Chapter 92 — Shrimp Street Without Name

During the next two weeks, Hai Yen and lawyer Hoang worked tirelessly to complete the petition to reconsider Mr. Do Van Tien's sentence. This is a process that requires absolute meticulousness, when each argument needs to be supported by specific evidence, each detail needs to be presented accurately and honestly.

“We need to present three main groups of arguments,” lawyer Hoang explained in a working session, pointing to the summary she had prepared. "First, evidence that the original test form was intentionally swapped, based on Ms. Tuyet's testimony and the recording related to Mr. Son. Second, evidence about the motive and how Nguyen Dang Hoai and Tran Quoc Vinh staged the entire incident to appropriate the cooperative's assets. And third, your own honest admission of the smaller responsibility that your father had, to ensure the objectivity and reliability of the whole thing. petition.”

Hai Yen nodded, feeling the weight of responsibility placed on her shoulders. She spent many hours rewriting and editing each paragraph in the personal statement that would be attached to the petition, trying to most honestly express the journey she had gone through, and the true meaning of seeking justice for her father.

“My father was not a perfect person,” she wrote in the statement. "Ten years ago, under heavy financial pressure to maintain the operation of the cooperative and ensure income for dozens of households depending on it, he made a wrong decision - accepting to export a small batch of goods even though he knew the quality was not completely up to standard, in the hope of being able to handle the problem before causing serious consequences. It was a real mistake, and I do not seek to deny it. But that mistake was completely different, in nature and extent, from for the crime of intentional mass poisoning for which he was convicted and has suffered severe consequences for the past ten years — a crime that, as evidence clearly demonstrated, was actually the result of a conspiracy to swap test results orchestrated by others, with the aim of appropriating assets and destroying competitors in the industry.”

When the report was completed, Hai Yen re-read it many times, each time feeling a deep emotion when looking back at the entire past journey condensed into concise but powerful words.

Along with the report, lawyer Hoang also prepared a full set of legal documents, including all the evidence presented and recognized in the previous two trials, along with expert opinions from independent legal experts, affirming that the original verdict for Mr. Tien was based on intentionally falsified evidence, eligible for review according to the law on retrial.

When everything was ready, Hai Yen and lawyer Hoang personally went to the court to file the petition, a deeply symbolic moment for her. Standing in front of the court door, where ten years ago her father was unfairly sentenced, she now stood there as the one who brought the opportunity to correct that mistake, she felt a cycle of fate closing in a meaningful way.

“I did it, dad ah,” she whispered as she walked out of the courthouse after completing the application process. “Now, we just have to wait for true justice to be fully served.”

Lawyer Hoang, walking beside her, placed his hand on her shoulder encouragingly. “The review process may take some more time,” she reminded, “but with a solid application like this, I have a lot of confidence in the final result.”

News that Hai Yen officially applied to reconsider her father's sentence quickly spread, attracting a new wave of interest from public opinion and the media. Minh Khang, who has closely followed her entire journey from the beginning, wrote a special article about the significance of this step, emphasizing the honest and balanced approach that Hai Yen chose, instead of seeking a complete whitewash and oversimplification of her father's complicated story.

“This is not the story of a perfect hero falsely accused by absolute villains,” he wrote in his article. “This is the story of the full, complex truth, and because of that honesty, it has more persuasive power than any simplified narrative could ever deliver.”

The article received widespread positive reception, further strengthening the community's belief in the legitimacy of the petition that Hai Yen had just filed, and creating additional positive public pressure, encouraging the court to consider the case as seriously and quickly as possible.

While waiting for an official response from the court, Hai Yen decided to take the time to visit the old pond area of Kenh Ba cooperative, which is now largely abandoned or converted to use after Dai Duong acquired most of the area ten years ago. She went with Kien, both of them quietly walking past degraded pond banks, overgrown with weeds in places that used to be rich shrimp ponds.

“It's hard to believe, this place was once the pride of an entire region,” Kien said, looking around at the desolate scene before him.

Hai Yen nodded, feeling a mixture of sadness and hope as she stood among the remains of her father's legacy. “I remember when I was little, my dad often took me out here early in the morning, showing me how to check water color, how to recognize healthy shrimp,” she recounted, her voice filled with nostalgia. "He always said that water is the soul of shrimp farming - clean water, healthy shrimp, and new farmers can live a long and dignified life with the profession."

She bent down, picked up a handful of soil from the pond's edge, let it flow through her fingers, feeling the familiar texture that she hadn't touched in many years since she left this land. “I want to restore this place,” she said, her eyes filled with determination. “Not to regain what was lost, but to build something new, better, worthy of what Dad dreamed of.”

Kien held her hand, his eyes full of support. “We'll find a way,” he said. "With what the authorities have just decided on restructuring and returning part of the land to old households, this may be the right time to start laying the first bricks for that plan."

On the way home, they stopped by the homes of a few former shrimp farmers who were once members of the Kenh Ba cooperative, who now, after learning about the restructuring decision and land availability, was returned, began to talk with cautious excitement about the possibility of restoring the cooperative model in a new, more transparent and fair form.

"If Ms. Yen takes the lead," one of the old households said, "we are ready to participate again. We believe in you, just like we believed in you three days ago."

Those words, simple but full of weight, made Hai Yen feel a new responsibility is gradually forming - not only the responsibility to seek justice for the past, but also the responsibility to build a better future for the entire community that has placed its trust in her.

That evening, when she returned home, she told her mother about the visit to the old pond and the conversations with the households, unable to hide the emotion in her voice. Mrs. Sau listened attentively, her eyes shining with a hope that Hai Yen had rarely seen during the past difficult years.

“I never dared to think that one day I would hear people mention Channel Three with such respect,” she said, her voice choked up. "For ten years, I only heard people mention it as a shame, a warning lesson about collapse. Now, hearing you say that, I feel like that name is being revived, taking on a new meaning."

Hai Yen hugged her mother, deeply feeling the meaning of what she was starting to build. She knows that the road ahead to turn the idea of restoring Canal Three from a dream into a reality will be long and full of challenges, but for the first time in many years, she feels a sense of hope for the future, instead of just focusing on correcting the mistakes of the past.