"His real identity?" An actual identity was more meticulous and harder to expose than one made up from scratch, but there was always the chance of meeting the real deal while posing as a fake. Shen Tang couldn't help asking, "Are you sure he won't be found out?"
Liao Jia said, "The chances of that are slim."
Because the identity he was borrowing was rather special.
"This Liao Zun Guang is the son of an old acquaintance—and an old acquaintance's son who went missing a long time ago, at that." When Liao Jia said "an old acquaintance's son," the curve of his lips visibly faded.
"An old acquaintance's son? The son of someone from your former kingdom?" Liao Jia had joined Shen Tang not long after she was transferred to Longwu Commandery. Eleven years had passed since then. It wasn't a particularly long time, but neither was it short. In all that time, Shen Tang had rarely heard Liao Jia mention his past.
Liao Jia never spoke of it, and neither did Qi Yuanliang. The latter might have had too many colorful experiences and not known which one to bring up to rile his enemies, or perhaps he was being unusually considerate of Liao Jia's feelings and deliberately steering clear of the topic. Yuan Liang looked carefree, but in truth, he was the softest-hearted of them all.
"Mm. His mother did me a kindness. If I work out our relationship and the generations between us, I should call her sister-in-law." Liao Jia's voice grew noticeably lower. His tone was full of regret as he said, "If she hadn't looked after me back then, I wouldn't be where I am today. She was an ambitious woman, but unfortunately she met the wrong man and didn't even live to keep her life.