Chapter 285 - That's the man I love

While listening to his mother's recount of the memories, Xiao Zhihao's hands couldn't stop trembling, and he had to keep them beneath the pillow that his head was lying on in order not to let his mother know what he was feeling. 

It felt like her mother was telling him a horror story; something terrible that befell someone else and not her or Xiao Yunjie's past. 

He tried his best to contain himself. However, his voice still betrayed him when he stuttered, "M-Mum... That's... That's not you, right? Please tell me that's not you..." 

He wanted to reach out and hold his mother, but he was afraid that he would only make her worry, especially with how his hands were trembling at the moment. When he said he wanted to know more about his parents, to know the truth about them, he did not expect this to the truth, and he wondered what he had stumbled into right now.

Xiao Lei reached out and patted her son's back, as if he were a five-year-old kid who needed to be comforted before sleep. She then said in a soft voice, "No... That's not me, Zhihao... That's..."

"Dad?" Xiao Zhihao gasped. He then shook his head as he asked nervously, almost pleading, "Mum, you're just telling me someone else's story, right? That's not you or Dad, right? Please say so!" 

Xiao Lei smiled sadly as she said, "You wanted to know, Zhihao... Someone has to be someone in someone else's story... Unfortunately, that someone this time was indeed your father."

Xiao Zhihao sat up and closed his hands over his ears. "No! I don't want to hear anymore! Stop it!" 

His mother did not tell him directly as to what happened to his father when he was held captive in that small room, but Xiao Zhihao was not an idiot. He could glean from the context of the truth behind his father's past. 

Xiao Lei sighed and pushed herself up. She then gently removed Xiao Zhihao's hands from his ears before saying, "We can't stop here... I've started the story, and I must finish it. Otherwise, your mind will run to God knows where..." 

Xiao Zhihao's eyes were uncertain, as if he was debating internally whether or not to listen to his mother. But in the end, he nodded.

Looking at the uncertainty in her son's eyes, Xiao Lei was worried that Xiao Zhihao might not be able to handle it, so she said, "If you can't..."

"No, I'm Dad's son, I can continue!" Xiao Zhihao said. He shook his head and looked at his mother with a determined expression. "If Dad could survive that kind of past, then I can listen to it without breaking down!"

Even though he did not really want to, he was afraid that his mother might refuse to tell him their stories after this, so he braved himself to keep going. 

Xiao Lei smiled. She folded her legs under her as she faced her son. "Do you know who Shenlong Yanhuang is?" 

Xiao Zhihao shook his head for a second before nodding. He then asked, "Is he related to Mr. Callum?" 

He did not know much, but he knew that Callum's name was Shenlong Xun and that there was a major Shenlong Family in the city. His mother did not tell him much, but Xiao Zhihao picked up bits and pieces from everywhere else. It was easy. Most of the students at his school treated him as if he were an invisible person, so they usually ignored him and started talking as if he weren't there. That was how Xiao Zhihao found out that Callum was related to the underground Shenlong Family. 

Callum's identity wasn't a secret, but it wasn't publicly blasted as well, especially since he chose to disassociate himself from his biological family as much as possible. People usually knew about him through word of mouth. 

When Xiao Zhihao saw his mother's slightly frowning expression, he asked again, "Mum, is he related to Mr. Callum?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking how to tell you in a better way," she murmured. She then nodded. "Yeah, Shenlong Yanhuang was Callum's late father. And he was the one who saved your father from the hell that he was trapped in."

She then reached out to take her son's hands. "Zhihao, are you angry with how your Dad left?" 

Xiao Zhihao did not say anything, but it was evident based on his outburst before that he was indeed angry about it. 

Xiao Lei smiled as she patted her son's hands. "The story I told you earlier was your dad's story. That was his early childhood. We agreed not to tell you until you're much older, but because of the circ.u.mstances, I've to break my promise to him."

They had wanted to keep this story for when Xiao Zhihao could better deal with it, but also to use it to warn him when he reached that difficult teenage age. When Xiao Yunjie and Xiao Lei talked about it, they were worried about the possibility of Xiao Zhihao hanging out with the wrong crowd, and they wanted to use Xiao Yunjie's past to warn Xiao Zhihao about the danger of hanging out with the wrong people. 

Xiao Lei placed her hands on her son's cheeks as she said in a gentle voice, "Zhihao, I know you're upset with the way your father left us just like what, without any warning whatsoever. But your father was a hero."

"I don't want him to be a hero. I just want him to be here," Xiao Zhihao murmured with a sad tone as he clenched his fists. He would rather have a father who was there instead of a dead hero. "Why did he have to give his life up for someone else? He didn't even know them." 

"Because that's your father. That's the man I love, and that's the father you're so proud of." She then released his cheeks and sat up right. "Zhihao, Shenlong Yanhuang wasn't just a random relative of Callum. He was Callum's father. Back then, if he had not raided the house where your father was kept captive, if he had taken the responsibility to help your father during the first few months your father first entered the society, your father might not be able to grow up to be the man that we both love."

She then said with a sad tone, "I know it's hard to accept it, but your father did the right thing. Back then, Shenlong Yanhuang saved him from a hellish life. And what your father did wasn't just to be a hero, he wanted to repay this favor to the man who saved him. Shenlong Yanhuang passed away a long time ago, but his son was alive, and your father knew that. So when he saw the jade pendant that Shenlong Yanhuang used to wear, he probably could not turn away from the fact that those bad people not only kidnapped a poor defenseless pregnant woman and her son, but they had also kidnapped the family members of that man."

"He should have made sure of that first... They weren't even related by blood to Shenlong Yanhuang..." Xiao Zhihao mumbled grudgingly.