Chapter 3 — Winter 1980

The blood on his face immediately drained away, becoming whiter than paper. He looked at his mother, his eyes filled with a sense of absurdity and indignation. "You... you squirted blood!" "You squirted blood?" Mother laughed heartily, laughing until she shed tears. "Lin Kien Quan, do you dare say you don't know To Ngoc Mai?" "Do you dare say that year before joining the army, you never loved her?" "Do you dare say this little scoundrel is not the evil one you left behind?" She pointed at me, her fingers trembling violently from excitement. I felt like I was stripped of all my clothes and thrown into the ice and snow. Those evil words, those names and stories I didn't understand, were like countless poisonous snakes wrapping tightly around me, making it impossible for me to breathe. Who is To Ngoc Mai? Why am I... your daughter? His body staggered a bit, he held on to the stone mortar next to him to steady himself. "To Ngoc Mai..." He muttered reading this name, his eyes became painful and blurred. "You... how do you know her..." "How do you know?" Mom laughed even more crazily. "Of course I know! I also know that she gave birth to a daughter for me! I also know that after she gave birth, she bled to death and died!" "I also know that before she died, she asked someone to bring this baby to my house, wanting to let my parents take care of it!" "But my parents also hate her! I hate that fox spirit that seduced me! They threw this newly born baby to the cemetery!" "It's me!" Mom pointed out. into my nose, in a mournful voice. "It's me who can't see! It's me who secretly ran to the cemetery in the middle of the night, carrying this child back that was about to freeze to death!" "You saved her life!" "You raised her like your own daughter! Even though you don't like her, you gave her a morsel of food to eat, letting her live until now!" "Lin Kien Quan! I don't owe you! It's me who owes you!" "It's me who owes your Lam family two lives!" Her words were like A massive avalanche, burying all the secrets and dirt underneath. Then she was dug up by her own hands, revealing the most bloody truth. I... am a child abandoned by my grandparents? Was it my mother who picked me up from the cemetery? I looked at you. He did not object. He just closed his eyes in pain, tears sliding down the corners of his eyes. So it's an admission. What my mother said was all true. It turns out, I'm really your daughter. It was born from a woman named To Ngoc Mai. A child is not welcomed, even abandoned by his own grandparents. My existence, from the beginning, was a mistake. Ms. Lam Tinh Uyen rushed forward, hugged me, her voice choked up. "No... no... I'm not a bastard..." She wanted to comfort me, but she was also trembling. The two of us, a pair of sisters from different fathers. A person who was raised like a princess for ten years. A person was picked up like trash. How wild is fate. My father, who had been an honest and simple man all his life, finally exploded. He rushed in front of his mother, raised his hand, and slapped hard. "Shut!" The sharp slap echoed throughout the yard. "You are truly a cruel woman!" His eyes were bloodshot, pointing at his mother, his whole body trembling. "You lied to me for so many years! You let me call someone else's daughter a daughter! You let me... you let Tran Niem..." He couldn't continue. He looked at me, his eyes filled with guilt, regret, and also a trace of... fear. He is afraid of me. Afraid that this "second daughter" that he has overlooked for more than ten years will suddenly turn into his wife's niece. This house was in complete disarray. Mother covered her face and was beaten until she fell to the ground. She didn't cry, nor did she make a mess, just laughed coldly. "Beat me! You can kill me!"

beautiful?" "One wants to go, one wants to receive relatives!" "I've been busy for half my life, and in the end I can't save anything!" She looked like she was really crazy. He opened his eyes, the sadness in his eyes had frozen into ice. He walked in front of me, squatted down. He wanted to reach out and touch my face, but his hand stopped in mid-air. He didn't dare. He looked at me, his lips trembling for a long time before saying three words. "I'm sorry." He said. "Son, I'm sorry." "06Dad. This word came out of his mouth, both strange and heavy. I looked at him. The man wearing a dinner jacket, returning from Taiwan, had that face. He was my biological father. A father who knew absolutely nothing about me, didn't even know I existed. My tears finally couldn't hold back any longer, falling. Not because of self-pity, nor because of resentment. Just wanted to cry. Crying for a life of more than ten years of living unknown. Crying for the mother To Ngoc Mai who gave birth to me and then passed away. Also crying for the father in front of me, who was also blinded, in extreme pain. "Don't cry..." He panicked, clumsily trying to wipe my tears with his sleeve. The expensive felt material rubbed my face, a bit rough. "It's all a bad dad... it's a useless dad..." He repeated this sentence over and over, like a child who had done something wrong. Sister Lam Tinh Uyen also hugged me and cried.