Chapter 7 — Shrimp Street Without Name

In accordance with the audit process, Hai Yen must submit a preliminary report on independent testing results within twenty-four hours of receipt, regardless of whether the results are favorable or unfavorable to the party being inspected. She sat in front of her laptop in her motel room all morning, drafting and re-drafting each sentence, clearly aware that this was the first document that could bring the entire incident officially into the attention of the authorities, instead of just staying in her private notes.

She presented the truth as objectively as possible: three independent samples showed chloramphenicol results exceeding the threshold, significantly different from the official results sheet the company had submitted, suggesting that testing be expanded to other shipments of the same origin in the farming area. She did not mention the code KB-07, did not mention the brown leather notebook, did not mention anything related to her personal past. That is the boundary she set for herself: what belongs to work will go through official channels, what belongs to family will be researched and clearly separated by herself so that no one can accuse her of lacking objectivity.

The report was sent at ten o'clock in the morning. Less than three hours later, her phone received a call from Ms. Hong, head of the Dai Duong quality department, her voice was much more urgent than the last time we met.

"Miss Yen, we have just received notice of your audit results. Mr. Bao wants to invite you to dinner tonight to discuss directly, avoiding unnecessary misunderstandings before things go further."

“I'm afraid it's not appropriate,” Hai Yen replied, keeping her voice professional. “The audit process does not allow private meetings with representatives of the business being inspected outside of official working sessions.”

"This is not a private meeting to negotiate anything," Ms. Hong quickly explained. "Mr. Bao just wants to clearly understand the technical basis of the results you gave, so that the company can have a suitable treatment plan, avoiding affecting hundreds of farming households that are dependent on these export orders. There will be a legal representative of the company attending, completely open and transparent."

Hai Yen considered for a few seconds. In principle, she could flatly refuse, and perhaps that is the safest option for the objectivity of the report. But she also understood that, once she refused all contact, she would lose the opportunity to directly observe Mr. Bao's reaction to the first pressure, and who knows, the opportunity to get closer to the brown leather-covered notebook that was always with him.

“I will attend, but I need a written confirmation that this meeting is within the scope of official work, not a private meeting,” she said. “And I will report the content of the meeting to my superiors immediately afterwards.”

“Okay, we will send an official invitation via email,” Ms. Hong replied, her voice filled with relief.

That afternoon, before going to the restaurant where the meeting took place, Hai Yen took the opportunity to stop by Kien's temporary office at the port, bringing along pages taken from her father's notebook to ask him to look through, hoping that his many years of experience working with goods documents could help her decode some of the mysterious symbols.

Kien looked through each photo, stopping for a long time at the page with the strange numbers. “These series of numbers are similar to internal batch codes. Every company has its own code system to track goods through each stage, from the farming area to the factory. to the port. But this code does not follow the general industry standard, it is probably the separate code of Kenh Ba cooperative at that time."

“Is there any way to compare?”

“If the company kept the old bookkeeping system when it took over, there may still be traces in their internal archives. But that's difficult, because no one other than company employees can access that warehouse." Kien returned the stack of photos to her, his eyes a bit worried. “Are you really going to have dinner with Mr. Bao?”

"YES. I think this is an opportunity to observe how he reacts under pressure.”

“Be careful,” Kien said, his voice serious. “People like Mr. Bao don't invite anyone to dinner just to explain technical data.”

The restaurant where the meeting took place was located on the rooftop of a small hotel in town, with a view of the river mouth. When Hai Yen arrived, Mr. Bao was already sitting at the table, with only a young lawyer from the company sitting next to him, without Ms. Hong as she expected.

“Thank you for accepting,” Mr. Bao said, motioning for her to sit down. “I know you value principles, so I respect them and don't force you anything. I just want to understand where and when your test results are based on, so that we can have a basis for comparison."

Hai Yen presented the sampling process accurately, without adding or subtracting, exactly as recorded in the official report. Mr. Bao listened attentively, occasionally nodding, sometimes conversing briefly with the lawyer next to him in sentences that had no beginning or end that Hai Yen could not hear clearly.

“I trust you followed the correct procedure,” he finally said, his voice slow. “The problem is, if this result is officially announced, not only my company will suffer. Six hundred farming households affiliated with us will lose their output, many families will fall into the same situation as what happened ten years ago, when a series of small cooperatives collapsed because of a few problematic shipments."

That sentence, mentioned exactly ten years ago, made Hai Yen gently clench her hands under the table, but her face did not change. “I understand your concern. But my job is to report the facts, not to weigh the economic consequences.”

"I'm not asking you to distort the truth," Mr. Bao said, his eyes looking straight at her, no longer as welcoming as before. “I just want you to understand, sometimes the truth has many layers, and a good auditor not only looks at the number, but also understands the context behind that number.”

“I'm trying to understand the context, Mr. Bao,” Hai Yen replied, deliberately emphasizing each word. “More and more I see that this context is more complicated than I initially thought.”

There was a very short moment, almost impossible to notice without paying close attention, when Mr. Bao's eyes briefly froze before that answer. He took a sip of wine, placed the glass on the table more carefully than necessary, then changed the topic to more general things: the shrimp export situation of the whole region, the difficulties the seafood industry is facing in the face of increasingly strict technical barriers from the international market.

The young lawyer sitting next to Mr. Bao hardly said anything throughout the meal, only occasionally taking notes in a small notebook, his eyes observing both interlocutors as if weighing each word that could become a legal issue later. Once, when Mr. Bao mentioned that "six hundred farming households will suffer losses", people The lawyer gently cleared his throat, as a silent signal to the chairman not to talk too much. Mr. Bao stopped for just one beat, then changed his tone to a softer tone, skillfully steering the conversation in another direction. Hai Yen recorded that detail in his memory: Mr. Bao, despite his power, still had to be careful with his words in front of the person in charge of legal risks for the company - meaning somewhere, he was also afraid of revealing something if he said too much.

Throughout the rest of dinner, Hai Yen maintained a proper attitude but did not relax her guard. She realized that Mr. Bao, despite trying to maintain a calm demeanor, had asked her at least three times about how long she had been doing this job, what companies she had worked for before, and where she was from - questions that seemed to be social but were actually trying to probe something about her true identity.

She answered with information she had prepared in advance, a truthful professional resume but omitted all details that could lead to Channel Ba. At the end of the meal, when she stood up to say goodbye, Mr. Bao walked her to the elevator door, repeating almost verbatim the sentence he said at the company headquarters two days ago.

"Miss Yen, I hope we can find common ground. This land has gone through enough loss, there is no need for another disturbance."

On the way back to the motel, Hai Yen drove slower than usual, her mind reeling from what she had just heard. Mr. Bao's words may just be sincere advice from someone who has witnessed breakdowns in the past, or it may also be a cleverly packaged warning. But what bothered her the most wasn't that sentence, but the stunned look in his eyes when she said the words "this context is more complicated than I thought" — a reaction too small to be evidence, but big enough for her to believe she was on the right track.