Chapter 11 — The Beggar Husband Turns Out to Be a Dragon

Ngao Viet Phong sat in a small roadside cafe, opposite the night market where six years ago a wandering beggar used to frequent. He wore an elegant suit, pretending to be an investor surveying the regional real estate market, a perfect cover to be able to ask for information without arousing anyone's suspicion.

For the past six years, Ngao Viet Phong has scoured the human world under Diep Thua Uy's orders, from major cities to remote countryside, looking for any signs of spiritual energy that could lead to the whereabouts of the escaped crown prince. This was not an easy task, because Prince Bach Tranh, even though he was young, had been well-trained in hiding his aura since childhood, and during his time in hiding, he hardly revealed any loopholes.

Three years ago, he almost came across a similar clue in a port city thousands of kilometers away, when there were rumors of a wandering man with an extraordinary ability to withstand the cold in the harsh winter. But when he arrived, it turned out to be just an ordinary homeless person suffering from a rare thyroid disease. That repeated disappointment over the years has trained Ngao Viet Phong to be coldly patient, no longer easily provoked by vague clues like the first days of his assignment.

But a video spread on human social networks about a man jumping from a high bridge into a river to save people with extraordinary speed and strength, entered the news monitoring network that Ngao Viet Phong installed throughout major cities. Although the image was blurry and not enough to determine identity, the instincts of an experienced dragon clan expert told him that this was not a random incident. Unlike previous times, this time there were too many details that coincided at the same time: unbelievable swimming speed, ability to withstand impacts from high heights without being harmed, and the time of appearance coincided with the time the crown prince was said to have been hiding in this area.

"Hello, I'm researching this area to invest." Ngao Viet Phong started a conversation with a familiar street vendor at the night market, his voice warm. "I heard that this area used to have quite a few homeless people living, I wonder where they have gone now?"

"Ah, a few years ago there were indeed a lot of people, but now this area has been cleaned up to prepare for planning so they have all moved out." The salesman replied, without any doubt. "There is a young man I remember, who lived under a bridge near here for nearly six years. He was very quiet, rarely talked to anyone, but I heard that he has now married a rich woman and his life has changed completely."

Ngao Viet Phong slightly raised his eyebrows, trying to keep his face calm even though he was starting to have a premonition in his heart. "Oh, how can you change your life?"

"I heard that the young lady of the Giang family saved me, fell in love and got married." The seller spoke, his voice full of excitement as if telling a fairy tale. "The whole city has been buzzing about it for months, the newspapers wrote all about it online."

"Miss Giang family?" Ngao Viet Phong repeated, already starting to piece together pieces of information: Chan Hung Group, the business crisis that had just been mysteriously resolved, the video of saving people on the bridge, and now the story of a beggar getting married to a rich wife.

After leaving the coffee shop, Ngao Viet Phong spent the afternoon learning more about Chan Hung Group and about Bach Tranh, the newlywed husband of the young lady of the Giang family. He found a few secretly taken photos from the wedding posted on social networking sites, enlarged the face in the photo, and compared it with the identifying characteristics that Diep Thua Uy had provided to all the experts sent to hunt down the crown prince.

The facial features, although somewhat different from the image of a nineteen-year-old crown prince six years ago, but those eyes, those deep black eyes, along with the straight-backed posture full of temperament despite wearing a commoner's suit, made Ngao Viet Phong almost nine-tenths sure that he had found his target.

"Finally found it." Ngao Viet Phong muttered to himself, his eyes flashing with a cold, calculating light. "Your Highness, after six years, I have finally found your whereabouts."

He did not rush to act immediately, because he knew that Diep Thua Uy had carefully instructed him to confirm before reporting, to avoid alarming the victim and causing his prey to escape again as had happened several times before in other cities. He decided to continue monitoring silently and collect more evidence.

Meanwhile, Bach Tranh, even though he is enjoying rare peaceful days with Tuyet Nhi, still does not let down his guard. Years of living in fear of being hunted have trained him to have a sharp sixth sense for unusual signs around him.

One afternoon, while walking with Tuyet Nhi in the park near his house, he suddenly stopped, his eyes quickly scanned the surrounding crowd, feeling a strange aura, a familiar aura that he had not felt for a long time, since the day he left Long Uyen.

"What's wrong with you?" Tuyet Nhi asked, noticing her husband's suddenly tense expression.

"Nothing." Bach Tranh replied, trying to regain his composure, but his eyes still kept looking around, looking for the source of the strange aura he had just felt. "I'm just a little tired."

But when he got home, he immediately called Chuong Dich Pham, his voice unusually serious. "Someone is searching for my traces in this city. Can you check to see if any dragon clan experts have appeared in the area recently?"

"Let me check now, Your Highness." Chuong Dich Pham replied, his voice also became tense.

A few hours later, Chuong Dich Pham called back, his voice somewhat worried. "Your Highness, I found traces of an unknown master who has appeared in the city for about a week now, moving very discreetly, but according to descriptions from several reliable sources in the underground business world, there is a high possibility that this is Ngao Viet Phong, one of Diep Thua Uy's most effective henchmen."

Bach Tranh finished listening, his hand tightened on the phone, his face darkened. He had feared this for a long time, and now it had come true. Six years of hiding cannot last forever.

"I understand." He replied, his voice calm again even though his heart was churning. "Thank you for the news. From now on, please closely monitor his every move, and notify me as soon as there are any new developments."

After hanging up the phone, Bach Tranh stood silently for a long time in the small office, looking out the window, his eyes filled with worry. He knows that he needs to be more careful, not only for his own safety, but most importantly, for the safety of Tuyet Nhi, who has now become an inseparable part of his life, and also accidentally becomes a weakness that enemies can take advantage of to attack him.

He remembered the lessons his father had taught him in the past about the dragon clan's art of hiding, about how to control aura to the point of almost completely eliminating it so as not to be detected. During the six years of hiding, he practiced it almost perfectly, to the point that sometimes he even forgot the feeling of being himself, of being able to use spiritual energy naturally without fear. But now, after saving people on the river, after silently helping his wife's family, that shell of control has begun to crack, little by little, like a flood-proof dike that has been overloaded after many years of suffering.

He wondered if he had been too careless, if it was his newfound happiness that made him relax his inherent vigilance. But then he thought of Tuyet Nhi's radiant face every time she smiled, of the absolute trust she had in him, and he knew that, even at the cost of being discovered earlier than expected, he would not regret anything he had done.

That night, when Tuyet Nhi asked him what was wrong, Bach Tranh just smiled and hugged her, hiding the anxiety rolling in his heart. "It's nothing, don't worry." He said, but in his heart, he knew clearly that the real storm was still waiting ahead, and he would have to prepare with all his might to face it, without letting the woman he loved suffer the consequences.