Chapter 10 — Staying at Thanh Ba Host

“Have you ever entered my cousin's room?” Tieu Man sobbed. “No.” “Mom told me, you can't go into the guest room.” “I just went to the bathroom to wash my hands.” My heart ached. Phuong Dung still wants to speak up. Lam Tranh raised his head to interrupt her. "In front of the bathroom door, there is a hallway camera." "Installed to watch Tieu Man wake up at night to go to the bathroom." "Even though you can't record inside the room, you can record who goes in and out of the guest room and bathroom." Phuong Dung's face changed immediately. My uncle was also stunned. "Do you still have this installed in your house?" Lam Tranh looked at him. "Just filming the common hallway." "The house has small children, very normal." Only then did I remember. When he was young, Tieu Man often asked for water at night while sleeping, and once almost fell down. Lam Tranh immediately installed a small camera in the corner of the hallway ceiling, only filming the section from the living room to the bathroom. The guest room door also falls into the edge of the frame. Normally we almost never watch it again. Phuong Dung's lips tightened. "So what?" "Maybe he sneaked in when no one was there." Lam Tranh did not argue. He took out his iPad and opened the video recordings of the past few days. "Start watching before you said you lost your hand." "If Tieu Man ever came into your room, I apologize." "If not, you have to apologize to Tieu Man." Phuong Dung fell silent. My aunt said softly. "Dung Dung, should you look carefully again?" Phuong Dung angrily pushed her hand away. "Mom, even you don't believe me?" The video was quickly opened. On the screen, every day Tieu Man comes out of the children's room, goes to the living room, bathroom, and dining table. Every time she passed by the guest room door, she rarely even looked back. On the contrary, it was Phuong Dung who held her makeup bag in and out several times. At four twenty this afternoon, she came out of the guest room, holding a small silver box in her hand. She listened to a phone call in the living room and conveniently stuffed the box into the side compartment of her large handbag. The video ends, everyone is silent. Phuong Dung's face turned pale. "This still doesn't prove that what's inside is a bracelet." I looked at her. "Then open the bag." She immediately hid the bag behind her back. "No." "This is my privacy." Lam Tranh said: "It's okay not to open it." "Wait for the police to come." Phuong Dung's breathing became chaotic. My uncle finally realized something was wrong, turned his head and glared at her. "Dung Dung, is there really anything in the bag?" Phuong Dung bit her lip, tears began to fall again. "I forgot." "Maybe I accidentally put it there." Co Tue Cam sneered. "Forgot?" "You forgot where the things were, but you clearly remember throwing dirty water on the head of a six-year-old child." My aunt's face was also white. "Dung Dung, how could you do that?" Being stared at by everyone, Phuong Dung finally pulled out the silver box from her waist compartment. She opened the box. Inside was a slender platinum bracelet. The moment she saw the bracelet, Tieu Man cried even harder. "I really didn't take it." I walked over and took her from Lam Tranh's hands. "Mom knows." "Everyone knows." Phuong Dung lowered her head, her voice mumbling. "I didn't mean it." Co Tue Cam said: "Apologize to Tieu Man." Phuong Dung did not move. My uncle also felt embarrassed. "Dung Dung, apologize." Phuong Dung gritted her teeth. "Sorry." Co Tue Cam looked at her coldly. "Look at the child and say that." Phuong Dung raised her head, her eyes full of unwillingness. "Tieu Man, I'm sorry." Tieu Man hid in my arms, refusing to look at her. This apology is so superficial. So superficial that it wasn't enough to hide the dirty accusation just now. I was just about to tell her to continue cleaning and then leave, when Lam Tranh suddenly stared at the box

silver. His eyebrows furrowed slightly. "In this box, there are other items." Phuong Dung immediately closed the lid of the box. Unusually fast movements. Lam Tranh's voice became even colder. "Open." Phuong Dung took a step back. "What right do you have?" I stared at her hand. Between her fingers a piece of red string appeared. That red string looks very familiar. My heart skipped a beat. That was the peace knot that was originally attached to the gold bracelet I lent her when we got married. 10Phuong Dung's fingers suddenly tightened. The red string was held tightly in her palm, as if afraid of being looked at by others. But I saw clearly. At the end of the red string was an old peace knot. There is also a very small gold bead attached to the knot. On that gold bead, a word was engraved so thin that it was almost impossible to see. "Human". That was the string tied on the gold bracelet that my mother-in-law gave me when I got married. That year, she said, gold and silver are things outside the body, peace is in the heart. Then Phuong Dung borrowed the bracelet, saying she was going to a classmate's wedding to save face. When I returned it, the peace knot was gone. She said she accidentally lost it and would give me a new one someday. My mother advised me not to calculate.