Chapter 13 — The Secret Pension

Hai Duc Hai clutched the black leather briefcase, his upper body already half inside the vehicle. I lunged forward, gripping the leather tightly.

"Give that here."

Duc Hai whipped his head around, his eyes flashing with a vicious gleam.

"Han Thanh, have you lost your mind?"

"The factory is on fire, and you are trying to stop me from saving the documents?"

La Ming rushed over from behind, his voice sinking low.

"Han Duc Hai, put the bag down."

Duc Hai's expression shifted instantly.

"Director La, these are old factory documents; they have nothing to do with your social security department."

Ming stared at the bag in the man's grasp.

"Whether they do or not, opening it will tell us the truth."

Duc Hai hugged the bag even tighter. My father walked up beside me as well. He stared fixedly at the briefcase, his breathing heavy.

"Duc Hai, what else are you trying to destroy?"

Duc Hai gritted his teeth.

"Brother, do not let your daughter lead you astray."

"I am trying to save you."

My father shook his head slowly.

"Every time you said you were saving me, it always ended with you pushing me into an abyss."

He reached out to take the bag. Duc Hai abruptly shoved him away, forcing my father back two steps. My heart tightened, and I quickly reached out to steady him. Ming immediately shouted for the security guards. The factory guards and patrolling firemen swarmed the area. Realizing he could no longer escape, Duc Hai suddenly hurled the briefcase into the drainage ditch nearby. I threw myself forward, almost diving after it. The bag struck the concrete edge of the ditch, its zipper split open by a jagged stone, and several pages slid out into the muck. Ignoring the filth, I dropped to my knees and gathered the papers one by one. The topmost page had its edges scorched yellow by smoke. The title made my fingers tremble uncontrollably. Notice of Temporary Suspension of Production Line Testing. Signatory: Han Duc Xuong. Timestamp: two hours and seventeen minutes before the accident occurred. Seeing that page, the rims of my father’s eyes instantly turned red.

"This is it."

"I submitted this exact paper back then."

Ming took the document from my hands and immediately used his phone to capture a clear image for preservation. Duc Hai’s face turned an ashen gray.

"These are just some old scraps of paper, what do they prove?"

I pulled out the second page. It was an application for a mandatory on-site safety re-inspection. The applicant was still my father. Stamped upon it was the official signature of the safety officer. My father’s voice rasped.

"That day, I didn't just shut down the machinery."

"I demanded a re-evaluation of all technical parameters."

"They claimed I was delaying the schedule."

"I refused to sign the operational clearance form."

I lowered my head and continued flipping through the stack. The third page contained the preliminary post-accident investigation notes. It explicitly recorded that Han Duc Xuong had requested a machinery shutdown prior to the test run and had submitted a re-inspection application. The liability did not lie within the technical parameters review process. Reading those words, my chest constricted with a sharp, suffocating pain. Twelve years. My father had carried an undeserved disgrace, living in such poverty that he could not even afford proper medicine. Yet the very documents that could wash away his shame and clear his name had been hidden away in this dilapidated storage room by vile hands. Ming glared at Duc Hai.

Why were these documents in your possession?

Duc Hai stubbornly tried to maintain his defense.

"I just rescued them from the fire."

Ming glanced toward the warehouse entrance.

"Then why didn't you hand them over to the duty officer instead of trying to load them into your car?"

Duc Hai opened his mouth, but no words came out. At that precise moment, a man with half-silvered hair stepped out from the back of the warehouse. His hands were still smeared with ash, his expression deeply panicked. Upon seeing him, my father’s voice dropped to a freezing chill.

"Lu Jianquo."

Jianquo froze, his eyes darting away to avoid contact.

"Mr. Han, why are you here too?"

My father stepped forward, one deliberate stride at a time.

"My shutdown report was received by you."

"You promised back then that you would submit it to the investigation panel."

"Why is it in Han Duc Hai’s hands now?"

Jianquo wiped his sweaty brow.

"That was too long ago, I do not remember clearly."

I spoke up. "It does not matter if you do not remember."

"At three-forty-seven this afternoon, your workstation terminal used the employee ID of Fang Weidong to add a retroactive note."

"Surely you still remember that much?"

Jianquo’s face instantly drained of all color. Ming stared straight at him.

"Lu Jianquo, who accessed the computer at that terminal?"

Jianquo’s lips trembled.

"I was only on duty."

Ming said coldly, "Both the duty logs and the login history can be verified." Outside the factory grounds, the sharp wail of police sirens suddenly pierced the air. Duc Hai abruptly glared at Jianquo, his gaze sharp as a blade. Jianquo’s legs went weak, forcing him to lean against the wall for support. I lowered my head and pulled the final bundle of papers from the briefcase. The stack was wrapped in a plastic pouch, exceptionally well-preserved. The outer cover bore the file for the approval of special technical talent allowance disbursements. I flipped open the first page and saw my father’s name. The second page detailed the approved monetary amounts. By the third page, the blood in my veins turned instantly cold. Beneath the section explaining the modification of the fund-receiving account, alongside the signature of Han Duc Hai, there was another signature approving the change. That person’s title was recorded as the deputy director of the factory administrative office. The name signed there was Lu Jianquo.

When the police cars came to a halt in the factory courtyard, Jianquo seemed to have all his strength drained from his body. He slumped against the wall, his mouth mumbling repeatedly that this had not been his idea alone. Duc Hai immediately barked to shut him up.

"What nonsense are you blabbering about?"

Jianquo raised his head, his eyes filled with absolute panic.