Chapter 2 — The Secret Pension

Duc Xuang had been officially recognized for the senior engineer title at the factory. The elderly night watchman pointed a gnarled finger at the stamped date on the brittle piece of paper.

"Look at it yourself."

"Twelve years ago."

I stared rigidly at the document, the tips of my fingers freezing numb. The old watchman continued, his voice dropping to a cautious whisper: "Do not ask about this matter within the factory grounds."

"The person who handled the administrative procedures back then was later transferred to the social insurance office."

"His name is Wei Dong."

He scribbled an address onto a scrap of paper and pushed it across the dusty desk.

"If you want answers, go there."

I clenched the paper tightly in my palm. By the time I stepped out of the heavy iron gates of the factory, evening had swallowed the sky. My phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. A text message from Hai. It contained only a single sentence. If you dare to go poking around in this investigation, do not expect a single coin from anyone for your mother's surgery.

I stared at those glowing words for ten full seconds. Then, I deleted the message. Vy was standing quietly right beside me.

"He is threatening you."

I kept my voice steady. "He is scared." Early the next morning, I wheeled my mother into the surgical preparation ward. My father sat heavily on a plastic chair outside the double doors, his knuckles white as he clutched the payment slips. He had not slept a single minute all night. His eyes were bloodshot and hollow. I gently drew the stack of papers from his trembling hand.

"Dad, I have some business to take care of."

He snapped his head up instantly.

"Thanh."

I looked down at him.

"Vy is here with Mom."

"Please, do not try to stop me."

His lips parted and trembled, but in the end, he only managed a choked warning: "Do not confront your uncle directly." A bitter laugh escaped my throat.

"If his hands were clean, he would not be afraid of me touching his records."

The social security service hall was packed with a restless crowd. The automated voice kept calling out queue numbers. I clutched the necessary documents along with my father's formal authorization letter and sat before the service window. The middle-aged woman sitting behind the glass pane looked up lazily.

"What procedure are you handling?"

"Checking the pension grade for Duc Xuang."

She tapped a few keys on her keyboard.

"Why is the policyholder not here in person?"

I slid the documents through the narrow slot.

"He is currently hospitalized and unable to come."

She glanced over the authorization letter, then raised her eyes to scrutinize me.

"Your father has been receiving nine hundred and fifty-one yuan in pension every month?"

I nodded slowly.

"Yes."

She frowned, her eyebrows drawing together.

"That figure does not seem right at all."

My heart skipped a beat, seeming to drop into a bottomless void.

"What is wrong with it?"

She did not answer immediately, turning her attention back to the screen as her fingers flew across the keys. At that moment, a middle-aged man walked up beside her. A plastic name tag pinned to his chest read Wei Dong. I recognized the name instantly. This was the exact man whose address the old watchman had given me. He glanced at the monitor, and his expression flickered instantly.

"Who authorized you to pull up this file?"

The woman behind the counter replied, "A family member came to check." Wei Dong turned his sharp gaze onto me.

"What is your relation to Duc Xuang?"

"I am his daughter."

He pressed both palms against the edge of the counter.

"There are no issues with the pension records."

"Whatever the system displays is the exact amount."

I met his gaze evenly. "Then I would like to see the detailed breakdown." He shook his head, his tone hardening. "If you want to see the itemized breakdown, you must follow the proper bureaucratic procedures." I pushed the authorization letter a fraction of an inch closer to him.

"I am following the procedures."

His face darkened into an icy glare.

"Young lady, do not believe every wild rumor you hear from gossiping old people."

"The situation at your father's former workplace back then was extremely complicated. There were certain allowances that not everyone was entitled to receive."

I stared straight into his eyes.

"I haven't even mentioned allowances yet."

The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. The woman inside the booth also raised her head to look at him. The tension in my chest tightened like a pulled bowstring. Wei Dong let out a sharp, nervous cough.

"I was merely speaking hypothetically."

I pulled out the old newspaper clipping and laid it flat on the counter.

"Twelve years ago, my father was officially granted the title of senior engineer."

"I want to know why his pension has been calculated and disbursed at the rate of a regular factory worker."

The moment he saw the newspaper clipping, Wei Dong's eyes dilated slightly. His hand instinctively reached out to grab it. I pulled it back out of his reach.

"This is only a copy."

"The original is safely kept elsewhere."

I had deliberately planned this before coming here. Vy had told me that when dealing with people like this, one must never hand over all their bargaining chips at once. Wei Dong withdrew his hand, his expression deeply sour.

"Old newspaper articles cannot be accepted as valid evidence."

I pointed at the terminal. "Then can the internal records in your system serve as evidence?" The clerk looked down at her screen, her voice dropping to a cautious murmur. "Director Wei, the system files indeed contain the official title information." Wei Dong immediately interrupted, his voice sharp. "Do not check that section right now." I stood up from my chair. Many people in the surrounding lobby turned their heads to look. I did not raise my voice in a shout. Instead, I calmly placed the hospital surgery payment slips right under the glass partition.

"My father receives nine hundred and fifty-one yuan a month."

"Today my mother is undergoing major surgery, and we were forced to borrow money to the point where my own uncle is demanding we sign over our family home."

"If there are truly no discrepancies in the system, print out the detailed logs for me right now."

"If there are discrepancies, I will take this directly to the disciplinary inspection desk."

Wei Dong's face turned the color of ash.

"You are creating a public disturbance."

I looked him dead in the eye. "I am merely verifying my father's rightful funds." An elderly man standing in the queue behind me piped up loudly.

"Just print the records for the girl."

"If everything is in order, what are you people afraid of?"

Another voice chimed in from the crowd. "A senior engineer getting just over nine hundred yuan? That sounds absurd from the start." Murmurs and whispered discussions rippled through the hall. Wei Dong whipped his head around to glare at the female clerk. She bit her lip nervously, reached for the mouse, and clicked on another folder. Her fingers froze as her eyes scanned the data.

"Director Wei."

Wei Dong lowered his voice to a harsh hiss.

"Close the window."

I slammed my hand down gently on the counter. "Do not close it."

"If you shut it down now, I will call the police this very second."

Wei Dong jerked his head back to stare at me, panic finally breaking through his hard facade for the very first time. The clerk drew in a deep breath, slid the heavy monitor around, and tilted it toward my direction.

"Family member, take a look for yourself."

I leaned forward eagerly.