Chapter 21 — Seventy-Eight Billion And The President Has No Heir

Vu's signing rights were suspended for thirty days.

Khai became acting chairman, but this time he did not have enough votes to sell the corporation. Small shareholders received convertible bonds from An Minh. They are not rich, but they know a hasty sale will cause workers to lose their jobs.

I was invited to join the interim council. The meeting room changed: there were no more people smiling socially, there were only questions about salaries, warehouses and transportation contracts.

A worker representative named Sau asked:

“If the two sides fight, will we get paid?”

I replied:

“That is the first question that needs to be put on the record.”

Khai calls me an outsider. I reminded him that outsiders had paid for the debt to keep the company from being sold off.

Meanwhile, Khang reopened the kitchen. He changed the sign to "Bep Khang — clean rice every day", adding a sign publicizing the cost of ingredients. The guests turned back because they saw he wasn't hiding.

I arrived late to a meeting, Khang gave me a bowl of hot soup.

“Are you working or war?”

"Both."

"Then eat first. Winners also need rice."

I told him the story of Vu being suspended. Khang asked:

“Does he have family?”

“Yes. But no one stands with me.”

“So I understand that feeling.”

I was silent. I used to think I was different from Vu because I had a husband by my side. But we all know the feeling of being turned into a tool by a loved one.

That night, I received the transcript from the notary office. The person who edited the will was a notary public who had retired. He claimed that Khai paid him to create a fake copy, but the original signed by Vu's father had a secret clause: if Vu was illegally stripped of his rights, the shares would be transferred to the employee fund.

That provision could save thousands of lives, but requires the original.

The original is in the only place Khai hasn't been able to control: the chest in Vu's mother's old house.

Vu is not allowed to come with me. Hoang Nam and I went there at dusk.

The door is open. There were wet shoe prints on the floor, and the chest was gone.