Disobedience To Control chapter 65
My Genius Boyfriend
In the following month, Song Siheng took some time to visit Xu Pei. He mentioned that Yang Xiaobei’s recovery was going well, but he still seemed burdened with some heavy thoughts and needed gradual adjustment.
As he was leaving, Song Siheng suddenly turned back and asked, “By the way, has Li Ke been here?”
Xu Pei looked up at him, paused for a few seconds, and replied, “Yes, he has. Why?”
“Could you hint at why he came?” Song Siheng inquired.
Xu Pei smiled and said, “Sorry, that’s confidential information regarding our clients. I can’t tell you.”
Song Siheng nodded understandingly and then left.
Since that press conference, Li Ke plunged back into busy work. Due to Song Siheng’s unexpected appearance, the rehabilitation equipment project presented at the event unexpectedly attracted the attention of several overseas companies, who extended offers of collaboration.
With Song Siheng busy with domestic affairs, Li Ke went on several overseas business trips on his behalf.
From Europe to North America, and back to East Asia, Li Ke was constantly on the move for over twenty days.
When he finished his final trip and returned to Jiangcheng, it was precisely half past three in the afternoon. Song Siheng had just finished a meeting and was still in the office.
“I have some news,” Li Ke pushed open the office door and entered with his luggage.
“Aren’t you going home to rest?” Song Siheng asked when he saw him.
“No need,” Li Ke pushed his luggage under the desk and hurriedly took out a document from his briefcase, placing it on Song Siheng’s desk. “Do you know about this product from overseas?”
“Yes, augmented reality glasses,” Song Siheng glanced at the document. “We used to manufacture the core components.”
“I visited North America, where two medical technology companies are very interested in this product.”
“What are their points of interest?”
“If sensors and cameras are implanted in these glasses, they can monitor mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, PTSD, by perceiving the user’s facial expressions and muscle movements. Moreover, by measuring the extent of pupil dilation, they can also prevent diseases like Parkinson’s.”
Song Siheng understood his point. “I see. Your idea is for us to develop it together and then enter the medical equipment field as a whole package, directly listing this segment separately.”
“Exactly,” Li Ke smiled. “This area is still a blue ocean. Being early entrants, we have a significant advantage.”
“Interesting,” Song Siheng looked into his eyes. “But why are you suddenly so concerned about mental illnesses?”
While Li Ke initially maintained a smile on his face, he avoided eye contact upon hearing this question. “It’s nothing, just something I noticed in industry news.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Song Siheng didn’t press further.
“What are your plans for the National Day holiday?” Li Ke changed the subject.
“I don’t have any plans,” Song Siheng turned his chair slightly. “But I’m free for two days after the holiday.”
“On the 8th?” Li Ke quickly opened his email to check Song Siheng’s meeting schedule. “There’s a quarterly executive meeting for you…”
“Help me postpone it by two days,” Song Siheng said.
Song Siheng opened his phone and scrolled to the WeChat message Yang Xiaobei sent him half a month ago.
— “October 8th Preliminary Competition, Jiangcheng New City Sports Center, 100m Freestyle at 6 p.m.”
Jiangcheng New City Sports Center was a newly built stadium in Jiangcheng in the past two years, with a large area, but it was located in a remote area, nearly 40 kilometers away from the city center.
To facilitate training, Yang Xiaobei’s swimming team could only stay in nearby hotels. There were only three people participating in the competition, with a female team member staying in a single room downstairs.
Yang Xiaobei and his roommate from the dormitory stayed in a twin room upstairs, while the coach stayed next door.
The competition was divided into different swimming styles, and Yang Xiaobei signed up for the 100m freestyle, the most competitive and exciting event, which was scheduled as the last event of the day.
The 8th was the first day after the company’s short holiday. Song Siheng was busy until five o’clock in the afternoon. By the time he arrived at the swimming pool, there were hardly any empty seats left.
He searched around the venue for a full circle before finding an empty seat.
“Hey?! Aren’t you that… that…” Just as Song Siheng sat down, a guy next to him exclaimed excitedly.
Song Siheng looked at him, and he did look somewhat familiar.
“It’s me! Xiao Zhao!” he pointed to his face. “Yang Xiaobei’s teammate!”
Song Siheng then remembered that this was Yang Xiaobei’s teammate and roommate. They had met once before and talked on the phone.
“Hello,” Song Siheng reached out his hand to him.
Xiao Zhao quickly shook his hand twice, “Right, right, Song ge, your surname is Song, I remember now.”
“You didn’t have a match today?” Song Siheng asked casually, noticing Xiao Zhao’s casual attire.
“I finished my match early. I swam in the morning session. I came here just to spectate,” he scratched his head. “Song ge, did you come to watch Yang Xiaobei’s match?”
“Yes,” Song Siheng nodded, then asked another question, “How has he been performing lately in the team?”
In the past two days, Yang Xiaobei hadn’t uploaded any new 100-meter results on his watch, for some reason.
“He’s been improving quite fast lately. It seems like his recovery is going well. He swam 49.15 seconds just last week.”
“49.15 seconds…” Song Siheng heard some commotion from below and glanced down.
“Hey, that’s the new rising star this year. Only fifteen years old, he swam in 48 seconds right after his debut. He’s really catching everyone’s attention,” Xiao Zhao shook his head. “Every year, there are these geniuses emerging. People like us can only admire from afar. We don’t have that kind of talent.”
However, Song Siheng didn’t join the crowd in looking at the boy being surrounded by everyone below. “49.15 seconds. Is it possible to improve to under 49 seconds?”
“Hmm?” Xiao Zhao thought for a moment but then shook his head. “Even though it’s just a fraction of a second difference, at our age, many techniques are already established. Unless you have a top coach guiding you, or you’re naturally gifted, it’s difficult to improve even by 0.1 seconds on your best performance.”
“He used to swim in under 47 seconds,” Song Siheng said in a low voice.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
As they were talking, applause erupted from the audience below.
The final event of the day began as the swimmers completed their registration and entered the arena. Yang Xiaobei was sixth to enter, wearing dark blue swim trunks with his goggles perched on his head. The team stood behind the starting block, warming up.
“He didn’t qualify with a particularly fast time, so he’s in this group. The faster swimmers are in the next group. There are sixteen swimmers in total across both groups,” Xiao Zhao pointed to a group of boys backstage who were getting ready. “That little prodigy is in that group.”
“Among these sixteen, if he can place in the top eight, can he compete in the National Galaxy Cup at the end of the year?” Song Siheng asked.
“Song ge, you seem quite knowledgeable,” Xiao Zhao nodded. “But this group has some strong competitors. The key is to participate.”
Song Siheng noticed Yang Xiaobei suddenly coughing and clutching his chest below.
“Is he unwell?”
“Yeah, he had a fever a couple of days ago.”
“Fever?”
“Yeah, probably caught a seasonal virus. He had a fever of over 38 degrees for two days. He was on a saline drip yesterday.”
No wonder there had been no sports results uploaded these past two days. Song Siheng watched the figure below, even though there was a clear distance of ten meters between them, the long scar on his chest was still vivid.
“Yesterday, our coach advised him to withdraw from the race, but he insisted on coming,” Xiao Zhao said, chin in hand, looking at Song Siheng. “He’s really stubborn, isn’t he, Song ge?”
Song Siheng didn’t respond.
As the eight swimmers were about to step onto the starting block, Xiao Zhao suddenly stood up from his seat and shouted, “Yang Xiaobei, come on!”
Yang Xiaobei looked over upon hearing the shout, intending to wave at Xiao Zhao, but his gaze fell on the man next to him.
He suddenly smiled, then tightened his swim cap and walked straight to the starting block.
This was the first time Song Siheng had seen Yang Xiaobei compete live.
In the sixth lane, Yang Xiaobei tensed his back, fingers gripping the edge of the starting block, legs spread apart, resting on the platform.
Bang! The starting gun went off.
The eight swimmers leaped into the water with a splash, creating a spray of water. Cheers erupted from the audience.
“Oh no, oh no,” Xiao Zhao clenched his fists. “He’s at a disadvantage from the start!”
Song Siheng stared at the electronic display on one side, the stopwatch ticking away relentlessly.
3 seconds, 4 seconds, 5 seconds—
Yang Xiaobei in the sixth lane fell behind the swimmers on both sides by half a body length.
“He probably hasn’t fully recovered from the cold, his breathing rate is higher than usual,” Xiao Zhao lamented. “We told him not to come, but he insisted on competing. He’s not afraid of his lungs bursting.”
In the pool, Yang Xiaobei’s every stroke seemed like a sword thrust into the water. The streamlined muscles of his back were faintly visible on the surface.
As the race approached the halfway mark, he still trailed the swimmers on either side by less than a meter.
“He’s turning, he’s turning,” Xiao Zhao nervously pinched his own thigh. “He’s in third now. It’s hard to catch up. His strength is in the front, and he’s still behind now; it’ll be difficult to catch up later.”
Song Siheng seemed to have lost his ability to breathe. Amidst the noise, he only kept his eyes fixed on the figure in the sixth lane.
After the turn, the two coaches at the poolside had already jumped up, ready to celebrate for their team members.
“Oh no, still in third place. If he doesn’t get first in this group, it’ll be difficult to make it to the top eight in the overall standings…,” Xiao Zhao hadn’t finished his sentence when the audience below suddenly exploded into exclamations.
“What the hell! What’s going on?” Xiao Zhao stood up in shock.
Yang Xiaobei in the sixth lane suddenly began to kick frantically.
His thighs drove his lower legs like whips, forcefully hitting the water surface, creating splashes everywhere. He steadily closed in on the first place position.
His opponents beside him seemed unaware that someone was catching up; they maintained their original breathing rates.
In the final twenty-five meters sprint, he reached second position, just an arm’s length away from first place.
According to the normal stroke frequency, Yang Xiaobei still had one more breath to take.
“Why isn’t he breathing?!” Xiao Zhao slapped his thigh.
Like a bullet leaving a gun, Yang Xiaobei sprinted towards the finish line.
Ten meters, five meters, two meters.
Bang! He touched the edge!
Yang Xiaobei touched the pool wall, and water splashed. Swimmers in lanes five and six almost simultaneously touched the wall, and the audience waited anxiously for the final result announcement.
Ten seconds later, the broadcast announced, “Let’s congratulate the athlete in lane six, Yang Xiaobei from Jiangcheng University, for winning first place in group one. His time is—”
Song Siheng looked up at the electronic screen on one side.
“48.96 seconds!”
Xiao Zhao grabbed Song Siheng’s arm and shook it vigorously several times. “Damn, he’s broken his personal best this year! This guy is insane!”
Yang Xiaobei surfaced, panting heavily, and took off his swim cap, shaking off the water droplets from his head.
Amidst the cheers, he propped himself up on the pool edge, leaped onto the bank, then turned towards the stands and made a gesture towards his chest.
His right hand pulled down about twenty centimeters from the center of his sternum, fingertips sliding over that brown scar.
“Do you see this scar of mine? Does it look like a zipper to you?”
“Why, do you want to unzip it and let me see your heart?”
October 8th, Cold Dew, exactly one year since they first met.
He walked out of the pool, slicing open his last defense, presenting that bright red, beating heart in front of his beloved’s eyes.
My love, this is my sincerity, just take a look.
In the evening at 8:30, all the races had ended. The audience had dispersed, and the stadium had cooled down.
The last light in the athletes’ lounge went out, and in the deserted corridor, a man stood leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for someone.
With a click, the last wooden door closed, and someone walked out of the lounge. Silhouetted against the backlight, he was tall, with wet hair, carrying a backpack on his back, and wearing a watch with a dark green dial on his wrist.
Step, step, step—
The man walked a few steps along the corridor and soon stopped in his tracks.
At the same time, the man leaning against the wall looked over in this direction.
The two men smiled at each other, and Song Siheng opened his arms to Yang Xiaobei, “Good job, my genius boyfriend.”