Zhao Qiang looked at her with a complicated expression as he tugged her sleeve to pull her up and made her sit back on the bench. With his hand, he lifted her face by her chin and gently wiped her tears. "Stop crying. Crying won"t help Anna." "I don"t want to lose my daughter..." With every pa.s.sing minute, her cries became even louder. Her body had even started s.h.i.+vering with the chilly wind of the winter night but she didn"t seem to care. Zhao Qiang noticed that she was cold and immediately took off his jacket to put it around her shoulders.
"I do want to help you but my hands are tied. I can"t possibly do anything with my status right now." Zhao Qiang shrugged and his head was hung low.
Liu Anna looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I cannot inherit any property or power of my family unless I get married, you know that. And without the Zhao surname backing me, no banks will grant a loan to your husband based on my recommendation."
Liu Anna recalled that he had told this to her in the past as well and was not lying. He sure was the heir of Zhao Conglomerate but his grandfather had mentioned in his will that unless he got married, he will have no power in his hands. "What you need is quite a big sum of money and I can"t grant so much without my father knowing. And given to what happened between us in the past, he would never agree to help you." He was referring to the past where Liu Anna had broken Zhao Qiang"s heart and agreed to marry Song Chen. And it was because of her that Zhao Qiang was still unmarried, making the Zhao elders dislike her very much.
"Is there no other way?" She asked wiping her tears.
"Unless I can bring my grandfather back from the dead to alter his will, there isn"t." Zhao Qiang shrugged his shoulders feeling helpless. A part of him wanted to help her overcome the situation, but there was also a part within him that was selfish and wanted to stake on another possibility.
"I can go beg your parents if they want me to." Liu Anna stood up from her place but before she could go, Zhao Qiang held her wrist and gave it a slight tug to make her sit.
"They are not in the country. And I am afraid they won"t come back anytime soon." His hand was still holding her wrist, insisting her to sit back as she was standing and looked completely lost.
"Sit down here first." He patted the place next to him.
"Can you help me or not?"
Zhao Qiang took a deep breathe before he decided to take the gamble. "After you left me, I could not bring myself to marry someone else and I cannot do it now as well. So I am sorry but I can"t."
Liu Anna was quiet for a very long time. Her face looked defeated and the focus in her eyes lost as she stared into oblivion. She was taking her time to accept the reality that she had lost her last chance as well. She was too preoccupied to read between the lines of Zhao Qiang and didn"t really understood what he was trying to hint at.
"I think I should leave then. Sorry for troubling you and thank you for coming over." She gave a deep bow and without waiting for his response, she turned around and started walking away.
"Anna wait!" Zhao Qiang stood up from his place and turned around to see she had stopped in her way but was not looking at him—probably wiping her tears.
"Are you happy with your husband?" This was one question that he desperately wanted to know the answer to.
Liu Anna turned around and a sarcastic smile found it"s a way to her lips. "I try to. But it won"t really matter if my daughter won"t be able to live."
Saying this she left, leaving Zhao Qiang behind. He stood in his place looking at her retreating figure until it completely disappeared in the dark night.
None of the elders in the Song family slept that night. Song Guang and Song Chen were trying every possible means they could to get some help all in vain. Liu Anna spent her night sitting by her daughter"s side trying to soothe her so that she could sleep peacefully without catching even a minute of sleep.
After little Song Jia fell asleep, Liu Anna"s mind started recalling the entire conversation she has had with Zhao Qiang earlier that night. His words "After you left me, I could not bring myself to marry someone else and I cannot do it now as well. So I am sorry but I can"t," kept repeating in her mind on a loop.
The night pa.s.sed by and a doctor accompanied by his entourage entered the ward. Liu Anna got startled and immediately sat straight in her chair that was placed next to Song Jia"s bed.
"Have you arranged the money?" The doctor asked as he pushed his spectacles over the bridge of his nose and leaned forward to examine Song Jia.
"We—we are trying," she answered in a voice that had become raspy from crying all night.
"Miss Liu Anna, I am sorry to say but if you fail to deposit the money by noon today then your daughter stands no chance. Please hurry." The doctor walked away to examine the other patients but his words had started a turmoil in Liu Anna"s heart. It made her realize that she had no time left and she will have to hurry and think of a way. She had lost faith in her husband for him to find out a solution and decided to take the matter in her own hands.