Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

Xu Jiamu turned his head, with the phone to his ear, and stared out at the bright sunshine outside for a long while, before slowly telling Lu Jinnian, ”I want to get married.”

Like still water, he sounded poised when he said this, without a hint of emotion. On the other hand, when those words fell in Lu Jinnian’s ears, he felt like an unexpected, and incomparably violent, thunder had struck.

He paused for about three whole minutes, then asked, ”Get married to who? I’ve tried urging you so many times in the past, but you always avoided the topic. Why are you now suddenly thinking about marriage? Did something happen...”

”Nothing happened.” Though Lu Jinnian’s tone of voice was as flat and cold as usual, it made Xu Jiamu clearly feel worried. He couldn’t say why, but he became a little upset. With a deep breath, he composed himself and continued, ”I don’t know who... but I don’t want to continue to live like this on my own.”

The phone went silent again. This time, Xu Jiamu didn’t wait for Lu Jinnian to speak again, and secretly took another breath. He relaxed slightly. ”Alright, I have some things to attend to. See you tonight.”

Then he hurriedly hung up.

His fingertips trembled.

He tightly gripped onto his phone, and sat there on the office chair in a daze for a long time. Then, as though he had lost all the strength in his body, he spread himself out on the desk. He shut his eyes for about a minute and let a single tear run down his face.

-

The party started at half past eight. Xu Jiamu especially took a trip back to Mian Xiu Garden at seven. As he was choosing what to wear in his changing room, he picked up his blue suit by habit. Then, stood there stunned.

He thought back to how he didn’t use to like wearing blue. Two years ago, when Song Xiangsi just started off her career and received a nomination for best female lead, she deliberately gave him a guest ticket to that evening’s award ceremony. She purposefully went to a tailor to order a tailored gown. At the time, he accompanied her to the shop and was made to pick an outfit for himself. Out of habit, he chose a white outfit, but then she recommended he wear blue, as it made him look more handsome. Actually, thinking back, from then onward, every time he attended an event, he may wear different outfits, but they were all blue.

Xu Jiamu paused for a moment, then hung the blue suit back in the wardrobe and picked out an all-black suit.

Starting from today, he was going to try hard to break all his habits that had anything to do with her.

At half past eight, Xu Jiamu arrived on time at the entrance of China World Hotel.

He didn’t wait for the car attendant to open his door, getting out on his own. Just as he planted his feet steadily on the ground, he caught the silhouette of a familiar person at the corner of his eye.

He abruptly turned his head in the direction of a lamp post not too far away from where he was standing. There, he saw Little Red Bean in Song Xiangsi’s arms, as she hailed a taxi by the side of the road

The car door was touch-activated. Because Xu Jiamu had barely opened it, his hand was crushed between it. Yet he continued to stare at Song Xiangsi carrying Little Red Bean, as their taxi drove off, like he couldn’t feel pain at all. That’s when he heard the bellboy politely ask, ”Mr. Xu? May I help you with something?”.