Chapter 6 — Ten Tickets and Blood Debt

The port warehouse has a safe, placed behind a row of paint cans.

Van plays the role of buyer. Phuc stood on the warehouse roof and signaled the investigator. Bach came with fake Son, holding an empty bag of money.

“Give me the ticket,” he said.

Van placed the real piece on the table. Bach used a flashlight, not realizing that the serial number was just a copy cut from a photo. He opened the safe and took the original book for comparison.

Phuc photographed each page through the ventilation duct. In the book there are signatures of ten workers, the loan amount and the "silent fee" transferred to Hau.

Bach discovered the fraud and threw a piece of paper in Van's face. At the same time, the police arrived. He opened fire at the ceiling, then pulled Phuc as a shield.

Van saw on the table a keychain shaped like a ship, similar to the one her father used to bring. She told Bach: "You can shoot me, but the book has been sent."

Bach pushed Phuc down. Van rushed forward, the two struggled on the oil floor. The notebook slid to the edge of the paint bucket, just one step away from falling into the fire.

Phuc used his foot to block it. Bach turned the gun towards him, but Son hit his wrist.

The police controlled Bach.

Later, investigators discovered that the gunshot had caused part of the roof to collapse. No one died, but the notebook was stained with oil and many pages were smeared with ink.

Van sat on the doorstep, holding half a ticket. Loc asked if she still wanted to keep the money.

“I want to preserve the evidence first.”

The descendants came to present themselves. He admitted that he signed a fake document, but said he never knew Bach intended to kill someone. Van did not ask for a reduced sentence. She only asked him to declare each person's correct name.

That night, ticket 07 was found in a trash bag at the ferry terminal, wet but the number could still be read.

The prize can still be received, but the old debt is bigger than the money.

The investigator sealed the ticket, book and insurance papers. Van had to give testimony about Hau, but he still sat in the interrogation room, refusing to accept the fake signature. He only asked to meet Van once.

“I thought protecting you was keeping money,” Hau said. "After your father died, Bach told me that if I didn't cooperate, the house would be taken away. I believed him."

Van asked why he signed the group's representative page. Hau told Bach to give him the paper, saying it was just an authorization letter to receive salary. He didn't read carefully.

“You turned carelessness into everyone's debt.”

Hau nodded. He gave her some information: Lan doesn't just do insurance. She is the keeper of the compensation records of the old steel factory where Van's father used to work.

Van left the room and saw Phuc standing in the hallway. He listened to everything and no longer defended Hau like before.

Hanh sent word that Loc was awake. He said Bach got the ticket from Lan, and Lan received orders from the factory owner named Lam.

Lam's name appears in many documents, but no one has ever met him. His shell company was registered in another province, specializing in lending money to workers.

Van looked at the frozen bonus. If you use it all to pay off your debt, everyone else will lose a portion. If they keep it, they have to continue to suffer from creditors.

She asked the court to temporarily use union funds to protect the house during the investigation. No person may receive a bonus before correct ownership has been determined.

A judge agreed, but warned the decision was only valid for thirty days.