Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

With the absence of Zhao Meng’s voice, the room became unusually silent.

Qiao Anhao sat extremely quietly on the sofa. Every now and then, her fingers would swipe the iPad screen. For the most part, people said that besides having a cold personality, Lu Jinnian didn’t know how to love or socialize with others. Actually, there weren’t many negative points said online about him, and so the majority of the hate was drawn from his mother’s scandals.

Photographs from old newspapers surfaced of her in a night club drinking with several men, and then there were also... those porn videos. Countless numbers of people shared them. It got so bad, they created memes out of some of his mother’s exaggerated expressions.

Some went as far as to post comments and arguments on the topic which were unbearable to read. Even though Lu Jinnian had a strong fanbase, who would always shout positive words like "no matter what male idols do, they’ll always be our male idols" and "we support you", they seemed to pale against the slander.

She knew that he was Xu family’s illegitimate son, but had never known who his mother was. Nor did she know about her dark past.

Qiao Anhao thought back to the moment she went to visit Han Ruchu at her home. She remembered the insufferably repetitive and scornful things they said about Lu Jinnian’s mother. Now that so many people online were saying such horrid things, just how awful must he be feeling?

At that thought, Qiao Anhao wished she could hide herself somewhere nobody knew about and take the pain on her own. The pain was so unbearable, it felt like some had ruthlessly thrust a knife into her. She couldn’t help but grab the home phone and try to call Lu Jinnian again, but she was still unable to connect to him.

Qiao Anhao remembered that she saved her contacts onto a software, so she quickly tapped into the downloaded software on her iPad and looked for Lu Jinnian’s assistant’s number. She tried calling the number but his phone was off. She used to live in Mian Xiu Garden, so she had the number already saved on there. She tried calling but there was no answer.

Qiao Anhao was about to call another number when she glanced at the time on her iPad. It was half past three in the morning. With it being so late at night, everyone was probably asleep.

She put down the phone drearily. Having ran out of the hospital, she felt particularly unwell, yet she still wasn’t the least bit sleepy. Every now and then, she’d refresh Weibo on her iPad. The more she looked, the more stifled her heart felt. The feeling was far more unbearable than when she was harassed.

In the end, Qiao Anhao threw her iPad aside to stop the pain. However, she was so distracted that eventually, she angrily kicked her leg up, causing the iPad to fall off the bed. Then she hugged the pillow, and sat in a daze in a corner of the bed.

The rim of her eyes started to grow red for no reason, and she couldn’t help but raise her head and take a deep breath. Her eyes wandered onto the porcelain doll on the shelf that Lu Jinnian had gifted her this year on her birthday.

Qiao Anhao threw her pillow, climbed out of bed, and walked towards the shelf. She stretched her arm out and lightly rubbed the red lips and white teeth. The doll was a small, white porcelain doll with a tender smile, which only made her feel even more pained. She couldn’t help herself and reached with her hands towards the shelf and grabbed for the doll. She didn’t know if it was because her body was weak or if it was because she hadn’t gotten a good hold, but the porcelain doll accidentally fell from her fingertips.