1039 [Bonus chapter] Can’t Afford The Luxury
“Take care of your health, Professor Song,” were Raelle’s last words to Song Xin’ai before she left the research center leaving both Harry and Song Xin’ai looking at her receding back.
Song Xin’ai sighed before she turned to Harry, “I treat you very nicely that doesn’t mean you can be nosy about my personal life. You’re younger than my children and I might have taken special care of you because of that. After all, I couldn’t do it to my children. But does that really make you think you have the right to stop my daughter here and question her?”
“Professor,” Harry looked aggrieved and shocked. “I’m just worried about you.”
“I appreciate your concern,” said Song Xin’ai. “But you know nothing about my life. You know nothing about my children as well. Do you really think Raelle Xiang is someone you can stop and question wherever you want?”
Harry was a little taken aback for a moment and asked hesitantly, “That was... Raelle Xiang?”
“Yes,” answered Song Xin’ai and didn’t continue as she walked away. She was already tired from working all night and now, she was even more tired. She didn’t think someone would do this to Raelle. And yet, she actually took a moment to tell her to take care of herself.
Song Xin’ai suddenly felt warm. Even if that was just who Raelle was, those words meant a lot to her. She was happy.
She went straight to see the director and said, “I’d like to take a day off.”
“Oh? When did our workaholic Professor Song start taking days off?” asked the director seemingly in a good mood. “What’s going on?”
.....
“It’s my daughter’s engagement,” answered Song Xin’ai with a smile on her face.
The director was momentarily stunned. Not for anything else but that Song Xin’ai had a smile on her face right now which was something very rare to see. Even when he asked her to politely smile at the government officers who decide the funding of their research center, she’d always put on her blank face making him angry, and now, her smile could blind people.
What a sight to see!
Then he suddenly realized what she just said. “You mean you’re taking the day off for your daughter’s engagement?”
“Yes,” answered Song Xin’ai.
“And if I’m not wrong that daughter is President Raelle?” his eyes lit up.
“That’s correct.”
He almost jumped up from his seat in excitement, “Oh, good! Good! Why are you even asking then? It’s President Raelle’s engagement. As a mother, you should be there. There is no need to ask for a leave. You can even take a whole week off. Spend some time with family.”
Song Xin’ai didn’t think he’d be this easygoing this time around. But recalling how he was behaving around Raelle, it wasn’t hard to accept his change either.
“I say, Professor Song, how can you not even share that your daughter is Raelle Xiang?” asked the director seemingly unhappy.
“I didn’t think talking about my personal life was important,” she replied succinctly.
The director gave her a look and almost rolled his eyes at this block of wood that never bent!
So infuriating it was to interact with her. If it wasn’t for her talent, she’d be long an enemy of his!
“I know it’s not important but that’s Raelle Xiang!” said the director.
“And so?”
“So?” The director repeated and glared at her. “Do you not know what your daughter is or you don’t care?”
“I think it’s you who shouldn’t care about her,” said Song Xin’ai. “She isn’t in our field and she has no connection with our research center as well.”
“But she has connections with the government and army!” replied the director. “In turn, she can actually be a potential investor.”
“Not happening.”
The director really rolled his eyes at her, “Then you know nothing. Just so we let her freely visit our research center, our investment has gone up for the next quarter! And you’re saying she has no connections with us?” He shook his head, “I heard she had been cooperating with the military on a project for the past months. Can you imagine what she could create with her talent if she was a part of our field?”
“Good thing, she isn’t,” said Song Xin’ai.
“Professor Song, do you have something against our work?”
“Nothing. I just have to remind you that this work for the reason that the same Raelle Xiang you’re talking about was kidnapped right after her birth. Why would I want her to be a part of this field?”
The director was a fellow colleague of Song Xin’ai when that happened and he could vaguely recall the incident too. Just like everyone else, he also thought Song Xin’ai’s talent was terrifying and it led trouble to her and her family as well. It was such a shame that she lost her child.
But everyone thought she lost that child for good.
“President Raelle is that child?” asked the director.
“She is,” answered Song Xin’ai. “She was saved by my ex-mother-in-law who offered her own life in exchange for my daughter’s.”
The director got stifled when he heard that. He also had kids, how could he not understand the pain of a parent.
He smiled bitterly, “No wonder she didn’t call you mother.”
“It’s a luxury I can’t afford and neither do I deserve it,” said Song Xin’ai. “I chose to protect the interests of this research center over my own daughter. The least you can do is to not have any designs regarding my daughter. I hate it. And I’ll get mad too. Let me not remind you of what happens when I get mad.”
The director actually shuddered at the thought of what she did the last time someone made her mad. He really couldn’t afford the consequences of it at all. This woman was crazy enough. But then again, people with such high IQ tended to be a little crazy so she was always pardoned for her atrocities.
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