"Li Xuan."
As soon as he walked out of the classroom after class, Sheng Min heard someone calling him from behind. He was stunned for a moment, turned around, and saw two middle-aged men standing at the end of the corridor.
The younger Sheng Min felt that the man looked vaguely familiar. Just as he was thinking about it, a classmate followed him out. It was the one who greeted Li Xuan last time.
"The director is looking for you?" he asked.
Once reminded, Sheng Min remembered that he had indeed seen this man's photo on the bulletin board downstairs in the campus building. He was the head of the Physics Department.
"I don't know." Sheng Min said truthfully.
"Then I'll go first." The boy said, "Did you just copy the data to the USB drive?"
"Yes, thank you. You can go first. Goodbye."
"You are so polite today." The boy smiled and waved his hand, "Bye."
The two men were still standing at the end of the corridor, obviously waiting for him to come over. The one who called him just now was the dean, but perhaps it was because of his instinct trained by facing all kinds of gazes in the entertainment industry for a long time, Sheng Min felt that the man next to him was probably the one who was really looking for him.
"Director." Sheng Min walked over, greeted calmly, and then looked at the person next to him.
The man was probably in his early fifties, quite tall, thin for a middle-aged man, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looking very serious, and well-dressed. He also looked at Sheng Min in silence.
Since he really didn't know him, and couldn't recall Li Xuan mentioning a similar person, Sheng Min could only remain unchanged and wait for the other party to speak. However, after a period of silence, it was the department head who spoke first.
"You two are really something, father and son, why don't you talk when you meet?"
Father and son
Sheng Min's eyelids jumped. He clearly remembered Li Xuan saying that he was an orphan and his parents died in a car accident when he was three years old. He raised his eyes and looked at the person in front of him again. So is this his adoptive father? Sheng Min guessed in his heart.
"Li Xuan, this is where you're wrong." The director said with a smile, "It's okay that you're a quiet kid, but your dad has been waiting for you here for a whole class, right, Mingge?"
Li Mingge curled his lips perfunctorily and finally said, "No class today?"
"Yeah." Sheng Min responded as an answer.
“Oh, you two are…” The director frowned as he saw them talking, and was about to say something when his cell phone rang.
"Hello... I'm in the college building. Oh, okay, you guys drive first, I'll be right over..." He hung up the phone and walked over apologetically, "Mingge, I have a meeting there..."
"It's okay." Li Mingge said, "You go and do your work first."
The director glanced at his phone again, probably because he was a little anxious: "Okay, then you can talk to the child slowly, he has grown up now. You said that senior sister had just given birth to him, and we went to the hospital to see him. It was just a child growing on his arm, and in the blink of an eye, he has grown up. So you should listen to his thoughts on these things." Then he patted Sheng Min's shoulder and said, "Talk to your father. There is nothing that cannot be said between father and son... Mingge, let's make an appointment another day. Say hello to senior sister for me."
The director left in a hurry. Li Mingge looked at him again and said, "You said you would go home on Monday, why didn't you come back?"
Sheng Min was still wondering what the department head wanted him to talk about with Li Mingge. When he heard Li Mingge's question, he paused for a moment before saying, "I had something else that day that delayed me."
"Delayed?"
"Yeah." Sheng Min lowered his eyes. They were going to record a show on Monday, but he had never heard Li Xuan say that he was going home. The more he said, the more mistakes he made, so he didn't answer.
However, Li Mingge seemed to be accustomed to "Li Xuan"'s silence in front of him, and did not continue to ask: "You are fine now, can you go back today?"
It is a question, but the tone is clearly not that.
"I..." Sheng Min pursed her lips.
"Li Xuan." Seeing his hesitation, Li Mingge said more forcefully, "Your mother has been in a bad state recently. You must go back with me today... I think we should also talk about other things."
"What's the matter?" Sheng Min asked subconsciously. Li Mingge frowned and looked at him: "You want to say it here? Have you made up your mind not to go back with me today?... Li Xuan, no matter what, I think people should at least keep their promises."
Li Xuan had never mentioned anything about his family except that he was an orphan. Sheng Min had no way of knowing the cause and effect of every word Li Mingge said. He briefly thought about whether he should find an excuse to go to the side and call Li Xuan.
But what would Li Xuan do? Sheng Min frowned unconsciously. He would probably ask him to leave and not worry about it, or he could just come over. After all, Li Xuan didn't even let him know that he was going home.
Sheng Min thought quickly and glanced at Li Mingge again. At least one thing was clear: if this was something Li Xuan could refuse, Li Mingge would not have come to the school today.
"I can go back." Sheng Min quickly made up his mind, "But I have an appointment this afternoon, so I have to leave by 1:30 at the latest."
"We'll talk about it when the time comes."
"I really have something to do," Sheng Min said. He wasn't sure what to talk about, so he had to have a reason to get out on time.
Li Mingge's eyes were filled with obvious dissatisfaction. Sheng Min was not used to arguing with others. His Adam's apple moved, but his tone was still insistent: "Is it okay?"
"Let's go," Li Mingge said finally.
There is an open space behind the downstairs building of the hospital, which is designated as a parking lot for faculty and staff. Li Mingge's car, a black Maybach, is parked there.
"Mr. Li." The driver saw them and stepped forward to open the door for Li Mingla. He then greeted Sheng Min, looking quite familiar with her, "Xiao Xuan."
Sheng Min curled the corners of his mouth as a response, then bent down and sat on it.
Perhaps because of the presence of outsiders, Li Mingge did not say anything more after getting in the car. Sheng Min had taken antidepressants early in the morning, and was not in a good mood. He pinched the Hegu acupoint hard to prevent himself from showing fatigue, and slowly sorted out the situation in his mind.
"Mr. Li, are you going home directly? Or do you need to go back to the company?" the driver asked after leaving the school.
"Go home." Li Mingge said.
Sheng Min had an idea, turned slightly, took out his mobile phone and typed Li Mingge's name in the search box.
He was not sure which words it was, and he changed them several times before he locked on the right person. Sheng Min scrolled through the screen. There was not much information about Li Mingge. There was an interview from two years ago, which mentioned that he was the chairman of an optical company.
Following the interview, Sheng Min found the company's official website. It is not a very large company, but it is definitely not a small and unknown enterprise. The lens of a camera endorsed by Sheng Min was supplied by Li Mingge's company.
The car drove smoothly across the overpass and stopped in a business district.
Sheng Min was lost in thought and subconsciously thought they had arrived. He looked up and saw that only the driver had gotten out of the car. Li Mingge noticed his gaze and glanced at him, but Sheng Min turned away as if nothing had happened.
From the tone of voice and expression, Sheng Min could sense that Li Xuan and Li Mingge, who was suspected to be his adoptive father, were not close, and their relationship was not even very harmonious.
But the attitudes of both the department head and the driver made Sheng Min feel that they might not know that Li Xuan was not Li Mingge's biological son. It was understandable that the driver didn't know this, but the department head and Li Mingge had obviously known each other for a long time and had a good relationship, so how could he not know this
According to Li Xuan, the child that the department head saw in the hospital that year should not be his, so where is that child? Why did others confuse him with Li Xuan...
The car door was opened at this time and the driver came back.
After getting in the car, a beautifully packaged bag was handed to Li Mingge from the front seat. He took it, looked at it carefully, put it on the back seat, and said to Sheng Min in a casual tone: "When we get home, you should give it to your mother."
Your mother. Li Mingge was probably referring to the senior sister mentioned by the department head, his wife. Sheng Min noticed his title and found it very strange. No matter how outsiders see it, Li Mingge obviously does not regard himself as a father in front of Li Xuan, but when he mentions his wife, he always emphasizes that she is Li Xuan's mother...
Why? Was Li Mingge not his adoptive father but his stepfather? Was his mother still alive but remarried
The so-called death of parents in a car accident was just a lie? …
This thought flashed through Sheng Min's mind briefly, but was quickly denied.
That shouldn't be the case, he thought. Even though Li Xuan loved to tease him, most of the time they were just trivial matters. The pain and anger Li Xuan showed when he mentioned his parents didn't seem fake. He didn't think Li Xuan would joke about such things.
The trees on both sides of the road were rapidly retreating. Sheng Min turned his head and looked out the window. The green shadows of the trees were entangled, and the light and shadows overlapped. He was unintentionally involved in it, but he could not see the original appearance of the situation.
The navigation system came from the front seat, with a cold female voice announcing that we should turn left along the current road and arrive at our destination in 700 meters. Sheng Min slowly adjusted his breathing to calm himself down.
The car had now reached the edge of the city, close to a mountain. The environment was quiet and it was a well-known high-end villa area in the city. Li Mingge's home was here.
"Mr. Li, would you like to drive into the garage?" After entering the residential area, the car stopped in front of a detached villa.
"Just stop the gate."
The driver quickly got out of the car and opened the door for Li Mingla. Sheng Min followed him out and noticed a woman standing in front of the gate. When she saw them, she came up to them happily.
"Give it to your mother." Li Mingge took the box that was forgotten in the car, stuffed it to Sheng Min, and pushed his shoulder.
Before he could react further, the woman was already in front of Sheng Min.
"Back?" she said with a smile.
The moment he saw her clearly, Sheng Min felt that some of his doubts were answered, but immediately, even though he was outdoors in June, a hint of coolness quietly crept up his back.
This woman, Li Mingge's wife and Li Xuan's adoptive mother, is a lunatic.