Chapter 28 — The Child You Never Knew

A week later, Khuong Niem made a decision. She made an appointment to meet the Deputy Lady. The location is still the same tea shop as last time, same room. When the Deputy Lady walked in, she looked a bit thinner than last time. There were clear traces of insomnia on her face, and the foundation couldn't hide the dark circles under her eyes. But her back was still straight, her steps when entering the door were still steady. The two sat facing each other. This time, there was no polite preamble, Khuong Niem opened his mouth immediately.

“What happened three years ago, how much did you participate?”

The deputy lady placed her bag on the empty chair next to her, clasping her hands together on the table. “Ha Than has already told you everything.”

“I want to hear it from your own mouth.”

The deputy lady was silent for ten seconds. She later said: "After Wen Tam Duyet's video was distributed, I sent someone to send it to four media agencies. The purpose was to ensure that she no longer had any chance to defend herself within 24 hours." Khuong Niem's expression remained unchanged. She is waiting for the next part.

“At that time I thought, if you don't go, Tu Nien will not completely give up.” Lady Fu's voice was dry, like the sound of dry branches rustling in the wind, "I personally don't like the person Wen Tam Duyet. But her family background and image are useful to the Pho family. You are not. In my eyes, you are an obstacle that needs to be eliminated."

“So three years ago you knew that video was fake.”

"I knew it was edited. But honestly, at that time I didn't care if it was real or fake." The deputy lady raised her head to look at Khuong Niem, her eyes carrying the typical heaviness of an old person when looking back at a mistake, "For me, it's not important whether it's true or not. What's important is the result."

From the neighboring rooms, faint sounds of people talking and the sound of teacups clinking were heard.

“But I didn't expect you to be pregnant.” The deputy lady continued, "I didn't expect that three years later, the child of the person I personally sent away would grow up to be so outstanding."

“What if Tieu Chau was just a normal child?” Khuong Niem asked, "If the boy hadn't been on hot searches and hadn't been discovered, would you sit here and tell me these words?"

The Deputy Lady's lips trembled. She did not answer.

“You won't.” Khuong Niem spoke for her, "Today you are sitting here not because you feel sorry for me. It's because you discovered your grandson is a genius, you don't want to miss him."

The Vice Lady's fingers tightened for a split second, then loosened again.

“You're right.” She said. The voice was even lower than before. “I have no right to deny it.”

Khuong Niem stood up.

“I will not return that trust fund.” She said, "Because that's for my son. But I need you to remember something."

The deputy lady raised her head to look at her.

"The person you owe is not me. What you owe is to your grandson. He could have had a perfect family, a childhood with the presence of his father, a normal adult environment. But because of your choice, he did not have those things. I will not calculate this debt for him. When he grows up, he will calculate it with you."

Khuong Niem picked up her bag and walked out of the bag room. In the hallway, her steps were very steady. Leaving the door of the tea shop, the sunlight hit her face, making her squint her eyes slightly. Not really serenity. But I feel a little more relieved than yesterday. She got on her electric motorbike and went to pick up Tieu Chau after school. In the second month of studying at Thien Tai Class, Tieu Chau received the highest project evaluation score in the class. The project theme is to design a "Community Support System". The other kids mostly come from a technological perspective, drawing up all kinds of flashy plans. Tieu Chau's plan is the simplest: Build a connection mechanism between the elderly and children in the community, the elderly teach children how to make crafts, and children help the elderly run errands. There isn't any high-tech content, but it solves a real, existing problem. The teacher wrote a sentence in the comments section: *"The starting point of this plan is not 'what's the coolest', but 'what's the most useful'. This mindset is extremely rare in children of the same age."* Khuong Niem saw a screenshot of the teacher's comments in the parent group. She took a screenshot and sent it to La Dong. La Dong texted back a series of exclamation points. Then said: "Nien Niem, I'll tell you something. A publisher contacted me and wants to publish a book for you."

"About your experiences over the past three years. The story of a single mother raising a genius child. The conditions they offered were quite good."

“Not published.”

"My story is mine. Not for sale."

"But have you thought about it? If you don't tell it yourself, someone else will tell it for you. There are already three pages of self-media writing about your story, most of the details are speculation and patchwork. Instead of letting others write haphazardly, it's better to control it yourself."

Khuong Niem thought for a moment. "Wait until Tieu Chau is a little older before thinking about it. He's only five years old now, I don't want him to be discussed like a public figure at this age."

"Okay. I'll help you stop it."

Hanging up the phone, Khuong Niem put the phone on the table and looked out the window. It's late autumn in Lam Giang, the corn leaves have half turned yellow, the wind blows and they fall. She moved back to Lam Giang for nearly two months. Life has become much more stable compared to three years of drifting in a foreign land. Tieu Chau has a good school, she has a permanent residence, and finances thanks to the trust fund are no longer too tight. But she has not returned to any work yet. It's not that I don't want to. But I didn't think carefully. The heat from the variety show's championship has passed. Sometimes people still mention her and Tieu Chau online, but the frequency is gradually decreasing. If she doesn't take advantage of this heat to do something, in three months, she will turn into an "out of date character who was once on a hot search".