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Xia Sheng drew her son back, but he was still flailing his arms in the air, unwilling to stop. “Huai Yin! Huai Yin!”
“Sorry, I’m so sorry.” Xia Sheng explained, “He was almost kidnapped today and got hit in the face. He might’ve mistaken you for someone else.”
Xia Sheng assumed that her son mixed the man up with the kidnapper.
“Kangkang, Kangkang, this man isn’t that bad guy from earlier.”
Fortunately, when the four-year-old had bitten him, he only caught the butler’s clothes. When the butler looked more closely, he noticed that there was indeed a large and pitiful palm print on his face.
The anger in his head had mostly vanished. “It’s okay. He’s still so little, it’s normal for him to mix up faces.”
Xia Sheng was relieved and stroked her child’s hair, comforting, “Kangkang, this man isn’t that bad guy. He’s a really good guy.”
President Kang was even more disgusted at the butler pretending to be polite. He wished he could jump on him and tear his fake mask of kindness apart without showing any restraint.
Xia Sheng noticed that her son wasn’t acting normally. She didn’t dare loiter any longer, quickly leading him back to the elevator.
She continued to comfort her son, speaking softly, “Mama already beat that bad guy, doesn’t Kangkang remember? That man was a good guy.”
President Kang gritted his teeth. “Huai Yin!”
He realized he had messed up right as the words came out of his mouth. He had always wanted to speak but was never able to. It was a dead giveaway for him to be speaking right now.
President Kang looked at the very strong mother, thinking if he could escape with his body in one piece.
However, contrary to expectations, the mother was stunned, then became ecstatic. “Kangkang, you can speak!”
The young mother’s face was filled with joy. Her maternal face suddenly resembled a laughing little child.
“Let’s prepare a surprise for papa, okay?” Xia Sheng said to his son in the car back home.
“How about we do this?”
“Follow mama and say ‘papa’. Pa—— pa——”
The child stared at her with his inky eyes, unresponsive.
“Pa—— pa——” Xia Sheng repeated gently.
President Kang was still silent. He hadn’t said those words a single time since childhood, and nor would he call anyone ‘papa’.
“Pa—— pa——” Xia Sheng repeated again.
“Mhm.” President Kang responded unwillingly.
Xia Sheng laughed. “Son, are you doing this on purpose?”
President Kang ignored her. He was already the boss of many people at such a young age, but now he was a son for an employee he had fired himself.
Is there anything more unfortunate than this in the world?
“Kangkang, it’s time for you to take your medicine.“ Back at home, Xia Sheng ground his pills into powder and dissolved the powder in a cup of warm water.
As she prepared the medicine, President Kang watched, swallowing. There is something more unfortunate.
Xia Sheng looked at his son’s despairing expression. It was a bit funny on a child’s face.
“Just take one big sip.” Xia Sheng waved another bowl in front of him. “You can have some honey water after.”
President Kang resisted. He would keep his mouth shut with his life. The dissolved medicine would make the water excruciatingly bitter.
Xia Sheng knelt down, putting a bib around his neck and scooping a spoonful of honey water. “It’s sweet.”
I won’t drink it even if it’s sweet!
However, his child instincts still forced his mouth open once the spoon arrived near it.
They continued on: a spoon of medicine after a spoon of honey water.
Soon, he had drunk half the bowl of medicine. President Kang was mentally exhausted, not wanting to have any interactions. He didn’t care if he revealed himself, as his original plan had already shattered completely.
After what had happened, the big guy and the violent freak would probably look a closer eye on him than ever.
No. President Kang hopelessly thought. Even if they didn’t keep such a close eye on me, I wouldn’t have a place to escape to.
Is my destiny to be a mentally-challenged son for this nose-bridge-shattering mother?
An hour later, President Kang was seated on a little stool in the arts center, looking at the princess-like woman elegantly seated before a piano.
Am I looking at this right? This is a piano, and not some boxing arena, right?
There was a group of children to the side greeting, “Hello Ms. Xia~”
President Kang thought in his mind. This woman who fractured someone’s nose bridge is a piano teacher? I heard that pianists have strong hands. Is this why she’s so powerful?
President Kang didn’t know much about this family. It was only his first week.
For the past few days, the woman would bring her to his special school every day, and the big guy would pick him up in the afternoon as the woman left their house.
He was clueless about where the woman headed after 5 pm.
Of course, he didn’t care. The big guy returned later today, so the woman brought him to the arts center’s classroom. Only now did President Kang know that the woman was also working a job.
In fact, every day after 5 pm was the time school ended and many children got taken to the arts center by their parents for classes.
Xia Sheng was the arts center’s piano teacher, leading a class of 7 children. She worked every day of the week, her weekday classes coinciding perfectly with Yue Qin’s daytime job ending.
“Today, we are going to learn a new note. Follow me, say——fa.”
So, the group of children his age imitated.
President Kang could clearly hear that one of them was saying——
After many repetitions, the childish “hua” finally became a “fa”.
This wasn’t the most horrifying. The bone-chilling segment was when all the children clapped and sang, their ear-piercing voices echoing through the room.
President Kang was homeschooled. Having only stepped inside a school a handful of times, this scene was pure torture.
Yue Qin was stuck in traffic, causing him to return late, immediately heading to the art center to pick up his son.
He was sitting on the back row of the classrooms, expressionlessly looking at the other children, appearing distressed and betrayed.
From a father’s perspective, it carried a strong grudge of “Mama, you have children other than me.”
Yue Qin lifted his son into his embrace, taking his pain as one that stemmed from a lack of attention from her mother.
“Mama is just working her job.“ Yue Qin whispered to his son.
He exchanged gazes with his wife, then took him out of the classroom, letting his wife focus on the class.
“Doesn’t mama’s piano sound super amazing? Mama will be a pianist in the future.” He spoke to his son. On the way out, many people recognized and greeted them.
“Once you grow older, mama will also teach you piano, okay?” Yue Qin still thought that his son’s sadness stemmed from his mother being with other children, so he continued to comfort, “You’ll also be in the classroom, saying ‘fa’ with all the other children.”
President Kang wanted to roll his eyes. Even a beginner class with only a few pitches to practice becomes noise pollution!
“Papa doesn’t have much musical talent. I wonder which side you’ll inherit.” Yue Qin spoke to himself.
Once he brought his son to the car, he started totalling his daily earnings again. He shared with his son:
“Papa made 200 more Yuan than yesterday.”
Yue Qin said as he transferred the two hundred into a bank card. A notification soon popped up on his phone, signifying the transaction was complete. The big man looked at his balance of twenty-five thousand two hundred Yuan.
A satisfied smile appeared on Yue Qin’s face. He had finally saved enough money.
President Kang glanced at him. He’s this happy from only twenty thousand?
“Don’t tell your mother, okay? Papa has been saving this in secret for four years. How about we spend it all at once?” Yue Qin spoke, seeing that his son was looking at his phone screen, regardless of whether he could understand it or not.
Four years’ work only amounted to twenty thousand Yuan. It was incomparably miserable.
“What type of look is this?” Yue Qin laughed at his son’s contempt.
“Contempt.” President Kang was shocked by the babyish tone he spoke with.
The foolish father was stunned. When he came back to his senses, he lifted him in the air. “Baby, say that again! Again!”
It was the first time President Kang heard such a request from another person. What a foolish father.
“Contempt!”
Yue Qin joyously kissed his son’s forehead twice. “Again!”
President Kang disgustedly wiped his forehead.
“Papa is so happy today. Now two great things have happened to me! Son, let’s go. Papa will take you to spend money! You can experience how it feels to spend over twenty thousand at once.”
President Kang suddenly sprang back to life, his eyes glowing. He needed this feeling! He wanted smartphones, computers, and clothes!
Half an hour later, the two bought a piano costing twenty-five thousand Yuan. The man, without any musical gift, called countless people, asked for the brands and tried out the pitch. It was a bunch of gibberish to President Kang.
Yue Qin chose a domestically-made piano but had his eyes on imported ones.
President Kang let his head droop, watching the man whip away his twenty-five thousand Yuan but still happy as a mentally insane person.
“Your mother will be so happy.”
You failure! President Kang said in his mind.
He wanted to return to his body, now more than ever.
“Ring ring——”
Yue Qin had just filled out his shipping address when his phone rang. He looked at the screen, his brows furrowing.
“Mr. Yue, are you free? If you are, can you come to the company?”
The person calling was the general manager of his former company. When Yue Qin had been fired on the spot, he applied for labour arbitration. He had worked for five years in the company, so according to the labour codes, an unconditional dismissal should come with five months’ worth of wages, but the company had been holding it off for a while now.
The general manager called him to discuss that matter.
“President Kang got in a car accident. Our entire company has been dealing with this recently,” the general manager said.
The real President Kang was in the embrace of the employee he had fired, listening to the conversation between the employee he’d fired and one of his most favoured employees from before.
“How about this, if your son can call you once, that’ll mean that President Kang was wrong, and your son wasn’t mute and didn’t hurt the company’s public image. I’ll pay you your five months in full.”
The real President Kang did some math. His wages are ten thousand a month, for five months!
Admittedly, it was a huge sum.
“You’d be missing the point if you try to bend the meaning of this. It’s either you pay me the money now, or I keep going with my labour arbitration.”
President Kang was surprised. He
 knew that he could talk, and could just force him to say something.
The general manager didn’t care. He was President Kang’s close accomplice before, so he was naturally careless. “Bro, I’m just putting this offer out here. This is just my job. If President Kang woke up next minute and knew that I gave you five months’ worth of wages, I’d also be thrown out of the door.”
“President Kang fired you because he thought your son was disabled. Just prove that he isn’t, so we can have an explanation.”
President Kang watched the conversation, noticing how filthy his star employee was, especially his lofty composure. Absolutely disgusting!
“I’ll just continue with my labour arbitration then.” The big guy was a bit regretful of bringing his son here. He still maintained his calmness, carrying his son in his arms. “My son was never disabled. He doesn’t need to prove that to you, nor does he need to prove that to President Kang in the hospital.”
Yue Qing said as he carried his son out the door. His large figure was like a mountain, blocking all the malice and mockery behind him.
President Kang’s head felt hot. Biting his lips, he said something he had never in his life:
“Papa——”
The author has something to say: Little Theater——
Domineering Boss: Recalling one voice message