Chapter 25 — Tailor Shop at the End of Third Alley

The market also has a space for those who do not want to sell anything. They can leave the story with a piece of cloth, recording the color, date and rights of use. Chau placed an empty box, no one was forced to give up the items.

An old man left behind a brown towel, saying it used to cover the machine when Khai worked. He did not want his name mentioned, he just wanted the shop to keep the towels if needed. Ms. Van folded it up and put it in a "non-public" compartment.

Hanh said the company asked her to return to work in another position. She hasn't decided yet, but wants to complete the application first. Tung told her she didn't need to choose the day. They are too familiar with urgent deadlines.

Ngoc presented the fund, saying there was enough left to buy a generator and pay legal fees. An's father offered to contribute to repairing the shelf, clearly recording it in the book. An looked at his father and smiled a little.

Chau and An sewed a bag from their old shirts. She sewed the body, he sewed the strap. An's path was a bit off, she didn't correct it. He asked why. She replied that users can adjust it, but first they have to know it's misaligned.

At the end of the session, a receipt named Khai was placed in the mailbox. Chau wrote down the address of the coastal town, Mrs. Van signed, and An checked the stamp. No one sent a person home, just sent a letter to the correct address.

The market begins with a blank slate. Ngoc does not write the price in advance, letting the seller write it himself after calculating costs. A baker said he wasn't used to it, so Mrs. Van taught him to write down three lines: materials, effort, and what to keep for next time. He said that's just like sewing a shirt, you can't just count the fabric.

Chau fixed buttons for customers for ten minutes, then realized that many people did not come for the shirt. They wanted to ask if the shop was still open, if the entrance was still open, and if their signing would cause trouble for the neighbors. She doesn't promise results, just explains each step.

An delivered repaired radios to households without stable electricity. Aunt Huong said the radio cannot replace the network, but it can report news when the phone runs out of battery. Khoa filmed the scene of his aunt fixing the knob, but she made him turn it off while she talked to the customer.

Hanh stood at a stall without a sign, selling pieces of her old clothes. She clearly stated the source and did not set a high price. One person asked her if she was the person in the video. Hanh answered yes, then said she was correcting the mistake. The other person bought a piece of cloth without asking any more questions.

An's father built wooden shelves from old materials. He placed a piece of purple fabric on each shelf, so buyers would know who made it. An didn't want his father to sell it because he was afraid of being told to take advantage of the story. Ms. Van said that hard work is not taken advantage of; Hiding your efforts makes others not appreciate it.

A tenth grader carried a torn shirt in his pocket. Chau asked if he wanted to keep the tear. You say that's where your mother used to patch, wanting to keep her mark. Turned inside out, reinforced with a thin piece of fabric, not covering the old patch. An puts a T button on the side, please make one more for me.

By afternoon, I had enough money to buy a new generator. Ngoc read the number in front of everyone, Khoa turned the book, and Ms. Thao signed. No one gives money in separate envelopes. Ms. Van said something transparent that did not make the relationship less beautiful.

Tung came to buy a bag, paid the full price, then asked permission to help set the table. One person asked him if he felt embarrassed. Tung said yes, but shame cannot be a reason to stand still. I will work on the documents until residents can read them themselves.

At the end of the market, a receipt named Khai appeared. Chau placed next to the children's shirt, the purple mark and the map. Ha recognized his handwriting and said he had sent her a message post office. She didn't know where he was, only that he wanted the back door unlocked.

They returned to the station, but the room on the third floor was empty. The owner gave a blue shirt, telling the tenant to leave it for "the girl with the red scissors". In the hem of the shirt is the address of the coastal factory.

An looked at Chau and asked if they should go. She said it not to bring Khai back, but to send a letter that could reach him.

Before leaving the station, Chau saw a purple thread on the pole. This time it's not a T shape, but an arrow pointing towards the school.

The market has no signs

People organized a market in the school yard to raise funds to hire consultants and keep machinery for the shop. No one puts up company signs, no one uses the project name. Each stall has a piece of cloth recording the item and the amount the seller decides.

Ms. Van sells fabric bags from old shirts. Aunt Huong sells repaired radios. An's father sells small wooden shelves, and An delivers things by bicycle. Chau is in charge of the free button repair counter. Ngoc made a table of income and expenditure, Khoa took photos of each transaction and had to write permission on each photo.

A little girl wore a torn dress and said she had no money. Chau patched it with a piece of purple cloth and embroidered a small line on the hem. The little girl asked why it was purple. Chau said it was the color of people looking for their way home.

Pham Quang Tung appeared without a vest. He bought a cloth bag, paid for it, and Ngoc returned it. He said he wanted to support, Ngoc said supporting doesn't mean getting sympathy.

Hanh stood next to the old counter and recognized a woman who had received shirts in 2014. She brought a photo of her daughter, who was Mai Phuong at school. The woman said she was once led through the back door by Khai when the water flooded, then moved away before her child was born. She kept the baby shirt, but didn't know what number 32 was.

Mrs. Van placed the shirt in front of her and explained the promise. The woman cried, but no one turned. Khoa turned off the phone himself, saying there were moments that should not be made into content.

At the end of the market, the money was enough to rent an inspection and buy a used generator. An's father said he would use the money from selling the shelves to pay off part of the debt. An objected, but he said this time it was money from the work he did, not money from someone else's promises.

Chau and An set the table. They discovered a receipt in the donation box, listing the buyer's name as **Nguyen Van Khai**. The date on the receipt was the day before, even though Khai had supposedly been out of town for ten years.

Mrs. Van looked at the handwriting and said it was unlikely that it was Khai. But the line underlining the amount is exactly the way he used it.

An asked if Khai was nearby. Hanh said he may still keep in contact through an intermediary.

Chau turned the receipt over. There is an address written in purple ink: **old train station, third floor motel room, door with blue drying clothes**.

That night, they arrived at the station. The old building has been converted into a boarding house, the hallways are narrow and full of clothes drying. A door has a blue shirt hanging outside. Chau knocked three times.

No one opened. But under the door slid a letter:

**Tomorrow, check the mold first. Then ask me why I left.**

No one knows whether the person sending the letter is Lien or someone who knows her. Mrs. Van told everyone to go to bed early, but Chau still sat at the sewing machine checking the thread. Every time the needle dropped, she thought about the people who had left the alley out of fear or because they had no choice.

The next morning, they arrived at the station before the picketing time. The supervisory agency sent two people to check, Ms. Chi was present as a volunteer provider information. Duc stood far away, not interrupting. The person in charge of construction issued the old order, but the ward's new order requested a temporary halt.

“We just follow the paper,” the person said.

“And we just ask that the paper be in the right place,” Ms. Thao replied.

Wall molding is opened under the soil layer. A brick with a small K engraved, next to it are three faded purple lines. Chi confirms this symbol appears in the original map. The meter showed a deviation of four meters and two like last time.

Worker Lam took a shift handover slip from his pocket. The name of the person who delivered the map is neither Tung nor Duc; it was an employee who quit. On the ticket there is the project warehouse's landline phone number.

Hanh called the number. An old security guard answered the phone and recognized Lien's name. He said before leaving, Lien sent a box of documents to an address in the suburbs. He kept the receipt because no one came to claim it.

Duc offered to drive them himself. Ms. Thao refused to let a related party lead the way, but agreed if a ward car accompanied her. Chau and An sat in the back row, between them was the number 32 shirt wrapped in a cloth bag.

On the way, An asked Chau if he was afraid. She said yes, but she was most afraid that tomorrow everything would return to normal and no one would remember what they almost lost.

An gave her a mint candy. “If this story has an ending, I want it to be a little pleasant.”

Chau smiled and opened candy for both of them. The car turns away from the city. In the rearview mirror, the alley became smaller, but the purple line on the shirt pocket was still bright like an arrow.

Duc sat in the front car, not turning to look at them. He kept his hands on his knees, for the first time not calling to give orders. When the bus stopped at the rest stop, he bought water for everyone and asked Phuc what kind of cake he liked. Those small changes are not enough to forgive, but enough to start a different way.