Chapter 7 — The Scales Are Finally Balanced

The hospital room was suffocatingly silent. I took the envelope, put back all the photos and documents, then turned around and left.

“Tieu Dao!” The eldest uncle quickly chased after him. “This…”

“This matter has nothing to do with everyone.”

I didn't turn back.

“I'm going to find mom.”

When I walked out of the hospital, the sun had already reached its peak. I called a taxi and read my mother's address. During the journey, my mind was so chaotic that it felt like it was about to explode. My mother's name is Trang To Thanh. The same is written on the ID card. She never mentioned the name "Co Uyen Thanh", never talked about her family, never told anything. But Tan Duc Hau kept that photo for forty years. What does that mean? When I got home, my mother was watering the plants on the balcony. She turned her head to look at me and put down the watering can.

“What's wrong, child?”

I gave the envelope to her. Mom took it and pulled out the photo inside. Her hands trembled strongly. The water in the plant pot spilled onto the floor.

“Where did you get this?” Her voice completely changed.

“Tan Duc Hau gave it to me.” I stared at my mother. “He gave it to me right on my hospital bed.”

Mom looked at the photo for a long time. Then slowly sit down on a small chair on the balcony.

“Mom…” I asked softly. “Is Mom Co Uyen Thanh?”

She did not answer.

“Mom, please tell me the truth.”

That one word was like a key that opened a door that I never knew existed for the past twenty years.

“Co Duc Vinh is my grandfather.” Mom's voice was very calm, as if she was telling a stranger's story. "People from Huzhou and Zhejiang got rich from the silk industry. When the Co family was at its most glorious, half the street was their family's property."

“What happens after that?”

“Then my grandfather was tricked.” Mom bowed her head and looked at the photo of herself as a young woman holding the baby. "His business was gone. He was so angry that he fell ill and died suddenly. Only his mother remained, twenty-one years old, understanding nothing about life."

She laughed softly to herself.

"That's when I discovered that everyone was only after the Co family's money. As soon as your grandfather passed away, those 'relatives' and 'friends' immediately disappeared. Someone even came to collect the debt and clean up all the valuable things in the house."

“So what about the other trust fund?”

“That fund was established by my grandfather very early, no one knew.” Mom said softly. "Before he passed away, he entrusted his documents to a trusted lawyer. But later, even that lawyer lost contact."

“So you always knew there was a forty-seven million trust fund?”

Mom shook her head.

"I know there is a trust fund, but I don't know exactly how much money, and I don't know how to get it. Your grandfather passed away too suddenly, without giving clear instructions."

“So why did you change your name?”

Mom was silent for a long time.

“Because I don't want anything to do with that world anymore.” She bowed her head and looked at the old photo in her hand. “The people who surrounded my grandfather every day while he was alive... are truly so cold-hearted.”

“I changed my name, married your father, then moved to the North to live, just wanting to be a normal person.”

“Do you know that Tan Duc Hau owes his grandfather money?”

Mom paused.

“What money is owed?”

"He said his grandfather once lent him fifteen thousand, but he still hasn't paid it back."

Mother's face immediately changed.

“Fifteen thousand?” She stood up. “Your grandfather's record when he was alive… the loans he gave were absolutely more than fifteen thousand.”

“I mean Star?"

"Your grandfather is a very honest person. He lent money to others and never asked him to write a promissory note." Mom squeezed her hand. “Qin Duc Hau… did you say Qin Duc Hau? Qin family?”

Mom went back into the bedroom to search for a while, then brought out an old iron box. Opened inside is a stack of notebooks that have turned yellow over the years. She flipped to a page and showed it to me. That is my grandfather's handwriting. On the page is written:

"In May 1983, loaned Tan Duc Hau thirty-five thousand, used as capital to start a construction materials industry."

Not fifteen thousand. Which is thirty-five thousand. My hands started shaking again.

“Thirty-five thousand forty years ago…” I muttered.

“The interest rate hasn't been calculated according to your grandfather's calculation method.” Mom closed the notebook. “Just using normal inflation, how much is that money worth now?”

My mind immediately calculated very quickly.

“If you add interest and inflation… at least more than twenty million.”

Mom closed the iron box and looked at me.

“Do you understand now?”

“Understand what?”

“I understand why Qin Duc Hau hid me for seven years.” Mother's eyes turned cold. “Why do you always call me an outsider? Why don't you let me touch the Qin family's property?"

“He doesn't look down on you.” Mom slowly said each word. “He's afraid you'll find out about this old debt.”