Chapter 3 — Ignore the Ungrateful

However, just because of a phone call from my sister-in-law - telling me that my parents were very sick - I was relieved to return. The house was silent, the atmosphere was strange. In front of me, only Trieu Thien Long was glaring at me, aggressively questioning:

“Auntie, my mother said that after she left, she wouldn't give me any more money, is that true?”

I found this very funny, and at the same time, I also had a bad premonition in my heart, so I turned around to run away - but the door was locked from the outside.

"Auntie, you hurt me because my friends bullied me because of my appearance. You clearly owe me money! Now you won't even give me money to make up for it? Go and die!"

When I finished speaking, I suddenly felt like my whole back was being burned by fire, and the pain was so painful that I collapsed to the ground. Before he could react, a second pot of oil was poured straight down from the head. My screams in despair caused the neighbors to hear and rush over. My sister-in-law pretended not to know, immediately cried and took me to the hospital, complaining as she went that she didn't take good care of her child. When my parents arrived at the hospital, I was almost unconscious, barely alive, my hands were twitching non-stop, trying to point towards Trieu Thien Long next to me as if to denounce. But my mother tilted her head to one side, not bothering to look, then resolutely signed the form refusing treatment. Because Trieu Thien Long was not yet fourteen years old, he was not ultimately held to any criminal responsibility. Thinking of this, I secretly looked at him as he was stuffing firecrackers into the manhole cover, and quickly dodged behind the wall.

“Whoa—!” An earth-shattering explosion rang out. In the northern winter, the pressure in the underground heating pipe was extremely great. The explosion caused the ground to crack, a large hole was blown up, hot water billowed like an erupting spring, immediately filling the hole, forming a huge puddle of boiling water.

When exposed to negative temperatures, steam immediately rises up, blinding everywhere. Everyone in the area panicked and rushed out to see what happened, but no one paid attention - at the same time the explosion rang out, a chubby body was thrown into the sky by the explosion, then fell straight into a puddle of boiling water with a "thump".

"What's going on? Is the ground sinking?"

“Oh my god, the hot water pipe exploded, damn, my windows were also shattered!”

"Hurry up and get it fixed! If it's winter like this, if you don't have heat, you'll freeze to death! Don't come too close, everyone, the water is very hot, you'll die if you fall in! Oh... is that a child?"

At that time, Mr. Truong stood nearby holding a bamboo stick and rushed out, trying to trace the steam to see more clearly. A fat body in a heavy water-soaked life jacket was gradually pulled out of the fog. The boy was lying face down in the water, his life or death was unknown. Mr. Truong panicked, slapped his thigh and shouted loudly: "Oh my god! A child has fallen inside!"

"Oh my god, what a terrible thing! I wonder whose house let me fall into that fire and die like this!"

03

Mr. Truong's voice was loud and resonant, combined with the shocking explosion just now, soon attracting a whole group of people in the area to come out to hear what happened. My parents - two "professional drama watchers" - also quickly followed in the footsteps of the grandparents and gathered around. But because the steam was so thick, no one could see clearly what was going on in the hole.

“Is it true that a child fell in there?” – my mother asked curiously.

She is famous for her love of gossiping, especially shocking stories so she can show them off to friends and relatives later. So as soon as I arrived, I immediately grabbed a neighbor and asked him, his face was cheerful as if he was about to hear big news. I stood behind the cafe, in the backyard, seeing my mother enthusiastically asking questions but could only slightly shake my head - just ask, ask until you get in, later when you know who the person in the hole is, will you still be able to laugh? All around, the neighbors were talking loudly:

"I don't know, I heard from Mr. Truong that a child actually fell in, but it's not clear whose child it was. Oh my god, if something like this happened in the middle of Tet, his parents would probably cry to death."

My mother chewed melon seeds and pouted, spitting out:

"Huh, it's really worth it. No wonder, young people these days are careless with their children and are always on their phones. Only when something happens do they know they won't be able to repent!"

Aunt Luu also picked up a handful of melon seeds, chewed them and added:

"That's right! A few days ago, there was a case of a child being swept away by waves at sea, also because the parents were not careful. I tell the truth, children today are not as careful as we were in the past. Back then, when I was looking after the child, I had to tie it to my belt, not daring to leave my eyes for a second!"

My father also jostled closer to the two women, clicking his tongue and exclaiming: "This is so heartbreaking... A child of about the same age as to be able to understand, but to be boiled alive like this, this Tet is already over. And it's his son that's in pain, I don't know if he's still the one who's been waiting for so long to have it. The whole family doesn't know where they are, looking after a child but it's not enough. But, in the end, this boy is also unlucky, his fate is miserable, it's his destiny to be born. It's very rare to die like this... Hey, grandma, where's my grandchild?"