Chapter 3 — My Driver is No. 1 Young Master in the Capital

That night, after leaving Bach Duong's apartment to "go home to get his things" — a necessary lie — Cung Bach Tan drove to an underground parking lot under the central building of Viet Cuong Group, where Dang Huu Khiem was waiting in another car, dark glasses covering his face even though it was night.

"Young master." Dang Huu Khiem lowered the car window when he saw Bach Tan coming, his voice full of worry and surprise. "I just received news of your marriage registration this morning. What happened?"

"A good opportunity fell into my hands, I had no reason to refuse." Bach Tan sat in the passenger seat, his voice still remaining calm even though the content of the story he was about to tell was quite unbelievable. He recounts the entire incident — the unexpected meeting, the angry proposal from a strange woman, and his own decision to say yes.

After listening, Dang Huu Khiem was silent for a long time, rubbing his forehead in thought. "Are you sure this is the right decision? We haven't yet clearly determined who is leaking the information out. If Vice President Luong or anyone in the board of directors discovers that you suddenly married a stranger while disguised as a driver, they may suspect something unusual."

"That's why it's a perfect cover." Bach Tan replied, his eyes looking out the car window, where the sparkling city lights reflected on the water surface after the afternoon rain. "No one thought that a person who was secretly investigating an inside job would get married in the middle of the most stressful time at work. A sudden, unreasonable, unplanned marriage — that's exactly what makes people believe that I'm just an ordinary driver living my ordinary life, with nothing worth investigating further."

Dang Huu Khiem nodded, gradually understanding the logic behind his master's seemingly impulsive decision. "So what about that woman? Does she know your true identity?"

"Not yet. And I need her not to know, at least for the time being." Bach Tan replied. "She also has her own secrets that she doesn't want to tell. We agreed not to pry about each other. That's the best conditions for both of us."

"Do you believe her?" Dang Huu Khiem asked directly, his eyes searching.

Bach Tan was silent for a moment, remembering Tham Bach Duong's steady eyes when she spoke to her mother on the phone, not afraid at all under the pressure of the whole family. "I don't know yet whether I trust her or not. But I trust my instincts — that woman is not the type to be bribed or taken advantage of. She's strong enough to stand on her own, and that's enough to give me some peace of mind right now."

That answer seemed to satisfy Dang Huu Khiem's worries, but he still did not forget to remind. "Then you need to be more careful than ever. Last week, I discovered an unusual transfer of money from Vice President Luong's sub-account to a shell company overseas. I haven't been able to track down the final recipient, but that amount of money coincided with the time we lost a large contract to Han Chi Kien's Dai Phong Group."

Bach Tan clenched his hands, his eyes colder a bit. Luong Ba Tuong — his father's right-hand man for more than twenty years, the man who taught him his first lessons in corporate management when he was a teenager just entering the family company — if he was indeed the traitor, then this would be a wound deeper than any financial loss.

"Keep watching that money." He ordered, his voice becoming stern. "But don't let anyone find out we're investigating. If it's true that it's Vice President Luong, he certainly has enough connections and resources to hide his tracks, and is also dangerous enough to act if he feels threatened."

"I get it." Dang Huu Khiem nodded. "As for this marriage, I will help you keep the information confidential in the company system. But you should also be mentally prepared — sooner or later your father will know about it."

As expected, the next morning, when Bach Tan just entered an empty cafe according to a regular secret appointment, Cung Vinh Thanh was already sitting in the innermost corner, a cup of steaming hot tea in front of him, his stern eyes looking at his son entering.

"You got married and didn't say a word to your father?" Cung Vinh Thanh asked, his voice unable to hide both surprise and disappointment.

"I'm sorry for not telling you in advance." Bach Tan sat down opposite his father, his voice calm but sincere. "But this is such an unexpected opportunity that I didn't have time to think carefully before deciding. I believe this will be a good cover for my current investigation work."

Cung Vinh Thanh looked at his son for a long time, his eyes gradually softened. He is the only person in the Cung family who clearly knows his son's entire disguised investigation plan, and is also the one who silently supported that decision from the beginning, because he clearly understood the severity of the abnormalities taking place within the corporation.

"I don't object to you using marriage as a cover." He said, his voice low. "But I'm worried you'll hurt an innocent woman in the process. Marriage, even if fake, is an important matter, Bach Tan. Have you thought about that?"

His father's question made Bach Tan pause. He thought of Tham Bach Duong - the woman who dared to confront her entire family just to prove something to herself, who agreed to enter into a marriage with a stranger just because her pride was hurt. He wasn't sure if he was taking unfair advantage of her, but he also knew that she was taking advantage of him in her own way — it was a fair exchange, at least in name.

"She also needs a cover, just like you." Bach Tan replied. "This is a mutually beneficial agreement, no one is cheating on anyone. I will try not to let her get hurt further in the process."

Cung Vinh Thanh nodded. Although he was still a little worried, he didn't say anything more. He knew his son's personality — once he had decided on something, Bach Tan rarely changed, and further arguing was useless.

"There's something I want to remind you of." Cung Vinh Thanh added, his voice low as if he was considering each word. "Luong Bo Tuong is not an ordinary person. His twenty years in the position of vice president are enough to know every corner of the corporation's security system, enough to recognize any unusual signs if you are negligent. If he is really the one behind it, you are not only dealing with a traitor, but someone who has been trained to protect the very secrets that you are now trying to expose."

"I know." Bach Tan replied, his eyes became quieter. "That's why I need an absolute cover, not revealing any loopholes that could make him think of me. This marriage helps me have a completely new identity, a daily life that has nothing to do with Viet Cuong Group, so I can access sources of information that I could never reach before."

"So how long are you going to hide your identity?" he asked.

"Until you find the real traitor in the corporation." Bach Tan replied, his eyes became a little colder when thinking of Luong Ba Tuong. "I suspect that someone in the senior management is colluding with Dai Phong Group. I need time and a strong enough disguise to find evidence, before they realize I'm following them."

Father and son chatted for a while more about the details that needed to be careful, then Bach Tan left the cafe to return to his "driver" job - a job that now, in addition to the purpose of investigation, also brought a new task: playing the role of a good husband in the eyes of his wife's family, in a marriage that both partners knew was fake, but no one was sure it would remain fake to the end.

Leaving the coffee shop, Bach Tan stopped by the underground parking lot again to meet Dang Huu Khiem, telling him a few more things to prepare — an unregistered secondary phone for private communication, an anonymous bank account to receive financial reports without leaving a trace, and a fake "driver" schedule cleverly arranged so that no one in the company would detect the times he was actually absent from his role. Everything must be meticulously calculated down to the smallest detail, because with just one mistake, all the efforts of the past six months could go down the drain, and his own life as well as those close to him could be in danger.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Dang Huu Khiem said before Bach Tan left. "But remember, don't let yourself get too caught up in your role. There are boundaries that should not be blurred, even if it is for good purposes."

That advice made Bach Tan thoughtful all the way back to the apartment. He wasn't sure if the boundaries that Dang Huu Khiem mentioned had begun to blur in his heart, but the feeling of wanting to quickly return home, wanting to see Bach Duong after a long and stressful day, was an extremely strange feeling that he had never experienced with anyone else during his six lonely months of disguise.

That afternoon, when he returned to the new apartment, Bach Duong was rearranging a few items in the living room. The afternoon sunlight through the window shone on her face with a gentle light that was completely different from the cold look she showed in front of her family. Looking at that scene, Bach Tan suddenly realized that perhaps the chess game he was playing would be much more complicated than he initially calculated.