Chapter 16 — Women Don't Need To Be Chosen

He walked out the door, his voice low.

“Confronting just me alone, I… am even more difficult to deal with than an entire clan.”

The door closes. I sat down, my palms were sweaty but my mind was still alert. Chu Can almost rushed in.

“General To, are you okay?”

“He threatened you?”

“It can be considered so.”

“What now?”

“Call To Cam Hoa, tell her Co Thanh Cuong has arrived.”

“Help me make an appointment.”

“Mr. Luc.”

Mr. Luc and To Cam Hoa are of the same generation, but their temperaments are completely different, one is as sharp as a knife, the other is as quiet as water, but both are the type of people who look once and remember for the rest of their lives. I made an appointment with him at the tea room in Kim Mau Phu, the space was quiet, the smell of tea was faint. He walked in with a cane, and the secretary helped him sit down, his eyes still as sharp as ever.

“Nien Niem, do you have something to do with me?”

“Grandpa, I want to ask something.”

“Do you know Co Thanh Cuong?”

His hand stopped on the teacup.

"Know how?"

"Thirty years ago, the Co family used to do real estate in Giang Thanh. At that time Luc Thi was still young, they were big men in the industry, then they moved to the North, we no longer communicated."

“What is your impression of him?”

He put down the cup of tea, his voice deep.

"Ruthless, that year in order to compete for a piece of land, he used many dirty tricks. I saw with my own eyes that he forced his opponent to go bankrupt, and then used the same method to push his brother out of power."

“You know I'm from the Co family?”

He was silent for a moment.

"I guessed that you looked like them, especially your eyes, but you didn't say anything, so I couldn't ask."

I looked at him, and suddenly a very strange feeling arose in my heart. During the three years at the Luc family, he was the only one who truly treated me like family.

“Today he is looking for you, wanting you to give up your inheritance.”

“I don't agree.”

“Of course not.”

He nodded, his voice firm.

“Then he will strike.”

“I know, that's why I came to find you.”

“What do you need?”

"I need documents and records from thirty years ago, real estate projects the Co family did in Giang Thanh, especially dirty things."

He looked at me, his eyes deepened.

“You want to use the past to restrain him?”

"It's not restraint, it's self-defense. If he strikes first, you have to have something to fight back."

He pondered for a long time, as if pondering between the past and the present.

"I kept a part of the documents, saved them that year to prevent any unexpected events, but I didn't expect to use them thirty years later."

I looked straight at him.

“Can you give it to me?”

"Okay, but Niem Niem, there's one thing I want to tell you. You have a great chance of winning against Co Thanh Cuong, but the process won't be easy, that person doesn't follow the rules, he dares to do anything, there must be someone trustworthy by your side."

I nodded slightly, my eyes calm but in my heart I clearly understood the danger of this game.

"There's one more thing..." Mr. Luc hesitated a bit, "the matter of Canh Tham..."

“You and him are over.”

“I know, but that boy is not a bad person, he was just held too tightly by his mother.”

"It's not being held back, it's choosing not to grow up. A thirty-year-old man can't protect his wife, not because of his mother, but because of his own inadequacy."

The old man sighed, his eyes slightly sad.

“You're right.”

He opened his briefcase and took out an old envelope, the paper had discolored over the years.

“This is part of the documents from that year, the rest is in the safe iron, tomorrow I will have someone bring it over.”

“Thank you.”

“Nem Niem.”

“No matter what, the Luc family owes you, but this old man… still considers you a grandchild.”

The bridge of my nose stung, but I only said a quiet "yes". The documents Mr. Luc gave me... were much heavier than I thought. Thirty years ago, the central land east of Giang Thanh that Co Thanh Cuong won was not by ability. It's money. Transfer documents, middlemen's notebooks, even a copy of an official's handwritten letter at the time. They all point in a single direction. Later that year, someone was investigated, but Co Thanh Cuong cleared all traces and retreated completely. It's just that... Mr. Luc kept the copy. Thirty years, beyond the legal statute of limitations, but its value does not lie in the law. It's reputation. Once published, the thing he relied on—the reputation of the Co family's trust fund—would collapse immediately. I locked all the documents in the safe, then called. The other end of the line was silent for two seconds.

“Nem Niem?”

“Co Thanh Cuong found you, you need to talk to mom.”

“To the hotel.”

An hour later, I sat opposite To Cam Hoa, told her the entire meeting and showed her the documents. Her expression darkened.

“This person… should have been dealt with twenty-six years ago.”

“Why didn't you do it then?”

“For your father.” She smiled faintly, "No matter how much he fought, he didn't want to put his younger brother in the path of death. In the end, it was that soft-heartedness that caused him to lose everything."

“The price of kindness.”

“Yes, but I'm not like him.”

“I know.”