

“So… what should we do?” Tu Ve Quoc was confused, walking back and forth.

I looked at him, without a wave in my heart. Then turn to the broker.

“Besides mortgage, is there any other way?”

The broker thought for a moment.

"There is another way... to sell the house directly. If the price is right, we have a customer who pays immediately, and we can sign the contract today. This way we can skip disputes, because your father is the sole owner."

Tu Ve Quoc was stunned. It was his only home.