Chapter 6 — Protecting Mom, Once Again

Within the family group chat, my aunt sent a voice message lasting several dozen seconds.

"Van Ninh, your aunt is only worried about your mother."

"Who would have ever imagined that Huai Khiem would do such a thing?"

I did not play it a second time. There are always many people who are not entirely incapable of understanding the truth; they are simply accustomed to believing in the tears of a man while doubting the resistance of a woman. The day my mother was discharged from the hospital, the weather was exceptionally clear. She did not return to the Lu family residence. Xu Xingang had arranged a temporary dwelling for her instead. She sat in the car, gazing out the window for a long while before suddenly speaking:

"In the past, I always believed he was merely a man of weak resolve who could not let go of his past."

"I never imagined he would use my very life as a gift for another woman."

I reached out and took her hand.

"Mother, the one who is in the wrong is him."

She nodded gently.

"I know."

"Yet I still find it all utterly revolting."

I did not urge her to let go and move on. There are certain wounds that cannot be stitched back together with a single phrase like "look toward the future." Especially since in my previous life, she had not even been granted the right to grieve. Several days later, the official handwriting analysis report was released. The signature on the organ donation consent form had not been written by my mother. My own name on the document handover records with the family members had not been penned by me, either. The forensic conclusion indicated a remarkably high degree of similarity between those signatures and old scanned contracts stored within the office files of Lu Huai Khiem. In other words, he had practiced this for a long time. It was not a momentary impulse of signing on our behalf. He had meticulously practiced the names of both my mother and myself, turning them into the key that unlocked the path leading straight to death. Upon seeing the results, my mother did not weep. She merely slipped off her wedding ring and placed it gently beside the bag of physical evidence.

"Hand this over to the lawyer as well."

She spoke quietly:

"In the divorce proceedings, I do not wish to retain a single memory of him."

Xu Xingang murmured his assent. I stared at that ring. In my past life, Lu Huai Khiem had worn it on his finger when he attended my mother’s funeral. He had rested his hand upon my shoulder and said:

"From now on, the two of us must rely on each other."

Thinking back on it now, it was profoundly chilling. He had murdered my mother, and then attempted to continue playing the role of my devoted father. That evening, I received a message from an unfamiliar number.

"You managed to save your mother, but Man Ning might die. Do you truly feel at peace with yourself?"

I replied with just two words:

"Utterly peaceful."

Afterward, I took a screenshot of the exchange and sent it straight to Han Jing.

As the case entered the stage of prosecution review, late autumn had arrived. My mother began reorganizing her design studio. Previously, when designing jewelry, she had always favored details shaped like tiny hearts. Now, she pulled out all her old design drafts, deliberated for a long time, and then discarded an entire stack of paper.

"From now on, I will no longer design hearts."

I asked her why. She merely smiled.

"I have grown weary of looking at them."

She cut her hair short, officially filed for divorce, and submitted a request for the freeze of their joint assets. Every step she took was measured and deliberate, yet profoundly resolute. The company registered under Lu Huai Khiem’s name was exposed for having numerous irregular financial transactions. Many of his business partners hastily scrambled to sever all ties with him overnight. The refined, elegant gentleman whom everyone used to praise had now become a criminal suspect flashed across the evening news. He had once tried to have a letter delivered to me through his lawyer. The pages were filled with phrases like "Father was wrong." He claimed he had been driven out of his mind by the severity of Diep Man Ning’s illness, and insisted that he truly loved my mother. He also wrote that if I agreed to sign a petition for leniency, he was willing to leave the majority of his personal assets to both me and my mother. After reading it through, I handed the letter directly to Han Jing.

"Would this action be considered indirectly attempting to influence a witness?"

Han Jing took the paper from my hands.

"We will handle it."

As I stepped out of the law enforcement bureau building, I caught sight of Diep Man Ning. She was seated inside a car, the window rolled halfway down. She was noticeably thinner than when I last saw her; her eye sockets were deeply sunken, yet her makeup remained meticulously refined. She called out to me.

"Chi Van Ninh."

I halted my steps. She stared at me, her gaze carrying a complex mixture of bitter resentment and unresigned defiance.

"Your mother is unharmed."

"Yet I may truly not have much time left to live."

I looked at her coldly.

"Then you should pray to your doctor, pray to the legal organ transplant waiting list, and pray to fate itself."

"Do not beg for mercy from someone you once plotted to destroy."

She let out a low laugh, her voice whisper-soft.

"Do you truly believe your mother is innocent?"

"She has monopolized Huai Khiem for more than twenty years."

"If not for her presence all those years ago, Huai Khiem and I would never have been separated."

Finally, I understood. She did not merely wish to survive; she wanted to completely erase my mother from Lu Huai Khiem’s life. She wanted to replace even her heart, as though by doing so, she could reclaim a love that had arrived too late. I gazed down at her.

"Diep Man Ning, the person you lost to was never my mother."

"You lost the moment you chose to treat another human being's life as collateral for your own romance."

Her complexion turned instantly ashen. I did not spare her another glance. On the day of the trial, Lu Huai Khiem was dressed in the coarse garments of a detention center. When he caught sight of my mother and me, the rims of his eyes turned red instantly. My mother did not turn her head. She simply sat quietly in the plaintiff's seat, gazing calmly toward the judge.