Chapter 23 — The Secret Pages of Room Seven

Six months after Room Seven was sealed, An Tâm Clinic entered the most comprehensive reform period in its twenty-year history of operation. Nhã Vân, with almost absolute support from the board of directors after what she had proven throughout the case, directly directed this entire process, seeing it as a way to fulfill her father's unfinished wish.

The first step is to replace the entire senior management team related or suspected of being related to the old network, and invite an international independent auditing organization to review all financial and medical records of the clinic over the past ten years. She appointed Dr. Nghiêm Đình Vũ - who, although he unintentionally became a shield for the old network because he trusted Chu Bảo Hạnh too much, proved his complete innocence through the investigation and showed the spirit of absolute cooperation - to the position of interim medical director, with the task of rebuilding a transparent diagnosis and treatment process, with strict cross-supervision from many independent parties.

Kỳ Bách Nguyên, after his true identity as an independent investigator was made public, received an offer from Nhã Vân himself to continue staying at An Tâm in a new role - head of the medical ethics monitoring team, responsible for ensuring all treatment decisions strictly comply with the principles of transparency and humanity that the group is committed to rebuilding.

"I'm not sure I'm suitable for such a management position," he said when Nhã Vân first proposed this idea, in a private meeting in her office. "I'm more used to investigating than managing."

"It's because you're the investigator that you best understand the loopholes that need to be sealed," Nhã Vân replied, her eyes full of confidence. "I need someone like you, someone who has seen the darkest side of this place firsthand, to make sure it can never go back to its old ways."

Bách Nguyên finally accepted, and over the following months, he and his new team built a multi-layered surveillance system — from installing transparent cameras that could be accessed by the patient's family with appropriate permissions, to establishing an independent hotline that allowed any employee to report unusual behavior without fear of retaliation, to requiring that every decision to transfer to a special treatment area have at least three independent signatures from doctors who were not authorized to do so. Direct relationships between superiors and subordinates.

Ms. Tram, after recovering with her family, was invited back to An Tâm as a special advisor to the new board of directors, in charge of overseeing the transparency of the financial system — a deeply symbolic choice, when the person who had been buried by that same system for three years now became the gatekeeper to protect it from repeating old mistakes.

"I never thought I would return to this place." She told Nhã Vân that on the first day of her new assignment, her eyes looked around the hospital campus, which had been completely renovated, with no traces of gloom like before. "But I thought, this is the best way for me to turn those three years of suffering into something meaningful."

Ms. Thanh Hà also gradually regained her confidence and decided to return to the nursing profession after a long period of psychological recovery, with the desire to become an example for young colleagues about never remaining silent in the face of injustice, no matter how great the pressure from superiors is.

During the ceremony announcing the completion of the first phase of reform, held right in the courtyard of An Tâm - a place that once witnessed secret vehicles carrying goods into the basement in the middle of the night - Nhã Vân stood in front of all employees, families of the victims, and representatives of the state health management agency, speaking her most passionate words.

"My father built this place with a simple but noble wish: to turn An Tâm into a place where all pain is heard, regardless of rich or poor, regardless of status," she said, her voice ringing with emotion. "For many years, that wish has been betrayed by the very people entrusted with the responsibility of preserving it. But today, we pledge, An Tâm will return to the true meaning of its name - a place that truly brings peace of mind to anyone who walks through this gate."

After the ceremony, as predicted in the board meeting a few months ago, senior members officially voted to elect Nhã Vân to the position of General Director of the entire Trác Gia Medical Group, replacing the position left vacant after the former personnel involved in the criminal network were completely eliminated. This was a position that she could have assumed many years earlier if it were not for the hidden manipulation of Mạc Vĩnh Điền and Chu Bảo Hạnh to keep her away from real power in the corporation.

Standing on the podium to receive her new assignment, Nhã Vân looked out at the large yard where her father had stood to speak on the inauguration day of An Tâm many years ago, feeling a strange cycle of fate that had brought her back to the place where it all began, but this time, with full power and determination to ensure that painful history would never repeat itself.

In her inauguration speech, Nhã Vân announced a series of new policies that will be applied across the entire system of Trác Gia Medical Group, not just An Tâm. Every residential treatment facility must establish an independent ethics board, including representatives from outside the group, with veto power over any long-term treatment decisions suspected of lacking transparency. She also established a special support fund specifically for victims of abuse of the medical system, not limited to those involved in her family's case, but expanding to support anyone across the country who has been in a similar situation.

"We understand that once lost, trust is very difficult to regain," she spoke at the end of her speech, her voice solemn but sincere. "But we will prove with actions, day by day, that Trác Gia Medical Group is worthy of that trust again."

The representative of the state health management agency, after listening to the speech, publicly appreciated the group's reform commitments, viewing this as a typical model for how a business can correct its own serious mistakes through transparency and substantive accountability, instead of just avoiding and minimizing media damage like many similar incidents that have happened before in the industry.

Looking down at the audience seats, where her mother, Diệu Kỳ, Mrs. Tram, Ms. Thanh Hà, and Bách Nguyên were sitting, all with proud eyes directed at her, Nhã Vân clearly felt that, although the journey ahead was still long and full of challenges, she no longer had to walk alone. Next to her, now was a whole group of people who had gone through the deepest darkness together, to step into the light together.

After the ceremony, when the guests gradually left, Nhã Vân and Bách Nguyên walked around the renovated hospital grounds, the warm yellow light replacing the cold light that once covered this place. They stopped in front of the area that used to be the secret entrance to Room Seven, which had now been completely demolished, replaced by a small garden filled with flowers, with a stone tablet engraved with the names of the victims who had been imprisoned here, as a permanent reminder of what must not be repeated.

"I thought this place would forever be an indelible stain in my family's history," Nhã Vân said, standing silently in front of the stone stele, her fingers gently touching each name engraved on it. "But now I think, perhaps the best way to commemorate what was lost is to turn that place that once caused suffering into a symbol of healing."

Bách Nguyên stood next to her, silent for a moment then gently held her hand. "Your father would be proud of what you have accomplished, Nhã Vân. Not only because you have found the truth, but because you have turned that truth into an opportunity to rebuild something better."

Nhã Vân turned to look at him, her eyes shining with a warmth that she had never allowed herself to fully express during the past stressful months. "I couldn't have done this without you, Bách Nguyên. From the first day I walked in here as Lam, until today."

Sunset dyed the sky behind the new garden orange, and in that rare moment of peace, they both felt that, although there was still a lot of work ahead, they had overcome the most difficult part together, and now, they could build a new, brighter chapter together, for both An Tâm and their own lives.