Chapter 19 — Shrimp Street Without Name

The first Monday of the week, when Hai Yen just entered her temporary office, the phone rang with an urgent call from the Certification Center's headquarters, not from her direct superior as usual, but from the director's office itself. The secretary's voice on the other end of the line was unusually formal.

"Miss Yen, the director invites you to come to the headquarters urgently today, there is something that needs to be discussed in person."

“Can you tell me the content in advance, so I can prepare the appropriate documents?” Hai Yen asked, trying to keep her voice calm even though an uneasy premonition had begun to rise in her heart.

"I don't know the details, I was just told to tell you to come home quickly," the secretary replied, her voice somewhat hesitant as if she was hiding something.

Hai Yen hung up the phone, her heart beating much faster than usual. During her four years of working, she had never been directly summoned by the director in such an urgent way, and her professional instincts told her that this was not related to the normal audit results.

She drove more than three hours to get back to the headquarters in the city, all the way trying to predict every possibility that could happen, from the contract with Dai Duong being signed and her being transferred to another case, to worse scenarios that she didn't want to think about.

The director's office is located on the top floor, overlooking the entire city. When Hai Yen walked in, there was not only the director, but also her immediate superior and a person in charge of human resources sitting there. The atmosphere in the room was heavy and different from any meeting she had ever attended before.

“Please sit down,” the director said, his voice stern but not harsh. "Miss Yen, I have to ask you a direct question. I hope you will answer honestly. Are you the daughter of Mr. Do Van Tien, former head of Kenh Ba cooperative, who was convicted in a case related to a batch of chemically contaminated goods ten years ago?"

The room fell into silence. Hai Yen looked around and saw shock in her immediate superior's eyes. Perhaps he had just learned this information right before she entered the room.

“Yes,” she replied, her voice calm even as her insides were churning. “I am Mr. Do Van Tien's daughter.”

“Why didn't you declare this when you took on the task of auditing Dai Duong company?” The director asked, his voice still maintaining the calmness of someone who had prepared questions in advance. “You understand that this is a serious conflict of interest that could invalidate your entire audit conclusion if discovered, right?”

“I understand that,” Hai Yen replied frankly. "But I did not proactively apply for this audit, it was assigned according to the normal rotation process. When I discovered the connection, I considered a lot, and I decided to keep quiet because I believe that I can still maintain absolute objectivity in my work, based entirely on technical evidence, not personal emotions."

“It was a wrong decision,” the director said, his tone more stern. "You should have reported it from the beginning, so we could decide to reassign or add an independent auditor to participate. Your arbitrarily keeping it a secret, even with good intentions, has put the Center's entire reputation at risk."

“I accept responsibility for not reporting early,” Hai Yen said, bowing her head to admit her mistake There was no hesitation in his voice. "But I affirm that every conclusion I have made up to this point is based on independently verifiable evidence, not distorted by personal motives. I am willing to let anyone compare all the records I have collected."

The director exchanged glances with Hai Yen's immediate superior for a moment, then sighed. “We just received an anonymous denunciation sent via email, naming your family relationship with the old case, along with the accusation that you are taking advantage of your audit position for personal revenge, deliberately distorting the results to harm Dai Duong company.”

Hai Yen clasped her hands tightly on her thighs. “Can I see the content of that application?”

The human resources manager gave her a printed copy of the accusatory email. Hai Yen skimmed through it and immediately recognized the familiar tone, careful writing style, choice of technical words mixed with cleverly placed emotional accusations - a writing style that she had seen glimpses of in the way Mr. Son once talked to her at the restaurant.

“I don't know who sent this application,” she said, although in her heart she was almost certain of its origin. "But I confirm that all accusations that I distorted the results are unfounded. Please compare my technical report directly with the raw data, no need to believe what I say."

The meeting lasted nearly an hour, with a series of detailed questions about each step she took during the audit process. Hai Yen answered each question calmly and coherently, based entirely on the documents and data she had carefully recorded over the past weeks. Gradually, the atmosphere in the room became less tense, as the director and her superiors realized the systematic and professional nature of her presentation.

Ultimately, the director makes the decision. "We will not withdraw you from the audit immediately, but will add a second independent auditor to participate, just like the proposal you sent before. All reports from now on must have the signatures of both people. Do you agree?"

“I agree,” Hai Yen replied immediately, even feeling relieved because this was a much better result than what she feared on the way here.

“One more thing,” the director added, his voice softening a bit. "I understand your situation, and I appreciate the honesty you just showed in this meeting. But I need to remind you that from now on, your every move will be scrutinized much more closely, not only from Dai Duong company, but possibly from within us. You need to prepare mentally for that."

Leaving the headquarters, Hai Yen sat in the car for a long time before starting it up. The feeling of having just gone through a small storm left her feeling deeply tired but also somewhat relieved because finally, her true identity was brought to light in a way she could somewhat control, instead of being exposed completely unexpectedly according to the intentions of the person who sent the denunciation.

She called Kien as soon as she arrived at the parking lot and recounted the entire meeting. “I am almost certain that the person who sent the complaint is Mr. Son,” she said. “The way it was written, the time it was sent right after he met me at the restaurant, it all matched.”

“If that's true, it means he didn't just recognize you through identification name on the papers, but recognized you from your face right from the first meeting,” Kien said, his voice thoughtful. “He knew who you were longer than we thought.”

“That's right,” Hai Yen replied, starting the car, preparing for the long journey back to Nam Can. “And that means, from now on, I no longer have any advantage of keeping my identity a secret. The game was completely open, for both sides.”

Two days later, the Center officially sent an independent auditor to join her, a man named Duc, in his forties, with nearly fifteen years of experience in the industry, sent from the Eastern branch to ensure he did not have any previous acquaintances with the parties involved. The first meeting between the two took place in a somewhat reserved atmosphere, when Mr. Duc could not hide the caution of a person who had just been assigned the task of supervising his own colleague.

“I have read all the documents you sent,” Mr. Duc said, his voice was straightforward but not lacking in respect. “To be honest, the way you work is very methodical, I have not found any point showing bias in the technical conclusions. But I also have to make it clear that my role is to independently check, if I see anything unusual, I will report it straight to the top, without showing any respect."

“That's exactly what I wanted,” Hai Yen replied, feeling relieved by her new colleague's professional attitude. “I don't need anyone to cover for me. I just need to make sure the truth is ultimately recognized, regardless of who comes to the conclusion.”

Mr. Duc's presence, although initially supervisory, gradually became an advantage that Hai Yen did not expect: as an auditor with absolutely no personal connection to the case, his findings and conclusions will be difficult for Dai Duong to attack as lacking objectivity, creating an additional layer of solid protection for the entire audit process.

On the way back to Nam Can after a stressful meeting at headquarters, Hai Yen stopped by her mother's house, even though it was quite late. Mrs. Sau was still awake, sitting on the front porch, waiting as if she had a premonition that her daughter would come by.

“What's wrong with you coming home so late?” she asked, her voice worried.

Hai Yen briefly recounted what had just happened at the headquarters, no longer hiding anything from her mother, seeing it as a way to partially heal the gap that had just revealed between the two a few days ago. After listening, Mrs. Sau held her daughter's hand tightly, her eyes were full of worry but also had a new steadfastness that Hai Yen had never seen before.

“I'm sorry for leaving you to face this alone,” she said. “From now on, I won't hide anything from you anymore, no matter how embarrassing it makes me. If you need to know anything, just ask, I will answer everything."

Hai Yen hugged her mother, feeling a small but meaningful change in the relationship between the two, a new bond built not from protective silence as before, but from frankly facing the darkest parts of their shared past.