Chapter 11: Chapter 11 Decision — Where the Sun Returns

"Miên! You've been thinking for so long? Call HR back to schedule the interview!" Mai was impatient and dialed the phone number in front of Miên.

Mộc Miên stared at the flashing numbers on the screen. With just a swipe of her hand and touching the call button, she will board the express train to return to her old world. A world of early morning meetings, endlessly changing drawings until midnight, fake diplomatic smiles and swallowed back tears.

She closed her eyes. The image that appeared in her mind was not the comfortable leather Director's chair, but the scene of Hoàng Phong holding her hand and showing her how to cut a hoe to avoid back pain. It's the strong scent of grilled ginger on a stormy night. It's my grandmother's gentle smile every evening.

Each image flashed by one after another like a slow-motion film: the first distorted vegetable bed she picked herself, Phong's cheerful laughter when she threw a worm at his face, the taillights of the bus carrying the first shipment fading into the night, and the starry sky that she had never fully seen during her four years living in Saigon. Each image is a small puzzle piece, but when put together, they form a complete picture of the simple happiness she never knew she craved.

She slowly opened her eyes and gently pushed Mai's phone away.

"Thank you, Mai," Miên said, her voice gentle but firm. "But I won't call."

Mai opened her eyes, thinking she heard wrong. "Are you crazy? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Are you going to stay in this corner and hoe till old age?"

"I'm not working until I'm old. I'm building my career," Miên picked up the file and folded it neatly. "Mai, in the city, I can make a lot of money. But I'm just a tool for people to make more money. Here, I plant a tree, I see it grow every day. I write a story, I sell vegetables that bring health to others. My value here is real. I... found peace, Mai."

"Can you grind it and eat it, you idiot?" Mai shouted angrily, snatched the file from Miên's hand, and pressed it close to her face. "Look closely, this is an opportunity that so many people out there have trampled on each other to win. Are you going to throw it all away just for a few vegetable beds and a farming engineer?"

"Not because of a few vegetable beds, nor because of a farming engineer at all," Miên gently pushed the file aside, her eyes looking straight at Mai without avoiding it. "It's because for the first time in four years, I wake up every morning without fear at the thought of a new day at work. Do you remember when I used to say what my biggest dream is?"

Mai paused, frowning, remembering. "You said you want to make things that make others happy and comforted, not just to sell a lot of goods."

"That's right," Miên nodded, her voice becoming earnest. "At my old company, I had forgotten that for a long time. But here, every article I post, every story I tell about this garden, makes some people believe, others feel warm. I found my old self again, Mai. The version before being crushed by the office machine."

"Okay," Miên laughed brightly. "This afternoon, I will treat you to a dish of vegetable soup cooked with shrimp. If you eat it, I guarantee you will feel how delicious it is."

Mai looked helplessly at her best friend. She understands Miên. Once Miên made up her mind with that determined look in her eyes, even ten bulls couldn't pull her back. Mai sighed deeply and threw herself onto the bed.

"It's up to you. When you grow up, you're responsible for your own life. But I warn you, working in agriculture is very hard. If you cry, I won't bother coming down here to pick you up anymore."

"I know," Miên hugged Mai, giggling.

Mai struggled to push Miên away, but still couldn't bear to let go completely. "Okay, let you stay in this ridiculous country. But remember to keep in touch, if there's anything you need to call me right away, don't show off your pride. Besides," Mai glanced out the window, where Hoàng Phong's shadow was looming in the garden, lowering her voice to a meaningful whisper, "if that farmer dares to bully you, I'll come up here and take him somewhere else to show you what I can do."

Miên blushed and lightly punched your shoulder. "What nonsense are you talking about!"

That afternoon, after seeing Mai off to the bus station, Miên ran straight to the garden. Hoàng Phong is struggling to carry heavy bags of organic fertilizer into the shack.

"Mr. Phong!" Miên shouted loudly from afar.

Phong was startled and dropped the bag of feces to the ground. He turned around, frowned and looked at Miên running towards him. "What are you screaming like a house on fire? Is your friend back?"

"Back!" Miên stopped in front of Phong, breathing heavily. She rummaged in her pocket, took out a small green savings book, and slapped it on Phong's chest.

"What is this?" Phong bewilderedly picked up the notebook to look at it.

"This is all my savings in four years of working. It's 150 million," Miên declared loudly. "I want to invest in Mộc Farm. From today, I am no longer a free maid. I am an official Shareholder. You take care of the Technical part, I take care of the Marketing and Sales part. Okay?"

Phong was stunned. He looked at the savings book, then looked at Miên's face, red from tired running.

"I thought you were planning to follow your friend back to the city to become Director?" Phong asked hesitantly, his tone trying to hide the joy creeping into his heart. In the morning, he accidentally overheard the conversation of two girls. All day today, his heart seemed to hang on a tree branch, his mind was so confused that he couldn't dig a furrow of soil.

In fact, that whole morning, Phong told himself dozens of times that it was Miên's decision, he had no right and should not interfere. But every time he looked towards the house and saw the taxi still parked in front of the gate, his heart felt an indescribable knot. He hoeed the same row of soil three times without even realizing it, until he was startled to realize what he was doing.

"The director is really awesome, but no one cooks ginger tea for me to drink when it rains," Miên winked mischievously. "How's it going? Are capital contributions approved?"

Phong burst out laughing. The cheerful and warm laughter rang out, dispelling all the worries of a tiring day of work. He held out his muddy hand in front of Miên's face.

"Welcome to join Mộc Trại, Mộc Miên shareholder."

Miên did not hesitate, holding Phong's rough hand tightly. The mud stuck to her hands, but it brought a strange feeling of stability and peace of mind.

The two of them stood there for a long moment, still holding hands tightly, neither of them said another word. The afternoon sun dyed the whole garden yellow, casting long shadows of two people on the red basalt ground. In the distance, the sound of birds calling their flocks to return to their nests rang out loudly, like a congratulatory song for a new beginning that had just been written.

The grandmother has been standing on the porch, waving a fan in her hand, smiling crookedly, looking at the scene of two children holding hands in the middle of the vegetable garden. She didn't hear the whole story clearly, but just looking at her granddaughter's radiant eyes was enough to understand that she had found what she was looking for. She quietly returned to the kitchen, added a pot of water to cook a more hearty meal than usual tonight, as if she was happy for her stubborn niece's decision.

"So what should I call you now? Shareholder of Mộc Miên, or Marketing Director of Mộc Miên?" Phong asked in a rare joking tone.

"Call me whatever you want, as long as you don't call me 'city girl' anymore," Miên pouted. "I'm truly a highlander now, engineer."

"Okay, farmer Mộc Miên," Phong smiled, his eyes sparkling with a warm light that rarely appeared. "Then from tomorrow, the new shareholder's first task is to wake up earlier than me to prepare for the arrival of the new batch of strawberries."

"What? Sooner than you?" Miên rolled her eyes and complained, but inside she felt strangely excited, as if every new challenge in this place was a gift, not a burden.

"So from now on, in all major decisions of the farm, you have the same voting rights as me," Phong said, his serious voice returning to the style of a methodical engineer. "I will rewrite the capital contribution contract to make it clear and fair, to avoid displeasing each other in the future."

"You really detail every inch," Miên laughed, but inside she felt warm at that carefulness. A man who knows how to respect other people's boundaries and efforts will certainly never let her suffer.

This decision of hers was not impulsive, nor was it an escape. It's a new beginning. At the age of 24, Mộc Miên chose to give up the glory of skyscrapers to find the warmth of mother earth, where there is sunshine, wind, and a man willing to cover her with an umbrella in life's storms.