Chapter 14 — Never Blame a Janitor

Tang Bach Nguyen's office is located on the fiftieth floor of Tang Phat tower, with a panoramic view of the entire center of Saigon sparkling with lights at night. At the age of fifty-five, he still maintains the neat, noble demeanor of a successful businessman, his salt-and-pepper hair is neatly combed, and his perfectly tailored suit hugs his figure, which is still quite proportional for his age. But behind that calm appearance is a cold, suspicious person to the point of illness, always feeling insecure even though he has achieved power and wealth far beyond what he ever dreamed of eight years ago.

This morning, when receiving the official notice from the lawyer's office of the Board of Directors of Hac Thinh about the request for an independent audit of the share transfer process eight years ago, Tang Bach Nguyen broke the crystal glass he was holding in his hand. The fragment penetrated deeply into the palm of his hand, causing blood to flow out, but he did not seem to feel that physical pain, his entire mind was occupied by extreme anger and panic.

"Who sent this application?" he roared, throwing the file down on the table in front of his trembling personal assistant.

"Yes, the application was sent by Lawyer Lam Gia Bach's office, Mr. Chairman," the assistant replied, his voice stuttering. "He represents a group of minority shareholders asking to clarify the legality of the old resolution."

The name Lam Gia Bach made Tang Bach Nguyen pause. He clearly remembered that it was Chiem Dac Long's close university classmate, whose influence he had tried to remove from Hac Thinh from the very beginning of the usurpation plot eight years ago, but failed because Lam Gia Bach then skillfully withdrew from all related positions before he could take action. The reappearance of this name, right at a sensitive time when he just sent a survey message to "Tran Van Phuc", cannot be a coincidence.

"He's still alive," Tang Bach Nguyen muttered, his eyes turning dark. "Zham Dac Long is actually still alive, and he is preparing to counterattack."

He sat down on the chair, temporarily bandaging the wound on his hand with a silk handkerchief, his mind racing to recalculate the entire situation. Over the past eight years, although he has always maintained a small team to quietly follow every trace that could be related to the Chiem family, he has never found any definitive evidence that Dac Long is still alive, until recently, when suspicions about the guard named Tran Van Phuc at Sunrise Saigon School began to accumulate enough that he could no longer ignore it.

He immediately called his personal security chief, a retired former intelligence officer named Mai Dinh Hung, currently in charge of the entire Tang Phat Group's internal security and intelligence system - the only person other than Tang Bach Nguyen himself who was fully aware of the plot eight years ago, and also the person he trusted with matters that could not be leaked beyond official documents.

"I need to know exactly, one hundred percent, the true identity of the guard named Tran Van Phuc at Sunrise Saigon School," he ordered, his voice cold and decisive. "I don't need any more doubt. I need concrete evidence, and I need it within the next forty-eight hours."

"Yes, Mr. President," the man replied over the phone. "We have a fingerprint sample from a coffee cup he used at a school event two weeks ago. We are checking it through some unofficial channels in the old database."

"Speed up the progress," Tang Bach Nguyen said. "And prepare a backup plan. If it's him, I need to know immediately, we have to act before he can make everything public."

After the call, Tang Bach Nguyen stood up, walked to the window, looking down at the city below with eyes full of cold calculation. In his mind, memories of the night of the coup eight years ago flashed clearly — not with regret, but with a cold confidence that he had done what was necessary to get where he was. He never considered Dinh Thao Ngan's death to be an unforgivable crime, simply an "unintended incident" during the implementation of his plan - a chillingly cold view that accurately reflects the true nature behind the noble, dignified appearance that he has shown to the public for many years.

That afternoon, Tang Bach Nguyen convened an emergency meeting with trusted shareholders who had colluded with him in the old conspiracy, announcing the risk that Dac Long might have returned and was preparing to take legal action against them. The meeting took place in a tense atmosphere, some shareholders expressed panic, fearing that secrets buried for eight years would be exposed, leading to serious legal consequences for all involved.

“We need to act now,” an older shareholder spoke up, his voice shaking. "If Dac Long really has gathered enough evidence, we will not only lose property, but also face imprisonment."

"You don't need to worry," Tang Bach Nguyen reassured, his voice filled with cold confidence. "I have controlled the situation for the past eight years, I will continue to control it. Champa is just a single man, no more power, no more assets, no longer anyone on his side other than a few blindly loyal old friends. We have money, we have connections, we have a strong legal and security team. He has no chance against us."

But behind that confident reassurance, in his heart, Tang Bach Nguyen understood better than anyone the true level of danger that Dac Long could bring. He had witnessed firsthand this old friend's ability to turn the situation around from seemingly the most unfavorable situations — that ability was the reason he had to painstakingly plan for takeover for many years, instead of confronting him directly and squarely.

That same evening, he ordered the security force to double to monitor the Sunrise Saigon School area and the apartment where Dac Long and his daughter were living, and directed the legal department to prepare plans to deal with the audit request, finding ways to delay, cause difficulties, and even consider the possibility of using relationships with some officials to intervene in the investigation process if necessary.

At the same time, he also called Tang Khai Phong home early, sat down and talked privately with his son in the office, for the first time in many years showing a serious interest in what was going on at his school.

He kept his voice natural as if he were chatting, but his eyes hid a sharp scrutiny that could not be hidden. "The little girl named Anh Thu that you often talk about, have you noticed anything unusual about her father lately? That guardian named Tran Van Phuc?"

Khai Phong, although he did not clearly understand the reason his father asked such strange questions, still honestly recounted a few small details he had observed, but did not expect that these seemingly harmless information would become the final pieces of the puzzle to help his father more firmly confirm the true identity of his old enemy. The conversation ended, Tang Bach Nguyen patted his son's shoulder, a rare gesture of intimacy, but in his eyes, there was no hesitation at all about how far he would push his son in the dangerous chess game that he himself was controlling from the shadows.

Late that night, after Khai Phong had returned to his room, Tang Bach Nguyen still sat quietly in the office, opened a secret drawer at the bottom of the desk, and took out a small old wooden box that he had kept for the past eight years. Inside are a few old photos taken with Dac Long when he was a university student, photos recording the friendship that was once considered the closest in both of their lives. He looked at those photos for a long time, a complicated look crossed his face, not necessarily regretful, but not completely indifferent either.

"Mr. Long," he muttered to himself in the dark, his voice mixed with contempt and a bitterness that was hard to name, "why do you insist on not disappearing forever like it should? I gave you and your daughter a way to live, you should be grateful for that, instead of trying to come back and stir things up."

He put the box back in the drawer and slammed it shut, as if trying to bury those troubling memories once again. But in his heart, he knew clearly that from this night onwards, he would not have a moment of peace until he knew for sure how the final fate of this old friend and new enemy would end - and he silently decided that, this time, he would not leave any loopholes for a repeat of what happened eight years ago.