Chapter 6 — Thirty Billion Under a Tin Roof

The examination room placed the ticket under a microscope and did not allow anyone to touch it. Ha stood behind the line, listening to the expert explain each layer of paper and each type of ink.

The last number is 1, but part of the corner of the ticket is lost. Man's photo sample matches the one in the envelope with small creases.

That confirms that this is Ms. Nguyet's own ticket, but does not confirm who received the prize. The buyer is dead; Inheritance rights are still disputed.

Mai gave a copy of the will. Her husband had signed an inheritance waiver before, but the date of signing was after the date of Ms. Nguyet's death. Notarization stamp is blurred.

Ha recognized the paper drawn up by Vinh's office.

Vinh denied, saying he only helped his family with the procedures. The investigator checked the printer and discovered that the will sample file was created from the agent's computer.

Mai confessed that she asked Vinh to make a note to receive money quickly. She didn't think he would change the terms.

Ha was angry but did not scold. A panicked person can sign anything that is called a rescue.

Meanwhile, the bank sent a decision to distrain the Ha family. Vinh used Duy's video to prove that his family has large assets, even though the money does not belong to them yet.

Ha asked the court to temporarily stop, but needed bail money. Duy offered to sell the motorbike. Ha refused; She didn't want to lose more money because the money wasn't sure to arrive.

Hau took her to meet the group of seven people. They did not ask for Ms. Nguyet's share, they just wanted to keep their promise to have a roof over their heads. Each person tells a story: someone needs money for eye surgery, someone pays tuition, someone pays debt because of the flood.

Ha asked if Mai took the whole thing, would they sue? They said no, if Mai agreed to pay the amount Ms. Nguyet promised.

Mai heard it and stood at the door. She said she would pay, but needed the legal right to receive it first.

Ha proposed setting up a custody fund, with a lawyer and group representative. No one can withdraw until the inheritance is determined.

Man sent a written request to freeze the entire award under the loan contract. Ha and Mai must respond within three days.

The night before the deadline, Duy received a call from the person who hired him to livestream. They said if Duy handed over a photo of the sealed envelope, they would pay enough to save the house.

Duy made an appointment, but informed Ha first. The two sisters and the police set up a fake meeting at the bus station.

The person who came was not Vinh, but a woman named Tuyet, Man's secretary. She gave Duy a phone and said: "Min doesn't want to take the money. He wants to know whose name Ms. Nguyet put in the fund."

The phone contained a recording of Ms. Nguyet's meeting with a third person. The other voice said: "If you don't give the group ticket, I will make your daughter lose her home."

Mai recognized her husband's voice.

Mai didn't grab the phone. She sat down on the chair, pressing her hands on her knees as if afraid they would shake and make her fall.

“Tan told my mother that before he disappeared,” Mai said. "He said he only needed to borrow the ticket to do news for three days. Mom didn't agree."

Tuyet looked at the investigator. "Man wants to know whose name Ms. Nguyet has put in the fund, because he believes her share will be enough to repay the debt. But Tan is the one who contacted Vinh."

Ha turned on the recording. Tan's voice rang out in the room: "I only exchanged two envelopes. I didn't take money. Vinh said the group ticket didn't win, just keep it to force Ms. Nguyet to pay the debt."

The recording was interrupted by the sound of a chair falling over. Then came Vinh's voice, very close to the microphone: "If the last number is seven, we can all lose."

After listening, Nhi asked to verify the source of the file. Metadata shows that the file was recorded in a closed room belongs to the dealer's warehouse, not Tan's house. That makes Tuyet's testimony more trustworthy, but it also means that someone in the agency secretly recorded the meeting.

Ha asked Tuyet why she gave her the phone. Tuyet replied that Man had told her to take it away if he was arrested, but she did not say where he was keeping the copy.

The investigator opened the door to the interrogation room. Man sat opposite, no longer looking tough. He looked at Ha and said: "I didn't hire anyone to steal the ticket. I only received it after Ms. Nguyet had an accident."

“From whose hand?”

Man looked down at the ring. “A woman said her name was Lan.”

Lan, the name Ha once heard from Tan's message, turned out to be more than just an outsider. Man told Lan to give him a separate ticket as information, but he discovered that the last number was 1 and that ticket did not win. When he heard that the group's ticket might win, he tried to get everything back before Vinh could do the procedure.

“You knew the flyer was in your wallet?”

"I knew Mrs. Nguyet had two sheets. I didn't know Vinh had swapped them."

Mai walked into the room and placed the photocopy of the will on the table. "Mr. Tan told my mother the roof fund was just an excuse for her to keep the money. But my mother transferred money there for six years. Do you know what she used the money for?"

Man was silent. Tuyet answered for her: "She paid my child's hospital bills."

Everyone turned around. Tuyet admitted that when her child had surgery, Ms. Nguyet withdrew an amount from the fund and then compensated it herself each month. She didn't want anyone to know because she was afraid the group would get suspicious.

Ha understands that the fund is not a trick to divide money. It is a network of poor people protecting each other, kept by Ms. Nguyet with each receipt. If the team wins, they aren't just competing for a prize; they compete for the right to determine the goodness of the dead.

Outside the door, Ha's phone vibrated. A message from Vinh's number appeared: "The court won't wait forever for you. If you want to keep the house, let Man receive the separate papers. I will arrange the rest."

Ha looked at Mai. Mai tore the photocopy of the will in half, but did not throw it away.

“I won't sign,” she said. “Even if I have to sleep on the street.”

That night, the bank sent the final notice: the house would be liquidated after forty-eight hours if there was no decision to postpone it. Ha placed the notice next to the sealed envelope. Both are thin pieces of paper, but one puts her family on the street, the other can pull seven families out of debt.

She called the investigator and said: "I want to reveal all the evidence at the confrontation. No interruptions, no favoritism."

As soon as I hung up, the electricity in the house turned off. Duy ran down and reported that the back door had just been opened. On the cement floor, there is a streak of water extending to the iron cabinet.

The envelope is still there. But the box of seven keys has disappeared.