Zuo Aiai's mother was a strong person. When she became paralyzed, she made sure nobody leaked the news. Zuo Aiai knew that her mother was afraid that her grandmother would find out and be worried. She was also afraid that the Mo family would find out and tell her she never should've abandoned her family for Zuo Tianhao—if she hadn't, this would never have happened.
Her mother's pride would not allow her to receive such sympathy and pity.
But now Zuo Tianhao had actually privately mortgaged her and her mother's property?
How could he do that?
"Why shouldn't I mortgage it?" he said. "I'm still married to Mo Chen, so her property is mine. I've just signed an agreement to transfer it. You may be here now, but it's still too late."
For as long as she could remember, Zuo Tianhao had never really shown her any affection. Mo Chen had been left in charge of taking care of her, along with everything else.
Mo Chen doted on her and spoiled her, and Zuo Tianhao smiled and agreed without any objections.
She was used to such a life: loads of affection from her mother, with her father always keeping his distance. Occasionally, when she saw one of her classmates' fathers doting on them, she would wonder why she and her father had never had such an exchange.
But she wasn't envious. She had more of everything else than them—money, status, and wealth.
And anyways, nobody was perfect, right? Perhaps Zuo Tianhao was just not good at expressing himself. In his heart, he actually had loving feelings for Zuo Aiai and her mother.
Zuo Aiai had always believed that.
However, when Lin Huiyue brought Zuo Yunyun into the house, she realized that she had been silly for thinking this all those years.
"Zuo Tianhao!" she shouted. "My mother is lying sick in the hospital, and needs money to pay her bills! How could you do this to us?"
She was so angry that her whole body was trembling. Zuo Tianhao hadn't expected her reaction to be so fierce, and his face froze in shock. He raised his hand, on the verge of hitting her.
But just at that moment, someone in the study behind him said in a low voice,
"Mr. Zuo, it seems that I came at a bad time today."
At this, Zuo Tianhao's raised hand suddenly froze in the air, and he turned around with a forced smile.
"No, of course not! You're here on behalf of King's Group—you can come whenever you want. It's never a bad time for a guest such as yourself to visit."
"Alright then—the two-story flower shop at No. 99 Binhai Street will be under our group's name from today onward. Although this has all been a bit...unpleasant, I suppose the result is well worth it. I will pass this contract on to our president."
The man had golden hair and Western features. He smiled at Zuo Tianhao and reached out his hand.
Zuo Tianhao carefully reached out his hand and shook it. He didn't notice that Zuo Aiai's face beside him was inexplicably a little stiff.
"Please, Mr. Danil, allow me to show you out..." said Zuo Tianhao.
Danil smiled and nodded. He glanced thoughtfully at Zuo Aiai, who was standing behind Zuo Tianhao, and then strode out of the Zuo family's villa.
Zuo Tianhao saw Danil out with a rare courtesy he reserved only for the most distinguished guests.
Zuo Aiai followed him to the door and glimpsed his car parked at the intersection not far away. She turned around, slipping out through the back door of the villa. After checking to make sure she was out of Zuo Tianhao's sight, she ran to the car.
One of its windows rolled down as she was running up.
"Well, Miss Zuo, aren't you a busy woman! One must wait a long time to get a call from you."
The man in the car smirked mockingly.
Her face flushed. When she'd seen Chen Ziyi at the ward, she'd completely forgotten about everything that had happened before his arrival.
Glancing down at her watch, she saw it was already 4:30 PM.
She couldn't bring herself to meet the man's eyes. "Oh! I'm so sorry...I..."