Chapter 92 — The Medicine Bearer Through the Chaos

Testimony In Prison

Dai Ly Tu was located in a hidden corner of the capital, the towering stone walls were covered with moss, the air inside was unusually cold and damp even in the middle of the hot summer. Tinh Yen followed the warden leading the way through the dark corridors, her footsteps echoed off the stone walls, her heart was heavy with a feeling that was both familiar and strange - she had been on the other side of these iron bars, during the days when she was falsely accused of poisoning, and now, she returned here with a completely different personality.

Kinh Ba Van walked beside her all the way, not saying much, but occasionally looking at her with discreet concern, as if trying to assess how ready she was for what was about to face. "You don't have to be tough in front of me." He spoke softly, as the two stopped in front of the iron door leading into the felony detention area. "If what he says makes you unbearable, you can stop at any time, I will listen to the rest for you."

"You need to hear this for yourself." Tinh Yen replied, taking a deep breath to calm down. "I've been avoiding this truth for too long, Lord Chancellor. It's time for me to face it, whatever it may be."

He nodded, didn't say anything else, just signaled the warden to open the door. Inside, the atmosphere became even more stuffy. The only light came through a small window high up near the ceiling, enough to clearly illuminate the figure of a man sitting huddled in the corner of the room.

Chu Dac Hoanh sat crouched in a corner of a small cell, his appearance completely haggard compared to the image of the imposing, affable Doc Luong she had met in Nghinh Phong. When he saw Tinh Yen appear, he was slightly startled, then slowly stood up, his eyes revealing a complexity that was difficult to name - both fear and as if some burden had been lifted.

"Doctor Do." He spoke, his voice hoarse from many days of detention. "I didn't think you would actually come."

"You said you wanted to see me before reporting." Tinh Yen replied, keeping a careful distance, her eyes not leaving him even though an uncontrollable wave of emotions was rising in her heart. "I'm here. What do you want to say?"

Chu Dac Hoanh was silent for a long time, his hands clasped together, then finally spoke, his voice trembling but clear. "I know you come from Dong Hai town, from a fishing village called Lach Dua." He said. "I think, you deserve to hear the truth from my own mouth, before it becomes part of the case file, just dry numbers in the court books."

Tinh Yen's heart beat slowed down, it felt like time in this small prison cell was slowing down to the point of almost stopping. "Say it." She said, her voice trying to stay steady even though it trembled slightly.

"Thirteen years ago, Can Ba Thong, then newly in charge of the Ho Chi Minh Ministry, began building a network of food and grass relief aid throughout the towns far from the capital, where supervision was the loosest." Chu Dac Hoanh spoke in a monotone voice as if he was letting go of a burden that had been on his shoulders for many years. "The year the epidemic broke out in Dong Hai town, the relief sent by royal order was supposed to be new rice and adequate medicine. But according to Lord Can's orders, a large part was exchanged with moldy rice that had been in stock for many years, diluted with poor quality medicine, so that the difference could be sold out and put into his and his accomplices' private pockets."

Tinh Yen stood still, clearly feeling each word like a knife cutting into her heart, although deep down, she had anticipated this for a long time. "So that means..." She said, her voice hoarse. "Relief salary for the July epidemic year in Lach Dua..."

"We cannot say with absolute certainty which specific shipment it was." Chu Dac Hoanh said, bowing his head to avoid her eyes. "At that time, I was just a low-level clerk in his network, not authorized to know all the details. But I can confirm that Dong Hai town was on the list of areas where relief salaries were exchanged for many years, and the year the epidemic broke out in your village coincided with one of the largest exchanges that I have ever known."

A heavy silence enveloped the cell. Tinh Yen closed her eyes, trying to control the anger and pain swirling in her heart, the image of Mrs. Khue in her exhausted last days fighting the epidemic, the image of Dang Thi Van lying motionless on the hospital bed, all rushed back at the same time with a new layer of meaning, much heavier.

"Why?" She asked, her voice choked. "Why can one human life, hundreds of human lives, be exchanged just because of the greed of someone who has enough power and benefits?"

Chu Dac Hoanh did not answer immediately, just bowed his head low, his voice mumbling. "I don't have a worthy answer to that question, Doctor Do." He said. "I can only say that I am not the first person who was cornered by him and forced to get involved in things I knew were wrong. It is said that twenty years ago, there was another person, a much bigger official than me, who also tried to expose him, but in the end, he was the one who paid the price."

That sentence made Tinh Yen suddenly freeze, a premonition suddenly connected the disparate pieces in her mind - Kinh Ba Van's unfinished words, Ngan Ba Thuyen's confiding avoidance, all now seemed to be converging on the same truth much greater than she had ever imagined.

"What do you know about that person?" She asked urgently, stepping closer.

"I only heard the wind, I don't know the details." Chu Dac Hoanh replied, shaking his head. "That was something that happened long before I joined his network. But I remember, one time Lord Can was drunk and mentioned that he had to 'clean up' a troublesome royal physician in the past, accompanied by a laugh that makes me shiver to this day."

Kinh Ba Van, standing quietly in the back throughout the conversation, his face now completely pale, his hands clasped behind his back so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Tinh Yen noticed that change, but before he could ask anything more, the prison warden spoke up to remind him that the visiting time had ended.

Before leaving, Tinh Yen turned to look at Chu Dac Hoanh one last time. "Will you fully declare everything you know before Dai Ly Tu?" she asked.

"I will tell you everything." He replied, his voice tired but determined. "I have lived too long in fear and guilt, Doctor Do. If my testimony can help bring Can Ba Thong to the light of justice, and help you find the answers you deserve, then at least, that is the only thing I can do to atone for part of my mistakes."

Leaving Dai Ly Tu, Tinh Yen and Kinh Ba Van walked in silence for a long way, each person immersed in their own heavy thoughts. Finally, when they arrived at the gate of Thai Y Vien, Kinh Ba Van stopped walking and turned to look at her, his eyes carrying a new determination.

"Doctor Do." He said, his voice was deep and heavy, different from usual. "I think, it's time for you to know the whole truth, not only from Doctor Ngan, but also from me. Tonight, come to my private room after Tuat hours. There are things I have been silent about for too long, and now, after everything I have just heard, I can no longer keep them buried."

Tinh Yen nodded, her heart trembling and filled with a strong determination to know the truth, no matter how heavy and painful it was - because she understood that, only when she fully knew the past, could she truly move forward into the future with a heart no longer entangled with open questions.

The remaining afternoon passed unusually slowly. She returned to the guest house, trying to get started with some of the daily tasks of a newly appointed physician, but her mind kept returning to the words Chu Dac Hoanh had just said, to Kinh Ba Van's pale face when hearing about "a troublesome royal physician". She reached out to baby Tep, hugging him tightly for a moment longer than usual, as if that small warmth could help her keep her spirits up for what lay ahead.

"What's wrong with you?" Baby Tep asked, looking up at her with the worried eyes of a child who has become too accustomed to reading adults' emotions through many days of wandering.

"I'm okay." Tinh Yen replied, patting the child's head, trying to force a reassuring smile. "It's just that there are a few things I need to deal with tonight, but don't worry, I'll be fine."

As the afternoon light gradually fell, dyeing a pale orange color on the tiled roofs of the Thai Hospital, Tinh Yen stood silently by the window of her room, her hand tightly clasping the half piece of white jade that she always carried with her, waiting for Tuat's watch - the moment when, perhaps, the final questions about her master's life would be completely answered.