Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

”To the world, you are just a mere human. But to me, you are the whole world.

”In my whole life, I will love you the most.

A long while after her last word, Xu Jiamu finally responded, ”Qiao Qiao...”

After just calling her name, the recording ended. After a long pause, Xu Jiamu’s voice came through again, seemingly with a solemn expression. ”In my whole life, I will only love you.”

The recording then ended, nothing else coming through.

Silence settled in the office, and Lu Jinnian remained paralysed, the voice recorder still in his hands.

His expression was calm and indifferent, showing neither anger or joy, his eyes staring straight at the voice recorder.

He seemed to have fossilised.

Lu Jinnian remained in that position till someone knocked on the door. He lifted his head slowly, staring at the tightly shut door, his lips moving slightly but nothing coming out. He moistened his lips and swallowed some saliva before tightening his grip on the voice recorder. He took a deep breath to calm himself before saying, ”Come in.”

His assistant opened the door but didn’t walk in. He stood, politely informing Lu Jinnian, ”Mr. Lu, it’s already 7 pm, do you want to go back?”

Lu Jinnian lowered his lashes, sinking into silence before replying, ”You can leave now, I’ll drive back myself later.”

”Sure,” the assistant replied before taking two steps back to lightly close the door.

Silence returned to the office once more. Lu Jinnian turned to look out the window, realizing that the skies were dark and the entire city was lit by tiny sparks of light.

He reached for his cigarette box out of habit. He stood up and lit a stick, smoking silently.

He had always been aware... but to hear it with his own ears... His heart ached and throbbed with unimaginable pain.

In my whole life, I will love you the most.

In my whole life, I will only love you.

Such a beautiful confession.

Lu Jinnian shut his eyes, using all his strength to suck in the nicotine, trying to numb his feelings. But his breath was too hasty, he choked onto the smoke, coughing uncontrollably.

-

The day before, Qiao Anhao had specifically found a local seller so that her order could be delivered to Mian Xiu Garden in the afternoon.

There was a total of two large boxes. Qiao Anhao and Madam Chen carried them up to the second floor, hiding them in the bedroom. Lu Jinnian’s birthday was the next day and Qiao Anhao was worried that he would find out about her surprise. Both of the boxes were placed in the dressing room cupboard. She even locked it and kept the keys.

The cupboard was where she had kept her luggage, and now that the boxes took up the space, she could only place her luggage in a corner of the dressing room. But as soon as she remembered her secret box, she hurriedly took it out.