Chapter 6 — Six Falls From Horses

As for him, Van Ky, he is still the handsome and handsome son of the Van family, admired by women all over the city. But now, he has become such a waste that even his subordinates dare to secretly laugh at him behind his back. He stood at the corner of the street, watching Cui Anh and Ta Lan Tu walk side by side, buying gourd candy and watching the circus. The sunset cast very long shadows of the two people, so long that Van Ky felt dazzled. He tightened his sleeves, his knuckles turned white. How could she be with another man? Obviously she should just like him. Obviously she should be that stupid girl, even if she cries, she still wants to take risks for him. How can she return to full health and live a better life than before? That night he drank a lot of wine and was so drunk that he was dizzy. I don't know when, Huyen Nuong wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her voice both soft and sweet. "Ky Lang, look at me... We're just a couple, didn't you say I was much more interesting than her?" She leaned closer, her hand sliding down the hem of his shirt. Van Ky lowered his head to look at her. His eyebrows were familiar, his lips were familiar, but his body didn't react at all. He suddenly became angry, not sure if he was angry with her, angry with himself, or angry with all of this. He grabbed the horsewhip hanging on the wall, raised his hand and whipped it down. Huyen Nuong screamed and rolled to the ground, holding her arms, looking at him with frightened eyes. Van Ky looked at that tearful face and suddenly felt a kind of joy that he hadn't seen in a long time. 15After Ta Lan Tu and I gradually became closer, I kept remembering a few things from my childhood. It turned out that the boy running behind me, crying every time he fell, was him. I just didn't expect that the crybaby back then would now grow up to look like this. One time brother A secretly asked me: "How do you feel about Lan Tu?" I understood what he meant, thought for a moment and nodded. He treated me very well, followed me out every day, never said much, and was very reasonable. But we are not sure if this good part is temporary and new, or will last a lifetime. But I thought about it again and finally told brother A the truth: "With you here, I still have a way out, right?" Brother A laughed: "Of course, the Cui family will always be my support." Not long after Ta Lan Tu and I decided to get married, I heard that Van Ky was kicked out by the Van family. The reason is that he got involved with Huyen Nuong, and the disturbance caused was not small, and it is said that it also affected the Van family's unmarried children and grandchildren. Van Ky's parents finally gave up all hope for him, gave him a sum of money, and said: "We have been completely devoted to you. Your brother is still young, we have to take care of him. From now on, you can take care of it yourself." When the elder brother told me this, his voice was a bit sad. "If he takes that money and honestly makes a living, he may not be able to start again." But he deliberately did not go down that path. After leaving the Van family, he became addicted to alcohol and gambling. After getting drunk, he beat Huyen Nuong and quickly spent all his money. When he ran out of money, he forced Huyen Nuong to go out and make money. What he said was very harsh: "Weren't you a beauty before? You used to live on this bowl of rice." One time, Ta Lan Tu and I passed by Nam Street and saw Huyen Nuong from afar. She no longer had her active appearance at the horse arena, her expression was silent, leaning on the railing, dressed obscenely, revealing more than half of her shoulders, smiling and talking to a middle-aged man. The other person's hand was almost glued to her waist, but she did not avoid it. Van Ky stood not far away, his eyes staring at them, his face expressionless. 16 Hearing the news of Van Ky's death was on the first day after the new year. The elder brother returned from outside, took off his big coat,

was silent for a moment before opening his mouth: "Van Ky is dead." I was placing a plate of jam on the fruit tray, my hand stopped, I looked up at him. There were all sorts of things outside the station, some said he offended others, some said his debt was being pursued, and some said he was crazy. After a few more days, the fragmentary words were roughly put together. After Van Ky was kicked out of the Van family, in dire straits and unable to overcome his alcohol addiction, he forced Huyen Nuong to entertain guests to make money. Huyen Nuong was scared by his beating and did not dare to listen. But in my heart I hated him to the extreme. She spent a long time in this place and got to know a few guests with special interests. Those people used to be wary of the Van family so they didn't dare to touch Van Ky. Now when they saw him being kicked out of the house, their thoughts suddenly revived. Huyen Nuong then took advantage of Van Ky's debt and forced her to receive guests as an excuse, leading them back to their place of residence. At first, Van Ky thought those people were coming to find Huyen Nuong, but he was not on guard. A few cups of wine fell into my stomach, the blood began to absorb, and my body immediately became soft. The others drank until they were so hot that they no longer had any taboos. When Van Ky woke up, the sky was already bright, on the ground lay several men sleeping soundly like the dead, with traces all over his body. He slowly sat up, walked barefoot into the kitchen, holding a knife.