The year he passed the university entrance exam, I emptied all my money and mortgaged the old house to borrow money from the bank again. Minh bowed his head and said softly:

– I will try, auntie, wait for me to come back.

But then it didn’t come back.

4 years, then 5 years… not a single call, not a single letter. I asked about my classmates, my old school – as if it had never existed. The phone number was canceled, the address was gone. I quietly continued the rest of my life carrying vegetables at the market, working as a hired hand picking trash at night to gradually pay off my debt