Translator: Paperplane Editor: DarkGem
The Xu family's housekeeper was the first to see Qiao Anhao enter. "Miss Qiao, you're here?"
Qiao Anhao managed a smile and gently nodded. She placed some nutritional products that she had bought on the way over by the housekeeper's well-organized array of them.
Han Ruchu pushed Xu Jiamu's hand away from her forehead, as he was massaging it for her. She sat up and patted the seat by her bedside and said, "Come sit."
"Aunt Xu, Brother Jiamu." Qiao Anhao obediently walked over, greeted them, and sat down.
Han Ruchu looked over at the nutritional products Qiao Anhao had bought for her, and said in a weak but extremely charitable voice, "Qiao Qiao, if you're coming over, just come. Why did you bring gifts?"
Xu Jiamu attentively grabbed a pillow and put it behind Han Ruchu. "Isn't it all because Qiao Qiao cares about you..."
The housekeeper, who was organizing the products, then added, "Madam watched Miss Qiao grow up, and has always loved Miss Qiao. Ever since her parents passed away, Madam has treated her as her own daughter, so of course Miss Qiao has Madam in her heart and cares about her."
After Qiao Anhao heard the housekeeper's words, her heart grew heavy with guilt. She lowered her eyes and forced out a hint of a smile. Then she thoughtfully asked, "Aunt Xu, how's your condition?"
Han Ruchu wore a smile. Perhaps it was because she was ill, her usual swift and strict demeanor was faint. She spoke in a warm voice. "It's nothing serious. At the time, I was a little agitated, and for some reason, I fainted."
The housekeeper bitterly said, "What do you mean 'nothing serious'? Anger kills the heart. Thank goodness Madam is blessed, otherwise you'd have died from the rage..."
"Don't talk nonsense in front of the children!" Han Ruchu suddenly sharply cut the housekeeper's words short. Perhaps it was because she was agitated, she suddenly started to cough.
"Mom!"
"Aunt Xu!"
At the same time, Qiao Anhao and Xu Jiamu reached out with their hands to pat Han Ruchu on the back. She covered her chest with her hand, which soothed her breathing for a moment. With her gentle tone of voice, she said, "I'm fine. When you get older, it's inevitable that you'll get sick. Today was just a coincidence."
The housekeeper said with a pained heart, "Madam, at a time like this, what is there for you to hide? That bastard called to clearly piss you off. He has his eye on the young master's inheritance. That ungrateful dog... Our young master should never have saved that bastard's life!"
Qiao Anhao tightly creased her brows at the housekeeper's use of the word 'bastard', and asked a little astonished, "Save what life?"
"Miss Qiao, you probably didn't know, but the year that little bastard turned three, he fell ill with leukemia. It was our young master who donated his bone marrow to save him. If it weren't for our young master, he'd be dead! At the time, they agreed that he would never inherit the Xu family's wealth and assets. Nor could he show respect to his ancestors, or step foot into the Xu family house. In the end, now that bastard actually stole it all!"
The year Lu Jinnian turned three, he had leukemia? It was Xu Jiamu who donated his bone marrow to save his life?
No wonder, after so many years, Lu Jinnian never came back to the Xu family. When Qiao Anhao was in school, she racked her brains over why Lu Jinnian looked like he was quite poor when the Xu family business was so big. Though she was close with Xu Jiamu, she had never asked him about private family matters, and so she had had no idea.
Chapter 550: I've Loved You for Thirteen Years (21)Translator: Paperplane Editor: DarkGem
Qiao Anhao had never known Lu Jinnian had such a past.
Her heart started to tremble slightly with an unspeakable pain.
The housekeeper seemed enraged, for she was still lashing out at Lu Jinnian over and over again. "It's true how cheap whores give birth to cheap..."
Even though those scornful words were directed at Lu Jinnian, Qiao Anhao's heart felt incredibly downcast. A bone-piercing pain had emerged within her, as though countless needles had stabbed into her heart.
Qiao Anhao suddenly stood up, not wanting to hear them talk about Lu Jinnian any longer. She made an excuse to go to the bathroom, but as she walked out of the bedroom and was about to shut the door, she heard the housekeeper say resentfully behind her, "The young master has wasted all these years treating the bastard so well..."
Qiao Anhao went to the bathroom downstairs. Just before she entered, she coincidentally overheard one of the female servants on the phone with her husband. It sounded like they promised to go out tonight for Chinese Valentines day. The man was preparing for dinner, so he asked her what she wanted to eat. The woman, with the phone in her hand, listed dishes she wanted to eat in a delicate, soft voice.
It was hard to say what got into Qiao Anhao, but she especially took notice of that servant. She realized that the woman had two pigtails, had make-up on, and her face seemed to be brimming with happiness, like she had everything in the world.
Qiao Anhao walked into the restroom. When she finished in the toilet and washed her hands in the sink, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair and make-up were intricately well prepared, accentuating her perfect facial features.
She remembered, the only reason why she was so well dressed tonight was because she had a dinner with Lu Jinnian to celebrate Chinese Valentines day.
She also remembered how the hairdresser had clearly told her she looked perfect, but she still nitpicked at everything to be even more perfect. So much so that before she left home, she flipped through all the clothes in her wardrobe and tried them each on. She did this all so that she could look her best for him on such a special day.
At the time, she felt all sorts of complicated emotions; unease, excitement, anticipation, anxiousness mixed with a hint of sweetness...
Qiao Anhao's mind wandered as she washed her hands. When she went back upstairs, before she pushed open the door, she could hear Han Ruchu's voice from within the bedroom. "From the very beginning, I told you not to get close to him, but you had to go and get closer. Now, look. You have nothing.
"The only reason he acted like a real brother to you was to hit you when you were down. He has always waited for the day to laugh at you... This was definitely something his whore mother taught him. That bitch couldn't steal what was mine, and so she taught her son to steal my son's things..."
"Enough!" Xu Jiamu, who had remained quiet until now, suddenly violently erupted. "Are the two of you done talking? Lu Jinnian's mother passed away almost twenty years ago. How could she suddenly jump out of nowhere and teach him these things? What's more, he's never gone that far, has he? I still work there at Xu Enterprise!"
With Xu Jiamu's words, the bedroom door suddenly flung open.
Qiao Anhao felt a gust of wind towards her, then saw Xu Jiamu walking towards her with a dark look on his face.
"Brother Jiamu..."
Xu Jiamu continued to stride without a waver in his step down the stairs and out, without any response.
Qiao Anhao called his name again and instinctively wanted to follow him. He stopped in his tracks then and leaned on the railings, turning his head toward her to say bleakly, "Qiao Qiao, I'm feeling on edge right now. I want to go out for a smoke on my own for a little while."