"Okay, I understand."
Anyway, Xiao Yanzhi had finally relented and allowed her to leave. Jiang Li heaved a sigh of relief inwardly, yet there was also an indescribable sense of desolation.
Xiao Yanzhi watched Jiang Li's calm and indifferent expression, and an inexplicable anger suddenly welled up in his heart. His face darkened, and he got up and walked out of the ward, slamming the door shut heavily.
The allergic reaction was very severe. Even after waking up, she didn't have much strength, and her body shivered from time to time.
Her temples throbbed, and she had a splitting headache. Her whole body was cold.
Jiang Li wrapped herself in the quilt and shrank into it tightly.
She had been too busy recently. Originally, it was just a habitual curling up of her body, but somehow she fell asleep.
After sleeping like this, when she opened her eyes, it was already the next morning.
"LiLi, are you awake?" Before she was fully awake, Sister Chen's concerned voice came from beside her: "Do you feel any discomfort in your body? Are you still having a fever?"
Jiang Li turned to look at Sister Chen's face, her eyes full of confusion: "Sister Chen, when did you come?"
"At around two o'clock last night. Mr. Xiao called me and said that you had a food allergy and were admitted to the hospital. He was worried about you being alone in the hospital, so he asked me to come and take care of you."
Was he really worried, or was he just afraid that she would run away with the debt?
Jiang Li curled her lips and gave a self - deprecating smile, but still politely thanked her: "Thank you, Sister Chen. I'm fine now. Do you want to go back and rest?"
Sister Chen shook her head. Looking at her haggard face, she sighed helplessly and hesitated a bit: "LiLi, recently, you and Mr. Xiao..."
"We've fallen out." Jiang Li knew she couldn't hide it from Sister Chen for long: "His heart is now on Qin Yaoyao. I've already asked him to terminate the contract, and he said I could leave immediately after repaying the debt."
Although Sister Chen had guessed this answer in advance, hearing it from Jiang Li's mouth still made her feel a bit sad.
"You've been with Mr. Xiao for almost five years. How could he be so heartless?"
Sister Chen still felt heart - broken: "Even if we don't talk about feelings, the value you've created for Jiangyu over the years, doesn't he care about it at all?"
Jiang Li didn't want to talk about this. She raised her hand and rubbed the space between her eyebrows, closing her eyes and asking: "Sister Chen, could you help me calculate how much I still owe Xiao Yanzhi?"
Sister Chen took out a notebook from her bag and flipped through the previous records. The more she flipped, the tighter her eyebrows frowned: "When you first joined Jiangyu, you've already repaid the five - million loan."
Before Jiang Li could breathe a sigh of relief, Sister Chen continued: "But over the years, you've been borrowing money for your family. Bit by bit, you've owed another 27 million or so."
"Counting the three million the other day, it's almost 30 million in total."
The moment Sister Chen said it, she was also equally shocked: "I really didn't expect that your family has successively taken 30 million from you!"
This number was huge. Jiang Li reopened her closed eyes, slightly frowned, and unconsciously tightened her palms: "So much? Are you sure you didn't miscalculate, Sister Chen?"
"No." Sister Chen looked serious: "You'd better find out what your family has been doing over the years. Are they involved in any illegal activities?"
She didn't need Sister Chen to remind her of this. She had always known it clearly.
Since Jiang Yi got addicted to gambling, he couldn't control himself at all. It was like falling into a bottomless abyss.
Four years ago, she had climbed into Xiao Yanzhi's car with her own dignity, in the most humble and cheap way, to pay off the huge debt her father had incurred from gambling.
In order to repay the debt, she had worked desperately, trying her best to earn money for Jiangyu. But she never expected that because she had neglected to care about her younger brother, he had secretly followed in their father's footsteps.
Old debts piled up with new ones. Over the years, she didn't know how many holes she had filled for Jiang Yi.
When she looked back, she realized that it was already very difficult to make up for it.
"Actually, 30 million isn't that difficult. With some effort, it can still be repaid."
Seeing that her face didn't look good, Sister Chen comforted her: "The biggest problem actually lies with your family."
"If it's still the same as before, and you have to give money to your younger brother from time to time, you'll never be able to pay off the debt in this lifetime."
This was Sister Chen's advice to Jiang Li.
Seeing Jiang Li frowning tightly, Sister Chen picked up the white congee placed aside and softened her voice: "Come on, don't worry about these things. You just had your stomach washed last night. Hurry up and have some breakfast to nourish your stomach."
"Okay, thank you, Sister Chen." She replied obediently and reached out to take the congee.
...
Jiang Li said that she was fine and didn't need Sister Chen to stay with her all the time. She just asked her to help take three days off for her.
She wanted to have a good rest.
Sister Chen knew that too many things had happened recently. Brands had successively terminated their contracts with her, and the resources had obviously decreased, which would put a lot of pressure on Jiang Li.
"Then you have a good rest. I'll come to pick you up in three days. According to the original plan, you'll be ready to join the crew and shoot Director Zhang's movie."
Because Jiang Li had once saved Director Zhang's script, he didn't intend to replace the leading actress of his movie due to the current situation. Jiang Li was very grateful to him for this.
"Okay. I'm troubling you." Jiang Li nodded and waved goodbye to her.
When there was only Jiang Li left in the ward, the environment suddenly became much quieter.
Jiang Li was in a daze for a while. After thinking for a while, she took out her phone. Looking at the phone number that she knew by heart but had hardly ever dialed, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Finally, she still made this call.
The time before the call was answered was very long. It was so long that Jiang Li thought the other party wouldn't answer. But suddenly, a woman's voice came from the other end, which still made her eyelashes tremble slightly.
"Hello, who is this?"
That familiar voice from her memory rang out. Jiang Li's throat tightened: "Mom, it's me."
"Jiang Li?" The other party recognized her voice, and her tone immediately became tense: "Why are you calling me?"
Zhou Ningyun immediately lowered her voice, with a hint of panic and impatience in her tone: "Didn't I tell you not to call me if there's nothing wrong?"
Since Jiang Li's father was beaten to death due to his debts, Jiang Li's mother, Zhou Ningyun, had quickly remarried.
Jiang Li didn't know who the man Zhou Ningyun married was. She only knew that he was a rich man.
The man didn't mind that Zhou Ningyun was a divorcee and generously accepted her, but on the condition that she cut off all relations with her two children and never have anything to do with them again.
These two children were Jiang Li and Jiang Yi.
"How's your younger brother recently?" Zhou Ningyun suddenly asked: "Why hasn't he called me? As an elder sister, have you taken good care of him?"
Hearing Zhou Ningyun's cold tone and her attitude of only caring about Jiang Yi, Jiang Li's heart couldn't help but turn cold.
The mother who used to hold her in her arms and gently sing a lullaby to put her to sleep, full of love and warmth, seemed to have been completely erased by time.
But at this moment, she still forced herself to speak: "Mom, I'd like you to do me a favor."
"Could you... lend me some money first?"