Chapter 3 — The Poor and Honored Soldier

The bride's family included Trieu Cam Thu herself, her grandmother, her biological aunt, and a man wearing a suit who looked like an elder. My side is just me and my mom. The other two were the introducers——my aunt and her colleague. When I entered, the way I dressed did not change at all. Same faded cotton shirt, same pair of canvas shoes. Mom criticized me along the way, but I still didn't change. I'm used to it. As soon as I entered the private room, I recognized Trieu Cam Thu immediately. Not much different from the photo, but the real person has a more heroic look that the photo cannot express. Today she is not wearing a military uniform, just wearing a black turtleneck sweater, her hair tied in a ponytail, clean and neat. When I walked in, she was also looking at me. His eyes stayed on me for three seconds——two seconds more than the girl last time. Then, the corners of her lips curled up slightly. It's laughter. Very pale. Her grandmother was extremely enthusiastic, constantly calling: "Quickly sit, quickly sit, this is Tieu Ly, right? Come on, sit here!" As soon as I sat down, before I could say anything, the private room door was pushed open again. The man in a suit received a phone call, his expression suddenly changed, and he hurried out. Two minutes later, he returned. There are three people behind. One of them is a woman wearing high heels, arm in arm with a middle-aged man wearing a gold watch, the corner of her mouth has a smile like "I won". My movements stopped. Because behind that woman there was an older woman. Very familiar. It was the person in the previous meeting, the future mother-in-law who demanded that my yearly income be one million yuan—— The girl's mother. And the person wearing high heels next to her is the girl from last time. Vuong Giai. Really clever. The world is indeed small. Vuong Giai's eyes swept around the private room, then landed on me. At first she was stunned. After that, the corner of his mouth slowly raised, revealing the expression "truly an unjust family on a narrow alley".
“Oh,” she tilted her head, her tone filled with undisguised gloating, “isn't this the person who 'does small business'?”
The middle-aged man next to me looked at me: "Familiar?" Vuong Giai took his arm, her smile deepened: "The person my mother introduced last time, I don't pay attention to." She stopped for a moment.
“The kind that you can't even buy a house in the district city.”
Her mother also saw me, with an expression on her face as if she had just smelled something dirty.
“Why you?”
She scanned the people in the room, finally her eyes landed on Trieu Cam Thu, evaluated her from top to bottom and then coldly snorted.
"It seems that girls with good conditions are sometimes destined to step into a hole."
Trieu Cam Thu's hand holding the cup of tea paused. She didn't turn her head, but I noticed her eyes turned from gentle to questioning. She was observing my reaction. In front of me is a plate of roasted peanuts. I picked up a grain, threw it into my mouth and chewed. Peanuts that have been left for a long time have a burning oil smell. The man next to Vuong Giai probably also came to Vong Giang Lau to eat today, booked a private room next door, and saw someone he knew so he walked in. He observed the situation, perhaps finding it quite interesting so he did not rush to leave.
“I heard you run a small business?” He looked at me and asked, "What business? Setting up a stall?"
Vuong Giai burst into laughter. Under the table, My mother tightened her chopsticks. I'm still chewing peanuts. Trieu Cam Thu suddenly spoke up.
“He doesn't do small business.”
Everyone looked at her. Trieu Cam Thu put down the teacup, her eyes were calm, her voice was not loud but very clear: "His name is Ly Xuyen." She stopped for a moment.
“If I'm not wrong—it's 'that' Ly Xuyen.”
Private room is silent. Her aunt gently pulled her: "Cam Thu, what are you talking about?" Trieu Cam Thu didn't pay attention, his eyes fell on my face: "In 2019, the campaign in the southeast was not disclosed to the outside. Codename 'Kun Luan'. Name of the campaign commander——Ly Xuyen." My peanut chewing stopped. A ray of light flashed in Trieu Cam Thu's eyes: "My research topic at the Institute of Military Science is to simulate the tactics of that campaign. The commander's documents are highly confidential, but my instructor - who was also one of the staff of that year's campaign - once secretly mentioned a sentence." She looked at me: "He said, that person is the youngest war genius he has ever met in his entire life." The private room was as silent as death. I put the peanut down. Look at her.
“How do you know it's me?”
"First, the age matches. Second, there are skin marks left on your body by ultraviolet rays at the border. Third——"
She pointed to my right hand: "The location and shape of that scar, I have seen in campaign report photos. There is a record of the commander being cut and injured during close combat with cold weapons." I bowed my head and looked at my right hand. The scar is not deep, but it is in the tiger's mouth position so it is very obvious. I raised my head and looked at her seriously for the first time. Researcher at the Institute of Military Sciences. Observation ability is really not bad.