* January 15, 2020 - It's another new day, I woke up as the first rays of light touched my eyes, opening them. It's 7:22 in the morning, the sky is bright and clear. Đạt and H.Anh are still asleep, I tried calling them once and gave up, then went outside to do my personal hygiene. On the table, there were bowls of vegetarian pho covered up, and in the middle was a box of purple sweet cakes. I uncovered one bowl of pho, threw it into the trash, enjoyed the pho, and slurped the fragrant broth, then had two bites of the purple sweet cakes as dessert. After that, I washed the bowl and chopsticks, arranged them in the cupboard, and went to the living room. In a corner utilized as a study corner in the living room that we've been using for the past four days, Q.Minh was diligently studying Math, and Trường was equally focused on studying Physics, with a few textbooks, a notebook, a handheld calculator, and pens scattered around as he scribbled and calculated furiously. Surprisingly, I was curious and took a look, but didn't understand a thing. I went outside to catch some fresh air and found T.Hải playing with chemical compounds in the garage. V.Minh's garage has become T.Hải's makeshift chemistry lab forever. Watching T.Hải reading textbooks and then replicating those interesting experiments, I felt ignited. I hurried back to that study corner, engaging in what I'm best at among our subjects...
Suddenly, Trường, Q.Minh, and even T.Hải rushed from the garage into the living room, holding me down.
"What on earth is going on?" I shouted.
"Are you planning to sing or what!?" Trường cautiously said.
"Oh, no, why?" I was puzzled.
"Remember the time you sang for the whole class, half of them ran out, a quarter fainted on the spot, 3 out of 20 had headaches, and 4 others went to sleep?" T.Hải groaned.
"Come on, my singing voice isn't that bad, you guys have to let me develop freely, right?" I pouted.
"For the common good, Ky!" Trường winked at me.
"Alright, alright, I'll switch to drawing then..." I sighed.
The other three breathed a sigh of relief. T.Hải went back to the "lab" (actually the garage), and Q.Minh and Trường resumed their studies. I also stayed quiet, took a pencil, an eraser, and some colors, and started drawing a portrait of a girl in an Anime style. I persisted for 2 and a half hours, and the portrait was finally finished. It was a girl with long black hair tied in a ponytail, green eyes, fair rosy skin, and a smiling face. Q.Minh peeked over, widened his eyes, and exclaimed, "It's really beautiful!" Trường also leaned in to take a look and praised, "You're really talented in art, Ky!" "You guys are too kind, it's just practice," I shrugged.
"How do you practice then?" Q.Minh curiously asked, while Trường held the painting and admired it.
"I used to work for a tattoo parlor for two summer months," I casually replied.
They both exclaimed "Oh" and then admired the painting for a while. Q.Minh handed the painting back to me.
"Just keep developing your skills," Q.Minh smiled, giving me a thumbs-up like on Facebook before diving back into studying.
I smiled, happy for the praise. I continued to focus on drawing the background, a green meadow with bees fluttering around wildflowers, simple and serene, then moved on to different shades of light and dark. After that, I focused on drawing the eyes to make the girl look more soulful. During the drawing process, I felt the passion and dedication within me towards the painting, my soul merging with art as one. I utilized all my skills, experience, and talent for drawing. By 9:12, I completed the painting, feeling proud, while the others were in awe, admiring it. Suddenly, a man in the uniform of the Tuyên Quang Electricity Company came, handing us the electricity bill. We frantically searched for money and found an envelope with a note saying, "This money is for paying the electricity and water bills - V.Minh." H.Anh took two 500,000 VND bills (about $22) and handed them to the man, who nodded and left.
"Is it real? Even after all this, we still have to pay electricity bills?" H.Anh complained.
"It's because our town hasn't been completely flattened, and getting electricity and water supply like before is already lucky," Trường said.
"Hey, do we still have around 85,800 VND left? How long can we hold on with that?" Q.Minh asked.
"Not long, exact numbers aren't known, but it's likely to run out within half a year. Before that happens, we should earn money to cover other expenses," Trường said.
"Then how about trying to sell my painting?" I suggested.
"But who would buy it? And for how much? It's the end of the world, who needs paintings anymore?" Trường squinted, sighing.
"No worries, I'll take care of it," H.Anh smirked mysteriously, taking the painting and rushing out of the house.
"What's he planning to do now?" Trường wondered.
"Let's just trust H.Anh. He's the best at communication among us," I said.
"Yeah, the smoothest talker," T.Hải added.
Twenty minutes later, H.Anh returned excitedly, holding 500 dollars (about 11,400,000 VND), and handed me 80% of the money, keeping 20% for himself.
"How did you negotiate selling the painting for such a high price? If it were me, I'd probably only get half of that..." I said in admiration.
"It's simple!" H.Anh proudly replied.
"Then who bought it?" T.Hải asked.
"Oh, it's that bunch of nerds we met before..." H.Anh hesitated.
"Then what..." Trường started to say but stopped.
"Who knows, probably remembered something they needed to do..."
The remaining people, including me, went back inside and prepared lunch.
In the afternoon, the officer happily announced that they had arrested more than half of the remaining remnants of the gang and prevented them from betraying the country, thanks to our help. He also announced that we would be credited for it and honored someday. H.Anh realized Trường's intentions before and sighed. Trường didn't pay attention, just recorded it in the team's financial book.
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Luong Anh Truong: $40,000, equivalent to 10 kilograms of gold bars
Nguyen Phu Ky: $500 Đỗ Hà Hoàng Anh: $40,000, equivalent to 10 kilograms of gold bars
Pham Tuan Hai: (Around $10,000-$100,000) including 200 pounds of chemicals
Nguyen Quang Minh: $0
Pham Van Minh: (Around $40,000-$120,000) including House, land, etc.
Vu Thanh Đat: $0
Common Fund: $5,800, equivalent to 10 kilograms of silver bars