Chapter 10 — The Code in the Tangerine Garden

They found the abandoned tree line just before sunrise.

It was the land behind the packing house, where tangerines grew sparsely and the grass was knee-high. Father Thu rarely lets anyone in. Quan used to think the land was infertile, but Lam remembered it as the place where his father forbade him to set up a tripod because the ground had deep holes. On the company's new map, this area is marked as having no construction.

Mrs. Man held a short hoe and walked slowly between the trees. She looked at the leaves and the ground, but didn't immediately find the symbol. At the third tree from the old ditch, she stopped.

“Mrs. Luu planted this tree,” she said.

The tree trunk is smaller than neighboring trees, with rough and black bark. There are no fruits, but the roots spread out over a patch of moist soil. The army dug in close to the base. The tip of the pickaxe touches a flat stone. On the stone is the letter L and an open circle.

Thu bent down to brush the ground. "The circle is not closed. Because she is outside the six parts?"

“No,” Mrs. Man said. “Because she was the one in the middle.”

Huy looked at the stone. "My father once told me that Mrs. Luu had no land, but had the right to open a ditch because she put in the effort."

Lam rotated the camera around the land. On the opposite tree trunk, a leaf-shaped carving was covered in mud. He wiped it away and saw an arrow pointing towards the wall. Below the arrow are six dots.

Quan counts steps. Sixty-six steps to a sunken grass hole. He used his hand to push away the leaves. Below is a thin, unlocked wooden lid.

In the cavity there is a bamboo tube, inside are seven vertically folded paper strips. Six strips record the names and contributions of six households. The seventh strip reads:

"Pomegranate, dig ditches, keep valves for three drought seasons. No land but have the right to be named."

Thu felt her throat constrict. Below that line were her father's signature, those of five other households, and a blank space.

“Missing Huy's signature,” Quan said.

Huy did not deny it. “My father hasn't signed yet.”

"Why?"

“He sold the land before the deed was completed.”

“But still accept water?”

“A while.”

Mrs. Man looked at Huy. "My father said he would sign after paying all the debt. He didn't have time."

The set of papers is not a transfer contract. It is a record of the promise, but with the stamp of approval from the old committee. Thu understands it will not automatically save the garden. However, it proves that the six households are not vague witnesses. They are the people who created the project together, and Ms. Luu is the seventh person to be erased from the map.

Lam found another strip of paper rolled around the bamboo tube. Above it are the five days of harvest, then the last line:

“Day six: open the ring when the buyer arrives.”

“Which buyer?” Quan asked.

“Everyone buys land later,” Thu replied.

Huy took out his phone and called his father out of habit, then remembered that he had passed away. He turned off the screen, looking annoyed with himself.

"If the company buys the garden," Huy said, "they will become the last buyer. The circle forces them to meet other households."

“And if they don't want to meet?” Lam asked.

“They will try to turn the water line into a derelict pipe.”

The letter kept seven strips of paper in a moisture-proof cover. "We need witnesses. Mr. Bay, Mr. Nghiem, the Hoa family, the Nam family, and your mother."

“My mother is sick.”

“You have to ask her.”

Huy nodded.

When they returned to the packing house, a company car was parked outside the gate. Ms. Van stood next to a man wearing a tag with the name "Tran Khai". He is short, his left leg is slightly stretched, just like the camera. Protective jacket with silver reflective strip.

Khai looked at the people in the garden, not showing any surprise.

“I want the company's technical documents back,” he said speak.

Letter stood in front of the door. “What did you get here?”

“I have never been in a private house.”

“But I went into the breeding room.”

“I have a survey referral.”

“There is no right to pry open the door.”

Ms. Van held up a piece of paper. "This is a document allowing access to the survey area within the proposed land transaction."

Letter read. The document only has Huy's signature, dated before the family received the will.

Huy turned to Khai. “I signed for measurement outside the fence.”

Khai said: "The survey scope includes underground works."

Quan stepped up. "I'll connect the tube to try to absorb water."

“I took technical samples.”

“By pouring oil?”

Khai smiled faintly. “If the water sample is contaminated with oil, what does it have to do with me?”

Huy stood between the two people. “Khai, did you come here the night the power went out?”

“I work on assignment.”

“Answer yes or no.”

Khai did not answer. He looked towards the row of trees behind the packing house, where Thu had just stored the paper.

Lam recognized that look. He quietly put the camera in his pocket and turned on the recording.

The letter said: "What documents does the company want to get?"

Ms. Van replied: "The survey copy is lost."

“Or the original certificate?”

Khai took a step towards her. “You are blaming.”

Huy blocked it. “No one touches the heir.”

Khai stopped. His face remained unchanged, but his left hand clenched.

“I just work,” he said.

“Work does not include getting documents,” Thu replied.

Ms. Van pulled Khai out to the car. Before leaving, she told Huy:

“If you don't complete it, the company will consider you a hindrance.”

Huy watched the car leave without speaking.

Quan turned. “Do you still want us to accept the offer?”

"Are not."

“Easy to say when you know your salary is about to be lost.”

"I don't know yet."

Thu noticed Huy's hand shaking when he took the phone. He opened a new email: the company asked him to sign a confirmation that no general use rights existed within three days. If you do not sign, your access to the file will be suspended.

“They gave me three days,” Thu said.

"I know."

Lam gave her the camera. “I recorded the part where Khai did not deny it.”

Thu shook her head. “That recording helps prove attitude, not behavior.”

“So we have to find behavior.”

In the afternoon, Mr. Nghiem called back. His voice was weak but alert. He said he did not accept the last part of the money because it was not his. Father Thu once told him to only transfer it to the person in Ms. Luu's name, but she passed away and her family left the village. Tan was afraid of sending money by mistake so he kept it.

“Do you know where the Luu family is?” Thu asked.

"Her daughter's name is Mai. She works at the district station. But Tan said not to call until she has found all the household names."

"Why?"

"Because names are not enough. Someone must stand in the same circle."

Mr. Nghiem read Mai's address to Thu. Before hanging up, he said:

"Tan once said, if one day people bring money, ask who they pay it to. If they only pay for the land, they don't understand."

The letter recorded that sentence.

At night, six people, including three brothers, Mrs. Man, Huy and Na, sat around the map. Na placed seven strips of paper in a circle, in the correct order of the symbols on the tree. When Mrs. Luu's strip was placed in the middle, the letters formed a sentence:

“OPEN WATER WHERE THERE ARE NO TREES.”

Quan remembered the old well, but Mrs. Man shook her head.

“The well has a tree next to it.”

Lam looked at the map. “There are no trees… it's the underground tank.”

Thu took the metal piece with the inverted T from the first chapter and turned it over. There is a small, triangular hole. When placed on the end strip of paper, the hole matches a dot squid.

“The key is not to open the door,” she said. “It's a guide.”

The ruler points to the southeast corner of the packing house, where the ground has not yet been dug. Quan holds the shovel and goes first.

Just as the shovel tip penetrated the mortar, a hollow sound rang out.

Below is a concrete cap with an iron ring. The six-part circle is engraved on the lid, but the seventh part is covered by a new piece of paint.

Huy bent down to wipe the paint.

Below that is the name “Pomegranate”.

The soldiers pulled the iron ring. The lid opened, revealing a narrow staircase descending into a dark tank.

From the bottom, there is a flashing blue light.

A phone is recording.

Lam realized the phone was placed on a brick, the lens pointed straight at the stairs. The screen shows the remaining battery percentage and recording start time. No one touches it. Huy stood outside the mouth of the tank, while Mai held the map.

“Maybe the person who ordered it is waiting for us to open it,” Huy said.

The mail didn't come down right away. She looked around the side of the tank, looking for wires or sensors. A thin wire connects the phone to the iron cover. If you pull the cover hard, the phone will fall into the water.

“Traps are not meant to damage the machine,” Lam said. “To take fingerprints.”

Quan through the screen instructed them to use a cloth to pull the lid. Thu followed, keeping the force steady. The phone remained still. In the live video, the tank is more visible: next to the bottom there is a plastic box, with a yellow label on the lid.

Huy recognized the survey team's label. “They put the box there.”

“Could there be a dangerous object?” Mai asked.

“No. But don't touch it with bare hands.”

Quan said to use iron hooks. Lam took the hook from the warehouse, tied the rope and dropped it. The plastic box got caught on the hook and was unusually heavy. When pulled up, inside were three bagged soil samples, a pressure measuring device and a diagram with the pipes marked in red.

On the diagram, an arrow points to a tree without fruit. Next to write: "line change point".

Photo letter. “They know the tree has no fruit lying on the compartment.”

Mai looked at the phone that was recording. “If the person who placed the order doesn't want to hide it, why not leave a message?”

Lam opened the saved video. There is a tapping sound at the beginning of the file: six hours, break, one hour. He repeated the sound. Mrs. Man said that was how Mrs. Luu called the person who opened the valve in the past.

“The person who books is the person who knows the schedule,” she said.

Huy looked towards the tank door. “Dung knows.”

“Dung doesn't necessarily want to help,” Thu replied.

At the bottom of the plastic box is a piece of paper softened by water. When heated under the lamp, the words appear:

“Let the person holding the key choose the door himself.”

No one knows if that sentence was meant for Huy, Thu or the person standing behind them.