Chapter 11 — The Code in the Tangerine Garden

The phone under the tank was still flashing when Quan reached the bottom step.

The screen faces towards the tank lid. The person who places it does not need to turn his face; they just want to record whoever opens the room. Lam bent down to pick up the phone and check the time on the video. It started recording at 1:13 a.m., before the lights outside the gate went out.

“Someone knew we would come here,” Thu said.

Quan shined a light around the tank. Wet concrete wall, on one side is an old empty tank, on the other side is a narrow path leading to a technical niche. Under the remaining water, a ceramic pipe runs through the wall. On the edge of the tank are seven handprints in white paint.

Huy realized that the sixth mark was overlapped with a layer of black paint.

“This is where my family used to receive water,” he said.

“So the person who placed the phone wanted you to see it.”

“Or want me to be suspected.”

Lam took the stranger's phone up the stairs. In memory there is only one seventeen-minute video. The image shakes, showing Khai and another person opening the tank lid the night before. Khai said:

"If you find the original, you must get it before the signing date. Otherwise, just destroy the pipeline and write it as damaged old work."

The person accompanying him did not show his face. His voice asked:

“What about the land of the Tan family?”

Khai replied: "If you can buy it, it's over. If you can't buy it, it turns into a dispute."

The video stops there.

Thu copied the file to his computer. She didn't want to rely on a video recording of unknown source, but it was enough to show that someone was preparing to destroy the water line.

Quan walked forward, his face red with anger. “Give it to the police.”

“Tomorrow morning,” Thu said. “Now we must keep the original and make a record.”

“Tomorrow morning they could ruin the whole tank.”

“So we will watch tonight.”

Huy looked at his watch. “I can call someone in the district.”

“Don't call anyone in the company.”

"I know."

On the ground, Quan received a call from the hospital. Na's schedule was pushed forward two days. After listening, he walked to the back of the house. Thu followed, but Quan turned back before she could speak.

“Don't tell me to wait.”

“I haven't said yet.”

"But I will say it. I will say I need more paper, I need to meet more people, I need to wait for the right process. Na don't wait for the process."

Thu kept her voice calm. “If you sell immediately, are you sure the money will come in time?”

Quan did not answer.

"The contract hasn't been deposited yet. They can use the loss of paper to force the price."

“At least there's a chance.”

“The opportunity to put your child on a contract with no clear water rights?”

"Don't make things right or wrong. The person who needs surgery is not you."

Thu looked out at the trees. "I know."

Quan bit his lip. "I don't know the feeling of opening the phone and seeing the missing money. I don't know if the doctor asked me to sign or not. I only know my father left a garden and wanted everyone to stand around it."

“I also left a debt from my father,” Thu said. “I don't know if I should pay with money or with my whole life.”

The army is silent. That sentence made both of them unable to continue.

Lam brought out two glasses of water. "I saw the video. The second person has a scar on his wrist."

Quan asked: "You know?"

"Seen in the reflection. That person was holding the paper in his left hand."

Huy turned pale. “Ms. Van is left-handed.”

“Are you protecting her?” Quan asked.

“I'm just saying.”

Letters do not allow them to turn an indication into a conclusion. She made a to-do list: back up the video, take photos of the tank, write down Mrs. Man's words, seal the valve cover, contact Mr. Nghiem and find Mai. At the last entry, she realized that no one knew the last day of the day When is “tangerine season” really? If the season ends before they make it clear, the terms in the will will lose their meaning.

The next morning, Thu went to the bank alone. The staff confirmed that his father had signed a contract to mortgage part of the land use rights, but the loan had been paid off with proceeds from selling tangerines the previous year. The original certificate should have been returned, but the return document has not yet been signed. The last person to ask to see the original was an employee of a cold storage company.

Letter asking for name. Staff proofread: Tran Khai.

“Is he allowed to take it?”

"Only viewed at the counter. But the system recorded that he asked for a certified copy."

Transaction history capture letter. When she left the bank, Huy called.

“I'm suspended,” he said.

"How long?"

“Until you sign the confirmation.”

“Do you sign?”

"Not yet."

"Thank."

"Don't thank me. I haven't done anything yet."

In the garden, Quan and Lam argued over a proposal to sell land. Quan crossed out the price and wrote in the margin the amount needed for Na. Lam tore the paper. Quan pushed him against the wall of the packing house.

“What rights do you have?”

“You have the right not to let me sign in a panic.”

“What do you know about panic?”

“I know that if we hand over the land, people will not return the water line.”

“Waterways cannot raise Na.”

“It can feed hundreds of people.”

“You are not responsible for hundreds of people!”

Mrs. Man shouted loudly, so the two of them stopped.

“Tan used to argue with each other because of this sentence,” she said. "One side says that our family cannot carry the whole village. One side says that if our family closes the valve, the village will no longer have a way to live. Both sides are right, so he stays silent."

The letter returned just in time to hear that sentence. She placed copies of bank records on the table.

"Khai has seen the original paper. The purchase contract cannot be signed cleanly like they said."

Quan looked at the stack of papers, his shoulders slumped.

“What if I receive part of the money first?”

“It's a deposit, which could subject us to fines if we don't complete.”

"I won't let you sell it, nor will I lend it to you."

“I give you the right to know what you are signing.”

Huy arrived in the afternoon, holding an envelope. He put it down on the table and stepped back.

"This is the cold storage design. I got it before my account was locked."

The letter opens. Industrial wells are located exactly on the tank. The cold storage is expected to be built at the packing house location, while the drainage system is directed towards the old ditch. If the project is implemented, they will have to fill the underground tank and change the water line.

Quan looked at the drawing, then looked at the amount on the proposal.

“They bought the whole garden to knock down the packing house.”

“And use the water vein,” Huy said.

“You knew from the beginning?”

"I know they want to drill. Don't know the final location."

Thu asked: "Can you testify?"

Huy did not answer immediately. “If I do, I'll lose my job.”

“If we don't do it, others will lose their country.”

"I know."

That night, the three brothers sat alone in the living room. Quan said he wanted to sell the southern part and keep the northern part with the water tank. The letter of explanation cannot be separated because the old paper considers the water line to be a common right. Lam offered to make a public record and give the video to the local newspaper, but Thu refused until the person in the recording could be verified.

No one mentioned father.

At dawn, Quan put Na's clothes into a small bag. He said he would take his child to the city before the test day.

Thu stood at the door. “How long will you be gone?”

“Until the doctor says you can go home.”

“What if Huy calls?”

“You decide for yourself.”

Lam gave Quan a hard drive. "Dad's video. Keep this copy."

Quan accepted, not looking at him.

When Quan's car left the gate, a tangerine fell right in front of the wheel. On the fruit there is a circular streak of red paint.

Army went down to pick it up. The bottom of the tangerine was slashed, with a piece of paper stuffed inside:

He didn't give the piece of paper to anyone right away. Quan stood next to the wheel, looking at the road leading out of the hospital. In his pocket was Na's test paper, in his phone was the missing money, and in his hand was a sentence written as if the sender knew exactly when he was at his weakest.

Thu walked over and didn't grab it. “Let me see.”

Army gave. She read it and then folded it.

“You think they want you out of the ring?”

“Maybe they just want you to believe that I will leave you.”

“I said I wouldn't sign.”

"You said it in front of everyone. But when only the hospital bill remains, are you sure?"

The letter was not answered immediately. She remembered the land purchase proposal in the desk drawer, the value was circled with a red pen. She also remembers calculating that if she sold a part of the south, paid off the bank debt and divided equally, Quan could afford treatment. But the design Huy provided shows that the "southern part" is still on the drainage line.

“I'm not sure I'll always be right,” she said. “But I'm sure the person who sent this letter doesn't have the right to decide for you.”

Quan looked at the piece of paper. "I want to sell my share if I can. It's not because I hate the garden."

“You have the right.”

“I just don't want anyone to say I'm the one who broke it tomorrow.”

“We will clearly state the conditions.”

Lam stood next to the gate and heard that sentence. He said if Quan wanted to sell, his share had to be independently valued and the buyer had to accept all water rights. Otherwise, the partial sale will become an excuse for the company to say the family has agreed to the project.

Quan nodded, but still looked at the hospital in the distance.

“Don't promise to cure everything,” he told Thu.

“I promise to only record what we can do.”

The wind blew the tangerine in his hand to the ground. The red paint was half covered by mud, but the circle was still clearly visible.

Thu stood by the gate for a long time after the car left. She didn't know whether to call Quan back or let him have a night without having to listen to arguments about land. Huy said the hospital wasn't far and he could drive if needed. Thu shook her head.

“He needs to decide for himself for once,” she said.

"I get it."

“You don't understand.”

Huy did not object. He said his mother also signed a paper without reading it carefully because she trusted the person bringing the money. After that, his father sold the land, the whole family still had money for medical treatment but lost the right to receive water. No one in the family dares to say that is the price, because naming the price means admitting they made the wrong choice.

Lam brought the tangerine with the red paint streaks into the house and placed it under the lamp. The incision on the peel is made with a thin knife, without damaging the segments. The sender wants the message to arrive intact, not the fruit to be eaten.

“They knew we would stop here,” Lam said.

Take a photo of the fruit, then peel it into segments. No more paper. There is only one black seed, different from the tangerine variety in the garden.

Quan called back. He said Na was asleep, but he hadn't departed yet because the doctor wanted to monitor her further. He heard the plan to protect the tank and asked how Thu calculated the loan.

“I will make three plans,” she said.

“Is there a plan for me to sell it?”

"Have."

“Write down that plan too.”

Thu sat down. She recorded: full sale, partial sale without affecting the country, and no sale but renting warehouse in the south. Next to each option are cash inflows, liabilities, and maintenance responsibilities legal risks.

Quan said: "Thank you for not deleting my plan."

“I do not have the right to delete.”

Outside the door, Huy locked the gate again. The family knows the person who sent the note will come back, but at least they no longer let fear choose them.

“One person leaves the round, the remaining five will have to choose.”