Chapter 16 — The Heiress and Her Scholarship Friend

The family meeting was urgently convened on Sunday night in the large living room of Do Gia villa, with the full presence of Mr. Thanh Nam, grandmother, and Khanh Vy — a meeting that she had a hunch would determine much of her life's fate in the coming months.

"The company's financial situation has reached an alarming level," Grandma began, her voice unusually serious, placing a thick file on the table. "Without additional funding within the next three weeks, we will be forced to sell off a portion of our strategic holdings to outside investors — something this family has not had to do in three generations."

"Vu Gia has agreed to inject emergency capital," Mr. Thanh Nam continued, his voice filled with fatigue, "but the accompanying condition is that the engagement ceremony between you and Vu Khang must be held in the next two weeks, much earlier than the original plan, as an official commitment to strengthen the long-term cooperative relationship between the two families."

Khanh Vy felt cold all over her body at that news. "Two weeks?" she asked again, her trembling voice unable to hide her panic. "I need more time to—"

"This is not the time to hesitate, Khanh Vy," the grandmother interrupted, her cold eyes looking straight at her granddaughter. "The future of hundreds of employees, the honor of the entire family, all depend on your decision right now. I hope you are mature enough to put the common good above temporary personal feelings."

"This is not a temporary emotion," Khanh Vy replied, her voice starting to become harder even though tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I made it clear from the beginning that I don't want this marriage. Forcing me just because of the company's financial difficulties doesn't make it any more right."

Mr. Thanh Nam looked at his daughter, his eyes full of contradictions between love and the heavy family responsibility that was weighing on his shoulders. "I know this isn't fair to you," he said, his voice choking. "But if the company collapses, not only my family will suffer, but also hundreds of other families who depend on work here. I have no other choice."

Khanh Vy stood up, unable to contain her intense emotions. "So that means your happiness isn't as important as the numbers on the balance sheet?" she asked, her voice cracking with pain, before turning and running straight to her own room, leaving behind the heavy eyes of her father and grandmother.

That night, Khanh Vy texted Minh Dang, recounting the entire situation in an unprecedentedly desperate tone. Receiving the message, Minh Dang immediately called, trying to reassure her through his voice even though he could not help but feel helpless in the face of an increasingly serious situation.

"I won't let this happen so easily," Minh Dang said, his voice resolute despite not being sure what he could do about a financial problem far beyond the capabilities of a normal high school student. "There has to be a way to help your family get out of this situation without a forced marriage."

"What are you going to do?" Khanh Vy asked, her voice still choked but beginning to glimmer with a glimmer of hope.

"I don't know exactly yet," Minh Dang admitted, "but I will find out. Perhaps Mr. Vinh, who helped me connect with the scholarship fund, will know someone in the financial world who can give me some useful advice."

The next morning, Minh Dang met teacher Vinh at the first recess, briefly presented the situation without revealing too many sensitive details about Khanh Vy's family. Teacher Vinh, after listening, pondered for a moment before offering to introduce him to an old friend who was currently working at a venture capital fund specializing in supporting businesses facing sudden financial difficulties - a small possibility but enough to rekindle hope.

"I don't promise anything," Teacher Vinh said, looking seriously at his student. "But if the company really has potential and is just experiencing temporary liquidity problems, there may be a solution other than relying on an arranged marriage."

Minh Dang thanked his teacher profusely, his heart filled with new hope even though he knew the road ahead was still very uncertain. He decided not to rush to tell Khanh Vy this news, afraid that if he wasn't successful, she would be even more disappointed while she was under so much pressure.

That afternoon, Minh Dang told Bao Tram and Gia Huy about the meeting with teacher Vinh, not hiding the anxiety and fragile hope mixed in his heart.

"Let me ask my dad," Gia Huy said, his voice full of enthusiasm. "My father is an auditor for many small and medium-sized enterprises. Maybe he can give some useful legal advice, or point out another direction besides borrowing capital from Vu Gia."

"Thank you," Minh Dang replied, touched by his friend's enthusiasm. "But I don't want to drag your family into this trouble if it's not absolutely necessary."

"This is not a problem," Bao Tram interjected, her voice firm. "This is helping friends in difficult times. If the positions were reversed, I'm sure Khanh Vy would do the same thing for any of us."

In the afternoon, Gia Huy called home and briefly explained the situation to his father over the phone, deliberately not mentioning Do Gia's specific name to avoid leaking sensitive information. After the conversation, he returned to inform Minh Dang of hopeful news.

"My dad said, if the company is having difficulty because its partner suddenly foreclosed on its debt before maturity, it can ask the commercial court to order a temporary suspension of debt repayment obligations while looking for alternative capital sources, as long as it can be proven that the company still has the ability to pay in the long term," Gia Huy explained. "This is a completely legal measure, not uncommon in the business world."

That news made Minh Dang full of excitement, immediately texting Khanh Vy to request an urgent meeting to share this important information. That evening, at a small coffee shop near the school, Minh Dang presented everything he had learned, his eyes full of hope.

"This could be a solution to help your father have more time, instead of hastily accepting Vu Gia's conditions," he said, his voice full of enthusiasm. "You can try suggesting this option to dad."

Khanh Vy looked at him, her eyes deeply moved by that devotion. "You did all of this, in just one day, for me?" she asked, her voice choked up.

"I will do anything in my power," Minh Dang replied, gently holding her hand, "so that you don't have to sacrifice your happiness just because you have no other choice."

But what Minh Dang could not have predicted was that this act of silently helping him, when it reached Do Gia's grandmother through an unknown source a few days later - perhaps from the housekeeper who accidentally heard Khanh Vy's phone call - would be interpreted in a completely different direction - a direction that could completely destroy the fragile trust that Khanh Vy's family had just begun to have for him.

Khanh Vy, full of hope after the conversation with Minh Dang, decided to present the plan to postpone the debt repayment obligation to her father the next night, carefully preparing in advance the most convincing arguments she could think of. Mr. Thanh Nam listened with a thoughtful expression, did not object immediately as she feared, but asked for more time to consult with the company's team of private lawyers.

"This is a direction worth considering," he admitted, his voice a little more relieved than before. "Where did you get this information from?"

Khanh Vy hesitated for a moment before answering, not wanting to hide the truth. "A friend of mine helped me find out, dad. He asked his family acquaintance in the auditing industry for advice."

That short answer, even though it had no bad intentions, unintentionally planted a question in Mr. Thanh Nam's mind that he had not yet had time to put into words, while from the next room, grandmother, who had been silently listening to the entire conversation through the half-closed door, clasped her hands tightly on the armrests of the chair, her eyes showing high vigilance at the information she had just heard, in her mind she had already begun to form a suspicious hypothesis about the true motive behind that unexpected "help" of Mr. Thanh Nam. a poor student with no connections to the business elite — a theory she decided to personally investigate, before it had a chance to cause any greater damage to the honor and future of the entire Do Gia family.