Chapter 2 — Thirty Million Yuan and One Slander

Small drops of sweat appeared on Chu Minh Vu's forehead. He didn't dare look me in the eyes.

“Tinh Tinh, listen to my explanation…”

"That money... I borrowed it! Recently my mother was unwell and had to have surgery..."

I burst out laughing, smiling even more unsightly than crying.

“Your mother is not well, how come I didn't know?”

"We are husband and wife. The family needs such a large amount of money, why don't you discuss it with me?"

“Chu Minh Vu, what do you think of me!”

The last few words almost made me scream. Chu Minh Vu was startled by my appearance. He jumped up, his face red.

“You… aren't you afraid of me!”

"Your work is so busy, the pressure is so great, I don't want you to have to worry about family matters!"

A ridiculously funny reason. A shamelessly false excuse. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, it hurt so much I couldn't breathe.

“That's why you let your cousin come find me?”

“Let me use my money in exchange for money for your mother's surgery?”

“Chu Minh Vu, do you know I'm about to be ruined!”

"Tinh Tinh! Keep your voice down!"

Chu Minh Vu suddenly lowered his voice, his eyes showing frustration and fear for the first time.

“It's not that serious!”

"It's just a project, right? You're already the head of the department, can't you handle something as small as this?"

“Just admit it first, say it was a mistake at work, there were some loopholes in the procedures.”

"Waiting for the storm to pass, we can think of a way to overcome it."

“We are one family, you have to think about this family!”

I was stunned. I looked at him bewildered, like the first time I met this man. Work errors? Thinking about family? I've been thinking about this family for five years. I risk my life to work, climbing step by step, just to make this family's life better. What about him? When I needed him the most... What he thought of was pushing me to take the blame. Let me alone bear this 30 million yuan black pot.

“Chu Minh Vu.”

My voice was cold as ice.

“You know this project has problems… right?”

“You knew this was a trap… right?”

He didn't answer. But his silence… gave me the answer. It turned out that the net was woven by his own hands. The blocked roads are the walls he built. I felt my blood freeze in that moment. Five years of marriage… like a giant joke. I stood up, without looking at him again, walked straight towards the bedroom.

“Tinh Tinh, where are you going?”

Chu Minh Vu called from behind.

"Listen to me first! The most important thing now is to stabilize the inspection team!"

“Absolutely don't do anything foolish!”

I don't turn around. Go into the bedroom and lock the door. I leaned my back against the door, my body slowly sliding down. No tears. The greatest pain... is when the heart is dead. When the closest person stabs you in the back with a fatal blow, all pain turns into a quiet desert. I sat on the cold floor. Sit for a long time. Until outside the window, the sky began to reveal a faint streak of light. I took out my phone. The cold light from the screen shone on his bloodless face. I don't contact friends or colleagues. Open only the photo gallery. In a locked folder password, I found every photo. Those are the photos I took in the hospital half a month ago. Along with a complete set of electronic medical records, stamped by the hospital. I stared at that medical record. His eyes gradually turned cold. Chu Minh Vu... and those hiding behind him. Do you think... I've already lost? The next morning, exactly nine o'clock. It's still the same meeting room. Still the same people. Ly Kien Quan's expression was even more serious than yesterday, and his eyes were also colder.

“Comrade Hua Tinh, have you finished thinking?”

“Organizational patience… is limited.”

He pushed me a pen and a blank problem statement.

“Whatever you know, write it all down.”

“This is your last chance.”

All eyes turned to me again. But this time, I didn't panic at all. I calmly looked at Ly Kien Quan, so calmly that it even surprised him. I'm not holding that pen. Don't look at that paper either. I just slowly took out a file bag from my bag. Then, one by one, place them on the table. It was a stack of hospital papers. There is an emergency bill. Have a hospital admission certificate. Have a surgery certificate. There is also a thick file recording every minute in the intensive care room. Finally, there is a discharge certificate, stamped in red by the city's People's Hospital No. 1. The meeting room fell silent. Everyone was stunned, not understanding what I was bringing these things out for. Ly Kien Quan frowned tightly.

“Hua Tinh, what do you mean by that?”

I don't answer. Only point your finger to the top line of the hospital discharge form. There, the date of admission is clearly recorded.

“Group leader Ly.”

My voice is not loud, but in this quiet room, every word is clearly transmitted to everyone's ears.

"In your evidence, I signed that approval document at 3:00 p.m. on August 15, in my office. Is that correct?"

Ly Kien Quan didn't say anything, just nodded. The young member next to him reflexively responded.

"That's right."

I smiled softly.

“That day… I didn't go to the office at all.”

My fingers slid from the hospital discharge papers to each document on the table.

“On August 15, at 10 a.m., on the way to work, I was hit by a large truck that ran a red light.”

“I lost consciousness on the spot.”

"This is my emergency record, clearly stating the time the ambulance departed and the time it arrived at the scene."

"This is the surgery notice. At 1:00 p.m., I was wheeled into the operating room for a five-hour craniotomy."

“And this is the monitoring record in the intensive care room.”

I spread out each page of the file in front of them, like opening a book.

“From 6 p.m. on August 15, after the surgery ended, to 10 a.m. on August 18, a total of 64 hours, I was always in the ICU.”

“During that time, the hospital issued critical alerts twice.”

I raised my head and looked straight into Ly Kien Quan's eyes that once made me feel pressured.

“Group leader Ly, I want to ask a question.”

“A person is in a deep coma in the ICU, at any time he could lose his life…”

"How do you go back to the office dozens of kilometers away and sign a 30 million yuan project?"

“Or… my soul comes back to sign instead?”

My words just ended. The entire meeting room was silent It was so quiet that you could hear each person breathing. Ly Kien Quan's eyes were glued to the medical records on the table. His face changed at a speed visible to the naked eye, gradually turning white. The young member opened his mouth, the disdain from before had completely disappeared. Instead there was extreme surprise and confusion.

“No… no way…”

He muttered instinctively.

“We… we obviously checked your attendance that day and it was normal…”

“Timekeeping?”

I laughed coldly.

“You can go check the agency's cameras.”

"Let's see on August 15, at the office gate, the building hallway, and my office floor, is there a trace of Hua Tinh or not?"

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

“The camera in front of my office that day 'had a broken line'.”

“But what about cameras at the office gate?”

“What about cameras for the whole building?”

“Could it be that… everything is ruined?”