Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

When they were about to reach the door, Lu Jinnian glanced beside him at Qiao Anhao’s outfit, and back at his own. He stopped. ”I’ll go up and change.”

Qiao Anhao gave a nod. She walked to the entrance on her own. First, she put on her shoes. She’d originally wanted to wear her white strappy heels that she had bought recently, but just as she put her right foot in one shoe, she paused. In the end, she took the shoe off and opened the shoe cabinet. After looking through it for a long while, in the end, she chose to wear a pair of platform canvas shoes.

She bought these canvas shoes this spring, when she and Xiao Anxia had made plans to go hiking. However, because of something last minute, hiking was canceled, and so she left those shoes in a box in the shoe cabinet, and never touched them again.

Qiao Anhao wore the canvas shoes, and stood in front of the floor mirror. After a few glances at her long straightened hair, she asked Madam Chen to give her a black hair band, with which she tried her hair up. Satisfied, she picked up her bag and made her way out the house.

Lu Jinnian saw Qiao Anhao standing at the door, when he had finished changing his clothes. Her long black hair became a youthful, pretty ponytail. He spaced out again for a moment, before reaching for his car keys. He pressed on button, as he walked down the stairs and pulled the car door.

It was two something in the afternoon, the time when the summer sunshine was at it’s brightest. Lu Jinnian wore a pair of Dior sunglasses, and a simple white shirt with his sleeves casually rolled up. Two buttons on his collar were unbuttoned, and he wore a long pair of beige trousers. Under the sunshine, he looked captivating and stunning.

Qiao Anhao stared at him for around five seconds before coming over to him. When she brushed past his chest and bent down to sit in the car, she smelled the same dull scent she had smelled years ago. It had never really changed in this many years.

Lu Jinnian started up the engine, which made the air conditioner blow a light breeze and music go off. The car slowly drove out of Mian Xiu Garden and followed the road.

There were many tall trees on both sides of the road in Beijing. They hid most of the sun’s light. All that could be seen were small round dots of sunshine between the tree leaves. As the car drove through, there were intermittent flashes of light and dark.

There was a soothing English song playing in the car that made you feel unexpectedly calm.

After a long while had passed, at a red light, Lu Jinnian turned his head and glanced at Qiao Anhao’s outfit. ”Did you went to get your hair done earlier this afternoon?”

”Nope.” Qiao Anhao paused for a moment, then said, ”I asked Madam Chen to help me straighten it. When I wash my hair, the curls will come back.”

”Oh.” Lu Jinnian’s line of sight stopped at her fair white neck behind the ponytail. Then he pulled his eyes away and straight at the red light that had changed to green in front of him. He stepped on the accelerator and continued to drive on.

The car was silent for about a minute. Then Qiao Anhao turned her head, blinked at Lu Jinnian, and asked, ”How do I look?”

As Lu Jinnian paid attention to the road ahead, he turned his head and glanced at Qiao Anhao, saying, ”Good.” After a while, he added, ”You look just like you did in high school.”

Qiao Anhao’s eyes curved like the crescent moon, as though happiness emitted from her heart. ”So many years have passed, and you still remember how I looked in high school? Even I can’t really remember.”

Lu Jinnian didn’t make a sound. In his heart, he said, ’Not only high school. If I close my eyes, I can clearly remember your soft and innocent look in middle school as well.’