Disobedience To Control chapter 53
Period
Early Monday morning, Li Ke drove to the company. He had two high-level meetings scheduled for this morning and needed to prepare in advance.
As he walked briskly towards his office, the receptionist stopped him from behind. “Secretary Li!”
“What’s up?” Li Ke stopped and turned around.
“There’s a package for you, don’t forget to pick it up.” The receptionist pointed to the top shelf of the nearby delivery cabinet. “It’s express delivery, the courier just said the sender must let you open it yourself.”
“Okay, thanks.” Li Ke nodded and went straight to the cabinet to find his package. It was a small box, and he estimated there wasn’t much inside, probably some brochures or something.
He glanced at the shipping label on the package, which didn’t have the sender’s name or detailed address.
He found it strange but guessed it might be promotional materials from some company.
Without thinking much about it, he took the box and walked back to his office, threw it into a drawer, and closed it. Then he opened his laptop and prepared to start working.
As the startup animation appeared, Song Siheng opened the glass door of the office and walked in.
“We have a meeting at ten, right?” Song Siheng asked.
“Yeah. The rough agenda for the meeting was sent to your email last night; you can take a look. It’s mainly about discussing the development plan for Q2 with the R&D department, and there’s also a report from the marketing department.” Li Ke adjusted his shirt collar and started working.
Before Yang Xiaobei’s incident occurred, Li Ke had temporarily left his secretary position to assist Jin Shuming. But after Yang Xiaobei was hospitalized, Li Ke had to return to his original secretary position and take over Song Siheng’s daily affairs.
“Okay.” Song Siheng nodded and walked towards his desk.
“By the way.” Song Siheng had just sat down on his ergonomic chair when he turned his head and asked, “Did you go to Ming’an Hospital on Saturday?”
“I did.” Li Ke paused, seeming to be contemplating something.
“How was his attitude?”
“He wasn’t in a good mood.” Li Ke looked up at Song Siheng. “But he mentioned Song Ping. He knows about Song Ping’s reinstatement and seems to be greatly affected by it.”
Song Siheng frowned slightly. “What else did he say?”
“He also mentioned his birth mother…” Li Ke shook his head after speaking. “But he didn’t say much else.”
Song Siheng twirled his black pen in his hand for a moment, then threw the pen aside and walked to Li Ke’s desk, tapping on it. “Something strange happened over the weekend.”
“What happened?” Li Ke looked up.
“I received a call from a cardiac rehabilitation medical center, saying that someone had made a reservation for Yang Xiaobei for a set of rehabilitation training. The person who made the reservation is surnamed Song and works at Jiangcheng University.”
“Song Qin?!” Li Ke frowned in confusion.
“Yes. It must be him.” Song Siheng leaned against the desk, propping up his chin with his hand. “When you went there over the weekend, did he mention Yang Xiaobei?”
“No.” Li Ke shook his head first, then remembered something. “But he mentioned you.”
“What did he say?”
Li Ke briefly recalled, “He said, ‘You and I are not wrong, it’s him…'”
Song Siheng was stunned.
Before he could respond, Li Ke seemed to suddenly remember something and froze for several seconds without speaking. Then, he quickly took out his phone. “Let me contact his caregiver at Ming’an Hospital.”
After four or five rings, the call was finally answered on the other end. “Hello? Mr. Li.”
“Hello, is Song Qin in the ward now? How is he doing?”
“Now? Today is the hospital’s day off, so the patients are given leave. He was picked up by someone last night and taken home.”
“He went home?!” Li Ke’s hand holding the phone trembled slightly.
“Yes, do you need to reach him? Or should I contact his family?”
Before the caregiver could finish, Li Ke hung up the phone, his hand trembling like chaff, as he turned to Song Siheng. “It’s not good, something might have happened to Song Qin!”
Song Siheng was first stunned, then immediately grabbed his coat from the back of the chair, heading out. “Tell the other executives that I won’t attend the morning meeting!”
Li Ke nodded hurriedly and followed, “I’ll inform them online, I’m coming with you!”
The wide corridor echoed with the urgent footsteps of the two.
Soon, Song Siheng reached his car and sat in the driver’s seat, with Li Ke following into the passenger seat.
“Call my mom, quickly,” Song Siheng ordered.
Li Ke complied and dialed Fu Xuehua’s number.
The phone rang for a dozen times, but no one answered. After hanging up, he tried again, but after a series of beeps, a mechanical female voice said, “The number you dialed is currently unavailable…”
Song Siheng stepped on the gas pedal aggressively, and after about ten minutes, they finally arrived at the entrance of the garden villa.
However, when he arrived in front of his own building, Song Siheng found two police cars parked at the entrance. The police cars’ lights were flashing, and the sirens echoed around, while yellow police tape was stretched around the old building. There were already quite a few onlookers in the neighborhood, murmuring outside the police tape, but their voices were too noisy to make out.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Li Ke looked through the windshield at everything in front of him, his mind filled with chaotic thoughts.
Song Siheng parked the car on the side of the road outside the house with a drift. After getting out of the car, Li Ke quickly followed suit, though his steps were somewhat unsteady, nearly tripping on the flat ground.
Police officers were coming in and out of the entrance, each looking hurried. Song Siheng searched around outside the police tape but couldn’t see Fu Xuehua. Logically, she should have been at home on a Monday like today.
Following behind Song Siheng, Li Ke ran around the yard of the villa, both of them panting. Finally, they spotted Fu Xuehua in the corner of the northern garden. She was standing next to a female police officer, seemingly being questioned.
Fu Xuehua was only wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt and black home pants. She stood by the fence on the outskirts of the yard, lips trembling as she tried to speak but couldn’t manage a single word.
Song Siheng hurried over and asked the police officer, “Officer, what happened here?”
The female police officer looked up, “Who are you?”
Song Siheng quickly pointed to Fu Xuehua, then to himself, “I’m her son.”
The female police officer sighed and met his gaze, “This morning, we received a call from a man claiming to be Song Qin, saying he wanted to surrender. We arrived here half an hour ago…”
The female police officer paused for a moment, as if organizing her thoughts.
“What happened to him?!” Song Siheng couldn’t wait, urging her.
Fu Xuehua beside them covered her eyes with her hand, tears streaming down her face.
Her voice hoarse, choked with emotion, she said, “Song Qin… committed suicide by charcoal burning in the bathroom.”