Chapter 9 Can't Go On

"If you're not busy, come over!" Ye Qinghan turned his head and glanced at Lin Qiang. "I'm leaving first!" "Okay, bye!" Lin Qiang waved his hand and waited until Ye Qinghan's BMW disappeared into the traffic before returning to the clinic. In the following days, Lin Qiang treated patients while studying the contents recorded in the jade pendant. With the improvement of his medical skills, business at the clinic gradually improved. And when Ye Qinghan wasn't busy, she would come to the small clinic for dinner in the evenings. However, their relationship still didn't progress much. After half a month of being together, they hadn't even held hands. Li Lu would also appear from time to time, standing from a distance, taking a glance at Lin Xiaoyu before leaving. Occasionally, she would also buy clothes and snacks and stuff them through the crack in the clinic's door. It seemed that she really just wanted to make up for the years of owing her daughter. Lin Qiang also tacitly accepted Li Lu's actions, as long as she didn't cross the line. As for other aspects, he never even thought about the possibility of reconciling with Li Lu. One day, just as Lin Qiang had sent his daughter onto the bus, his phone rang. "Hello?" Seeing an unfamiliar number, Lin Qiang was puzzled for a moment before answering the call. "Lin... Lin Qiang... I'm in pain... I'm coughing up blood... Please save me!" From the other end of the phone came Li Lu's intermittent voice. She sounded extremely weak, not like she was pretending. "Where are you? I'll come over." Lin Qiang asked. After all, she was Xiaoyu's biological mother. Lin Qiang couldn't just stand by and watch her die. "I sent you the location on WeChat..." After saying that, the voice on the other end of the phone abruptly stopped. "Hello, Li Lu?" Lin Qiang's heart skipped a beat, quickly removing Li Lu from his blacklist on WeChat. After opening the location, he grabbed his medical kit and hailed a taxi. Before long, Lin Qiang arrived at the door of the hotel room where Li Lu was staying. Seeing that the door was slightly ajar, he pushed it open and walked in. The room was in a mess, with empty bottles scattered all over the floor, and faint sounds of Li Lu crying could be heard. "Li Lu, what's wrong with you?" Lin Qiang turned on the lights. Li Lu was lying on the bed, wearing a silk nightgown, her face pale and haggard. Her voluptuous figure was faintly discernible beneath the thin nightgown. However, Lin Qiang's attention was focused on the tissue that Li Lu was clutching, stained with bright red blood. Furrowing his brows, he held Li Lu's wrist. She had a high fever and internal bleeding, most likely caused by a torn respiratory tract from coughing. "Li Lu, what happened to you?" Lin Qiang felt a bit uneasy. There was a time when he cherished this woman so much! "I... I can't go on anymore!" Tears welled up in Li Lu's eyes. "Let me treat you first, and then we can talk later!" Lin Qiang also wanted to know what had happened to Li Lu. Facing his former first love and his daughter's mother, Lin Qiang couldn't be heartless. However, this concern had nothing to do with romantic feelings between a man and a woman. It was simply the purest form of compassion. Soon, Lin Qiang took out a silver needle and began acupuncture on Li Lu. He also used some mysterious power from the jade pendant, which he called "true qi." Martial arts experts who reached a certain level of cultivation could also generate "true qi." However, Lin Qiang had never encountered martial arts experts, so he didn't know if their "true qi" was the same as his. Soon, as the silver needle pierced her skin, Li Lu's complexion slowly returned from pale to rosy. "Rest well for a couple of days, and you should be fine!" After removing the silver needle, Lin Qiang tidied up the messy bottles on the floor before looking at Li Lu and asking, "Where's your man?" "Sob... We broke up a long time ago..." Li Lu burst into tears again, choking as she said, "Lin Qiang, I know you hate me for betraying you and Xiaoyu. But you don't know the true situation back then!" "The true situation? What do you mean?" Lin Qiang furrowed his brows. "I was forced by Zhao Hu (Big Gold Chain). He's wealthy and has a group of brothers in the underworld. If I didn't go with him, he would harm Xiaoyu and destroy your clinic. I had no choice. I couldn't tell you, so I could only follow him, compromising and living in constant fear. Moreover, he's an alcoholic and abusive. Look, these cigarette burns are from him. If I dared to resist, he would hurt Xiaoyu. Lin Qiang, tell me, what should I do?" As Li Lu spoke with a sobbing voice, she pulled down the neckline of her nightgown. Sure enough, there were several cigarette burns on her fair shoulders. "What's the use of telling me all this now?" Lin Qiang sighed. "Lin Qiang, I know I'm no longer worthy of you. Besides, you have your own woman now. But I don't want you to hate me forever and see me as a promiscuous woman!" Wiping away her tears, Li Lu said. "Let it go, the past is in the past. It's been so many years, and I've moved on. In the future, be more discerning when choosing a man!" Lin Qiang didn't completely believe Li Lu's words. If she really was forced by Big Gold Chain, then why didn't she say a word to stop him when he was being beaten while fighting for custody of Xiaoyu? Even a few words in his defense would have sufficed. Lin Qiang still couldn't forget Li Lu's indifferent expression when he was beaten bloody. However, whether it was true or false, it didn't matter anymore. With a sigh, Lin Qiang picked up his medical kit and walked out of the room. "Lin Qiang..." Li Lu called out. But Lin Qiang, who had reached the door, didn't turn back. "I refuse to accept this, I refuse..." Li Lu grabbed her hair and shouted hysterically, "I won't have a good life, and no one else will either!"