Disobedience To Control chapter 29
Help me look up someone
The weekend ended, and Yang Xiaobei left with his backpack. Before leaving, he brought back a bunch of white wildflowers from somewhere and put them in the vase in Song Siheng’s study.
Instead of moving back to the apartment, Song Siheng settled down in the suburban villa. He had Li Ke bring over some clothes for him, and every day after work, he had to drive for over half an hour to get here. For the former Song Siheng, wasting time on commuting was simply unimaginable.
Unconsciously, it was already February, and Jiangcheng also showed some signs of spring. The previously barren lawn in the villa area to the south now had quite a few wildflowers blooming.
The bunch of wildflowers that Yang Xiaobei brought back was extremely resilient. Even with heating in the house, the white wildflowers had been blooming for several days and showed no signs of withering. After replying to the email, Song Siheng sat back in his chair, looking at the bunch of wildflowers, and his mind went blank.
Until he received a call from Li Ke.
“Do you need me to go over tomorrow’s speech again for you?” Li Ke asked on the other end of the phone.
“No need, it’s just a short speech, not a major presentation,” Song Siheng declined.
“Alright. The salon starts at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon, and your segment will probably be around three fifteen. Your suit has been ironed and hung in the second compartment on the right in your wardrobe.”
“Okay,” Song Siheng replied before hanging up the phone.
Li Ke was always efficient, unlike some people who were always restless. Thinking of this, Song Siheng pressed his forehead hard.
It seemed he should throw away the bouquet of flowers on the table, as the unidentified wildflowers were making him uneasy.
The exhibition hall of Sicheng was located on the lower floor of the company’s office building, covering an area of about seven to eight hundred square meters. Upon entering, there was a ten-meter-long corridor, with screens on both sides playing flagship products of Sicheng over the years.
Li Ke had once asked Song Siheng if they should play his personal interviews here, but Song Siheng bluntly refused.
“I don’t want to be in the limelight,” was Song Siheng’s simple reason.
Making money was one thing, but he had no desire for fame.
After passing through the corridor was an extremely spacious product experience area. Only two or three staff members were stationed on each side to guide visitors, while the rest was left to intelligent robots to avoid disturbing visitors artificially.
Further inside the experience area was the conference hall where the salon was being held. Unlike the cold and technological exterior, the interior here was more comfortable, with over twenty rows of large comfortable seats. In front was a small stage with two tiers of steps, and behind the stage was a giant curved screen. In the center front stood a microphone stand, with nothing else around it.
When Song Siheng entered, there were already a few rows of people sparsely seated below the stage. He glanced and saw Miss Yu and four or five students sitting side by side in the middle of the third row. Out of courtesy, he asked Li Ke to accompany him to greet them.
“Long time no see, Miss Yu,” Song Siheng reached out his right hand towards her, while Li Ke stood behind him without saying a word.
“I didn’t expect you to arrange it so quickly. The students just finished their vacation, so I brought all those who could come,” Miss Yu smiled and shook his hand.
Li Ke finally reacted, “Hello, I’m Mr. Song’s secretary, you can call me Li Ke. I was the one who contacted you before.”
Miss Yu was polite too and shook hands with him, “You’ve been considerate.”
Before the two could finish their conversation, the side door of the conference hall was pushed open, and Song Ping walked in, followed by someone, surprisingly, Song Qin.
Song Siheng also noticed the newcomers and turned to Li Ke, “Did you invite them?”
Li Ke shook his head slightly, “No.”
Song Ping first nodded to Song Siheng and Li Ke, then walked to Miss Yu in the third row to greet her and sat beside her.
Song Qin sat in the fourth row, sitting very upright, as if he didn’t know any of these people.
Li Ke stood behind Miss Yu, and Song Qin sat less than two meters away from him.
“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.
“Oh, just ordinary tea is fine,” Miss Yu replied with a smile.
“…And you?” Li Ke turned to ask Song Qin in the back row.
“I don’t need anything,” Song Qin shook his head, then lowered his head to his phone.
The first half of the salon featured presentations from various technology companies in Jiangcheng, including demonstrations of some cutting-edge equipment. Miss Yu and the students were deeply engrossed in watching.
Song Siheng’s speech was scheduled after theirs. His time on stage was not long, just a simple introduction to some of Sicheng’s new products and possible future directions. Song Ping kept his eyes on the stage throughout, seemingly listening attentively, occasionally turning to talk to Miss Yu.
After Song Siheng stepped down from the stage, the stage was handed back to the staff of the exhibition hall, and the event entered the tea break session.
Song Siheng had never been fond of such socializing. He pushed Li Ke out and left backstage himself.
“Song Siheng.” Someone called him from behind.
Song Siheng turned around and saw Song Ping had somehow come backstage, “The students rarely visit, why don’t you take a photo with them?”
“Yeah, I have something to report back to my school,” Miss Yu smiled brightly and took out her phone, “why don’t you join us for the photo?”
At this moment, Li Ke was not around, and there was no photographer.
Song Ping waved to Song Qin not far away, “Xiao Qin, come over.”
Song Qin walked over from the side and took the phone, capturing two rows of people in the frame. Miss Yu and the students stood in the front row, while Song Ping and Song Siheng stood behind them.
Song Qin pressed the shutter button, and click, click, he took two shots.
“Done,” Song Qin handed the phone back to Miss Yu with both hands.
“Since everyone is here today, why don’t we make another appointment for dinner? Miss Yu can also join us,” Song Ping rarely took the initiative like this.
Song Qin stood silently on the side. Just as Song Siheng was about to find an excuse to refuse, Miss Yu spoke up in advance, “I’m about to start my annual leave, and I have to visit my hometown. I might be busy for a while. Why don’t we find a time after the New Year? I’ll treat you all to a big meal then.”
Seeing the situation resolved, Song Siheng directly made an excuse to leave, “I have to go to the office upstairs. There are desserts and drinks outside, you can all chat first.”
At exactly six o’clock in the afternoon, the salon ended. Song Siheng did not participate in the concluding session but stayed in the office.
When Li Ke returned, his face didn’t look good.
“What’s wrong? Was it stuffy in the exhibition hall?” Song Siheng looked up at him.
“It’s nothing. Maybe I caught a cold,” Li Ke didn’t meet his gaze, just pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Do you want to take an early leave? Anyway, it’s almost the Spring Festival,” Song Siheng offered.
“No need. It’s nothing major,” Li Ke shook his head.
…………………
The company’s annual holiday quickly began. Song Siheng had initially wanted Yang Xiaobei to continue teaching him swimming, but after asking once, he was rejected by Yang Xiaobei, giving a valid reason that the city training team had a private training session recently.
Song Siheng didn’t insist and had to give up, knowing that there was still plenty of time in the future.
With no swimming lessons as an excuse, the two of them didn’t meet during the Spring Festival.
The week-long holiday passed quickly. Song Siheng didn’t return to the house of Fu Xuehua and Song Ping, nor did he eat the formal New Year’s Eve dinner with them. Instead, he bought a plane ticket and went to a deserted island for fishing. It wasn’t until Li Ke called him urgently in the middle of the night, urging him to come back, that Song Siheng reluctantly boarded the return flight.
“I finally managed to schedule a meeting with that medical technology company. Their annual leave is really long,” Li Ke drove to the airport to pick him up, showing him the schedule on his phone, “I’ve arranged to meet them the day after tomorrow morning, and we’ll leave for the northern city tomorrow.”
This matter was significant, so to avoid unnecessary complications, Song Siheng only took Li Ke with him.
Unlike Jiangcheng, the northern city had a long winter, and even though the Spring Festival had passed, the temperature still lingered around zero, with no signs of life in the parks in the city center.
They stayed at the same hotel as before, and Song Siheng still occupied the innermost room.
After settling in, it was already past three o’clock in the afternoon. Li Ke came over and knocked on Song Siheng’s door.
“What’s up?” Song Siheng opened the door and stood inside, asking.
“Do you have any plans for the afternoon? If not, do you want to go and greet Jin Shuming at the branch office?” Li Ke asked.
“Forget it,” Song Siheng thought of the prospect of being stuck with Jin Shuming and felt a bit apprehensive, “You meet with him. I might have to go out later.”
“Where are you going? Should I arrange a business car for you?” Li Ke asked.
“No need. I’ll just wander around myself.”
Song Siheng didn’t know why he came to the Liyuan Stadium. After getting out of the taxi, he stood on the roadside and looked up at the square building for about two or three minutes before finally stepping inside.
Just after the New Year, there were no competitions or performances here, and the place was deserted. There were only two security guards at the entrance. After seeing Song Siheng enter, they hurried over to ask, “Hey, what are you here for? There are no events today.”
The other guard, seeing him continuing to walk, asked, “Are you here to check out the venue?”
Song Siheng turned back, hesitated for two seconds, then nodded at him, “Yes.”
The two guards exchanged a glance and stopped bothering him. Song Siheng walked into the stadium.
The Liyuan Stadium had been built for quite some years, and the venue was spacious with high ceilings. There were two open sports fields outside for the public, and further inside was the main hall. Song Siheng pushed open the heavy curtain door, and the vast main arena appeared before his eyes.
There was a standard 50-meter eight-lane swimming pool, with buoys floating quietly on the water, and the azure pool water had not a single ripple.
There were two huge screens on each side of the venue, but the power was off, leaving everything dark.
Underneath the screens hung several large portraits. Song Siheng squinted to identify them and realized they were all photos of national champions who had become famous in recent years. Standing on the second floor of the stands, he walked along the corridor after a while and headed downstairs.
Passing through the spectator seats, Song Siheng arrived at the referee area on the first floor, then turned right and walked into a long corridor with a faded sign hanging above: Athletes’ Passage.
Walking to the end of the corridor, there were several closed rooms, probably restrooms for athletes.
Song Siheng wandered aimlessly until he stopped in front of a half-open door. The room inside was not lit, but he inexplicably wanted to go in and take a look.
Creak—
He pushed the wooden door open completely, then pressed the switch beside the door, and the room lit up after the light bulb flickered a few times.
The room was not small, about five or six meters long horizontally and vertically. There were two long benches against the walls on both sides, and some miscellaneous items were piled under the window on the north side, including a dusty thermos and a huge acrylic box stacked with a bunch of fluffy white towels.
However, what caught Song Siheng’s attention was a huge calendar posted on one side of the wall.
Song Siheng stood in front of the calendar and looked carefully. There was a line of words written with a black marker: National Galaxy Cup Swimming Selection Competition. Several dates were circled in red, followed by a star.
Next to the calendar were several large group photos. Song Siheng looked from left to right, and each row was a group photo of tall and thin teenagers, each wearing medals on their chests.
However, Song Siheng was staring at one of the photos, trying to recognize the faces of the people in the picture. Before he could finish, he heard the voice of the security guard at the door, “Why is the light on here? Is there someone inside? Clear the area!”
Song Siheng was originally standing still, but the door was pushed open from the outside again.
“Hey? Weren’t you here to check out the venue? Get out, get out, you can’t come in here.”
Song Siheng had no choice but to step aside and leave the room. The security guard urged him from the doorway, and he just glanced back before leaving.
When he came out of the main hall of Liyuan, it was almost dark. Song Siheng stood on the roadside, not in a hurry to call for a car.
He took out his phone, opened his contacts, and scrolled to Li Ke’s number. However, after hesitating for a few seconds, he still didn’t press the dial button.
He continued to scroll through the contacts and finally found a name he hadn’t contacted in a long time.
After ringing for more than ten seconds, the call was finally answered on the other end.
“Tim?” Song Siheng spoke first.
“Song Siheng?!” The person on the other end seemed somewhat surprised, “You didn’t dial the wrong number, did you?”
Ignoring the cold wind blowing, Song Siheng exhaled a breath of white air and didn’t bother with pleasantries, “Are you still working at Jiangcheng University?”
“Of course. What’s up?.”
Song Siheng paused for two seconds. “I need you to help me look up someone.”
The person on the other end clicked their tongue. “Song Siheng, I knew you wouldn’t come to me unless you had some trouble. You never come to me for anything good.”
“Do you want to help or not?”
There was a sigh on the other end of the phone, with a hint of resignation. “Who do you want me to look up? What’s the name?”
Song Siheng’s throat moved as he replied, “Yang Xiaobei. The ‘Xiao’ from dawn.”