Chapter 8 — Thirty Billion Under a Tin Roof

Group tickets are put into the court safe, waiting for the order to receive the prize. Seven people had to prove their contribution, but Ms. Nguyet's book was missing a page.

Ha found a seventh person, a woman named Thoa who worked as a worker in an export processing zone. Thoa said that Mrs. Nguyet had given her a month's contribution instead, but there was no receipt.

Hau remembers that Mrs. Nguyet always wrote her contribution with a leaf-shaped symbol on the back of the ticket. Ha asked to check the microscope.

On the ticket there were seven small ink marks, not Ha's. Each trace corresponds to one person in the group.

Vinh objected to the appraisal, saying the mark could have been made later. Experts said the ink is under the protective layer and cannot be added without breaking the ticket.

Ha discovered a change payment line in the kiosk's POS machine. Ms. Nguyet divided the ticket price into seven times in the same minute, each time a different amount.

The POS data is group proof, but Vinh has access to the agent server. He requested to delete the log because the "storage period had expired".

Investigators block the system before deletion.

Man turned and declared that Tan had hired someone to change the ticket. Tan has not been arrested because he is hiding. Ha suspected Tan was still nearby, because a photo of the torn ticket appeared on his phone.

Duy followed the livestream account and discovered the payment came from a shell company set up by Tan. He wanted to find it himself, but Ha forbade it.

Ha said: "You don't need to prove you're big by going into dangerous places."

Duy replied: "I exposed you. I have to fix it."

The two sisters handed over the data to the police. Tan was arrested at a motel, carrying a copy of his own ticket and a list of creditors.

Tan confessed that he took the group tickets out of Ms. Nguyet's wallet, intending to sell the information to Vinh. But the gray shirt man stole it back, causing Tan to lose control.

Vinh still denied knowing about it. Tan's phone contained a message "deliver the ticket to the agent before inspection", sent from Vinh's secondary number.

The court allowed seven people to receive the award, but Mai had to deal with Ms. Nguyet's inheritance.

Vinh's agent was suspended. Ha regained the right to sell tickets, but the kiosk became a gathering place for reporters.

A reporter asked Ha if she regretted not keeping the ticket for herself. Ha said she regretted ever thinking money could solve everything.

Outside the door, a woman placed another ticket on the counter. She said: "I also have a winning ticket. And Mrs. Nguyet once bought it for me."

Lan was taken to headquarters to give testimony. She said she once made a loan application for Vinh agency, then was forced to sign contracts with unusual interest rates. When Mrs. Nguyet found out about it, she bought Lan a separate ticket and promised that if she won, she would use the money to pay off the debt, but Lan did not want to become a debtor again.

“She said the piece of paper is only as valuable as the person holding it decides for themselves,” Lan said. "I gave that note to Man because I thought he could clear the debt. I didn't know that the new group note was the winning one."

Man got angry when he heard this. He said Lan tricked him, but the investigator produced a recording of the call between Man and Vinh. In it, Vinh suggested "dividing it in half if we can keep the group of seven people out of the procedure".

Tan was also escorted. His face was bruised, but he no longer avoided it. He admitted that he took Ms. Nguyet's wallet the moment the camera turned off, then discovered that there was only group flyers in the wallet. He wanted to go back and exchange it, but the gray shirt man snatched it from his hand.

“Who is the man in gray?” Ha asked.

Tan looked at Vinh. “As a technician of agency. He followed Vinh's orders, but then hid the ticket himself to demand more money."

The technician denied. The investigator placed on the table a sample of gray fabric taken from the kiosk, blood stains on the box and camera access data. Three things coincided with the time he was present. This person bowed his head and said Vinh only told him to delete seventeen minutes and did not ask to change the ticket. Tan was the one who exchanged the envelope, and he kept a copy for his own insurance.

Ha asked where the copy was. The technician said it was sent via a delivery service, but the recipient used a fake name. Lan recognized the address on the deposit slip as Ms. Nguyet's old house.

Mai was stunned. On the day of the accident, she asked her husband to clean up the house. Tan said he came after the man in the gray shirt and only took the debt papers. That means the third person went in first, took separate sheet number 1 and put group sheet number 7 in his wallet.

The investigation team returned to the old house. Under the floorboards, they found a metal mailbox and unopened delivery envelopes. The copy of the ticket inside has a red circle in the last number, along with Vinh's handwriting.

Vinh remained silent until Ha placed Ms. Nguyet's recording in front of him. Her voice rang out: "I'm not afraid of poor people fighting for money. I'm afraid that people with power will make the poor forget that they contributed a penny."

Vinh laughed dryly. “She doesn't understand business.”

Ha replied: “It is possible. But she understands you.”

The court ordered the temporary seizure of the assets of Vinh, Man and Tan to ensure their obligations. Seven people in the group were summoned to confirm each contribution. Dao brought along a calendar with leaf stamps; Hau brought a photo of the money transfer; Tuyet brought the receipt that Mrs. Nguyet had paid for the hospital fees.

Mai did not ask to receive her mother's share first. She suggested using an escrow account, stating that the group's money would go directly to the seven people after taxes and legal fees were deducted. Ms. Nguyet's portion is retained pending inheritance settlement.

Ha thought everything was clear, until Nhi called her out to the hallway. On Nhi's phone was the new assessment result: the group ticket had the fingerprints of Ms. Nguyet and Hau, but there was a third, unidentified fingerprint.

The fingerprint was right on the last number seven, as if someone had tried to cover it before the ticket got wet.

Nhi asked: "Have you ever seen Mrs. Nguyet touch the last number?"

Ha remembers the rainy night. Ms. Nguyet used her thumb to rub the corner of the ticket and said to keep it carefully. Maybe she didn't just keep the ticket; She was erasing a mark to protect the person who touched it.

Outside the court yard, a taxi parked and waited. The driver gave Ha an unnamed piece of paper: "The seven people are only the first class. The eighth person knows who actually bought the ticket.”