Chapter 8 — Lam Ha Mat

"My parents said I was used to it." "Tell me not to expose it." "I thought it wouldn't affect you much." Dad saw that I still didn't say anything, my voice softened. "It's not like Mom and Dad don't love you." "If they don't love you, will you let me manage the store's books?" "Are you sure you can give me the key?" "We just feel like you can handle it better than Thanh Thanh." I laughed. "So it's not like we don't know you're in pain." "Just feel like it's to let you know." Pain is the best way to relieve pain." Mom cried and called my name. I put the lottery tickets on the table back into the file bag. "After today, I won't manage the store." "I won't pay my sister's expenses." "You and Chu Hanh Da won't be coming back." "In the future, I will still do the supporting duties that need to be done." "Other than that, don't continue to organize your time and money." He frowned. "Do I have to be so unfaithful?" I stood up. "For ten years, have people ever given me any other path?" No Who answered? When I walked to the door, my mother chased after me. She pulled the hem of my shirt. “Ha Mat.” “I really don't intend to hurt you.” I pulled the hem of my shirt from her hand. 12 After the reconciliation, the relatives' attitudes changed a bit. Aunt called me. She said she didn't know the tickets had been booked in advance. I also didn't know that all the pieces of paper were left behind. She apologized to me. But in the end, she still advised: "Your parents are old." "It's not easy for them to admit their mistakes." "I also gave them a step to step down." "What step?" "Go back and help the store." "The transfer fee can be reduced a bit, don't not give any money." "Chu Hanh Da's side also didn't make a big mistake." The step in her words was still for me to return to my old position. A few days later, my mother came to my new place. She carried two large bags. Inside were all the souvenirs they had brought me for ten years. Fridge magnets, key chains, postcards, small stuffed animals. She placed each item on the table. "You see, every time we go out, we remember you." "I never forget to buy you a gift." I picked up a magnet shaped like a beach. Printed on the back is a date from ten years ago. That year I looked after the store until eleven o'clock at night. They video called me to see the sea. My sister called me: "Sister, look, it's really beautiful." I said next time I'll go too. Mom laughed in the video. "Of course, next time I will definitely take you." I put the magnet back in my bag. "These prove that we left." "Can't prove that you also left." Mom said: "Then we'll make it up to you." "Wherever you want to go, we pay." Dad stood outside the door, heard this sentence and also walked in. He took out an envelope. "There's thirty thousand yuan in here." "Consider it to compensate for your trip this time." "Wherever the family goes in the future, I'll let you choose first." I didn't accept. "If you win the stay card next time, will you stay?" Dad hesitated. "The store always needs someone familiar with the job." "You can hire people." "Hiring people is not reassuring." "So the so-called fairness still only exists on the condition that it doesn't affect you." Mom.” Dad didn't say more. Mom quickly said: "From now on, it will slowly change." "But recently the store is really short of people." "You came back to help a month ago, wait until you find a suitable employee, then you will quit." "Is this how you make it up to me?" "I didn't mean that." She quickly explained. “I just think that since we've explained everything clearly, we should return to normal.” “Normal in what Mom and Dad said means you continue to come back to look after the store, give money and resolve everything.” Mom raised her voice. “We've already admitted our mistakes, what do you want us to do?” “Could it be that if you make a mistake once, you can't be forgiven for the rest of your life?” I didn't argue with her whether it was once or ten years. I just pushed the two bags back. “Mom and Dad can change.” “You can also not turn

"These two things are not contradictory." Dad put the money on the table. "You take it." I didn't touch it. "I don't accept it." "Why?" "Because I don't want my parents to say later that they used thirty thousand yuan to buy it back ten years ago." When they left, my mother looked at my new house. "Aren't you afraid to be alone at night?" "No." "How to eat and drink?" "I cooked it myself." "What if I get sick?" "Go to the hospital." She stood outside the door. She didn't move for a long time. In the past, every concern from her would be followed by a request. Help her sister pay. Return to the store to make an appointment for her father. This time, she didn't say anything more. After the door was closed, I returned the thirty thousand yuan on the table. "No compensation needed." The hotel can rebook, but the photos and memories that have been missing for ten years cannot be compensated 13 The last time Chu Hanh Da came to find me, he brought a thick album. He said: "I have arranged all the photos of the past three years." "After you look, you will know that Thanh Thanh and I really have nothing." We sat on the bench under the building.