Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

Qiao Anhao gave a quick response to the woman who asked for their whereabouts.

Half an hour after she hung up the phone, a car stopped in front of them.

The driver’s door opened, and a middle-aged woman stepped out. Seeing Qiao Anhao and the old lady, she immediately ran out and said to the old lady, "Madam, you almost scared me to death! Why did you run out on your own in a blink of an eye?"

"I want to find Jinnian," replied the old lady with a face full of grievance.

"Didn’t Mr. Lu say that he was going on a long trip, and he’ll be back later to see you?" The middle-aged woman acted sweet and calmly tried to cheer up the old lady.

Mr. Lu? He’ll be back later to see you?

Qiao Anhao looked like she had found hope and instinctively said, "Will Lu Jinnian come to visit granny in a while?"

When the middle-aged woman heard Qiao Anhao’s words, she looked like she had suddenly remembered something, and hastily pulled out an envelope from her pocket. She extended it over and said, "Miss, thank you so much. If the old lady really got lost, I wouldn’t know what to tell Mr. Lu."

Qiao Anhao didn’t reach out to take the envelope but asked again, "Did you just say that Lu Jinnian would come to visit granny? When will he visit?"

The middle-aged woman was stunned by Qiao Anhao’s words. But instead of answering her question, she asked in return, "Miss, do you know Mr. Lu?"

Qiao Anhao frantically nodded. "I’m Lu Jinnian’s..."

Before Qiao Anhao’s following word "friend" could escape her mouth, the old lady suddenly interrupted, "She’s Jinnian’s little wife!"

Then, as though she was showing off a piece of treasure, the old lady said to the middle-aged woman, "See, our Jinnian has such great taste! The wife he found is so beautiful!"

Even though Qiao Anhao really wanted to marry Lu Jinnian, she wasn’t really his wife, so she could only awkwardly smile at the middle-aged woman and say, "I’m just a friend. I don’t know what happened. Granny has been saying that I’m Lu Jinnian’s wife..."

"You’re clearly Jinnian’s wife!" The old lady was angered again by Qiao Anhao’s explanation. Without saying another word, she dragged Qiao Anhao over to the car, pulled the door open, and ushered her inside.

Qiao Anhao looked at the middle-aged woman helplessly, to which she apologized with a smile and softly tried to persuade the old lady, "Madam, you’ve got the wrong person. Mr. Lu doesn’t have a wife. Mr. Lu hasn’t married yet!"

"She’s Jinnian’s wife. She is!" exclaimed the old lady time and time again until she started to cry. She pointed at Qiao Anhao extremely angrily and then said, "Come with me. I’ll prove it to you!"

With that, the old lady started to sob loudly.

"I’ll come with you. I’ll come with you. Please don’t cry granny."

-

When Qiao Anhao got into the car, the old lady was just like a child. She stopped crying and smiled, whilst talking to herself over and over again, calling Qiao Anhao, Lu Jinnian’s little wife.

As the middle-aged woman drove, she apologized to Qiao Anhao. Then, from her explanation, she understood that the old lady wasn’t actually related to Lu Jinnian by blood; she was his neighbor.

After Lu Jinnian’s mother passed away when he wasn’t even ten, there was nobody to look after him. The neighbor lady had lost her husband and daughter to an earthquake and was living alone at the time, so seeing how pitiful Lu Jinnian was for having lost his mother, she would invite him over for dinner every day, wash his clothes, and tidy his room.