Chapter 8 — Wind and Snow Falling, Ancient People Return

Unanswered Questions

The next morning, Bach Du arrived at the project office earlier than usual, his mind still reeling from thoughts from last night. He sat in front of his desk, opened his laptop but couldn't focus on the unfinished drawing, his eyes kept absentmindedly looking out at the yard where the workers were starting a new shift.

Minh Lam walked in, saw his friend's unusually thoughtful expression and immediately asked. "What did you and Diep Khanh talk about yesterday that you couldn't sleep all night? Those dark circles around your eyes."

Bach Du recounted the entire tense conversation in front of the flower shop, especially the details about the old text messages that both of them confirmed were not sent or received by them in the normal way. After listening to Minh Lam, his face gradually became serious.

"If what you say is true, then there is clearly something wrong with the old story." Minh Lam tapped his fingers on the table, thinking. "But that's for later. Now I have something else to tell you, related to Diep Khanh."

"What's going on?" Bach Du looked up, his eyes immediately focused.

"Yesterday I ran into an old friend who works in the flower supply industry at the wholesale market. He told me about a recent scandal involving the Van Hoa Cao Nguyen company, which specializes in supplying flowers to small flower shops in the city." Minh Lam lowered his voice, even though there were only two people in the room. "It says this company is known for using price gouging tactics, offering long-term contracts with ambiguous terms to put small flower shops in a difficult position, then forcing them to sell their businesses at cheap prices or accept other unfavorable terms."

Bach Du felt a cold current run down his spine. "Diep Suong also has a contract with that company."

"That's right, that's why I mentioned this." Minh Lam nodded. "I heard that several other flower shops in the Xuan Huong area also signed a contract with Van Hoa Cao Nguyen, but not long after they had similar problems and had to close or transfer urgently."

Bach Du was silent for a moment, his mind starting to piece together disparate pieces of information. He remembered Diep Khanh's panicked expression when he saved her from an accident at the construction site the day before, remembered the file she held tightly in her hand at that time, and now, the story of this scandalous flower supply company made everything seem connected.

"Can you learn more about this company? Who is behind it, what is the ownership structure?" Bach Du asked, his voice became more assertive.

"Let me try contacting some old relationships." Minh Lam nodded. "But what do you plan to do with this information? Diep Khanh didn't ask for your help. Looking at her attitude towards you yesterday, I think she's still far from trusting enough to ask for help."

Bach Du sighed, his eyes looked out the window, towards the small alley where Diep Suong shop was located, although it could not be seen from here. "I don't need her to ask. If I can help, I will, whether she knows it or not."

"Be careful, you're too obvious. If she finds out, she'll think you're prying into private matters, making things even more tense." Minh Lam warned, although in his heart he clearly understood where his friend's intentions came from.

"I know what I'm doing." Bach Du replied, his voice resolute. "I just want to find out before deciding what to do next."

Throughout that morning, instead of focusing on design work, Bach Du spent most of his time sitting in front of the computer, looking up public information about Van Hoa Cao Nguyen company on the business registration system. He noted the name of the legal representative - Cung Vinh Vuong - and the address of the company's headquarters, a small office located on the outskirts of the city, which did not seem to be commensurate with the rumored scale of flower supply activities for dozens of flower shops in the area.

He also found a few posts on local business forums, in which a number of small flower shop owners complained about unusual fees similar to what Diep Khanh had encountered, although no one dared to name the company for fear of legal issues. The more Bach Du read, the more certain he felt that this was not a single incident, but a deliberate pattern, systematically repeated.

That afternoon, instead of going out to eat with his colleagues as usual, Bach Du stayed in the office, ordered a boxed lunch to have it brought to him, and continued to look through printed documents while eating. He noticed that, among the complaining posts on the business forum, there was a quite detailed article from a small flower shop owner in the Da Lat market area, recounting how he was forced by the supplier company to pay a cold storage maintenance fee that was not in the original contract, and eventually had to sell off part of the premises to pay off the debt. The article was deleted just a few days after posting, but luckily it was still saved in the cache of the search engine that he happened to look up.

He took a photo of the entire content and saved it in a separate folder, his mind gradually forming a clearer picture of how this company operates: approaching small flower shops that are having difficulty with supply, offering initial attractive prices to build trust, then gradually installing additional fees and unfavorable terms cleverly hidden in lengthy contract appendices that few people have the patience to read. By the time the victim realizes it, the debt has accumulated to the point where he can no longer pay, forcing him to accept unfavorable conditions offered by the supplier.

At noon, Minh Lam returned to the office, carrying a stack of printer paper, his expression still filled with concern that he had not yet hidden.

"I asked a friend to check the more detailed business registration information." He placed the stack of papers on the table in front of Bach Du. "Something is a bit strange, although Van Hoa Cao Nguyen company has Cung Vinh Vuong's name as its director, but according to a copy of the old capital contribution records, before the company changed the form to one member, there was another individual with the same name as a capital contributor. Unfortunately, the photo here is mostly blurred, as if it was photocopied over many layers, only a few strokes can be read."

Bach Du bent down, squinted at the blurry ink information box, trying to piece together each remaining letter on the page. He turned the paper sideways under the desk lamp, bringing his eyes closer, but only vaguely recognized a line of lines that could be the upper part of the letter T, the rest almost disappeared in the smudged ink. His fingers traced that line as if trying to squeeze out another letter from nothing, but to no avail.

"Can't you read anything else?" He asked, his voice a little impatient, placing the paper on the table heavier than necessary.

"The original is probably still kept at the business registration office, but there must be a legitimate reason to request an excerpt. It's not as simple as asking for a regular copy." Minh Lam shook his head. "I'll try to find another way. Maybe I'll have to ask Viet Bang to apply in my name as a lawyer to make it faster."

Bach Du nodded, folded the papers carefully, and put them in a separate briefcase, but his hand still lingered on the leather briefcase for a few more seconds, as if he couldn't really let go of the feeling of just touching an important clue and then losing it as soon as he was close to grasping it. Even though he couldn't read the full name, there was a feeling that stuck with him that this was not a coincidence.

"Are you going to talk about this with Diep Khanh?" Minh Lam asked, breaking the long silence.

"Not yet." Bach Du shook his head. "The information is too little, I can't even read a name yet, how can I dare say anything? I don't want to make her more confused for no reason. Let me find out more carefully, only when I have enough evidence will I speak."

Minh Lam nodded in agreement, although he was still a little worried about his friend carrying a large burden on himself. "Be careful, this way of leaving blurry documents right in the most important place like this, I doubt it's a coincidence. Someone careful enough to do that is not the average person."

"I know." Bach Du looked out the window, his eyes became distant but full of determination. "But no matter how difficult it is, I will find the truth. Not only because of Diep Khanh's flower shop, but also because of what happened between me and her five years ago."

That afternoon, when leaving the project office, Bach Du did not go straight to the apartment but drove around Xuan Huong Street, his eyes stopped at the window of Diep Suong shop, where Diep Khanh was diligently arranging flowers for a certain order, completely unaware that, not far away, a silent investigation was being conducted, with the hope of revealing the entire truth behind both tragedies that were weighing heavily on his life. Miss.