Chapter 11 — The Heiress's Selection of a Husband

Since the chance meeting in the old storage room, Chu Vinh Phong began to regularly visit the kitchen in the afternoon, when the dinner preparation work was not too busy, bringing all kinds of snacks bought from outside to share with the young maids in the house. He didn't seem like a rich kid from a tycoon. On the contrary, he always laughed and joked freely, even rolling up his sleeves to help Mai carry things without any fuss.

"Miss Thu, I need someone to help me search for old documents for the group's twenty-fifth anniversary campaign. You know that archive room well, can you give me a hand?" Vinh Phong asked one afternoon, his tone was as natural as asking for a favor from a close friend, not giving orders to a housekeeper.

Anh Thu was secretly happy because this was the perfect excuse for her to continue going in and out of the storage room without causing suspicion, especially after Bach Dinh began to pay attention to her. "Yes, I'm willing to help Uncle Ut, but I'm afraid I won't do well, so don't blame me."

"Don't worry, I have something to show you. Besides, I see that you work carefully and will definitely help a lot." Vinh Phong smiled brightly and led her back to the familiar dusty room.

During the following afternoons, the two of them searched together through dozens of boxes of documents and old photo albums, looking for images and stories that could be used for the upcoming media campaign. Vinh Phong worked while chattering and telling all kinds of stories, from the childhood memories of the three brothers, to the pressure he had to endure when born into a prestigious family but was always compared to his two talented brothers.

"Eldest Brother is always serious, and Second Brother is so talented that dad always sets an example for us to follow. As for you, people only remember you because of your fun online advertising campaigns, no one takes what you do seriously." Vinh Phong said, his voice was a bit self-deprecating but still maintained his inherent optimism.

"I think Ut doesn't need to compare himself to anyone. Everyone has their own strengths. He's good at connecting and making others feel comfortable when around him. That's also a talent that not everyone has." Anh Thu said, the sincere comment came from what she felt during the time of contact, not an ordinary social flattery.

Vinh Phong looked at her with a slightly surprised look, seemingly not used to being taken seriously like that by someone. "You sound so nice. It's not like people talk to you at all. Most people in this family just see you as the carefree youngest brother."

From that moment, a sincere friendship began to blossom between the two, unencumbered by class gap or self-interest. Vinh Phong gradually saw Anh Thu as a close friend, willing to share his thoughts that he rarely confides with anyone else in the family, and Anh Thu also felt relieved to have someone to talk to, although she always had to be careful not to reveal any clues about her true purpose.

One afternoon, while searching for documents in the archive room, Anh Thu realized there was a separate area separated by a small iron door, locked with an old mechanical lock, deep in the corner of the room that she had never had a chance to explore. She curiously asked Vinh Phong about that area.

"Ah, that is the archive of the corporation's old personnel records, from the time when it operated on a small scale. I heard that inside are all the records of employees who quit decades ago, and now no one cares about them anymore." Vinh Phong replied, without any doubt about her special interest in this area.

Anh Thu's heart beat faster. Old personnel files, most likely containing information about employees who worked at the same time as her father, could become important witnesses to the case twenty-five years ago. "Does Ut have the key to that area? I'm so curious, I don't know if there's anything still kept in there or not."

"Let me ask the administrative office. It seems like the spare key is still kept somewhere." Vinh Phong replied, not having any doubts about the true motive behind her request, simply thinking that maybe there was useful material in there for his media campaign.

A few days later, Vinh Phong indeed asked for the key from the administrative office under the pretext of searching for historical documents to serve the commemorative campaign, and he and Anh Thu opened that small iron door on a deserted afternoon. Inside were rows of dust-covered iron shelves, containing hundreds of old personnel files, arranged haphazardly over time.

"You just feel free to find it. I'll go out and make a business call. If you have anything, just call me." Vinh Phong said, unintentionally giving Anh Thu valuable private time to search without anyone monitoring.

Ms. Thu quickly flipped through the documents in chronological order, her heart pounding with hope. She found an area where the financial accounting department's records were kept from twenty-five years ago, where her own father's records should have been. But when she flipped to the correct position in alphabetical order, she only saw a blank space, the file bearing Ton Dac Nghia's name had disappeared without a trace, perhaps destroyed right after he was charged.

She stood silently in front of that empty space for a long time, her fingers lightly brushing through the dust covering the iron shelf where her father's name should have been. A feeling of disappointment mixed with anger rose in her heart, as if the person who harmed her father had deliberately erased all traces proving that he had ever existed and had devoted his youth to this corporation. She took a deep breath, told herself not to let her emotions overwhelm her reason, and continued to patiently search the shelves around her in the hope of finding something to fill that void.

However, right next to that space, she found another set of documents still intact, bearing the name of an accountant who worked during the same period: Dinh Van Tho. The file clearly stated his old contact address and family phone number. Although old, they could still be clues to finding this person's current whereabouts. Ms. Thu quickly copied all the information into the small notebook she brought with her, her heart pounding because of the new hope that had just flashed.

When Vinh Phong returned, Anh Thu promptly put away the notebook and pretended to be rearranging the files as if nothing had happened. "Did you find anything?" He asked, his voice filled with excitement.

"Yes, I think there are some old files that are quite interesting, but they probably won't help Ut's campaign much." Anh Thu replied, skillfully hiding the true joy welling up in her heart.

"It's okay, thank you for helping me search. Having you help me with this job is much less boring." Vinh Phong smiled brightly and locked the iron door, completely unaware that he had just accidentally become the person who opened the door leading to the most important clue in Anh Thu's journey to find the truth.

That night, Anh Thu lay on the bed, fondling the piece of paper containing information about Mr. Dinh Van Tho, with an unprecedented and strong hope rising in her heart. If that accountant was still alive, and if he was willing to testify to the truth, this could be the final piece of the puzzle to help her complete the picture of exonerating her father. She was secretly grateful for the impartiality and kindness of Vinh Phong, the new friend she had in the midst of this secret palace full of calculations, even though in her heart she still felt guilty for taking advantage of his trust for her own purposes.

She thought about how Vinh Phong always treated her like an equal friend, without any class distinction, completely different from Vinh Bach's scrutiny or Vinh Khang's keen observation. Perhaps it was because Vinh Phong had never had to shoulder any great responsibility in the corporation that he could maintain a rare innocence and sincerity among a family where all relationships were covered by calculations of interests. Anh Thu promised herself that no matter how the truth was revealed later, she would find a way to protect this pure friendship, not letting it be tainted by the conspiracies and hatred that had followed her family for a quarter of a century.

She folded the paper, put it in the notebook along with the other clues she had collected, then turned off the light and fell asleep in a much more relieved mood than the previous nights. Tomorrow, she would find a way to contact Mr. Dinh Van Tho, even though she did not know if that old phone number still works or not, but it was the only ray of hope she had right now, and she would not let it slip away just because of impatience or fear.