Chapter 6 — Scary Neighbors

"He also has it. Truong's relatives do not live locally, and transfer money to Tu Lan every month." “They said it was living expenses and medicine money for the old lady.” “Auntie and Uncle Trieu calculated, just from the people we know, she can receive five or six thousand yuan every month.” I looked at the transfer record, my mind moving quickly. “But her mother has never been to the hospital in recent years.” “The medicine is just a regular antihypertensive drug prescribed by a community hospital, at most it's just over a hundred yuan a month.” "The old lady can't eat much..." Aunt Vuong stopped midway through her speech. We looked at each other. “Where is the old lady's pension?” I asked. "I don't know. But it must be at least three or four thousand yuan." In one year, just the money sent by relatives plus the old lady's pension was at least one hundred thousand yuan. Five years is five hundred thousand. But her mother still lives in that old house, uses old furniture, and eats very simply. Where did the money go? Aunt Vuong looked at me, I also looked at her. “There's one more thing.” Aunt Vuong said. “What?” “The management board said that the cameras in apartment 601 over the past three months showed that I was the only one who ever entered that house.” “Your fingerprints are everywhere.” "On the medicine bottle, the tea cup and the old lady's clothes all have my fingerprints." My fingers slowly tightened. “Tieu Yeu.” Aunt Vuong held my hand. “If someone wants to blame this on you, you won't be able to escape.” I nodded. “I know.” “So what are you going to do?” "Wait." “Wait what?” "Waiting for Truong Tu Lan to reveal his own loophole." Saturday. The incident had a turning point. A person named Lao Tong posted a message in the group. "I am a plumber who used to work at apartment 601. Three months ago, Ms. Truong asked me to come fix the faucet. In the bedroom, I saw the old lady lying on the bed, her whole body was thin, just skin and bones." "I asked Ms. Truong if she needed to take her to the hospital. She said no, it's the same for the elderly." "At that time I didn't feel right so I took a photo. Then I hesitated for a long time but still didn't call the police." “Now I saw the news so I decided to post the photo.” The photo was sent to the group. A skinny old woman curled up in a blanket, her hair disheveled, her lips dry and cracked. There was nothing on the bedside table, not even a glass of water. The group exploded. “Is this normal elderly care?” “Obviously abusive!” “Truong Tu Lan, please come out and say something!” "Just half a year has turned into this? It's obvious that the old lady was intentionally tortured to death!" Emergency management retracted the message, but screenshots went viral. In the evening, lawyer Phuong called again. This time her tone completely changed. “Miss Luc, on behalf of Miss Truong Tu Lan, I offer you a plan.” “What plan?” “Miss Zhang is willing to compensate you fifty thousand yuan for invading your privacy in the past.” “At the same time, she hopes she will not continue to cooperate with the police in further investigations.” “What do you mean?” “That's…” “You don't want me to prosecute her for mistreating the elderly and slandering me?” The other end of the line was silent for a bit. “Miss Luc, there are some things that continuing to investigate would not be good for anyone.” “You just graduated, there's no need to get involved in this kind of thing.” “Receiving fifty thousand yuan and letting this matter pass is the best outcome for you.” “What if I don't agree?” Lawyer Phuong did not immediately respond. Three seconds later, she said: "Then you have to be mentally prepared to deal with this for a long time." "You're alone, and you just came to this place. Are you sure you want to continue confronting her?" I laugh. “Lawyer Phuong, I recorded what you just said.” “Your threats plus the previous fifty thousand yuan of hush money.” “Do you know what this behavior is called?” “Obstructing others from testifying.” The other end of the line was silent. Then hang up. I also saved this recording. Adding the previous calls, there were a total of five recordings. 9 Day ten

m. Several relatives of the Truong family came to the door. The leader is the other cousin, Trieu Ngoc Phan. She brought three people with her and stood in front of my house. “Are you Luc Yeu?” "It's me." “We want to talk to you.” I looked out into the hallway. Aunt Vuong's door was ajar, revealing a small crack. “Let's go inside and talk.” I invited them into the house. Trieu Ngoc Phan sat down on the sofa, the others stood behind her. “Tieu Luc, we didn't come to cause trouble for you.” “So what did everyone come here for?” “We want to know something.” She looked straight into my eyes. “You were the last person to see the old lady regularly.” “During her last period, how was her health?” "Not good." “How bad is that?” “Getting thinner and thinner, talking less and less.” “Still eating and drinking?” "It's getting less and less. Every time I go to cook porridge, she can't drink half a bowl of it anymore." Trieu Ngoc Phan's lips trembled.