His ex-wife and sister were teasing him together, this Kang Xing was digging his own grave? He shouldn’t try to drag Niu Rang into this too!
After dinner, He Teng kicked off Kang Xing, who was clamoring to take He Zhilan to the army camp to stargaze and moon watch, then he sent He Zhilan back to the guesthouse alone.
This time, he did enter the room. He first bent down to check the water in the kettle, confirming that it was still warm. Only then did he sit down on a nearby chair and casually picked up the book that He Zhilan had placed on the table to flip through it. It was a foreign book, filled with words that were incomprehensible to him despite his middle school education. He eventually put the book away and restored it to how it was initially.
"Zhilan, sit down. I have some questions for you." He Teng gestured to the bed for He Zhilan to sit on.
He Zhilan nodded and responded obediently, "Oh!" She sat down quietly where He Teng had pointed, looked up at him with a smile, and asked, "What do you want to talk about, brother?"
He Teng shifted his eyes away from He Zhilan’s body and onto her playful, lightly kicking feet. He pondered for a moment before asking, "How much do you remember about your childhood?"
He Teng’s question had an immediate effect. The pair of feet, which had playfully been kicking, stopped. They quietly landed on the floor, staying steady and calm.
"Why do you ask that so suddenly?" Her somewhat puzzled inquiry floated softly into his ears. It wasn’t his keen perception that noticed her surprise, but her inadequate concealment that didn’t fully mask the shock in her tone.
"I remember you telling me that your father’s last name is Gu, your mother’s last name is Lan, your name is Gu Zhilan, and that your father was also in the army." He looked at her again as he said this, trying to find other answers on her face that were different from what she had told him. "Gu En’s father’s last name is Gu, her mother’s last name is Lan. Today Lan Li told me that Gu En is not the biological daughter of the Gu Family. Their biological daughter went missing on a summer day thirteen years ago. And her name is Gu Zhilan."
He Teng’s words left He Zhilan feeling caught off guard. She abruptly broke eye contact with him, lowering her gaze to the tips of her own toes as they silently drew circles on the ground.
"Oh really? What a coincidence."
After quite a while, He Zhilan responded. Then she looked at He Teng with surprise, giggling softly, "Brother, why are you looking at me like that? Could it be that you think I am the Gu Zhilan from the Gu Family? How could that be, how could I have such distinguished parents? I just happen to have the same name, or maybe I misremembered, maybe my memory made a mistake and I remembered someone else’s story as my own? After all, I was quite young then; making a mistake is possible, right? It’s also possible that my biological parents were just relatives of the Gu family! But all this doesn’t matter, because I am now known as He Zhilan, right? Therefore, their matters have nothing to do with me~"
These possibilities were probably the most contradictory lies He Zhilan had ever told in her life. She feigned nonchalance and surprise while contradicting herself.