Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

Qiao Anhao brought herself back to her senses, and quickly nodded at mother Qiao. Seeing that she was carrying a pot of tea, she reached her arm out. ”Serving tea? Let me.”

”That’s all right.” Mother Qiao glanced over at Chen Yang and Qiao Anxia on the sofa, then gave a gleaming smile and said, ”Chen Yang and Xia Xia are waiting for you. They said they wanted to go to the courtyard to watch the fireworks.”

Qiao Anxia heard mother Qiao’s words and stood up, forcefully pulling Chen Yang from the sofa. She then said to Qiao Anhao, ”Qiao Qiao, let’s go! We’ve waited half a day for you.”

-

When Qiao sisters were little, before grandma and grandpa had passed away, everyone would go back to the family home every year to celebrate the Chinese New Year’s. Back then, Qiao Anhao’s parents were still alive. After New Year’s dinner, her father would take her and Qiao Anxia to the courtyard to watch the fireworks. Her mother would stand to one side with a smile on her face.

As time went by, setting off fireworks became a New Year’s Eve tradition, up until father passed away. Then, uncle would take them to light fireworks.

Tonight, Chen Yang was there. Father Qiao didn’t light the fireworks, but he personally prepared a large box of them in the courtyard.

As he lined up the fireworks, Chen Yang lit one up which set them all off. He then hurriedly ran back to Qiao Anxia’s side. About ten seconds later, the fireworks released one after the other.

In that instant, the skies were lit up with a dazzlingly gorgeous display of fireworks.

When Qiao Anxia saw the breathtaking display, she enthusiastically pointed up for Chen Yang to look up.

Qiao Anhao stood about two meters away from them. She lifted her head and stared at the endless exploding fireworks falling from the skies. The bottom of her eyes started to heat up, and just when the fireworks had come to an end, she brought her head back down to see Qiao Anxia hugging Chen Yang’s neck. Chen Yang had his arms around Qiao Anxia’s waist, and the two of them were making out.

Qiao Anhao stared at the two of them for a moment, then lowered her eyes. Just as she was ready to go back into the house, the phone in her pocket suddenly rang, which shocked Qiao Anxia and Chen Yang, who were kissing.

Qiao Anhao waved her arms at them, then looked over at the incoming call. It was from Zhao Meng, so she walked out of the courtyard to take the call.

”Happy New Year, Qiao Qiao!”

Through the phone, Qiao Anhao heard the sound of firecrackers now and then from Zhao Meng’s side. It really did feel like New Year’s over there. She said in a warm tone of voice, ”Happy New Year!”

Zhao Meng could kind of hear a little sorrow in her voice, so she calmed her excitement and cheerfulness to ask worriedly, ”Qiao Qiao, what’s wrong? Why can’t I hear you? You seem a little sad...”

Qiao Anhao had been better off had Zhao Meng not asked, for her eyes started to heat up again.

She wasn’t truly unhappy. Just that while everyone in China was celebrating the day, she suddenly really missed him.

”I’m fine.” When Qiao Anhao said these two words, tears started to roll down her face. She leaned back against a lamppost and lowered her head. She shut her eyes and dazed out for a while until she could compose herself. She then raised her hand to wipe her tears away and asked in a lighthearted tone, ”You called me?”

”Yeah, I wanted to tell you to check Weibo. You and Mr. Lu have reached the hot search list!”

”What hot search list?”

”Look for yourself and you’ll know!” Zhao Meng said mysteriously.

Then, in the background, Qiao Anhao heard someone call Zhao Meng’s name. Her friend hastily said ”Bye bye”, but didn’t forget to remind her to ”Check Weibo!” as she hung up the call.