Chapter 802 - Drop All Pretense

Jin Liwei didn't reply right away. It gave Lu Zihao some time to calm his initial shock.

'It's fine. He knows that I call my sister Evelinka and that she sometimes calls me Big Brother Nikolai. We already made up the story that Evelinka and Nikolai are our online names in a computer game we played before. Him calling me Nikolai doesn't mean that he knows the truth.'

After telling himself this, he calmed down and returned to his seat on the couch. As for Jin Liwei referring to him as brother-in-law, he didn't think too much about it. He already expected that Jin Liwei would stop calling him Fifth Brother after their confrontation in his sister's piano room.

Without their so-called brotherhood, the only remaining bond connecting them now was through his sister. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that Jin Liwei would now address him as Brother-in-law instead of Fifth Brother.

Despite the remnant's fierce protests, this was the result that he wanted when he tried to mess with Jin Liwei's head by hinting that he and his sister had a big secret that the man couldn't handle.

No, that was wrong.

To be honest, he didn't intend to drop a hint about the big secret to Jin Liwei at all. The confrontation's effects on the remnant were just too extreme that his triggered emotions made him momentarily lose control of his good sense. This was also one of the reasons why he felt so pissed off at the remnant and why he didn't want to see or talk to Jin Liwei at the moment.

But even before the confrontation, he was already feeling tired trying to maintain the close brotherhood with Jin Liwei and the others. Although he had grown to like the four men enough to consider them as friends while pretending to be Lu Zihao, the original close bond of brotherhood between them didn't really have anything to do with him. The current friendship he felt with them wasn't deep enough to warrant continuing to pretend to still be the same Fifth Brother who was close to them.

"Bacon, everything you'll hear in this conversation is classified information," Jin Liwei said, interrupting Lu Zihao's thoughts. "Protect our call with the highest level of security."

"Bacon understands, Father," the black cat AI replied in a solemn tone.

Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes after hearing Jin Liwei's instruction but he remained silent, waiting for the other man to initiate the conversation instead.

"Brother-in-law Nikolai, I know that you don't want to see my face or talk to me at this time. The truth is that I don't want to see your face or talk to you at this time either."

No surprise there. Lu Zihao curled his lip but mentally agreed that the feeling was mutual.

Silence.

"I know that you're not my Fifth Brother Lu Zihao," Jin Liwei said in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper. "You are Nikolai, my wife Evelina's big brother."

Lu Zihao's eyes contracted. His jaw tightened and so did his entire body. "My sister told you the truth?"

"Not the whole truth. Only about her experience." Jin Liwei stopped talking and was quiet for almost a full minute before he spoke again. "Nikolai, my wife and I, we need to meet you in person. Let's sit down and talk. Only the three of us. I want to know the whole truth."

"No." Lu Zihao's response was instant and his tone final.

"Evelina wants to tell me the whole truth but she wants to get your blessings first."

"I said no."

Jin Liwei sighed. "Sooner or later, I'll still end up knowing everything."