Chapter 4 — You demand justice, I'll show you what justice is

"What do you consider a family member? A guest? Staying at your son's house and having to pay?"

"Auntie, is this Tran Hao's house? Whose name is on the red book?"

Vuong Que Chi was speechless.

"My father paid the deposit for this house, I paid the loan. Legally, this is my house. You guys stayed in my house and damaged my things, don't you need to compensate?"

Tran Hao's face changed continuously like a color palette.

“Lam Vy, you're too much.”

"Too much? You brought seven people to stay at my house for almost a week, and never asked me a question. Who is the one who is too much?"

“So what do you want?”

"Two options. One, you pay according to this table, your family continues to live. Two, within three days of them moving out, the table only counts the incurred portion."

Trieu Quoc Dong was the first to stand up.

"Okay, guys, we won't bother you anymore. Le Tu, pack your things and leave tomorrow."

Truong Le glanced at me, muttered something, then returned to the corner of the room to clean up. Tran Lam still sat still.

"Lac Lac and I won't go. Tran Hao is my younger brother, what's wrong with staying at my brother's house?"

“Then Tran Hao pays your expenses.”

I looked towards him. He bit his lip.

"...Okay. I'll pay."

Vuong Que Chi's face turned red.

“Tran Hao, will you just let him do that?”

“Mom, I proposed to divide it in half, I agree.”

His voice was very low, but clear. At that moment, everyone in the room looked at him. Finally, he understood... How expensive is the so-called "fairness" after all. Trieu Quoc Dong and Truong Le finished packing their luggage and booked bus tickets early the next morning. Tran Lam hugged Lac Lac into the small office and closed the door firmly. Vuong Que Chi and her father-in-law returned to the spare room without a sound all night. Tran Hao sat on the balcony, smoking for two hours. I was in the bedroom, opening the invitation to next week's trade association party. In the guest list, Tran Hao's name is in the fourth row, seventh position. As for my name— Not on the guest seat. But in the keynote speaker section. Trieu Quoc Dong and Truong Le left. But not Tran Lam. Not only did she not go, she also started "looking for a job" — trying her luck in the city, that is. In fact, every day I sleep until 11 o'clock, go out for a spin in the afternoon, and come back in the evening to continue eating and staying for free. Lac Lac in the house was like a little king, stepping on the tea table, rummaging through shelves, running and jumping everywhere. This house... is gradually turning into a battlefield without gunfire. On the evening of the eighth day, I saw something that made all my patience crumble. Credit card statement. Not mine. It's from Tran Hao. He left his phone in the living room to charge, and the screen lit up. I'm not in the habit of peeking. But the notification that appeared was too glaring—

“Your credit card this period: 41,326 yuan, please pay before October 15.”

Forty-one thousand. His monthly salary is 60,000 yuan. Excluding insurance and taxes, the actual receipt is about 48,000 yuan. A bill of 41,326 yuan. This means that this month, he has almost no money left. While the month is only half gone. I moved my eyes. The next morning when I went to the company, I did one thing. Open the internal system and check the cooperation history of Han Vu Advertising. Tan Duyet Media started cooperating with them two years ago. Each year the advertising budget is about 2,000,000 yuan. This amount accounts for 15% of Han Vu's annual revenue. But at that time I chose Han Vu... just because Knowing Tran Hao works there, I want to help him have better results. Now that I think about it, the fact that he was promoted and raised in salary... Half of it was thanks to me. He doesn't know. But I know. That's enough. The assistant knocked on the door and entered.

"Mr. Lam, from Han Vu Advertising, Director Tran called to make an appointment to meet you in person."

"He didn't know you were the owner. He wanted to meet 'the person in charge of Tan Duyet Media'."

I thought a bit.

"Give him an appointment. Next Wednesday afternoon. But don't reveal my identity, use conference room B, for the deputy general to meet."

The assistant left, and I leaned back in my chair. Wednesday next week. It was the day before the Chamber of Commerce banquet. The timing… was just beautiful. At noon, the phone rang again. Message from Tran Hao.

"Can you come home early today? I have to attend to guests, no one in the house is cooking."

"Where is your sister? Where is your mother?"

"My sister said she doesn't know how to cook, my mother has a backache."

“Order food.”

“I order every day, do you know how much it costs?”

"Your people, your expenses. Divide it in half, it's not my choice."

He sent an angry emoji. I put down the phone and continued to look at the financial report. Profit margin 31%. This number puts me in a very good mood. Good enough to ignore all the troubles from the other house. Because I know— The day of counterattack… is coming. Day ten. Things started to get interesting. Before leaving the house in the morning, I heard a conversation between Vuong Que Chi and Tran Hao in the side room.

“Son, are you short of money lately?”

"Don't hide it from mom. How much do you owe on your credit card? My sister asked me to borrow 20,000 yuan and you said you don't have it."

“Mom, I really—”

"Mom, tell me, this marriage of yours is so frustrating. You earn 60,000 yuan, your wife has 20,000 yuan, and you split it in half? She gets all the benefits, you live hard, what kind of thing is that?"

“If I split it in half, I suggest…”

"Then take it back! Who said you were so stupid in the first place?"

"Withdraw? She already agreed, now you say no more sharing? Where's your face?"

“Can you eat your face?”

I curled my lips slightly. Face... can you eat it? Leave the house, go to work, have meetings. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the assistant walked in.

“General Lam, there is a situation.”

"Han Vu Advertising seems to be having problems. In addition to us stopping cooperation, their two other big customers also withdrew their contracts. It is said that due to the decrease in delivery quality, the complaint rate increased."

“Director Tran—that is, Tran Hao—seems to have been called to work by his superiors.”

I took a sip of coffee.

"Continue to monitor. If you have any news, please let me know."

"Yes. In addition, the process of the Chamber of Commerce banquet for next week is already in place. Your speech ranked second, 20 minutes in duration."

"One more thing, I need you to confirm the attendance list. Here is the guest list at director level and above."

She gave me the documents. I scrolled through. Fourth page. Tran Hao's name is clearly there.