Chapter 4 — The owner of the car shop behind the school gate

Vy did not immediately ask Khoa about the garage drawings. She waited until the two of them were inspecting a red car with squealing brakes, because she knew that a difficult question could easily be answered by reflex if asked while everything was quiet.

Khoa removed the front wheel and placed it on the rack. “What are you looking at?”

“I was looking for the right time to ask.”

“Ask about what?”

“Do you know that the area behind the gate can be renovated?”

Khoa stopped. The sound of the car in the yard was still running, but the distance between the two people suddenly became clearer.

"I knew someone was coming to measure. I didn't know the final version."

“Do you have a display area for Van Hung's electric vehicles?”

Khoa looked at her, this time without smiling. “You know.”

“I saw the drawing at home.”

“Your house?”

“My father was involved.”

Khoa put down the wrench. “So are you asking to warn us, or are you asking to see how we react?”

Vy was touched in the right place. "I don't know yet."

“At least this sentence is true.”

“Can you stop talking like I'm always hiding something?”

“You just said your father was involved after asking me if I knew.”

Vy inhaled. She wanted to explain that her father did not tell everything, that she had just seen the drawings, that she did not want the project of turning Mrs. Man's shop into a gray brick. But those sentences sound like someone defending themselves.

"I'm sorry for not saying it right away. I don't know who approved the drawing."

Khoa picked up the wrench. "I don't know either. So there's nothing to argue about now."

“Not arguing doesn't mean not doing anything.”

“Yes. But what to do first?”

Vy looked at the red car. “Fix the brakes.”

Khoa nodded. “Exactly as before.”

Two people bent over the wheel. Vy holds the brake handle, Khoa adjusts the rope. She began to understand why he hated big answers. A slightly misaligned brake can cause problems for the driver, but a premature declaration will only make people worry before they know where to fix it.

At noon, Quynh Chi sent a message to the group: "There is a post saying the club was created to advertise electric cars. Who has authentic information?"

Huy responded with a photo of the school's old notice. The club is described as a skills program, without the name of the car company. Vy read and felt that the Van Hung logo on the drawing looked like an ink stain that had not yet dried.

“Don't respond right away,” Quynh Chi texted. “I'm checking the source.”

Bao sent a wrench icon. “If the post is correct, will I be able to learn to drive an electric vehicle?”

Khoa: "You haven't fixed the tire yet."

Bao: "I can fix my spirit."

Khoa: "The spirit cannot pump the cake."

The group laughed, but Vy didn't laugh for long. She asked Quynh Chi if she could check who posted it. Quynh Chi refuses to track anonymous users if there is no serious violation. She only checks the content, source and photo usage rights.

“What if the poster intentionally defames?” Vy asked.

"I answered with confirmed data. Didn't turn suspicion into a manhunt."

Khoa looked at her. “Have you heard?”

“I'm listening.”

“Don't find the account yourself using your father's acquaintance.”

Vy turned. “I haven't said I will.”

“You don't need to say it.”

“Do you really think I can do everything with acquaintances?”

Khoa responded slowly: "I think you have many ways that others don't. That's a difference, not an accusation."

Vy didn't know whether to be annoyed or grateful. She chose to open the book.

In the afternoon, Ms. Van announced that the school would have a survey of the area behind the gate on Friday. Board of directors representative, A design unit and sponsor will accompany. Clubs are required to store tools neatly and not arbitrarily move obstacles.

Mrs. Man heard the news and pulled down the shop's curtains early. Khoa asked his mother if she wanted to meet the surveyor. She said if they only measured the width, she had nothing to say; If they asked her if she could sell the store, she would answer.

“Do you sell it?” Khoa asked.

"This store is not rich, but it educates children until the twelfth grade. Don't ask me in a tone like you've decided for me."

Vy stood nearby and heard. Mrs. Man didn't look at her, but her words made her ears feel hot.

In the evening, my father emailed Vy about the survey schedule. He wrote that she should not attend as Van Hung's representative, because she was a student at the school. Vy replied that she also did not want to represent the company; she wanted to know what the club would be asked.

Dad called right away. “You're turning studying into a confrontation.”

“I'm just asking for the club's rights.”

“The club has no right to decide on the construction project.”

“But garage users have the right to ask.”

“Who did you learn to say these sentences from?”

Vy looked at her oily hands. “From the car repairman who doesn't ask if someone is rich or not before looking at the brakes.”

Father was silent. He said he would talk later, then hung up.

On the day of the survey, the team prepared a questionnaire. Huy asked about the area, Khoa asked about the exit, Quynh Chi asked about image usage rights, Bao asked if there was a place to put the cake. Vy asked who would be responsible for operations if the new design was completed.

A design representative named Khai arrived with an assistant. He wore clean shoes and looked at the garage as if he were looking at undeveloped land. He asked about the number of vehicles, peak times and the possibility of placing advertising screens. Uncle Tu replied that the number of vehicles had increased on Monday, and Khoa added that there were many students walking to walk the vehicles because they did not have enough money to repair them.

Khai took notes but did not ask further.

Vy asked: "If the screen is placed here, which way does the user need to go?"

Khai pointed to the sketch. “The main path will be wider.”

“And Mrs. Man's shop?”

“There is a temporary solution.”

"How long?"

“Contemplating.”

Khoa looked at her, but Vy didn't stop. “Who pays the relocation costs?”

Khai turned to Ms. Van. “Those details will be in the contract.”

“So we don't know today?”

Ms. Van gently touched Vy's notebook, signaling to write it down instead of continuing to ask. Vy bit her lip and wrote each sentence.

When the group left, Huy said the new design looked better. Quynh Chi asked who is beautiful for whom? Bao asked if the screen played a bread advertisement, would he get a share of the revenue?

Khoa did not say. He looked at the place where his blue car used to stand, where the sketch marked a steel column.

“Are you okay?” Vy asked.

"I don't know yet."

“This is true.”

“I learned from you.”

Vy looked at him, then at the drawing. She understands that a plan doesn't have to be bad to scare people. It just needs to be so beautiful that people forget to ask who will be pushed out.

That night, Vy opened the class chat group and saw a photo of the sketch that had been color-corrected. The glass roof is brighter, advertising signs are more prominent, and the car repair area is reduced to a decorative corner. The poster wrote: "Future garage model, what do you think?"

The first comment is a heart icon. The second comment asked if there was a place to charge it. The third comment said “looks like a shopping mall”. No one mentioned Mrs. Man, the wheelchair path or the ditch water.

Vy wanted to post an explanation right away, but Quynh Chi sent a private message telling her not to argue until she knew where the photo came from. She asked Vy if she could send the original through the school channel. Vy looked in her email and saw that the image had been exported from a file sent by the marketing department to the design team. She did not transition. She just took a photo of the file source and reported it to Ms. Van.

The next morning, Ms. Van said the photo had been separated from the caption when sending it to the designer. No one intentionally cheated, but that mistake was enough to make students think the decision was over. Ms. Van asked the group to stop using sketch photos and switch to diagrams with warning colors: red means undecided, yellow means opinions are needed, green is mandatory standards.

Huy likes this method. He built a large map and posted it right outside the garage. Khoa added stickers of wheels, lights, ramps and repair tables. Vy wrote in the middle: “If you use this area, ask questions.”

A 12th grader asked if people asked too many questions, would the project be late? It's better for Ms. Van to answer a few days late than to make a mistake and spend several years correcting it. Vy wrote that sentence down, but didn't post it on the board because she wanted users to hear it from Ms. Van for themselves.

In the afternoon, a project manager called Vy and asked her to participate in a test photo session as a new student. They say she has a face that fits her youthful image. Vy refused, asking why not invite real users. The other person said we need images with a story.

Vy replied: "The story is not something to borrow when needing decoration."

She hung up the phone, then felt her hands shaking. Khoa asked what was going on. She said, not hiding the fact that the other person knew she was Mr. Thanh's child.

Khoa said she did the right thing in refusing, but also reminded her not to consider every invitation a conspiracy. Vy said she knew, it was just that she was so used to people who called beauty a reason enough to make a decision.

At the end of the day, the group went around the gate. They recorded where pedestrians often wait, where delivery vehicles turn and where sunlight shines directly into their eyes. The sketch of the future is no longer in front of us, but the current path has too many details.