Disobedience To Control chapter 31
Who Is It
The next morning, before eight o’clock, Li Ke came to knock on Song Siheng’s door. Song Siheng was just finishing up his morning routine and went to open the door for him.
“Ready?” Li Ke asked from outside the door.
“Give me ten minutes,” Song Siheng replied.
“Alright. The car downstairs is already here.” Li Ke said, carrying his bag and heading to the elevator hall.
After Song Siheng finished getting ready, he walked to the side of the room, pulled open the curtains, and glanced outside. Thick layers of ice hung from the eaves outside the window. The outdoor temperature was still very low, even though the sun had risen high, unable to penetrate the late winter chill.
Ten minutes later, he put on his shirt and cashmere vest, then draped on the gray cashmere coat before leaving the room.
Mid-February had arrived, and Valentine’s Day was approaching. There were two or three children standing on the sidewalk next to the hotel, bundled up tightly in hats and scarves. One of them was holding a basket of roses. It was only early in the morning, but the basket of flowers had already sold quite a few.
“Big brother, do you want a rose to give to your girlfriend?” One of the little girls caught up with Song Siheng as he exited the lobby.
Song Siheng waved his hand, “No, thank you.”
But the child stood still, directly pulling out a rose from the basket, “It’s okay, consider it a gift from me to you.” Then she abruptly stuffed the red rose into Song Siheng’s arms.
“Huh?” Song Siheng looked at the flower in his hand, but when he looked up, the child had already run off. What was going on?
Li Ke laughed at him from the side, “Uh-oh. Looks like you’ll have to have some romantic luck this year.”
Song Siheng turned to him, “Do you like it? Take it.” With that, he shoved it into Li Ke’s hands.
The business car soon arrived at the hotel entrance, and the door opened. Li Ke could only sit in the front seat with a solitary rose.
The driver turned to confirm that day’s itinerary with Li Ke. Then he ignited the engine, and the car smoothly drove onto the main road.
“Did you talk to them on the phone yesterday?” Song Siheng asked from the back seat.
“Yeah, I contacted them before the flight yesterday morning. Everything’s fine,” Li Ke nodded.
The morning rush hour in the northern city was unusually congested. After getting onto the overpass, the car was forced to maintain a slow speed due to the heavy traffic. Cars kept squeezing in, making the already slow flow of traffic even more congested.
Song Siheng glanced at his wristwatch, realizing they had less than forty minutes until the meeting.
Li Ke happened to turn around and noticed his wrist, “Did you change your watch?”
Song Siheng had given his old watch to Yang Xiaobei and now wore a new deep blue mechanical watch. He nodded, “Yeah, got tired of the old one.”
As they were talking, the car suddenly came to a complete stop.
“What’s going on?” Song Siheng asked.
The driver also looked puzzled, trying to start the engine again twice but to no avail. “The engine won’t start. I’ll go down and check if it’s broken down.”
The constant honking from behind filled the air, with the traffic jam extending far back.
The driver checked for a while, then got back into the car and tried to start the engine again, but it remained unresponsive.
Song Siheng’s patience was wearing thin. He tapped on the back of the passenger seat, “Ask if they can reassign another car. We don’t have much time left, and we can’t afford to delay the schedule.”
Li Ke was already on the phone, “They’re already in contact. Another car will be sent over shortly.”
The cold wind blew on the overpass. A yellow warning sign was placed behind the car, and the three of them stood outside, waiting for rescue.
Time passed by second by second, and Li Ke’s phone suddenly rang again. He immediately answered it.
Song Siheng glanced at him, thinking it might be the driver of the new car, but from Li Ke’s tone, he sensed that something was amiss.
“Why so sudden?”
“We confirmed the arrangement for today yesterday, didn’t we?”
Then there was a long silence. Li Ke only responded with two “uh-huh” sounds before hanging up.
Li Ke looked at Song Siheng, “We don’t need to go anymore.”
Song Siheng was puzzled, “What do you mean?!”
Li Ke said, “Their secretary just told me that today’s meeting has been canceled.”
Song Siheng asked, “How could it be suddenly canceled? It’s almost time, less than half an hour until it starts. Are they planning to back out?”
Li Ke said, “He only said the general manager had another sudden arrangement, without giving me much explanation. Don’t worry, I’ll find out what’s going on.”
Meanwhile, the replacement car arrived. The new driver opened the electric door, and Li Ke hurriedly signaled for Song Siheng to get into the car.
Song Siheng was about to lift his foot to move forward when he turned back and saw the rose left in the old car’s compartment. He paused for two seconds, then turned back and took the flower, casually inserting it into his coat pocket.
After both of them got into the car, the black business car drove towards the other end of the city along the traffic flow.
Along the way, Song Siheng’s heart rate was unusually erratic. He didn’t know if it was because of the cold wind blowing for too long or if he was feeling uneasy.
Li Ke made two more phone calls from the passenger seat. Ten minutes later, he turned around to look at Song Siheng.
“It’s not looking good. Their market manager told me that yesterday afternoon, their general manager had a private meeting with executives from another company. I heard they offered a high price, and when I calculated it, it was exactly ten points higher than what we were going to offer. And from what he disclosed, almost all the conditions were set to pressure us.”
The more Song Siheng heard, the worse his expression became.
Li Ke looked at him, “Our cooperation may have been hijacked.”
Song Siheng took a deep breath and asked in a low voice, “Which company? Which executive?”
Li Ke handed his phone screen to Song Siheng’s eyes, “EM, Xu Lang.”
Song Siheng’s pupils tightened, “Xu Lang?!”
Coincidentally, at this moment, Li Ke’s phone received a real-time news push notification. EM China was holding a new product launch event, announcing online that it would sign contracts with multiple medical technology companies, officially entering the field of smart wearable devices.
Li Ke opened the live stream page, and the video signal connected.
Li Ke rubbed his temples with his knuckles and continued, “This matter isn’t so simple. Unless someone had already contacted Xu Lang early on…”
Song Siheng understood his implication, “There’s a mole.”
Li Ke nodded, “Yes… And how did Xu Lang know that we were negotiating with them? The timing is too precise, clearly targeting us.”
Now, the only remaining question facing the two of them was who the mole was.
“The internal model is only known to us and the executives in the R&D department. After the last meeting, only the two of us saw the complete version of the contract,” Li Ke recalled.
“The possibility of an employee leaking the model is not to be considered for now,” Song Siheng pondered for a moment. “We can only start with the leak of contract terms.”
“Then who else knows that we’ve been to the northern city, had access to this document, and have met Xu Lang?” Li Ke asked.
In Song Siheng’s mind, flashes of all moments related to this scenario appeared like scenes from a movie.
Unless someone had been inside his study, had access to his personal computer and documents, and had also met Xu Lang.
The cold wind slapped against the car window, emitting a howling sound.
That lonely rose still nestled in his pocket, but Song Siheng felt a chill run through his entire body.