Chapter 16 — When the Wind Crosses the Porch

The name in the offshore account is An Khoi, founder of a marine infrastructure consulting company. He appeared in Phan Loc's documents as a "technical partner", but no one in the seven households knew.

Vinh said Khoi was the one who first designed the embankment. Phuc cooperated with him to turn the community project into a resort. Luu just looked at the map, not knowing the money flow went that far.

“Where did my father meet Khoi?” Mai asked Vinh.

"At the provincial conference. Two people argued about the exhaust gate."

“Was Khoi present the night his father passed away?”

"I do not know."

Letter sent to request cash flow tracing. The bank replied that the intermediary account had been closed, but the last transfer was on the same day as Mai's father passed away. The second recipient is a private scholarship fund related to Mai School.

Mai sat quietly. Her scholarship is not just a tool Phuc uses; it can be funded with community money itself.

Hanh said she had suspected it for a long time. After his father passed away, the school sent an unexpected scholarship decision without any admission documents. Phan signed the guarantee.

“I didn't say it because you need money.”

“I know.”

“I think if you finish school, you will have a way out.”

Mai looked at the scholarship paper. She once bragged to her friends that she was chosen because of her high scores. Maybe half right.

Lawyer Thu does not want to turn the scholarship into evidence against Mai. She said she needed to prove that the fund was established with illegal money, but Mai was not an intentional beneficiary.

“I received the money,” Hanh said. “You have to pay.”

“You don't have to pay by quitting your job.”

Mai checks her savings account and transfers all remaining money to the community fund. It's not enough as a scholarship, but it's a commitment.

Vinh objected: "You don't need to punish yourself."

"I don't punish. I correct part of the path."

Khoi sent an invitation for dialogue, saying he could explain the design and cash flow. The letter advises meeting only at the investigation agency. Khoi refused, suggesting a beachside restaurant.

Mai won't go. She submitted questions in writing. Khoi replied with a beautiful document, many charts, no receipt.

“He's good at making things look legitimate,” Quan said.

“Then find the part that is not drawn.”

Duy reviewed public data and discovered that Khoi's embankment design had a pipe under the salt flat leading to the planned resort. The pipeline is not included in the environmental profile.

Sau Luu remembers a fish death after trial construction. Mrs. Lai has a photo of a drifting fish, the date coincides with the time Khoi tested the system.

Additional letter requesting environmental testing. The case expanded from land dispute to project liability.

Vinh asked to be a witness about the meeting with Khoi. He admitted that he received a small stake, but did not know the design to hide the pipeline. Khoi accused Vinh of betrayal.

Phuc sent a text message to Mai: "You don't understand which door you are opening."

Mai replied: "I understand. Behind it there are too many people who believe in another door."

Khoi asked the court to cancel the temporary suspension decision because the project brings economic benefits. The board refused, saying benefits cannot replace records.

While reviewing the documents, Hao returned. She was not arrested, but lost her job and stayed at her sister's house. Hao brought a laptop and said he wanted to hand over system data.

“I signed,” she said. "I accepted the money. But Phuc forced me because he knew I had lost money from the market."

Mai asked: "Did you hand over the data because you regretted it or because you wanted to reduce the crime?"

"Both."

Hao includes the map edit history, visitor list, and a folder named “Earth Roof”. It includes photos of the house, a property appraisal and a proposal to demolish the front porch to "reduce its symbolic value."

Mai read, her heart pounded. They don't just want land; They want to erase the place where people used to meet.

Hao said Phuc asked her to find someone to buy Hanh's house at a low price, then sell it back to the company. She accepted because of the debt.

“Do you know where my father was taken?”

Hao bowed his head. "I just heard Phuc calling Khoi. He said 'old people don't sign'."

“Did Khoi go to the measuring station?”

“No. But his car does.”

Hao agreed to testify in exchange for protection. Letter of agreement, clearly stating that no liability is waived.

Hanh looked at Hao and did not curse. She asked: "Have you ever read the paper I signed?"

"Have."

“You know I was tricked?”

"Know."

“So why did you still take it away?”

Hao cried. “Because I thought no one would protect you.”

Hanh said: "You were half right. Now I defend myself."

The investigation confirmed that Khoi's car was at the measuring station, but did not prove that he was there. Quy identified the driver as Khoi's person. They have to add more testimony.

Khoi suddenly withdrew from the project and transferred shares to another company. The letter warns that this may be a dissipation of assets. The court issued a freezing order.

Vinh was sued by the company for revealing secrets. He lost his position, but still provided records. Mai did not consider him an ally; he must bear his own share.

Quan asked her if she was tired. Mai replied: "Tired, but don't want to stop yet."

“We have the original.”

“There are no answers about the night my father died.”

They checked hospital records. The delivery time did not include the name of the sender. Just write "male, about 60 years old, no documents". The person who signed the death certificate was a retired nurse named Lan.

Ms. Lan is the teller who confirmed the fake signature. She was at the hospital that night, working an extra shift.

Lan remembers that Mai's father was brought in by Khoi's car, not an ambulance. Phuc went along, and Hanh came later. The hospital admitted him because of his critical condition, but he died at the door.

"Who said there's no paperwork?" Mai asked.

"Phuc. He said the family will replenish."

“Why do you listen?”

“I'm afraid of losing my job.”

Lan gave a photocopy of the duty book. Has Phuc's signature and time 9:58. The emergency room called at 10:02, but Mai's father had arrived before that.

Mai sees two timelines colliding. He could have died before Hanh thought.

Hanh heard it and had difficulty breathing. She lived for seven years with the thought that she called the ambulance late, while someone else took him to the hospital on their own way.

“I'm not at fault for the twenty-six minutes,” Mai said. “They hid it from mom.”

Hanh shook her head. “Mom still leaves him.”

"I left because they threatened me. A mother shouldn't have to choose like that."

“But Mom chose.”

Mai hugged her mother. This time Hanh did not stiffen.

The case entered the prosecution phase. Phuc and Luu have travel restrictions, Hao and Hau cooperate. Khoi is absent abroad.

The Council required the project to submit the entire design. The pipeline under the salt flat was discovered, causing the environmental permit to be suspended.

Seven households had the opportunity to keep their land, but had to wait many months. Temporary funds run out quickly. Duy and his friends organized radio repairs and sold used items to raise funds. Mai designed a set of posters, clearly stating each income and expenditure.

Hanh opened the porch as a reception point, even though the roof was still temporary. People came to ask questions, sign papers, and drink tea. The house returned to exactly what Mai's father wanted: a place where people could read even the disadvantages.

One evening, Hao brought a copy of Khoi's email, in which he wrote: "If the porch is not destroyed, the community story will outlive the project."

After reading it, Mai didn't say anything. She took a photo and sent it to Thu.

“Now they understand what a porch is,” Hanh said.

“They understood too late.”

“Better late than never.”

Rain and dust fall through the tarpaulin roof. Quan set up a strut and asked: "Do you think the house will be able to stand?"

Mai looked at the new wooden poles, straps, and moisture-proof paper. “It can stand unless one person holds it all.”

That night, Thu sent a message that the court had accepted the cancellation of the project map, but had not yet decided on the support amount. The final dialogue session will take place after one month.

One month is enough to rebuild the roof, set up a fund, find a protector and prepare testimony. It was enough to make Khoi disappear longer.

Mai opened her father's letter for the last time. In the last line he wrote: "If you want to go, go through the main door. Don't let anyone turn staying into an obligation."

Mai looked at the main door whose hinges were being replaced. She doesn't know where she will be after the last session. But for the first time, the future is not like a piece of paper that someone else puts in front of you.

The wind through the porch is lighter. The house has not been won yet, but has stopped being called vacant land.

Mai spent a day charting the trajectory of the scholarship. She writes down the amount, transfer date, approver and refunded portion. There is no line with the word “inadvertent” to cover a specific decision. Hanh sat next to him, reading each paragraph. She realized that the amount of money she used to buy books for Mai was smaller than the amount Phuc kept, but fear made her think the two amounts were the same.

“You don't need to pay it all at once,” Thu said. "The important thing is to separate the part the mother and child received under pressure from the part appropriated by others."

Mai still plans to pay in installments, because she wants to take responsibility for her own life. She asked the school to confirm her independent academic achievements, so that the new scholarship in the future would not be tied to a land record. The team leader in Da Nang agreed to support her in working flexibly.

Hanh asked if the new project on the island needed her to go far away, who would manage the Wind Porch Room. Mai replied: "It's not just me. The seven households will rotate, data management, legal inspection letter." Hanh nodded. For the first time, she heard about the plan to leave without seeing the house left behind.

At the end of the day, Quan replaced the main door hinges. He told Mai not to wait until the door was stuck to check the oil. Little maintenance makes a house outlive all vows. Mai writes them down on the communal calendar, so everyone knows what day to check the roof, columns and filing cabinets.