Chapter 24 — The House Without Me

“Let's start again.”

Duong Chi looked at him blankly. After a while, she suddenly burst out laughing.

“Tu Bach.”

“I never thought about starting over with you.”

Chu Tu Bach's face changed suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“In the past, I took the initiative to go abroad.”

“Because I don't want to marry into the Chu family, nor do I want to be anyone's wife for the rest of my life.”

"I came back because Duong Am got everything that originally belonged to me."

“My parents took her back.”

“I married her.”

“Everyone advised me to give up.”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she no longer pretended to be weak.

“I just want to prove that as long as I want, everyone will still give in to me.”

“Old houses are like that.”

“The gallery is like that.”

“Me too.”

Chu Tu Bach glared at her.

“So you don't love me at all?”

“Once loved.”

Duong Chi spoke softly.

"But I want to know even more, since you've clearly married her, will you force her to back down for me?"

"Every time I force her to give in."

"So I feel secure."

She passed Chu Tu Bach and entered the main hall.

“What I want, has never been you.”

"It's the appearance of you throwing her away because you chose me."

Chu Tu Bach stood still in the empty side room, not moving for a long time. At this moment, he could finally no longer push all the blame onto Duong Chi. He bought the old house. The apricot tree he ordered someone to cut down. The image is that he approved it for use. Every time he forced me to give in, it was from his own mouth. No one forced him. He was just convinced that I wouldn't leave. * Divorce proceedings lasted three months. At first, Chu Tu Bach refused to sign. Then make a claim for property compensation. I do not accept either. By the fourth month, he finally signed the agreement. After the divorce procedure is completed, the lawyer sends the related documents to Hac Son. That day, the old library had just completed reinforcing the first main beam. I just glanced at it, then locked it in the drawer. Don't feel sad. Nor do I feel as relieved as being liberated. I just feel like a matter that was originally finished a long time ago has finally been fully completed. Half a year later, Uncle Luong's carpentry class officially opened. The first batch of students had only six people. Four females, two males. They huddled in the hallway, clumsily learning how to flick the ink string. I found the dried and shriveled apricot seeds at the bottom of the old clothes trunk. Try planting it next to the new hospital wall. Everyone said that after being buried for so long, it probably won't sprout. But I still water it every day. In spring, a green dot sprouts from the ground. Also that day, Chu Tu Bach sent a set of documents. Inside are documents transferring ownership and business rights of the old house under the name of Chu Family Cultural Tourism Company. Attached is a handwritten letter. He said, Chi Vien has stopped working. Duong Chi went abroad again. Duong's parents wanted to turn the gallery into a memorial house, but he did not agree. He said the old house had been returned to its original name. The apricot tree position has also been left vacant. As long as I sign my name, the house will belong to me again. After reading it, I sent the documents back intact. Do not send a reply. Uncle Luong saw the leaflet Express bill of lading, asked me: "Do you really not need it anymore?"

“No need anymore.”

“That's where I grew up, after all.”

I squatted next to the new apricot tree, cultivating its soil.

“I have grown up.”

No need to rely on a house for proof anymore. At dusk, the students cleaned up their tools. Someone asked me, the new yard still doesn't have a name, do I want to hang a horizontal painting like the old one. I thought for a moment.

“No need.”

“Why?”