The short story "Hon Pieu" was published in Suoi Reo Magazine in 2018.

Over 20 years of writing, he has published 6 books, more than 100 short stories printed in books and published in central and local literary magazines. Among them, the most prominent is the short story "Hon Pieu" released in 2018, which is considered a work marking the maturity in the art of writing stories and exploiting the inner thoughts of Kieu Duy Khanh.

The short story “Hon Pieu” was first published in Suoi Reo magazine in April 2018, telling the love story of a Thai couple, Sua and Tuong. The two met on a Han Khuong night in Co Chia village. They only sang a song together and drank a cup of wine together, but from that day on, Sua was always like “a fox drunk on the hunter’s light, absent-minded, absent-minded”. After many days of missing each other, Sua brought her flute to the foot of Tuong’s stairs, using the flute’s deep and low sounds to express her feelings. The flute’s deep and low sounds that urged her for many nights finally conquered Tuong’s heart. She opened the box, took out the “Mac Pieu” and brought it to the top of the stairs to invite Sua up to her house. The beautiful love story of Sua and Tuong, like a Pieu scarf, went through the season of Bauhinia and Mammon flowers, and when the Bauhinia tree shed its seeds, the two became husband and wife.

But challenges came to the young couple's love. After many years of marriage, "Tuon's waist was still as round and smooth as a peeled banana". Both parents invited a shaman and went to get medicine everywhere, but Tuon still could not get pregnant. Listening to many people's advice, Sua sold the biggest buffalo in the family to get money to take his wife to a big hospital in Hanoi for examination. And after that trip, Sua seemed to have become a different person, all day he just sat around the fire with a bowl of wine and a pipe, pondering. When his wife asked about the results of the examination, Sua told Tuon that they could not have children because he had an illness.

The climax of the short story “Hon Pieu” is Sua’s death after a cold. After two years of being a widow and mourning her husband according to the “Kieng mai” custom, Tuon’s mother urged her to remarry, but only then did she learn a truth that Sua had kept hidden for many years. The reason Tuon could not have children was because of her, not Sua. Tuon went to her husband’s grave and cried until her “Mac Pieu” was soaked. Then Tuon took a knife and cut the Pieu scarf into two pieces, placing one piece on her husband’s grave, and the other piece she put on her bun so that from now on her husband’s soul would forever follow Tuon and so that Tuon’s spirit would always turn towards her husband...

The short story Hon Pieu, with its structure combining the past and present, is skillfully interwoven by the author, all the details are wrapped up to prepare for a surprising and emotional ending. Author Kieu Duy Khanh, shared: When writing this work, I spent a long time researching and learning about the customs and habits, as well as the love of Thai men and women in the past.

“Hon Pieu” is about the theme of love in the context of modern society, but is expressed by the author through a pen imbued with the traditional cultural colors of the Thai ethnic group in the Northwest. Throughout the story, the author mainly uses the art of internal monologue, deeply expressing the personality of the mountain people, while fully depicting the torn and painful emotions of the characters. In addition, writer Kieu Duy Khanh is also very successful in using the art of comparison and personification: “The two arms still curl up with solid, sinewy muscles like an old tree on Sang mountain...”; “Sua’s breasts are red and full, like a chicken liver rock at the foot of Khau Chia mountain...” “The dreams are as long as a small stream of water flowing over the precarious, winding cliffs on the slopes of Po Bua mountain”,... All the details are skillfully exploited by the author and put into the work in a close, natural way, allowing readers to imagine the scene, immerse themselves in the story with genuine emotions.

In addition to Suoi Reo magazine, the short story “Hon Pieu” has also been published in many domestic newspapers and magazines. In 2018, the short story “Hon Pieu” won third prize in the short story contest organized by the Vietnam Writers Association and the Hoa Binh Province Literature and Arts Association; it was selected by Viet Nam News to be translated into English and published on the internet. Recently, the short story “Hon Pieu” was read in the Literature - Arts section of Son La Electronic Newspaper, contributing to spreading and introducing it to readers at home and abroad.

Hoang Giang