Mrs. Xoan sat on the sidewalk, her hair disheveled, haggard, and unkempt. The neighbors looked closely and recognized her. Her haughty appearance had disappeared. A few people recognized her, shaking their heads, not knowing what to say. Not long ago, they had run out of suggestions, but she ignored them all to "follow the call of love," a phrase that young people often use these days.
* * *
Mrs. Xoan and her husband have two grown children who work in Saigon. They are also said to be rich. Her husband is sick and in the hospital all the time, so he has been sleeping separately for many years. Although she is old, Mrs. Xoan is of average height, fair skin, plump, and still looks full of life. She is lively and open-minded, so many young people like to listen to her gossip. In particular, she is very quick to update information technology, so many people make friends on Facebook. Roughly, she has more than eight thousand friends, and everyone shakes their heads in admiration. Besides housework, whenever she has free time, she sits on her phone, surfing Facebook, and whenever she hears the sound of "tingling", she laughs out loud...
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Then her husband suddenly passed away, leaving her alone in this world. Since her husband died, Mrs. Xoan felt extremely lonely. One year, then two years. Unable to bear the loneliness, she secretly wanted to remarry. Neighbors began to notice that she took care of her clothes, her hair was always smooth, shiny, and fragrant. Those who criticized her said something harsh: "Late spring". Those who agreed said: "Well, now you have to know how to live for yourself a little, can't you just be miserable forever. The dead are dead. The living must still have joy to live on".
Since then, she has been addicted to Facebook, now her phone is an inseparable object. In front of the phone screen, her face is radiant like a girl in her late teens or early twenties. And that is true. On that virtual network, no one knows each other's age. No matter how young or old, they are just friends, older brother, younger brother, no one calls them uncle - nephew, grandmother - child. Living on Facebook, she feels like she was in her youth. Therefore, her friends are all young men, who speak affectionately and pleasantly. And then, not only Facebook friends, virtual friends, but she has a young man as a real-life friend. She is like a goddess.
* * *
The message replied “chim chim”. Mrs. Xoan hurriedly put on makeup and changed into eye-catching, slightly revealing clothes. He was still very young!
The luxury car stopped in front of the door. Mrs. Xoan stepped out with a strong scent of perfume. The man who looked twenty years younger than her elegantly opened the car door and invited her in. The neighbors' eyes were round and flat, they secretly guessed that this was probably the result of meeting each other online. Mrs. Xoan slightly raised her head, glanced sideways to see if anyone was looking at her, then lowered her head and got into the car. The car slowly turned around to let everyone see before speeding away.
After that, people saw her phone receiving more messages from neighbors or friends with advice, roughly about some moderation in the relationship. Receiving the message, she pouted and blew out a loud sigh: "Jealousy! If you're good, you can do what I do". After a while, people got used to it and thought it was normal. Nowadays, there are still many cases of marriages with different ages but sometimes they are still happy.
Mrs. Xoan was satisfied because she found a young man who was gallant and vigorous. Perhaps he had left his wife a long time ago, and met a woman who, although older, was beautiful, especially in bed, she was no less than a young girl, so it was natural that she was exhausted. That was why sweet words were always poured into Mrs. Xoan's ears during their sexual encounters.
Then, the parties and trips increased day by day. Sometimes, as if unintentionally, the young man took her to visit his real estate company's office to listen to his assistant's investment presentations. Gradually, she was not only fascinated by her boyfriend's sophisticated love affairs but also by the huge profits from his company.
Tomorrow, her young lover will take her on a trip to Europe. Before leaving, she will put all the gold, jewels, and diamonds she got from selling the entire plot of land worth several thousand square meters in a prime location last year into a suitcase that her lover had just bought for her, then put it in a safe and locked it tightly. She was so happy that she trembled and was stunned when he expressed his intention to propose to her after this trip.
That night, her lover whispered in her ear:
- We are husband and wife. We fly tomorrow. This time, the director of the Western branch is on maternity leave, I will appoint you to replace her as manager. The work is not difficult, if you need anything, just ask me. The staff will transfer the documents, you just sign according to my instructions - taking out an A4 sheet, he continued - Here is the decision, you keep it, from now on you will have a very high salary when working.
Mrs. Xoan was surprised and overjoyed. Who would have thought she would become the director of a real estate branch? She was a little nervous, but with her husband, the General Director, behind her, what was there to be afraid of…
A month of traveling to European countries ended. When she got home, her first task was to practice signing. She chose a signature with an upward stroke. He kept praising it and promised to buy her a car. Oh my! Such is life.
He kept his promise, after three days of traveling, he and she completed all the paperwork to prepare for marriage. That night, he slept at her house. Of course. Tomorrow they would be husband and wife.
By noon, she felt exhausted and struggled to open her eyes. She turned around but didn't see her lover beside her. She looked out and saw the door was only ajar. She looked out at the safe in the corner and saw the door wide open. She was stunned. She grabbed the phone. Everything was silent.
After three days of searching, when all hope was lost, she was forced to go to the police to report. A few days later, she was given shocking news: The name Nguyen Manh Hung (her lover's name) was completely fake. He was a professional gangster, residing in Hong Kong.
* * *
Nowadays, people in the town still see a woman with disheveled hair, walking aimlessly. Only those who are very familiar with her can recognize her. Most of them often wonder: I wonder if that half-crazy, half-mad woman is the once-beautiful Mrs. Xoan?
Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202503/chuyen-ba-xoan-96224ba/
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