Chapter 4 — Summer On The Terrace

Ms. Huong did not respond to Vy's email during the day. At the end of the hour, she sent a message to the group to go to the office, bringing with them the drawing of area C. The room smelled of old paper and felt-tip pens, and the walls were hung with plans from twenty years ago.

“The children want to keep the garden,” she said. "But you are protecting it with photos of trees and stories about the kitchen. To convince the council, you must know why this roof can withstand a portion of land in the first place."

She opened a tube of drawings. The old design shows that area C was once planned to have an experimental green roof, but the project was stopped due to lack of funding. Waterproofing and drainage lines are calculated for light distributed loads, not thick earthen basins.

Quan bowed closely to the drawing. “Are these pipes still there?”

"Partly. Uncle Sau knows."

Vy asked: "Why didn't the school say anything?"

“The records are in the warehouse, no one asked.”

“If the company installs an advertising frame, do they know this copy?”

Miss Huong looked at her. "Maybe they only know the area. Maybe they saw another version."

Long asked: "Do you allow us to use the drawings in the file?"

"I allow technical information to be extracted with the condition that the source is credited and the original is not published. You are not allowed to arbitrarily edit the symbols and call it the school's design."

Vy nodded and wrote down the conditions. She realized that she used to think of drawings as something that could be dragged into software and freely beautified. Ms. Huong reminded that each line has someone responsible.

Quan asked about the water tank. Ms. Huong pointed to the corner of the drawing: "This area used to have a water catchment tank, but it was filled up after it once seeped into the engine room. If you use it again, there must be a waterproofing check."

Vy asked: "Is there a report?"

"In the maintenance warehouse. Ask Uncle Sau."

Ms. Huong gave the group an excerpt, then said: "Don't turn the terrace into a symbol. It's a system. If you can keep it, you have to keep the inconvenient parts too."

On the way down, Vy asked Quan if he found Ms. Huong difficult.

“She's right.”

“Don't you have any other questions?”

“Yes. Old drawings help demonstrate distributed loads, but are not enough to approve the new frame.”

Vy laughed. “You really are someone who knows how to romance with technical notes.”

The army stopped at the stairs. “I'm not trying to be romantic.”

“I know.”

At the maintenance warehouse, Uncle Sau found a waterproof notebook. The old report page states that the water catchment tank was abandoned because of a small crack near the engine room. Uncle Sau has repaired it twice, but does not have the budget to replace the entire waterproofing layer.

“If the soil gets too wet, the cracks widen,” he said. "If you want to keep the garden, you must accept reducing the soil tank, placing a light tray and checking after every rain."

Ha asked: "Can you keep enough vegetables for the kitchen?"

"Not enough as it is now. But enough if grown lightly and harvested in batches."

Vy wrote. Part of the garden had to be abandoned to keep the rest. She didn't like that conclusion, but she couldn't draw more area than she wanted.

Long received the call and went out. My looked after. “He's hiding something.”

Quan said: "Don't draw conclusions without asking."

“You always said you wouldn't guess, but you saw it.”

“I look at the behavior, not the motive.”

Vy suddenly found that sentence could apply to herself. She called Quan an idea destroyer, while he was just testing the load.

The group meets again to decide on the contest. My recommends submitting a limited set of documents, showing only the results and process, not all raw data. Long said the rules require full payment.

“So, please change the terms and conditions of the organizers,” Vy said.

“You think they would listen to a group of students?” Long asked.

“If we don't ask, we lose before we submit.”

Quan added: "You can send the research with code, keep the original data at school."

Long sat down and looked at the sponsorship contract. “I'm not sure the student union allows it.”

“You are in charge of sponsorship,” My said. “You can ask.”

Long nodded but still did not open his mouth. A new notification appeared on the phone, the sender's name was Ms. Nhan. Long turned off the screen before anyone read.

That night, Vy revised the drawing according to the load limit. She removed a trellis, lowered the clay tank, and opened an escape route. The drawing is worse but more realistic. Military inspection, only circle a corner that needs additional details.

“It's okay this time,” he said.

Vy looked at him. “Can you talk longer?”

“Your drawing has withstood reality.”

She was silent for a few seconds. That sentence is not a pretty compliment, but it has weight.

As they left the room, on the rooftop a faucet suddenly turned on. Water overflows through the soil tray, flowing toward the crack. Quan ran to lock the valve, Vy pulled the tray out of the way. Mud spilled down to the edge of the yard.

Uncle Sau appeared and asked who turned on the faucet. No one knows. On the irrigation schedule board, the evening shift is labeled “B.L.”

Long stood on the stairs, his face pale. “I don't open it.”

Quan looked at the water. "Check the system tomorrow. Someone might be trying to see how bad the garden is."

Vy asked Ms. Huong for permission to enter the archive, where the drawings were organized by year. She didn't take it herself; Ms. Huong opened the cabinet and wrote down the file number. The full version of the green roof has an appendix that has never been constructed, which calculates the distributed load but omits the water tank because of insufficient funding.

Quan read the notes and saw that the designer suggested lightweight trays and drought-resistant plants. The current garden uses part of the same idea but adds a heavier tank.

“We are not the first to think of green roofs,” Vy said.

“But we are the first to operate without records.”

Ms. Huong allowed the group to quote the historical part, but asked to clearly state that the student garden was not an official school project. Vy wrote on the story board, not using the words "designed by the school".

In the warehouse, Ms. Huong found another water seepage report. The signers are Uncle Sau and a retired engineer. The report says the waterproofing layer has been temporarily repaired and needs to be completely replaced after five years. It's been seven years.

Quan asked why the school hadn't changed yet. Ms. Huong said the funds were transferred to the new lecture hall.

“If they set up an advertising frame, there is funding,” Vy said.

"Funding has a purpose. It cannot be used to make other changes if the contract does not state it."

Vy understands that disputes are not just about the garden or the sea. It is how money is allowed to pass through a building.

Quan created a load comparison table: the back garden reduced the tray, the advertising frame followed the old version, the frame changed. The old version exceeded the limit on four legs. The modified version needs reinforcement, but the wind is not yet included.

Long suggested including the table in the competition records. Quan said only after Ms. Huong approved. Long nodded, not complaining.

My asked Ms. Huong if she wanted to be interviewed about history. Ms. Huong refused to be recorded, but agreed to respond in writing. My sent questions first, received long answers about green roofs, budgets and failed proposals.

Vy read and saw that Ms. Huong did not romanticize failure. "A good idea doesn't become a building on its own. It needs maintenance, a budget, and someone to take charge when it rains," she wrote.

The group included this sentence in the narration, citing the source.

Afternoon, uncle Sau discovered an old pipe blocked with cement. Quan suspected that was the way to drain the water catchment tank. If open, overflow can be solved, but pressure must be checked.

Vy asked if she could open it right away. Uncle Sau shook his head. “No engineers, no chisel.”

“But the deadline—”

“The roof knows no deadline.”

Quan put his hand on Vy's shoulder, not to stop her but to make her stop. She took a deep breath and wrote down the test request.

The next day, the school engineer came to measure. The pipe is just the old part, not connected to the tank. They are not open. It took a day, but the error was avoided.

Vy said: "I hate being careful and doing things slowly."

Quan replied: "I hate doing anything dangerous quickly."

The two looked at each other, understanding that these were two discomforts that could be worked together.

At the end of the warehouse program, Ms. Huong gave Vy an old access card. "You can't use it alone. It opens the drawing cabinet, not the technical door."

Vy received and signed the book. On the face of the card is the name of the former head of administration, who is currently a company consultant.

Vy sent Ms. Huong a historical summary, using the words “incomplete pilot” instead of “neglected project.” Ms. Huong made one more correction: the current garden was built by students, not inherited from the old design.

Quan asked if the advertising frame moved, would it be safe to download? Ms. Huong said there must be independent engineers, not using only group data.

The group puts that request in writing. Mrs. Nhan may be upset later, but you can't say they avoided the technique.

In the warehouse, Vy saw the names of many student groups that had worked on green roof projects and then disappeared. Make a contact list, but ask before sending an email. One person replied that they still had the photo of the experiment but did not want to appear. Vy asked permission to use the index, that person agreed to remain anonymous.

My asked why they didn't tell the whole history to create emotion. Vy said history has people, not a warehouse of materials.

Quan put the old access card into the evidence bag. “Everything we borrow must be returned.”

Vy nodded. She began to understand that a garden requires more than just soil and water; it needs a way to remember not to erase the person who did it before.