Chapter 20 — Marriage Is A Trap

I looked at the sunlight outside the window.

“It's been twelve years.”

“You should also go back and see…”

“The company my father left behind.”

I hung up. Hands are still shaking. But my heart felt strangely calm. To Thi Van Hoa's office is located in an old building in the east of the city. The elevator stops on the seventh floor. At the end of the hallway is a glass door with peeling paint. On the door are pasted yellow letters:

“To Thi Cultural Media Limited.”

Among them, two words were lost. I pushed the door and walked in. The front desk is empty. The work area only has a few scattered tables with people sitting. The remaining tables were covered in dust. A young girl raised her head to look at me.

“Who are you looking for?”

“To Hoa Anh.”

“Director To is inside.”

The girl looked at me for a few more seconds.

“May I ask you…”

“I am To Niem.”

Her expression immediately changed.

“Mr. To Kien Hoa's daughter?”

The girl quickly stood up and poured me water.

“Director To once said… maybe you will come.”

“Please come this way.”

I went into the innermost office. To Hoa Anh sits behind the desk. Twelve years without seeing each other. She's aged a lot. Hair has turned white. Wrinkles on the face are deep. But his eyes were still as cold as before. I don't sit.

“I came here to talk about three things.”

“First thing.”

“To Thi Van Hoa is a company founded by my father.”

“According to the law, after my father passed away, as the first heir… I had the right to inherit his shares.”

“That year I voluntarily gave up my inheritance rights.”

“I was only eighteen at the time.”

I looked straight at her.

“She gave me a stack of papers and asked me to sign.”

“I don't understand the law.”

“There's no one to help me either.”

“But now I understand.”

“The paper renouncing the inheritance rights has never gone through a legal notarization procedure.”

“It's ineffective.”

To Hoa Anh's finger tapped lightly on the table.

“Have you investigated?”

“Investigated.”

“The lawyer also confirmed it.”

“So what do you want?”

“Reclaim shares?”

I shook my head.

“I don't want To Thi Van Hoa.”

“This company has become like this under your management.”

“If you take it back, it won't make any sense.”

“So what do you want anyway?”

“Second story.”

“Wang Zhiqiang's route.”

“The evidence of financial transactions between you and him is very clear.”

“Part of that money came out of To Thi Van Hoa's account.”

“That means…”

“To Hoa Anh.”

"To Hoa Anh used company money to do illegal things."

Her expression remained unchanged.

“Are you threatening me?”

“I don't threaten anyone.”

“I'm just telling the truth.”

“What about the third thing?”

I walked up to the desk, put my hands on the desk and looked straight at her.

“Third story…”

“What why?”

“Why do you have to deal with me?”

“Since I was eighteen years old, I left the To family and have never returned to look for you.”

“My pen name.”

“My book.”

“My career.”

“There is no direct competition with To Thi Van Hoa.”

“So why did you arrange Phuong Dao to destroy my marriage?”

"Why do I have to go through Vuong Chi Cuong to destroy my reputation?"

To Hoa Anh was silent for a long time. Then she laughed. The smile was both bitter and tired.

“Do you really think all this… is just about commercial competition?”

“Isn't that so?”

“You are so naive.”

She opened the drawer, took out a photo and placed it table. There are two people in the photo. A man. A woman. The man is my father — To Kien Hoa. That woman... Is not my mother.

“This is a picture of my father with another woman.”

“This photo was taken a year before my mother passed away.”

I looked at the smile on my father's face in the photo. That kind of smile... I've never seen it in any family album.

“My father is having an affair.”

“To Hoa Anh looked at me.”

“My mother found out about it and mentally collapsed.”

“That's why the car accident happened.”

“That accident was not accidental.”

She smiled coldly.

“Don't you want to hear it?”

“Then you should know why I hate you.”

To Hoa Anh stood up and pointed at the photo.

“Your mother is my best sister-in-law.”

“It was my brother who ruined her.”

“I inherited all of my father's talents.”

“The things you wrote about marriage.”