"This excerpt is taken from the book after Dinh settled down in the city as a Fruit Chaat selling vendor, where she became friends with a neighbor at the workplace, Mai."
Recently, Dinh's life seemed unchanged, except for a recent development at work. After months of saving, Mai could purchase for her a state-of-the-art Canon camera. She couldn't contain her excitement as she presented it to Dinh as soon as she arrived.
'Here, Dinh, check it out,' Mai said, proudly displaying her new Canon.
'Wow, it's amazing!' Dinh exclaimed, caught up in Mai's enthusiasm.
'Alright, now it's time for me to show you my talent, Dinh. You just stand right there in front of your food cart. I'll capture some stunning shots,' Mai directed.
Mai's fervor for capturing photographs seemed boundless, as she tirelessly snapped various poses of Dinh, leaving her friend slightly exhausted from the impromptu photo shoot.
' Oh, Dinh, my newly purchased Canon came with a 70% discount voucher for the Fancy. How about we grab a bite after work?' Mai suddenly remembered as she watched a sausages vendor pass by. The Fancy was the most popular convenience store chain in the city, where Dinh and Mai usually shopped for groceries.
'Oh, I can't even imagine 70% off. I felt my adrenaline running high.' However, her jubilation had gone away as she looked at her stuff: "Look at all this stuff. It would take me hours to sell it all. You go first, do grocery shopping for me as well. I'll make you a list'. She scrambled her stuff on a piece of paper and handed it to Mai.
'All right, it seems it'll be hours before you're done.' Mai agreed.
So they concluded their discussion, and Mai departed for the nearest Fancy store while Dinh returned to her work. By 7 pm, she had finally sold the last box of fruit and headed to the store where they had arranged to meet. Though not a large store by any means, it was well-equipped with a variety of items. Mai was easy to spot, seated at the farthest table in the back, surrounded by a mountain of grocery bags.
'You're here! I've been waiting for ages,' Mai complained.
'Sorry, oop, it's freezing,' Dinh said as she noticed they were sitting opposite the store's storage area.
'I've been feeling a bit warm today. Maybe I've got a temperature. Anyway, if you're cold, just grab my jacket,' Mai touched her forehead while handed Dinh her pink jacket. "All right, time for dinner,' She eagerly announced, blinking with enthusiasm.
'Sure, let me just...' Dinh started to lower herself onto the seat when a putrid odor invaded her senses.
'What's that smell, Mai? How can you sit here? It's like a dead body,' Dinh halted, struggling to find the right words. 'Well, it likes a dead deer decomposing in my garden for weeks before we found it.'
'I couldn't smell anything. Ah, a bit pungent, maybe someone left some spoiled food here,' Mai suggested.
'Ah, maybe it's the food that's about to expire in our storage," the shopman interjected calmly as he approached. The two girls looked up to find a young man with a tall build, sporting a red T-shirt with the slogan 'The Fancy, Let's see how the world becomes your fan.' Holding a towel, he was about to clean the seating area. His long legs were desirable, like a model's. Mai glanced at him with interest as he spoke.
'We dispose of them periodically. The expiration date is coming up this month. Sorry for the inconvenience,' he said with an apologetic nod.
'Oh, it's all right. We'll take our food to go,' they both agreed in unison.
Dinh's phone interrupted the moment with a call from Duy, informing her to go to the police station regarding some ID issues.
'Ok, Officer Duy. I'll talk to you later,' Dinh said, ending the call. Sensing a sharp gaze on her, she turned around to find nothing but the staff finishing his cleaning, about to head to the counter, where a couple stood considering their order.
'Two grilled fish sausages noodles, please,' a boy from the couple requested.
'Sorry, we're out of noodles. Could you order something else?' the shopman replied.
At once, Dinh and Mai approached the counter, joining the couple in the line. They discussed their dinner options.
'I think I'll have the long stick bread. They have five-seasoned chicken and grilled pork with lemongrass. Which one's better?' Dinh pondered while scanning the menu displayed prominently on the wall behind the counter.
'Just kids make choices; adults choose everything,' Mai laughed.
'But I just want to indulge only one at a time. Okay, I'll take four sticks of the five-seasoned chicken, please,' Dinh ordered, then turned to Mai. 'What about you?'
'I'm in the mood for something with hot soup. They have crab noodle soup, which sounds interesting,' Mai said with a slight sneeze.
'Did you hear the shopman say they ran out of fish sausages?'
'Alright, then I'll go for the set of five dumplings: one crab, one pork, one mushroom, one shrimp, and one chicken, please,' Mai declared, a playful glint in her eye. We'll both get to taste five different flavors at once'
The two friends found amusement in that, chuckling as they left the store and strolled back to where their food carts were stationed nearby.
They asked the building's guard to keep an eye on their carts and continued down the bustling street in downtown. Suddenly, amidst the commotion, Dinh's phone rang. It was Duy, urgently asking her to go to the police station for her ID stuff as it was nearly closing for the public. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man rushed past, yanking her and Mai off their feet. As they regained their balance, Dinh realized her phone was missing. Mai raised her voice, shouting 'Robbery, help!' to the people around them. Without hesitation, Dinh took off after the fleeing thief. He was fast, and she struggled to keep pace, but eventually, he ducked into an alley and sprinted toward a row of dilapidated houses. He came to a halt, waiting for Dinh to catch up.
To her surprise, the man brandished a knife, his features obscured in the darkness by his all-black attire, including a hood and a mask. Dinh instinctively took a step back as he lunged at her, narrowly evading the blade as she crouched. Reacting quickly, she sprang up and delivered a forceful kick to the man's chest, causing him to stagger and drop the knife. Without hesitation, she swiftly dashed to the man, grasped him firmly by the waist and decisively threw him over her head. With a solid 'thud,' the man was knocked out cold on the hard ground. In a swift movement, she jumped on the man's back, pinned him to the ground, and swiftly bound his hands with his own hoodie.
As she removed his mask, she was taken aback to recognize him as the shopman from The Fancy. Her discovery was interrupted by the incessant ringing of her phone in the man's pocket. Hastily retrieving it, she saw that the screen displayed Duy calling.
'Hello, Officer Duy, could you come here immediately?' Dinh spoke quickly, trying to keep her composure.
'Are you okay? Where are you?' Duy's concerned voice came through the line.
Dinh recounted the situation briefly and hung up, just as Mai and several passersby arrived to help restrain the man until the authorities arrived. Together, Dinh, Mai, and the witnesses accompanied the criminal to the police station for processing.
At the scene, a young police officer was overseeing the investigation of the shopman. Duy's shift had ended, but he remained to observe the process. Seated alongside the investigator, he attentively scanned the area, casting a discerning eye over Dinh and the crowd. Something didn't quite add up, he thought. Turning to the investigator, he inquired, 'Officer Dan, could I ask him a question?'
'Of course, Officer Duy, I'm almost done with my process,' Officer Dan replied. He handed the initial record to Duy.
'Ok, thanks,' Duy acknowledged. 'Date: May 2nd around 8 pm, Type of case: Robbery. Offender name: Tran Hung, a 28-year-old permanent staff of the Fancy store in District 7. Duy literally read the form aloud with a neutral tone. Suddenly, he stressed his voice.
'Ok. Tran Hung, why did you target her?' Duy pointed to Dinh, seeking an explanation.
'Because I found it was convenient,' the shopman named Tran Hung responded promptly.
'Why not this girl?' Duy gestured towards Mai, who stood a head length shorter than Dinh and had a much smaller figure.'
'They were together, why not her?' Duy repeated, emphasizing the question.
'I found the taller girl was much easier to beat'
'Okay, anyone here who thinks the taller girl is weaker than the shorter girl?' Duy pointed to Dinh and Mai, addressing the crowd. There was no response.
He continued, 'So who finds the shorter girl was much easier to target?'. Immediately, the hands of the crowd shot up.
'Now it's clear, from a simple glance, we can see that the two girls walking together, the shorter one seemed much weaker and more easily subdued. She was even wearing a golden bracelet, necklace, and had a bag on her arm.'
Mai quickly checked her jewelry to make sure they were there. Her hands unconsciously grip her bag tightly across her chest, as if the shopman might snatch it away. Duy paused for the onlookers to grasp the situation, then turned to the shopman with a threatening tone, 'Why did you target the taller girl, considering she didn't even have a purse? Look at her worn T-shirt and jeans. She is poorer than anyone here.'
As the spotlight shifted to Dinh, there was a faint murmur of confirmation, causing her cheeks to redden with embarrassment. She shot Duy a sharp, bullet-like look. Momentarily taken aback, he nervously ran his hand through his hair, trying to conceal his discomfort before announced:
'I declare, this is not merely a robbery case. We're definitely looking at a motive for the investigation right now,' Duy concluded.
The crowd, including Dinh and Mai, were left dumbfounded by the revelation. The police station suddenly seemed as lively as a flea market in the dead of night.
--
What is the motive of the shopman? Can you guess?
or go to Amazon to find the answer at :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CMKGL7PM/ref=x_gr_bb_amazon?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_bb_amazon-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0CMKGL7PM&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2