Chapter 254 He Already Knew

"You... why aren't you surprised at all? You... have known for a long time that you are not a child of the Li family and that Liu Lan is not your biological mother?"

Xia Juanjuan confirmed.

Li Zhan looked at him with deep eyes, then nodded and smiled softly: "Yeah. I know..."

Xia Juanjuan: “…”

Xia Juanjuan sat up suddenly, the quilt was opened, and the cold wind rushed in. Her clothes had been almost stripped off, and now her body was almost exposed. However, she didn't care about the cold, her eyes widened, and she asked in astonishment: "You... when did you know?"

Li Zhan's eyes darkened, and he quickly wrapped her up with a blanket, saying with a smile: "You don't mind the cold, you'll be frozen soon..."

Only then did Xia Juanjuan realize what a stupid thing she had done. Fortunately, there was no light in the room, so it was not so embarrassing.

"You haven't answered my question yet! When did you know that?"

Li Zhan held her in his arms, making a lot of small movements with his hands, which made Xia Juanjuan angry and ashamed. Then she smiled and said, "Well...about eleven years ago."

Xia Juanjuan was stunned: "Eleven years ago, wasn't that the year you joined the army?"

Li Zhan nodded and said, "Well, that's about right. However, I didn't know that Liu Lan wasn't the mother of my eldest sister, eldest brother, and third brother, and I didn't know that my second brother wasn't a child of the Li family."

When Li's father remarried, Li Zhan was younger than Li Jie, just over a year old. The adults didn't tell him, so it was normal that he didn't know.

"Then...how did you know?" Xia Juanjuan asked.

Li Zhan's eyes darkened slightly before he said, "That year when the Recruitment Office came to the village to recruit soldiers, word got out in the village that all the new recruits would go to fight in foreign countries as soon as they joined the army, and they would probably die. Therefore, no one signed up actively.

The Li family was living in poverty at that time. They had many sons. The eldest and second brothers were already in their teens and twenties and had not yet found wives. The whole family was squeezed into two thatched houses with yellow earth slabs, and they had no food to eat. The mother... that is, Liu Lan, wanted to let one of her sons join the army. I heard that the army would give the family 30 yuan for each soldier.

My eldest brother was a strong worker and had to do farm work at home. He was also the eldest son, so my father didn't agree to let him go. Liu Lan didn't agree to let my second brother go. That left my third brother and me. Liu Lan advocated that I go, but my father didn't agree.

It was just a coincidence that I happened to be outside and heard what they were saying. "

That year——

Old man Li smoked his pipe and was silent for a while. Then he said, "Let Xiaojie go!"

Liu Lan said, "His father, why do you turn your elbow outward at the critical moment? Li Jie is your biological son! I think you should let Li Zhan go! We have raised him for so many years, and raised him from a hungry little kid to his current age. It is only right for him to make some contributions to the family!"

The old man scolded: "Shut up! Didn't I tell you not to mention a word about this matter from now on? What if Xiao Zhan hears it..."

Liu Lan shrank back and said, "I...I'm just talking in secret. There's no one else here!"

The old man glared at him fiercely and said, "Just let Xiaojie go! Xiaozhan is not old enough. His parents entrusted their child to me and said they would come to find him in the future. If I let Xiaozhan go to the army, if something happens to him, his parents will come to find him... where can I find a son to return to them?"

Liu Lan smiled sarcastically, "His parents came to see him? The child's father, I'm not saying anything harsh. It's been fifteen or almost sixteen years. If they wanted to come and pick up their child, they would have come a long time ago. They haven't come yet, so I'm afraid they have already had other children and don't want him anymore! You must have been cheated. For a dozen silver dollars, you have been made a fool for sixteen years, raising someone else's son..."

"Liu Lan! I told you not to talk, but you're still going strong, right? Speak softly! The children might hear you!"

Liu Lan said, "Father, you may think I am selfish. But even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. Li Jie is your own flesh and blood after all. I heard that his life might really be in danger this time. Do you have the heart to let your son sacrifice? Do you think I don't love Xiao Zhan? But if no one goes to the army, what about our four or five sons? Are they all waiting to be bachelors? People say you are incompetent and can't even marry a daughter-in-law. Don't you feel ashamed?"

Li Lao Dad was a little shaken, sighed, and said: "Alas... let me think about it again..."

Lizhan didn't listen any more. He secretly left a letter and went to the recruitment office, falsely reported his birthday, and went to join the army.

There are many children in the family, and Lizhan has never been the one that attracts much attention.

Therefore, the letter he stuffed under the pillow was not discovered by Li's family until the next day. By then, Li Zhan had already left with the troops.

Xia Juanjuan listened to Li Zhan's calm narration and for some reason, she felt a lump in her stomach.

Thinking about Li Zhan, who was only fifteen years old at that time and less than sixteen years old, he must have been so sad when he heard the truth that he was not a child of the Li family.

But… no one comforted him, accompanied him, told him that his parents didn’t abandon him on purpose, and that they didn’t come to pick him up for so many years? Tell him that they didn’t come to find him because they had their own reasons?

"Since you already knew that and listened to Liu Lan's nonsense, why did you send almost all of your allowance back home after serving in the army for nine years?"

Xia Juanjuan's heart was filled with resentment and confusion, and her nose was sore that she felt it was not worth it for him.

Li Zhan smiled and said, "No matter what Liu Lan said, there is one thing she said that is right. They really raised me from a crying baby to a grown-up man of fifteen or sixteen years old. I should repay them for their kindness in raising me over the years."

Xia Juanjuan was speechless.

Therefore, he sent almost all of his allowance back to the Li family in order to repay them for raising him!

"Lizhan... why are you so stupid..." Xia Juanjuan heard herself say softly.

Li Zhan held Xia Juanjuan's hand and said with a smile: "How can you say your man is stupid? Besides, how am I stupid? If I can use money to repay the debt and favor of love, there is nothing more calculated in the world than this."

Xia Juanjuan thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case.

"Just...how have you been through all these years? Have you tried to find your biological parents?"

Li Zhan smiled and said, "In the first few years after I found out, I felt really bad, and I thought about looking for them. But I didn't have any clues, and I couldn't ask my family, so I had no idea where to start. Later... I gradually became indifferent to it. Maybe... the bond between them and me as father and son was too shallow, and it ended the moment I was born..."

Xia Juanjuan opened her mouth, wanting to tell Lizhan that, in fact, his parents had never given up looking for him, and his mother was now very close.