Chapter 5 — Love the Wrong Way

"When we divorced, I gave the baby to you. I believed you were the mother and could protect her well!" His voice was as hoarse as a broken gong, and he slapped me fiercely. "Damn, you're such a bastard! Busy doing research, busy publishing your thesis, neglecting your daughter!" He raised his hand and slapped himself again. "Why did you let your daughter stay with you? Obviously I know that in your mind there is only your military merit medal! Only your military training methods!" He pointed at his mother, his fingertips trembling out of shape: "You look at me." Take her away! The doctor's words are like wind blowing in your ears! What do you think of her?" Mom sat on the ground, letting him scold her, just her eyes were blank, her mouth still mumbling as if the wind was blowing: "Forge into steel... then you won't be afraid anymore..." Dad's eyes were red: "The baby is dead, because he was forced to die by a crazy person like you!" He stared at his mother: "Ly Thuc Lan, the thing I regret most in this life is handing Minh Chau into your hands!" I floated in mid-air, looking at this broken family. Turns out, they all loved me. It's just this love, one person comes too late, one person gives it in the wrong way. Just as the police were about to go forward and handcuff her, my father suddenly raised his hand to stop him: "Wait!" "As Khuong Minh Chau's father, I am writing a letter of forgiveness on behalf of Khuong Minh Chau." My mother's pupils suddenly twitched, her voice trembling and she asked: "What?" The phone screen lit up, it was a video I secretly recorded before I died. My face was pale, but I still tried to force a smile: "Dad, I miss you very much. Are you still so busy with your work? You must take good care of yourself." I coughed twice, my breath was weak, but my eyes still stubbornly looked at the camera: "I feel like my body is getting worse and worse... Dad, if one day I die, can you write a note for me to forgive my mother?" I paused in the screen, my finger in the screen. Thuc clung to the hem of his shirt, his voice as light as a sigh: "Her mother... just hates iron but can't become steel. I know, she did it for my good." The video suddenly stopped here. Dad tightened his grip on the phone, his knuckles turned white, big drops of tears hitting the screen. Dad punched the wall with a punch, his knuckles bleeding: "Minh Chau... she already knew she couldn't stand it anymore." "Afraid of implicating you, she secretly sent the video to my email. But recently I've been busy with gossip, so I didn't watch it!" He suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself fiercely, his cheek immediately turned red and swollen: "I have no right to blame you... I'm not a good father..." Having finished speaking, he staggered and turned around, his back reflected. He bent down and hit the door, never turning back. Mom took care of my body, personally cleaned me, and changed me into the white dress I liked most when I was alive. When cremated, she stared at the oven door, not moving, until the ashes cooled, then used trembling hands to lift them into the sandalwood box. She buried me on a small mountainside overlooking the river, sitting in front of the tombstone, three days and three nights without sleep. His originally neat short hair was half white, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and he was thin and deformed. Early on the morning of Saturday, she stood up, her fingertips slid across the smiling face on my photo, her voice was hoarse but cruel and decisive: "Minh Chau, I'm waiting for you." "I'm going to avenge you." Mom contacted her friends, found the whereabouts of the Thousand Faced Fox, and chased her out of the border. From the Myanmar rain forest to the Siberian snowfields, finally reaching the humid tropics of the Amazon. This pursuit lasted for three years. The vines cut her face, the miasma rotted her lungs, she was like a mad dog losing her soul, biting tightly to take in the scent and not letting go. During the rainy season of the third year, on a muddy river branch, she finally stopped the Thousand Faced Fox from changing boats. gunfight,

Close combat, daggers stuck in shoulder blades, blood mixed with rainwater pouring into boots. The Thousand-Faced Fox hugged her bleeding ribs and leaned against the rotten wooden crate, laughing: "Ly Thuc Lan, why are you chasing after me so crazy? Don't you hate it? Criticize it for being weak, calling it useless. I just helped it escape sooner, you should have thanked me." Mother wiped the blood covering her eyes, her eyes were like tongues cutting me in ice: "Love doesn't distinguish between right and wrong, only deep and shallow. I love it, just using it the wrong way, forcing it to the end." "But this debt must be charged to you." The Thousand-Faced Fox's face changed and he whistled. Out of the forest, two men with guns appeared, bullets shot like rain. Mother did not dodge or avoid, rushing straight into the line of fire. The bullet pierced her calf and abdomen. She staggered and rolled into a hiding place. Reinforcements came running, her teammates pulled her back: "Coach Ly! Stop the bleeding! Go back to recovery!" "Can't go back!" Mom tore off the first aid bag, haphazardly wrapped gauze on her bleeding stomach. "She's injured, right in front! We have to take advantage of the victory!" She dragged her broken leg, step by step leaving bloody footprints chasing forward. Until the cliff side. The Thousand-Faced Fox turned his back to the abyss of ten thousand feet, holding the last grenade in his hand. "Ly Thuc Lan, do you really no longer need your life?" Mother did not speak, suddenly stood up, like an artillery shell rushing towards her.