As the Qixi Festival went on that day Annie was feeling distraught. She felt horrible that she hadn’t been able to find Xu and Qian. But just when she was about to turn back and return home empty-handed, something incredible happened. A television crew passed her and gave her an idea. She told them the story and hoped they could help – and they did!
But even though they helped put the adults in contact, that didn’t necessarily mean the Pohlers were going to be willing to let their daughter see her biological parents. After all, Kati was a 10-year-old at the time and had already been through a rough time as a baby.
Making Good on Their Promise
When that ten-year mark rolled around, Xu and Qian prepared themselves to make good on their promise. They traveled to the Broken Bridge on the morning of the Qixi Festival, fingers crossed that someone would be there to meet them and show them that everything had turned out just like they’d hoped.
If someone was there, it would mean their daughter was okay and that she’d forgiven them for what they had to do. But after waiting around by the bridge all day, it became apparent that no one was coming. Even though nothing had happened the moment they’d expected, however, not all hope was lost. Something miraculous was still in the cards for the couple.
As Luck Would Have It
While Xu and Qian walked away from the Broken Bridge in Hangzhou with broken hearts, someone from the United States was just moments away, toting the note that they’d written all those years ago. Ruth and Ken had sent their friend who lives in China, Annie, to go meet the couple, eager to find out if they followed through on their words. Unfortunately, Annie arrived just a little too late.
The couple had given up hope and left to travel home just a few moments before she’d gotten to the festival. But they weren’t ready to call it quits just yet. Xu and Qian just felt in their hearts that they would see their baby girl again someday.
Not That Easy
The TV crew helped Annie get in contact with the girl’s biological parents but that was only the first step on a long and treacherous path to seeing their daughter again. And there was still one major issue: the Pohler’s didn’t want Kati to have any contact with Xu and Qian. They thought that it was best to wait until she was old enough to make the decision as to whether or not she wanted to meet them or not all on her own. So, the Pohler’s made the tough choice to keep her true parents’ identities hidden from her – until that moment.
They knew that she was finally ready to know what they had known for all of those years. But was Kati ready? She was about to get hit with a lot of information, whether she was ready or not.
Second Chances
Kati may not have known about her parents, or the fact her adoptive parents knew the true identity of her biological mother and father, but that was all about to change. When Kati was finally an adult, Ken and Ruth told her all about her life back in China. Then, they told her that Xu and Qian wanted to meet her. But there was a problem – no one knew how to get a hold of them.
But as luck would turn out, 21-year old Kati happened to meet a filmmaker who was making a documentary about babies being adopted in the U.S from China. She and the filmmaker made a deal: he would help her find her biological parents and she would appear in his documentary.