Chapter 11 — The Light Outside The Door

The frequency with which I reply to you is not fixed. Sometimes the response is the same day, sometimes a day later. The number of words is not much. "It's okay.", "I bought it.", "He always hates me.", "The color combination is not bad." But I discovered one thing —— Every time I replied, in less than thirty seconds, his message showed "Read". He is always waiting. Day forty-six. Tran Man Ninh's story has had results. Lam Tu sent a neatly arranged set of documents. The evidence is extremely clear: Those three photos with cropped angles came from the phone of assistant Tran Man Ninh, the person who registered the WeChat account and sent it to me, who is also an employee of her company. But what's more important is —— Co Dien Chu never "dealt with" her. What he did was even more amazing. He suspended ALL ongoing cooperation projects between Co Thi Group and Tran Man Ninh's company. Noiseless. No reason given. Expired contracts are not renewed, new projects are not approved. In the business world, everyone understands what this action means. Tran Man Ninh was cut off from his biggest resource. She sent countless messages to Co Dien Chu. Begging for an explanation, begging for a meeting, questioning. All are unreadable. She tried to pass the word through the Co family. Mrs. Co received the phone call and said only one sentence: "My family's Dien Chu matter is not yet the turn of outsiders to worry about." Then hung up. Tran Man Ninh finally collapsed at a party. It was an industry gathering, attended by many mutual acquaintances. Someone didn't know if they really didn't know or did it on purpose, right in front of her asked: "Man Ninh, I heard that your cooperation project with Co Thi is broken? What's going on?" Tran Man Ninh's hand holding the glass of wine trembled. She smiled and said: "A small matter, under negotiation." "Is that so? But I heard that it's not just that project, but the whole thing——" "That's enough!" The wine glass hit the table hard. The wine splashed and splattered on the white tablecloth like an ugly withered flower. The whole hall fell silent. Tran Man Ninh's face was pale, his lips trembled. Then she stood up, picked up her bag, and almost ran away from that place. In the hallway, someone heard her calling, interrupted——"...On what basis do you treat me like that... What did I do... Because a woman is no longer here... Are you crazy..."No one picked up that call. After that day, Tran Man Ninh completely disappeared from Co Dien Chu's circle of relationships. When Khuong Nhiem told me this story, her tone was rare without a sharp edge: "Nhuoc Diem, I may... have changed my view of this man a little bit. Just a little bit." I looked out the window at the Seine River of Paris. The color of the river water in winter is very dark. "Yes." "Are you planning on going back to the country?" I thought for a moment. "Finish the picture first."* 【Chapter 10】 Three months later. Beijing Capital Airport. Terminal T3. The plane landed at 2:10 p.m. Early March in Beijing is still cold. But the sunlight is very beautiful, shining through the giant glass wall of the station, warm. I pulled my suitcase and walked out to the arrival hall. The crowd was noisy and bustling. People welcome relatives, people go on business trips, people hug each other dearly. I lowered my head to find my phone, preparing to call a car. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw someone. Right, twenty meters away. In the middle of the crowd, he stood there. Black coat, gray scarf —— exactly like the outfit in front of the hotel three months ago. Holding a bouquet of flowers in her hand. White lisianthus. You've gotten thinner. I took one look and immediately recognized it. The facial features become more angular, the jaw seems to be carved with a knife. But the eyes are very bright. So bright that——