Chapter 14 — The Code in the Tangerine Garden

The request to leave the hut came when Mrs. Man was drying tangerine peels.

A postal worker gave the envelope and asked her to sign for it. Mrs. Man did not read it immediately. She placed the envelope under the basket of tangerine peels and continued to spread each piece on the bamboo stove. When the staff left, she called Thu.

“The company said this hut is located in the land expected to be handed over,” she said. “They gave her seven days.”

Open text letter. The person in whose name the request is made is not a cold storage company but an intermediary real estate company that has signed a pre-emptive right to purchase with the heir. They cited the fact that Ms. Man lived on land without a valid lease contract.

Quan is still at the hospital. Lam is going with Mai to the district seed station. Huy stood next to the table, reading the text twice.

“Ms. Van uses a subsidiary,” he said.

“We haven't signed anything yet,” Thu replied.

“They could say Ms. Man is an unauthorized user.”

Mrs. Man smiled. "I've been here thirty-two years. Before your company had a name, I knew which plants needed water."

Huy looked down. "I know."

“If you know, don't stand like a guest.”

Huy holds the document. “I will ask them the basis.”

“Asking in what capacity?”

Huy looked up. “The person is suspended but has not been fired.”

Thu did not laugh. She called the district attorney that Mr. Nghiem introduced. The lawyer said it was necessary to prove that Ms. Man had actual management rights, contributed to the property and was assigned tasks by the person who left the land. Invoices, payment books, and confirmations from households will be useful.

“My father did not sign a labor contract with Mrs. Man,” Thu said.

"It doesn't mean there isn't a management relationship. But evidence must be collected."

After hearing this, Mrs. Man immediately went into the hut. She came back with a cracked plastic box, inside was a salary record book, a ticket to buy fertilizer, a ticket to sell tangerines and a handwritten letter from Thu's father. A letter from seventeen years ago reads:

"If I go first, you can stay until my family says otherwise. This hut is not something I gave you. It is the work you put into the garden."

After reading the letter, I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

“Father writes but does not make paper.”

“He thinks his words are strong enough,” Ms. Man said.

“He was wrong.”

“But that word kept me here all these years.”

Huy brought the documents back to the company. An hour later he called, saying the person who sent the request had agreed to pause for three days if the family signed a minutes not to hinder the survey.

Rejection letter.

“They are using Mrs. Man in exchange for access to the garden,” she said.

"I know."

“You know too much too late.”

Huy was silent.

Lam and Mai returned at noon. Mai brought with her the seed station's records, confirming that Ms. Luu had provided old tangerine seedlings to six households. Seed recipients must sign a commitment to maintain the water source and not fill ditches without the consent of other households.

“Where was this commitment made?” Thu asked.

"The seed station saved a copy. The original has the seal of the old commune."

“Is there the word Mrs. Luu?”

"Have."

Lam placed a copy of the photo on the table. Ms. Luu's signature is at the bottom, next to it is a fingerprint. The copy has an additional name with the last name cut off: “Dang…”

Huy saw the name and his face changed.

“Dang Dung,” he said.

“Tree demolition contractor?” Thu asked.

“Dung is Van's cousin.”

Lam turned back. “You knew but didn't say anything?”

"I only knew Dung worked in construction. I didn't know he was the one who entered the garden."

“You know too much too late,” Thu repeated.

Huy did not react.

Mai opens her mother's book. On the last page, Ms. Luu wrote in brown ink:

"Dung owes three days' work. Not allowed to stand at the valve."

“Dung Have you been in your country?" Quan asked over the phone, hearing from the hospital.

Mai nodded. “He followed my mother to learn how to open valves. Then he left to do construction work.”

The letter connects the separate pieces: Dung knows the tank, Khai knows the survey, and Ms. Van controls the contract. Huy could be the one who signed without fully understanding. But there is still a shortage of people holding the phone to film them in the pool.

In the afternoon, the four people went to Ms. Bay's house and Mr. Hoa's house. They took confirmation of the right to use the water line, Ms. Luu's workday, and that Father Thu kept the agreement. Each person asked a different question: "If the garden is sold, who gets to decide the water line?", "Is Mrs. Man assigned to manage it by her father?", "Does Mrs. Luu ever open the valve?"

The answers are not exactly the same, but they all have the same thing: water lines are never the property of just one house.

Mr. Bay gave Thu a small wooden box.

“Tan sent me to keep. I thought he said it was for a souvenir.”

Inside is an old rubber stamp, shaped like a circle divided into six parts. The lower side has the words "An Loc Fatherland".

“You kept it for ten years?”

"Twenty."

“Why only now?”

"Because before, Tan said it was not yet time to open the ring."

Letter receiving seal. She understood that her father didn't just hide the paper in the garden; He scattered copies and evidence among many people, as if setting up a network in case he was no longer there.

On the way home, Huy received a call. He listened to a few sentences, then braked on the sidelines.

“The company said if I didn't sign, they would sue me for disclosing internal data.”

Thu sat in the passenger seat. “Are you going to sign?”

"I do not know."

“You could lose your job.”

"I know."

“You could lose your compensation.”

"I know."

“But you still asked me because you wanted my permission.”

Huy looked through the windshield. “I don't want anyone else to decide for me.”

Mail not answered. She remembered what her father said in the video: the land cannot hold anyone if the living do not speak. Huy is trying to say it before it's too late, but she can't turn it into forgiveness.

At night, they put up a tarpaulin in front of Mrs. Man's hut, clearly stating that this was the area with disputed assets and documents. Lam set up a camera to record the whole scene. Mai sleeps with Mrs. Man.

Near midnight, a figure appeared at the north fence. This time there was no car. One person climbed over, holding pliers.

Lam signaled everyone not to turn on the lights. Thu called the police, and Huy went around to the south. The other person approached the hut and cut the temporary sealing rope. He opened the door.

Mrs. Man turned on the oil lamp.

“Looking for what?”

The other person was startled. His face is Dang Dung. There is a long scar on his wrist.

Huy blocked the way from behind. “Dung.”

Dung put down the pliers. “I only take things from the company.”

“Did the company send you?”

“There is an inspection order.”

“Where is the paper?”

Dung did not give it.

Thu turned the camera towards him. “You went into the tank and cut down the tree?”

“I'm not tight.”

“Who cut it?”

Dung looked at Huy, then at Mrs. Man. “The tree is located in the survey area.”

“The survey area does not have a map,” Huy said.

Dung took a step back. Outside the gate, there was the sound of a police car. He suddenly rushed through the back door and ran towards the fruitless tree.

Lam chased after him, but Dung jumped over the ditch. On the ground he left an oily glove and a small key.

The key has a circle divided into six parts.

Mai picked it up, her face pale.

“My mother used to keep this key.”

Thu looked towards the tank.

They used the handle of a hoe to knock around the floor of the hut. The hollow sound echoed under Mrs. Man's feet, but the location did not match Tank room found. Maybe the hut is located on the air line, or there is a small compartment separated from the main tank. Huy called an irrigation expert, who warned against digging while the rain was saturated the ground.

“If we don't dig, people down there can destroy the wall,” Quan said over the phone.

“If you dig wrong, the whole hut will collapse,” Huy replied.

Mrs. Man took a basin and placed it on the floor. The sound of tapping echoed through the brass surface more clearly. Three beats, rest, two beats. Mai recognized it as Mrs. Luu's calling string in the notebook.

“There are people down there,” she said.

The letter told everyone to shut up. They knock again three beats, rest, two beats. Below landed a long beat.

Lam asked: "Who is that?"

There was no answer, just the sound of metal dragging on tile.

Huy looked at the wooden lid under the cabinet. "It could be Dung. He already knows the tunnel."

“Dung is at the medical station,” Thu said.

Huy called to check. Dung is no longer in bed; he left without notice. The police were immediately notified, but the rain made the road slippery and they could not arrive immediately.

Mrs. Man did not wait. She showed Quan the location of a leaf-shaped brick, saying there was an old exhaust ditch underneath. If the trench is opened, the water will flow out into the yard and reduce the pressure below. Quan followed suit, using a small chisel to open the lid. The murky water spilled out, carrying with it a piece of silver cloth.

“There are real people in the cabin,” Lam said.

Thu took a lamp and looked through the slit. A hand passed and then withdrew. There are scratches on the finger.

“Dung?” Huy called.

Don't reply.

They widened the slot enough to place water pipes, not enough for people to get through. The letter clearly stated that they would not pull people out by force; If anyone is below, back away from the wall.

Three minutes later, the tapping changed to a short series. Mrs. Man recognized it as the "unlock" symbol.

Huy turned towards the tank.

“We need Mrs. Luu's key.”

Not from pipes.

It was the sound of someone tapping on an empty wall.

Thu used a flashlight to look along the floor of the hut, looking for signs of cracks. A crack ran from the base of the cabinet to the west wall, but no water spilled out. The person below may be in the inspection compartment, not completely stuck.

“We'll open the vents,” she said. “No one can arbitrarily knock down the wall.”

Dung knocked three times again. Mai read in her mother's notebook: it was a signal to request a key. She asked Mrs. Man if she still had the old key. She shook her head, but remembered Thu's father once hid a piece of metal in the seed scale.

Lam ran to the packing house. At the bottom of the scale, he found an arc-shaped piece of copper. It didn't open the lock, but when placed in the groove in the floor, a brick slid aside. Under the brick is a smaller vent, blowing out the smell of earth and oil.

Huy used the camera to sneak in. The image shows a tunnel, a cloth bag and a figure crawling towards the exit. The figure is not Dung; His left leg dragged.

“Khai,” Huy said.

Thu called the police and said through the slot: "Mr. Khai, we know you are there. The southern exit is guarded. Please back out of the pool."

There was no reply. The figure continued to move.

Quan called over the phone to close the auxiliary valve so the water wouldn't rise. Mai took the diagram and showed how to open another outlet. They divide the work, no one interferes with the others' work. For the first time, Mrs. Man gave the key to Thu without keeping any instructions.

“Tan did it alone for too long,” she said. “Don't make us repeat it.”

A lock sounded in the background. The door in the tunnel has opened.

Under the hut, there was the sound of running water.

Not from pipes.

It's the sound of someone typing into a hollow wall.