In the past, she said he wasn’t worthy of her because of Xu Jiamu, and gave him no choice but to let go and leave. Now, she flew all the way from Beijing to America to hara.s.s him. In front of Lucy, she even repeatedly called him her husband and that she was pregnant with his baby, like she was giving an oath of sovereignty.

What did she really want?

Perhaps it was the overbearing look in his eyes that made Qiao Anhao instinctively lower her head to avoid his glare. She then said in a quiet voice, “I lost my purse.”

She really did lose her purse, though it had been on purpose.

Lu Jinnian stared at her scruffy hair without saying a word.

Qiao Anhao quietly raised her eyelids to find that he still wore the angry expression he had had earlier, which didn’t let anyone read his thoughts. She wasn’t quite sure if he believed her or not, so she gently held one of his hands and flipped with the other through her own pockets.

She then said in low voice, “I’ve really lost it. When I left the restaurant, I walked a distance and hailed a taxi back to the hotel. When it came time to pay, I realized that I had lost my purse. I had to borrow money from the front desk to pay for my taxi fare.”

Although she had carefully calculated every move, when it was time to tell him, her mind couldn’t help but go back to the time when she went to Hangzhou during university. Her purse was stolen, and she had to send him a text to ask him to come find her far from his place. Yet, now, all he gave her was a cold and callous look.

A trace of sorrow crept into her heart, and the rim of her eyes started to redden. Her voice sounded quite pitiful when she spoke next. “They didn’t let me borrow it at first, so I told them that I had a friend here who would repay them, only then did they let me borrow the money. Yet they didn’t let me go up to rest, they said I had to wait in the lobby for you to come back. I waited for over two hours for you to come back. I haven’t even eaten, I’m hungry.”

Every letter of Qiao Anhao’s soft words lit Lu Jinnian’s heart.

Though she lowered her head so he couldn’t see her face, his mind sketched out her pitiful and aggrieved face from her words.

Lu Jinnian shut his eyes and silently took a breath. He tried hard to get his senses back, then pulled out a thick pile of notes from his wallet and handed it to Qiao Anhao.

Qiao Anhao stared at the money but didn’t reach her hand out to take it. She shook her head and said, “This isn’t enough. One night’s stay in the hotel costs several million.”

Lu Jinnian furrowed his brows, pulled out a bank card, and handed it to Qiao Anhao. “You know the pin.”

Since being reunited after four months apart, this was the first time Lu Jinnian had spoke to Qiao Anhao in a normal tone of voice. Though he was still quite callous about it, there was no longer any of that will to defy and reject her from his very bones. It was especially so when he said “You know the pin”.

Qiao Anhao wasn’t certain why but tears started rolling down her face and crashed onto to the back of his hand, as she tightly pulled his sleeve.

The tears were warm, yet they scorched Lu Jinnian’s heart. He could clearly feel the very heart he had tried to harden up start to soften.

Qiao Anhao raised her hand and carelessly wiped the tears from her face. With her head raised, she looked at Lu Jinnian with teary, puppy dog eyes, and said in an aggrieved and pitiful voice, “I don’t want money, I want food.”