Disobedience To Control chapter 46
If I Accompany You
Although Yang Xiaobei had already awakened, the ward was quieter than before. The drifting clouds dispersed, and sunlight peeked through the clouds, casting golden rays of light through the air, sprinkling onto the surface of the hospital bed.
Song Siheng looked at him, then slowly reached out his right hand after a moment, gently wiping away the tear marks from his cheek with his thumb.
Yang Xiaobei’s body stiffened, his eyelids drooping without lifting his head.
There was silence between the two for several seconds. Then Song Siheng took a step forward, silently extending his arm, embracing the back of Yang Xiaobei’s head, and gently pulling him into his embrace.
Song Siheng stood in the sunlight, while Yang Xiaobei hid in his embrace. Yang Xiaobei didn’t cry out again, but his shoulders trembled uncontrollably. Song Siheng felt the front of his shirt dampened. He gently stroked Yang Xiaobei’s hair, and the person in his arms gradually calmed down.
“You are indeed a genius,” Song Siheng said softly. “No one can deny that.”
Then he didn’t say another word. Yang Xiaobei lifted his eyelids slightly, coincidentally meeting Song Siheng’s lowered eyes.
The suffering and endurance of more than ten years seemed to melt away at this moment. In countless moments of breakdown in the past years, no one had treated him like this. It was just the first time, and also the only time.
Yang Xiaobei’s eyes were slightly red, his gaze unmoving.
After a moment, the distance between the two widened, and then there was a long silence.
Song Siheng remembered the string of dates he saw on Yang Xiaobei’s desk calendar in the dormitory.
He spoke first, asking, “Is the competition you mentioned at the end of December this year?”
Yang Xiaobei nodded silently.
It was already March now. If the surgery was done, it would take a month to remove the stitches, three months for rehabilitation, bringing it to July. Not to mention physical training and swimming retraining. Time was indeed tight. Perhaps Yang Xiaobei’s breakdown was the result of countless calculations.
Song Siheng’s phone, placed on the table, rang. He looked down and saw it was a call from Li Ke.
He glanced at the person on the hospital bed, then went outside before answering the call.
“There’s a new development in Song Qin’s case,” Li Ke spoke first.
“What’s the development?” Song Siheng held the phone, feeling nervous.
“…The clue is still cut off, and the police haven’t found any strong evidence. The gas leakage that day wasn’t for long, and the fire department quickly sealed off the pipeline when they arrived, causing no further damage to the surroundings. They also visited the neighbors on the upper and lower floors, but no one reported any suspicious individuals. I guess he may have hired professionals to do it, leaving no traces. Even the footprints in the living room were from Xiao Yang’s own shoes.”
Song Siheng was incredulous. “What about surveillance? Even in an old neighborhood, there should be surveillance, right?!”
Li Ke replied in a heavy tone, “Checked. Coincidentally, that day, the old section of the street was under municipal maintenance, and all the surveillance cameras were turned off, unable to access the archives.”
“Damn it!” Song Siheng couldn’t help but curse, clenching his fist.
“He has a perfect alibi. He was in class at school from morning till night that day, and the school surveillance captured him entering and leaving the campus, with students and colleagues able to testify. He drove home at night, and the community property management can also testify. The gap in between wasn’t enough for him to go to the old city and do all the operations.”
“Where is he now?” Song Siheng asked.
“He was released this morning.”
“Keep an eye on him, don’t let him out of your sight,” Song Siheng instructed sternly.
“Understood. I’ve already dispatched someone promptly to follow up. But…” Li Ke paused midway.
“But what?”
“He didn’t go home after being released, nor did he go to school.”
“What does that mean? Where did he go?” Song Siheng was puzzled.
“He went to Ming’an Hospital. My people saw someone driving over to pick him up, and it seems he was taken there forcibly, with a very tough attitude, like he was being coerced. The car stopped at the entrance of Ming’an Hospital in the western suburbs.”
“Ming’an?! Isn’t that a private psychiatric hospital?”
“Yes… It’s said that the management there is very strict, with several procedures to go through even for visits,” Li Ke said, pausing for a moment. “There’s also another suspicious thing.”
“What?”
“My friend at the municipal hospital said that this morning, the department where Song Ping is located received an anonymous report letter against Song Ping. The contents of the report letter are very detailed, even tracing back to the early years when Song Ping applied for the quota to study in the United States. It seems that the evidence has been collected for a long time, and he suspects it might have been done by someone very close to him. Now the hospital is considering suspending him first. Otherwise, if things get leaked online, it will be uncontrollable.”
Song Siheng listened in silence for a long time. There was only a shallow breath on both ends of the phone.
Song Qin was released and then escorted to a psychiatric hospital. Then, Song Ping was anonymously reported. The reason for this was self-evident.
Father and son were killing each other, tearing each other’s faces apart.
“Let them fight it out,” Song Siheng couldn’t care less. Besides getting the truth he wanted, he didn’t want to be involved in anything else. “If this can make them both vent their anger, it’s also a good method.”
Li Ke sighed softly. “Understood.”
The call was soon disconnected.
Song Siheng felt that this family was truly absurd. His usually calm and self-controlled elder brother had become a madman doing all sorts of evil deeds, while his father, who upheld feudal authority, had become a controlling maniac who imprisoned his own son.
Standing alone in the corridor, Song Siheng didn’t put away his phone. He scrolled through his contacts for a moment, finally found a name, and dialed a call.
“Hello? Mr. Song.” The other end seemed particularly surprised by this call. “It’s been a long time since I last contacted you. Are you doing well recently?”
Song Siheng ignored the other party’s greetings and asked directly, “Have you returned to Jiangcheng?”
“It’s almost time. I should be able to go back next month. Are you looking to continue the tennis lessons we had before?”
“No. I remembered you mentioned last time that your club has a physiotherapist?”
“Yes. Do you need one?”
“Besides a physiotherapist, do you have a physical trainer and a professional rehabilitation medical team?”
“Uh, we do have those. But do you need such a large team for yourself?”
Song Siheng didn’t explain much, just made a few perfunctory remarks and then went straight to the ward.
The TV in the ward was on, playing a certain music program. A singer he had never seen before came out to perform, playing a guitar and singing a melody of unfamiliar ballads.
Yang Xiaobei on the hospital bed seemed to have calmed down emotionally, staring at the TV screen without blinking.
“Do you like this?” Song Siheng broke the silence first.
Yang Xiaobei forced a bitter smile. “It’s terrible. It’s not even as good as the resident singer at the bar I used to go to.”
Song Siheng felt somewhat relaxed when he heard him mention the past. “Don’t take up jobs like that again in the future. Isn’t it obvious exploitation?”
“Wow, you’re a big boss, you don’t need to worry about that five thousand bucks,” Yang Xiaobei finally gained momentum and began to tease him, “That was the most comfortable part-time job I’ve ever done. You don’t know how uncomfortable it was for me to sell yogurt wearing a bear headgear. That headgear probably hadn’t been washed in half a year, it suffocated me.”
Song Siheng recalled the appearance of that big bear and couldn’t help but find it amusing. But this was obviously not a good time to burst into laughter.
“You quit your job at the convenience store?” he asked.
“Couldn’t bear to.” Yang Xiaobei shook his head, then suddenly, after a few seconds, he realized something, “Oh god, I forgot to ask for leave! Quickly, get me my phone! Damn, how much will they deduct from my pay? Will they fire me for being absent?!”
Being hospitalized couldn’t stop this person’s miraculous train of thought.
Song Siheng pressed down on his restless hand, “Save your energy and rest. If I were you, I wouldn’t go to that job either. Working until so late every day, and drinking car exhaust fumes near the gas station every day.”
Yang Xiaobei, rarely hearing a hint of extra concern from Song Siheng’s mouth, suddenly laughed.
“What are you laughing at?”
“I’m laughing at how you’re acting like a domineering CEO right now.” Yang Xiaobei reached out and pinched his cheek, “Are you going to tell me later that this hospital is also owned by your family? Will five muscular men come in and give me a strip show?”
“Nonsense.”
Song Siheng cursed him inwardly but thought to himself, of course, the hospital isn’t owned by my family, but your lead surgeon is my birth mother.
He quickly changed the subject, “Your teammate said you moved out to live on your own last month.”
Yang Xiaobei nodded slightly, “I didn’t feel comfortable back then and didn’t want him to find out. It wouldn’t be good if the team knew…”
Song Siheng nodded and didn’t ask further.
The two chatted about this and that, from the latest movies to the new products of Song Siheng’s company. Finally, they circled back to the initial question.
“So, have you thought it over?” Song Siheng asked.
“Not yet,” Yang Xiaobei shook his head honestly, “I’ve undergone surgery once, that feeling is too…”
Song Siheng roughly understood what he didn’t finish saying.
“Well, if this time… I could accompany you through it, wouldn’t that be worth a try? You go through the surgery, leave the rest to me.”
“You’ll accompany me?” Yang Xiaobei looked at him, disbelief in his eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Why? You’re already doing me a huge favor by helping me get better. There’s no need for this.” Yang Xiaobei smiled, concealing his emotions as usual.
Song Siheng turned his head slightly and replied, “Consider it my way of making it up to you.”
Yang Xiaobei chuckled bitterly and looked at him with a bitter smile, “Actually, I don’t have much to lose. I should’ve died in the Nanjiang River when I was two.”
Song Siheng was stunned by his words, his lips opening and closing before he finally asked softly, “What do you mean?”
“When I was two, my biological parents threw me onto a fishing boat, and later I was picked up by my aunt, who is also my foster mother.” Yang Xiaobei glanced at his swollen hand, “I didn’t understand why before. I’m not bragging, but I think I look pretty decent, with all my limbs intact. Why were they so heartless to abandon me like that?”
He took a slight breath before continuing, “It wasn’t until I had my first episode at fifteen that I knew the reason.”
He sounded very relaxed, as if he were telling someone else’s story.
Song Siheng forced himself to look away, not meeting his gaze.
He remained silent for a long time before finally turning his head and speaking, “But you still owe me a lesson.”
Yang Xiaobei didn’t expect him to say these words, and he froze for a moment, “What lesson?”
“Freestyle swimming. I still haven’t learned the final lesson from you. I still can’t get the breathing right. Are you, as a teacher, so irresponsible?” Song Siheng spoke confidently.
…
“Ge, I’ve already been to the gates of hell and back, and you’re still bickering with me over these things?” Yang Xiaobei reverted to his usual shameless tone.
“I don’t care,” Song Siheng didn’t back down, “Three months have passed, and I don’t want to worry about your safety when you’re teaching me. You must undergo surgery, recover well, and help me finish the final lesson.”
“You son of a…” Yang Xiaobei was speechless.
Early the next morning, Song Siheng handed the surgical consent form to the attending physician.
Fu Xuehua’s surgery was scheduled for ten o’clock on Monday morning the following week.
Before seven o’clock that morning, nurses entered the ward and drew some blood from Yang Xiaobei for final tests.
The dawn light outside was faint, the air slightly chilly, and Song Siheng sat in the innermost part of the ward. Yang Xiaobei had already changed into the patient gown for surgery.
The two just stared at each other for a few seconds, then looked away, tacitly not saying much more.
Two hours later, a nurse came to push the bed away. The operating room was deep in the corridor on the third floor below. Song Siheng walked slowly behind them, following all the way to the door of the operating room.
It wasn’t until the last moment when he was pushed in that Song Siheng called out his name, “Yang Xiaobei!”
Yang Xiaobei raised his upper body and looked at him.
“Don’t forget you still owe me a lesson,” Song Siheng said softly as he looked at him.
Yang Xiaobei briefly smiled, then he raised his right arm and made a swimming motion towards Song Siheng.
“Wait for me,” he said.