Disobedience To Control chapter 11
The Fourteenth Day
On Monday morning, Song Siheng didn’t go to the company and gave Li Ke half a day off.
When they met again in the office, it was already two thirty in the afternoon. Li Ke had just finished a meeting and came back, holding a folder, looking for Song Siheng.
“The budget meeting for the fourth quarter is over, do you want to review it?” Li Ke shook the folder in his hand.
“No need, I’ve seen it already. Just follow the process and I’ll approve it,” Song Siheng shook his head.
Li Ke was used to Song Siheng’s casual attitude, so he put the documents on his desk and was about to leave. But before he took a step, he turned back to him. “Oh, by the way, I ran into Auntie at the 4S dealership this morning.”
“Auntie?” Song Siheng looked up. “You mean my mom?”
“Yeah. I went for car maintenance and saw her looking at new cars in the showroom.”
“Looking at cars? What car was she looking at?” Song Siheng asked.
“The new model of the extended sedan. She seems to like it. I saw her asking the salesperson for a quote. But, has Auntie mentioned to you that she wants to change cars?”
“No,” Song Siheng rarely talked to Fu Xuehua about these things, and Fu Xuehua wouldn’t actively mention them to him. But now that he thought about it, their old Crown was indeed quite old.
Song Siheng called out to Li Ke, “Send me the model of the car she was looking at.”
Li Ke nodded. “Sure.”
Song Siheng didn’t actively try to reconcile, he just chose the simplest and most efficient method. If something could be solved with money, he wouldn’t hesitate to use it instead of emotions.
That afternoon, he paid the deposit for that car and upgraded the configuration to the top level for Fu Xuehua. Without any surprises, Fu Xuehua would receive a call from the salesperson to pick up the car in a week.
In Song Siheng’s memory, he didn’t have many big fights with his family. In daily life, he didn’t care much about Song Ping and Fu Xuehua’s opinions of him. But every time they had a big fight, it was always ruthless.
The first time was when he chose his college major. Song Siheng didn’t choose medicine and insisted on computer science.
The second time was when he graduated from college. He gave up the opportunity for further study at his alma mater and insisted on studying abroad.
The third time was when he returned from studying abroad. Song Siheng unexpectedly came out to his family during a family dinner.
Every time, without exception, after Song Ping listened to what Song Siheng had to say, he would take out the ruler from the study and beat him. The first time was in the middle of summer, and Song Siheng’s calves were beaten until they were bloody.
The second time was in winter, only breaking Song Siheng’s coat, feathers flying everywhere, a mess.
By the third time, Song Siheng fought back and beat Song Ping. Song Siheng broke half of his nose, and Song Ping’s face was bloodied, blood streaming down.
Both of them made fierce threats, saying they would never speak to each other again.
To this day, Song Siheng still remembers the scene. At first, Fu Xuehua hugged Song Ping’s waist to stop him from fighting. But later, when she realized it was futile, she joined the fray. The three of them fought in a chaotic mess.
That was probably the most embarrassing moment in Fu Xuehua’s life as a chief cardiac surgeon.
At that time, Song Qin stood on the stairs, arms crossed, looking down at everything. At the moment when Song Siheng’s nose was broken, he happened to look up and see it.
Fresh red blood flowed down from the bridge of his nose. And Song Qin stood there, expressionless.
These incidents didn’t have much impact on Song Siheng’s life path. He knew Song Ping wouldn’t dare to kill him, he just wanted to maintain his dignity as a feudal patriarch.
Song Siheng was like a precision aircraft on cruise control, flying single-mindedly towards his desired destination.
Later, when he returned to China to start his own business and the family’s financial situation improved, the distance between them grew, along with the ambiguous and undefined emotional relationships.
Those fierce words that Song Ping once uttered seemed to fade with time. It was as if, as long as no one brought it up, everyone tacitly pretended that the drama of that day had never happened.
However, even so, Song Siheng didn’t like to go home often. He didn’t feel deep hatred towards them, he just didn’t like the smell of home.
That sandalwood scent. Song Ping always had OCD, and after the housekeeping finished cleaning, he would sprinkle disinfectant again. But Song Ping didn’t want the whole house to smell like disinfectant, so he lit sandalwood in the living room and bedroom.
In Song Siheng’s memory, Song Ping, Fu Xuehua, and Song Qin were all associated with the scent of sandalwood.
He kept an appropriate distance from them to avoid being tainted by this scent.
This time, Song Qin took the initiative to help him, which surprised Song Siheng. After all, in his nearly thirty years of life, Song Qin had always been like a calm bystander. But if you think about it carefully, he had been stuck in the ivory tower of academia for so many years, and now that he was in his thirties, he might want to come out and get some fresh air, and experience the smell of copper.
Song Siheng had Li Ke contact the medical technology company recommended by Song Qin.
Just a few days after the beginning of winter, the north has already fully embraced the cold. The weather forecast pushed notifications showing eight degrees below zero. Song Siheng had Li Ke bring him his warmest coat.
On the day of departure, Li Ke first went to Song Siheng’s house to pick him up, then drove to the old garden villa of the Song family to pick up Song Qin.
When Li Ke knocked on the door, it was Fu Xuehua who answered. Fu Xuehua couldn’t hide her joy upon seeing him, patting Li Ke’s shoulder and inviting him in for tea. When Li Ke stated his purpose, to take Song Qin to the airport, Fu Xuehua seemed even more delighted.
She glanced outside and saw Song Siheng sitting in the car.
Song Siheng didn’t get out of the car but nodded in agreement, continuing to sit in the car openly waiting.
Five minutes later, Song Qin emerged from the house with his suitcase. Li Ke reached out to take his suitcase, but Song Qin politely declined.
“Get in the car,” Song Siheng urged, pressing the car window button.
Song Qin nodded, tightened his gray cashmere scarf, put the suitcase in the trunk, then opened the rear door and got in.
Not a word was spoken throughout the journey.
When they arrived at Jiangcheng Airport, the R&D director and marketing director of Sicheng were already waiting for them. A group of five boarded the flight to the cold north on Sunday afternoon.
Except for Song Qin, the rest were colleagues who interacted daily. Except for Song Siheng, their interactions were relatively pleasant.
However, with the addition of the boss’s elder brother, the atmosphere became somewhat constrained.
Three hours later, the plane landed. The temperature in North City was even colder than Song Siheng had imagined. As they stepped off the jet bridge, a biting cold wind blew in through the unlocked glass door of the emergency exit.
Even though it was only seven or eight in the evening, it felt like stepping into an ice cellar.
Li Ke arranged for a business car to pick them up. Song Siheng got into the car first. Song Qin stood at the rear, waiting for everyone else to get in before leisurely following suit.
Half an hour later, the five of them finally sat in a warm restaurant, where the red wine had been opened, and the chandelier light was soft.
Meanwhile, over fifteen hundred kilometers away in Jiangcheng, a person sat outside the door of the top-floor suite of a hotel.
Yang Xiaobei crossed his legs, holding his phone, staring at the silent chat box.
“Darn it, is he really going to fire me?!”
This was the fourteenth day since Song Siheng lost contact with him.