Chapter 3 — The Ten-Yuan Donation

The greatest regret of my life is that in the year I married you, I missed the final phone call from Nien Tu.

Tang Van Ngung, do not continue to erode my patience.

The call disconnected. A nurse came sprinting from the far end of the hallway. Miss Tang! The doctor is demanding that a family member sign the paperwork immediately!

The physician handed me the notice. If you cannot authorize the medical supplies, the risks associated with the surgery will be insurmountable. You must prepare yourself for the worst.

I scrawled my name on the document. My phone rang again. It was Thinh Canh Xuyen. His tone had softened slightly, as if he had finally decided to bestow a meager crumb of patience upon me. I have already instructed my assistant to contact a revolving loan agency. The interest rate is rather high, but the approval process is swift. Go and sign the papers first.

I looked toward the surgical ward doors. The hospital requires the funds right now, not tomorrow.

He was silent for a moment before replying, Then there is nothing more to be done. Everyone has their own fate.

The moment those words left his lips, a nurse bolted out from the emergency room. Family! The patient has transitioned from ventricular fibrillation to cardiac arrest!

My phone slid from my hand and clattered to the floor. The screen remained illuminated. Thinh Canh Xuyen’s voice blared from the speaker, Tang Van Ngung? Do not pretend you cannot hear me.

Inside the emergency room, voices rose in a chaotic chorus. Begin chest compressions! Administer adrenaline! Keep going!

Twenty minutes later, the heavy doors groaned open. The doctor removed his mask. Miss Tang, we have done everything within our power.

When Yu An was wheeled out, his face was already covered by a white shroud. I wanted to move forward, but my legs felt as though they had been nailed to the floor. By the time Thinh Canh Xuyen reached the hospital, it was three-thirty in the morning. He did not come alone. Ha Thanh Le accompanied him. She was still dressed in her evening gown, clutching a commemorative gift box in her hands. The nurse spotted him and offered a cold, biting laugh.

Are you a family member?

I am her husband.

You only now remember that you are her husband? While the patient was being resuscitated, she called you until her phone died. She signed the consent forms alone, and she went to the morgue alone to identify the body. Where were you then?

Thinh Canh Xuyen stiffened. A body? Whose body?

Tang Yu An. He has been taken to the morgue.

Thinh Canh Xuyen’s complexion turned deathly pale. The gift box slipped from Ha Thanh Le’s grip, hitting the floor. A commemorative medal tumbled out. It read: In honor of the six-year anniversary of the heroic act performed by Miss Ha Nien Tu.

Just then, an elderly doctor emerged from his office. He caught sight of Thinh Canh Xuyen and paused. Are you Mr. Thinh?

Thinh Canh Xuyen’s voice trembled. I am.

The elderly doctor instructed a nurse to retrieve an old, yellowed file. These are the injury records from the warehouse fire on the west side of the city. He opened to the first page. Casualty: Tang Yu An, male, sixteen years of age. Diagnosis: Severe respiratory tract damage due to smoke inhalation, myocardial injury due to oxygen deprivation. Cause of hospitalization: He rushed into the blaze for the second time to drag out the person trapped inside: Thinh Canh Xuyen.

Thinh Canh Xuyen’s hands hung frozen in mid-air. The old doctor then played a sealed audio recording. A boy’s weak, rasping voice echoed through the hallway. The person I saved is named Thinh Canh Xuyen. Do not tell my sister. She has just gotten married; do not make things difficult for her.

The recording cut off abruptly. An old cufflink slid out of the file folder and rolled to Thinh Canh Xuyen’s feet. It was the missing match to the pair he had lost in the fire six years ago. The old doctor stared at him, his gaze devoid of any warmth. Mr. Thinh, the person you dismissed with a paltry ten-dollar bill was the very person who pulled you from that inferno years ago.

Ha Thanh Le lunged forward, desperate to snatch up the cufflink. That is not true!

The old doctor spoke in a frigid tone. Miss Ha, the security footage from the scene of the fire six years ago has also been recovered. Your sister never actually entered the burning building. She stood at the doorway and watched as Tang Yu An rushed inside; for seven long seconds, she did not move a muscle.

Ha Thanh Le’s hands stalled in the air. The tears on her face had not yet dried, but her entire frame began to shudder. The cameras? How could the footage still exist?

The old doctor replied, A nurse back then felt something was amiss and backed up the dashcam footage from a transport vehicle parked outside the scene. Later, the Ha family came to the hospital to cause a scene, claiming that Tang Yu An was trying to steal the credit. The nurse feared something would happen to the evidence, so she handed the backup to me.

Thinh Canh Xuyen bowed his head, staring at the cufflink, remaining motionless for a long time. He looked as though he could not comprehend the truth, yet his expression betrayed that he understood every agonizing word. The nurse asked, Mr. Thinh, do you wish to see Miss Tang?

He snapped back to reality and bolted toward the morgue. I stood before the cold storage locker. The staff member asked me, Are you confirming that this is Tang Yu An?

I looked at the hand exposed beneath the white cloth. It was incredibly thin, with an old scar across the knuckles. When we were children, he had secretly taken our father’s toolbox to fix a desk lamp for me and had sliced his hand open. He held up his finger and smiled at me. Sis, don't tell Mom.

Later, he saved Thinh Canh Xuyen. That hand had been badly burned by the flames. But he never once let Thinh Canh Xuyen see it.