Chapter 12 — The Bookmobile Through the Mountains

One week before the official meeting, Nghi decided to proactively meet Mr. Than Quoc Vinh privately, not to argue, but to better understand the perspective of the person holding the power to decide the fate of the program, and if possible, find a way to convince him before things become more tense in the official meeting in front of a large crowd.

Mr. Vinh's office is located on the second floor of the District Committee headquarters, a neat room, with a few certificates of merit hanging on the wall, and a large screen in the corner of the room, showing a promotional video about digital library kiosk equipment, images of urban children sitting in front of the touch screen, scrolling through a series of e-books with bright smiles.

"Miss Nghi, please sit down," Mr. Vinh pointed to the chair opposite the desk, his voice polite but somewhat keeping a distance. "You came early to prepare for next week's meeting?"

"Yes, I want to talk to you first, to better understand why the Culture Department proposed to temporarily suspend the budget for my program," Nghi said, trying to keep his voice calm, even though there was still some tension in his heart.

Mr. Vinh nodded, leaned back in his chair, his tone switched to the familiar presentation mode. "Miss Nghi, I don't deny the value of the bookmobile program. To be honest, I really admire what your father has done. But my job is to look at the overall picture, to balance the budget in the most effective way, serving the most people with limited resources."

"I understand that, uncle," Nghi replied, "but I want to ask, have you ever directly been to villages like Seo Lu, Khuoi Tra, or especially Nam Cay school? Do you know that in those places, the electricity grid is not stable, the phone signal is almost non-existent, so how will that digital library kiosk work?"

Mr. Vinh paused slightly, then replied, his voice somewhat justifying. "The equipment supply partner has committed to equipping solar batteries and satellite wifi transmitters for installation sites in remote areas. Technically, they confirm that it is completely feasible."

"I don't doubt it in theory, uncle. But the reality of operating in the mountains is much harsher than what is presented on paper or in promotional videos," Nghi said, her eyes quickly glancing towards the screen still showing the other video. "The rainy and stormy season lasts for many months, with thick fog all day long. Will the solar panels have enough sunlight to operate? Then when the equipment breaks down, who will be on-site for repair and maintenance? I'm afraid those hidden costs will be much larger than what was initially calculated."

Mr. Vinh was silent for a moment, it seemed like Nghi's questions touched a point that he had not thought through thoroughly. But then he regained his usual confidence and continued. "Those are technical risks, we will have a backup plan. But Ms. Nghi, you also have to acknowledge the reality, your bookmobile program can only serve a limited number of people, while the budget spent to maintain it - gasoline, vehicle maintenance, labor - is not small if calculated per beneficiary."

"Can you tell me, what criteria is that 'per capita beneficiary' number calculated based on?" Nghi asked, his voice still calm even though his heart was starting to feel a little frustrated. "Because if you simply calculate the number of book borrowings divided by operating costs, you won't see other intangible values — like a child holding a comic book for the first time in his life, or a mother who once thought reading books was useless now encourages her child to learn to read. Those things can't be converted into numbers on a report, but they change an entire generation, uncle."

Mr. Vinh looked at Nghi for a long time, his eyes moved a bit, but immediately after, he sighed again, his tone became more realistic. "Miss Nghi, I understand what you are saying, and I truly appreciate your enthusiasm. But I also have my own pressure. The province is strongly promoting the digital transformation program, has targets, and has achievement reports that must be submitted quarterly. If the district does not take any action in this field, we will be judged as slow to innovate, affecting many other things, not just the cultural field."

Those words made Nghi suddenly realize one thing - Mr. Vinh was not really a heartless person who deliberately wanted to extinguish her father's program, but rather a person who was caught between achievement pressure from superiors and the complex reality at the grassroots, a person who was overly persuaded by the flashy offers of the equipment supply business, but had not had the opportunity or not taken the time to witness the harsh reality of remote villages.

"I understand your pressure," Nghi said, his voice softening. "But I ask you one thing, before the final decision is made - can you spend one day, come with me to Nam Cay, see with your own eyes what life is like there? I think, if you see it with your own eyes, you will have a different view."

Mr. Vinh seemed surprised by this straightforward suggestion. He was silent for a moment, his fingers lightly tapping on the table, thinking. "Let me see the schedule, I can't promise, but I will consider it."

It wasn't a definitive yes, but it wasn't an outright refusal either, and for Nghi, it was a small ray of hope worth clinging to. She stood up, thanked Mr. Vinh for his time, then left the office, her mind still filled with many thoughts.

On the way home, she stopped by her mother's tea shop and recounted the entire conversation. Ms. Dung listened attentively, then commented, her voice full of thought. "Listening to you, I see that this Mr. Vinh is not necessarily a bad person, he is just looking at the problem through a different lens, the lens of numbers and targets, but has never really touched the real lives of his people."

"I think so too, mom," Nghi nodded. "If I could bring him up there and let him see it with his own eyes, maybe things would be different. But I'm not sure if he can really arrange the time, especially since the official meeting is only a week away."

That night, Nghi sat at her desk again, continuing to perfect the report, but this time, she added a new part — not just dry data, but a sincere invitation, sent along with the report, inviting all members attending the meeting, including Mr. Vinh, to have the opportunity to experience firsthand a day on the bookmobile route, before making the final decision on the fate of the program that her father had worked so hard to build for sixteen years.

She called Nam to inform him about the meeting with Mr. Vinh, recounting every conversation in detail. Nam listened attentively, then commented, his voice thoughtful. "Listening to the way you tell it, I don't think Mr. Vinh is the type of person who is so stubborn that he won't listen. The problem is that he is sandwiched between two streams of pressure - one is the achievement numbers from his superiors, the other is the complex reality at the grassroots that he has probably never experienced directly. If you could convince him to come here personally once, I believe the situation would be much different."

"I hope so too," Nghi replied, "but I'm afraid that with the busy schedule of a district official, he will find every reason to refuse. Besides, even if he agrees, the road to Nam Cay is this arduous, will he have enough patience to go all the way around, or will he give up halfway and turn back?"

"Then we have to prepare carefully for that day, if it happens," Nam said, his voice filled with determination. "Don't just take him there for the sake of it, but let him really see, hear, and feel what the children here are going through every day. I will ask Ms. Ngan to prepare a special lesson, so that he can see with his own eyes how the children learn in conditions of lack of books, lack of electricity, and lack of signal."

Nam's idea made Nghi feel much more relieved, as if he had just found a specific direction amid the chaos of anxiety that had been surrounding him for the past few days. She noted that idea in her notebook, told herself she would contact Mr. Vinh's office in the next few days to confirm, and did not forget to prepare a backup plan in case her invitation was rejected and everything had to be resolved entirely based on what was presented within the framework of the upcoming official meeting.

Before turning off the light and going to bed, Nghi opened his father's notebook again and read the paragraphs he had written about the times he had to fight with local authorities in the past to get a license to operate the program. She found a short paragraph, written more than ten years ago: "Rejected for the third time today. People say this is not in the budget plan. But I won't give up. Just keep looking, keep asking, keep explaining, then someone will understand." Reading that, Nghi smiled, feeling like her father was right next to her, giving her the strength to face what lies ahead, even though the path to convincing a bureaucratic system has never been easy, for him in the past as well as for her now.