Chapter 7 — Ten Children?

I thought I was going to get scolded. But he didn't scold me. He poured a bowl of white porridge he just bought from a thermos, blew it cool, then used a spoon to put each piece into my mouth. In the hospital room, there was only the sound of spoons hitting porcelain bowls. Halfway through the bowl, Elder Chu Tranh put down the bowl, looked at my pale face and suddenly asked:

“An An, do you feel like you must be a great success in Beijing to be worthy of us?”

I bowed my head, tightened the edge of the white blanket, biting my lip. Tears fell drop by drop but there was no answer. Chu Tranh sighed. He raised his calloused hand and rubbed my head.

“An An, listen carefully. We let you go to school because you liked to study since you were young, and because you are smart and can learn.”

His voice is very light but each word is extremely heavy:

“We are your family, not investors.”

“We don't lend you money to do business and then wait for you to pay back both capital and interest later.”

“Is it your way of repaying us by making yourself sick like this?”

That evening, Mr. Chin stood in the hallway outside the hospital room, called home and then gave the phone to me to talk to her. On the other end of the line was still the familiar hoarse voice that I had heard since childhood. She did not ask about her illness, nor did she ask about her studies. She just asked:

“Little girl, do you remember what our third rule is?”

My eyes immediately turned red. I covered my mouth and cried:

"I remember... It's dark and I have to go home to eat."

She laughed on the other end of the line. In the voice is the power that makes people feel secure:

“Then you have to eat well. A healthy body can go far.”

“Don't go so far that you lose yourself and no longer know the way home.”

After that illness, I rested for half a month. When I returned to school, it was like I became a different person. I still study hard, am still serious about research, but no longer use cold achievement rankings to punish myself. I learned to forgive myself. I joined a guitar club that I really liked. On weekends, sometimes my roommate and I go to Huong Son to climb mountains and admire the red leaves. When a project encounters obstacles and fails, I allow myself to put down the book, feel free to be sad for a day, eat a delicious meal, and then start again the next day. During that process, I finally fully understood the true meaning of nine brothers trying to get me out of the old house. They strive to support me so that I don't have to carry the heavy expectations of ten people and live a life of constraints. They just hope that when standing in the middle of a larger world, I have the freedom to choose. Choose what you want to do. Choose who you want to love. Time passed quickly, in the blink of an eye it was the year I graduated from college. Thanks to my excellent profile, I easily received job offers from several large companies. A foreign company pays very high salaries and incentives that make people blush. But the main job content is market data and business analysis. The salary was good but I was getting further and further away from the research work I really loved. A technology research institute in a southern city paid less but allowed me to continue doing the research field I loved. Standing at a crossroads in life, I held two complete invitations different, hesitated for a long time. Finally, I bought a train ticket and returned to my familiar house. After dinner, the whole family sat in the yard enjoying the cool air. I talked about two jobs and asked everyone for their opinions. Chu Tranh lit a cigarette, took a puff, and asked directly:

"Don't talk in circles. Just tell me, which one do you like in your heart?"

I pointed to the invitation letter from the research institute. Chu Tranh waved his hand holding the medicine:

“Then choose the second one.”

I'm a bit worried:

"But... the first job's salary is much higher. If I choose the second job, I probably won't be able to buy a big house for a long time."

After Mr. Chin sat next to him, he couldn't help but laugh. He stuffed the peeled tangerine segment into my hand and asked back:

“An An, is the salary of your second job enough for you to support yourself?”

I nodded:

“Of course enough, the benefits are also quite good.”

“Isn't that okay then?”

Chin spread his hands.

“Eat well, do what you like, be happy every day, what else do you have to worry about?”

She sat on a small chair next to her, her hands quickly picking up a bunch of vegetables. Listening to the conversation, she did not raise her head, nor did her movements stop, just calmly said:

"Work is what you have to do every morning when you open your eyes, not for someone else."

“Just because others think the job is good, you can't make yourself suffer and suffer for the rest of your life.”

“Go wherever you want to go.”

The night wind blew through the grape arbor in the yard, making rustling sounds. In the kitchen, there was the strong aroma of the ribs stewed by Tran Thuc. Tu was bowing his head to fix the stuck suitcase wheel for me. Mr. Ba called to show off to others that his sister had graduated. Looking at the people in front of me, the last confusion weighing on my heart completely disappeared. Finally, I chose the research direction that I loved. Starting from the day I made that decision, I truly grew up and truly learned how to control my life. I carry the confidence they gave me, stepping into the vast future that belongs to me. Because I know, no matter how hard the wind and rain are outside, as long as it's dark, there is always a house with lights on, waiting for me to come home to eat. ## 12 The day I received my first salary after work, I was sitting in front of the computer in the research institute. The finance department sends a detailed table to email. I looked at the actual amount received at the bottom line for a long time. Although it's not as much as the first job offered, it's not as little. That evening, I sat alone on the sofa in my rented house, opened the banking app, and transferred an amount of money to each brother in the family group. The amount of money wasn't much, but it was all the sincerity I could get out at that time. After moving, I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking I had finally let go of some of the burden of the past. In less than a minute, the screen lit up. All nine remittances were refunded.