Chapter 21 — The Child You Never Knew

On the way home, Tieu Chau called through her smart watch and asked her: "Mom, have you finished talking to that lady?"

“Done talking.”

“Is she evil?”

“Not evil.” Khuong Niem thought for a moment, "But I'm not good at saying nice things."

“So is she a good person, Mom?”

“She is someone who can disregard morality for the sake of her family.”

“Then isn't that exactly like mom?”

Khuong Niem was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing. This time it was a real smile, not a polite smirk to the camera or to outsiders.

“This little devil.”

“It's a natural.” Tieu Chau said proudly over the phone.

In the evening, Khuong Niem sat in front of the table and carefully read each clause of the trust document. There are no pitfalls, no obligations, and the terms of management and usage rights are so clearly defined that it seems tailor-made to plug any loopholes. She signed her name in the signature section. After signing, he sat stunned for a moment, took his phone and took a photo to send to La Dong. La Dong immediately sent back a voice message.

"Khuong Niem! What is this! The Pho family's trust fund? How much money?"

"Don't shout. You don't need to worry about the money, it's for Chau Chau to go to school."

"You accepted money from the Pho family? Do you know what this means? Outsiders will say you sold your motherly rights in exchange for money."

"In the clearly written terms, the management right belongs to me alone, the Pho family does not have any accompanying visitation or guardianship conditions."

"That's no good. Niem Niem, you heard me, you've just turned around now, the direction of the wind will only be in your favor. At this time, if you accept money from the Pho family, people don't care what the terms are written, they will only see a title 'Khuong Niem uses her child to exchange money from the Pho family'."

Khuong Niem held the phone two centimeters away from her ear. Is what La Dong said correct? Correct. But she still signed.

“La Dong.” she said.

"Chau Chau's interview period is in the capital, requiring a plane ride and a hotel stay. The learning resources after this genius class are not something my current income can handle. You tell me to give up these things for the sake of my image. How do you think Chau Chau will look at me?"

The other end of the line was silent.

“The boy will see that his mother clearly had a chance to help him go further, but for the sake of dignity, she gave up.” Khuong Niem's voice was very soft, "La Dong, the biggest loss in my life is caring about how others see me. Three years ago I cared, so Wen Tam Duyet only needed a fake video to destroy me. Now I don't care anymore. Anyone can say whatever they like. My son's future is ten thousand times more important than my reputation."

La Dong on the other end of the line was silent for a long time. Finally she said: "Okay. But you have to promise me, if there's anything you need to discuss with me first." Hanging up the phone, Khuong Niem neatly put the trust file away and stuffed it into the innermost corner of the drawer. The phone lights up again. Message from Ha Than. *"Wen Tam Duyet's office has been investigated by the authorities. The book falsification case is real. In addition, her former assistant also provided additional documents, related to the process of creating the video three years ago. There is a full chat history and money transfer documents."* Khuong Niem finished reading and returned One word: “Good.” Ha Than quickly texted back another message: *"Deputy President wants to know, have you signed that trust?"* Khuong Niem looked at this message for ten seconds. Then she typed four words and sent them: *"It has nothing to do with him."* She locked the screen, turned off the light, and lay on the bed looking up at the ceiling. The sound of Tieu Chau's steady breathing echoed from the next room. It's not over yet. But the most difficult part of the road has already been passed. One month later. In the Capital.