He and him in another life

The son kissed the latter's face, "It smells so good!"

Turning his head, Sima Yi stared at him without blinking, with an inexplicable emotion between his brows.

Seeing his reaction like this, Cao Pi was very surprised, "Why?"

"It's okay." Looking back at the stove, Sima Yi added two spoonfuls of salt to the soup, "Go change your clothes and prepare for dinner."

"Okay, okay, I'm starving to death." Not paying attention to his inexplicable gaze just now, Cao Pi sneaked out a piece of meat from the dish on the sink and put it into his mouth while responding.

"handwashing."

"Well, it's delicious."

Cao Pi quickly slipped out of the kitchen after committing the debt a second before Sima Yi went mad.

23

Hanging the coat he took off on the coat hook in the hallway, Cao Pi went to the sofa and lay down stretched out, and turned on the TV.There was a program on TV that he was not very interested in, but the empty fish tank on the coffee table caught his attention. He said "No way" silently in his heart. confirmed.

Empty, indeed empty.

"Si...!" Cao Pi wanted to ask why Sima Yiyu was gone, but the moment he opened his throat to shout out a single word, there was no more words.His eyes were fixed on the stack of papers under the fish tank, his expression flustered and bewildered.

Taking out the stack of papers and holding them tightly in his hands, Cao Pi thought, why must he say something less pleasant when he is happy?

Life is full of surprises and frights, and of course, unexpected disappointments.

24

When Sima Yi brought the cooked seafood noodles to the table, Cao Pi had already sat down at the table, as if ready to eat at any time.

In winter, it is a blessing to have a bowl of hot noodle soup when you come home from get off work.Cao Pi picked up the chopsticks and took a big mouthful of noodles, but when he looked up, he saw Sima Yi on the other side looking a little absent-minded, and he couldn't help sighing secretly, "Teacher."

"Huh?" Sima Yi looked at him and asked.

"The noodles won't taste good after soaking for a long time." Cao Pi lowered his head and fed the noodles into his mouth. Cao Pi added vaguely, "If you have any questions, it's not too late to ask after you're full."

Hearing this, Sima Yi raised his brows, seeing that Cao Pi didn't answer or move, his tightly pursed lips made him look a little more serious than usual.

Cao Pi thought he couldn't continue eating under his gaze, so he resignedly put down his chopsticks, took out the stack of documents that were originally on the coffee table from the chair on his right hand, and put them in the middle of the dining table, then took a deep breath, "Ask what you want to know."

Seeing his face about to die bravely, Sima Yi couldn't help turning his head away and gave a light laugh, which effectively relieved the cold atmosphere at the dinner table.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Cao Pi." Sima Yi pushed the document aside, looked directly into Cao Pi's eyes and asked, "What do you want to tell me?"

25

The heavy door of the conference room was pushed open, and the strong white light inside exploded in Cao Pi's field of vision, causing him to squint his eyes and take a wrong step back.

Xun Yu followed behind him, reaching out his hand in time to touch his back.

Cao Pi turned his head, met his clear and peaceful gaze, and smiled awkwardly.

It's not that he didn't see his unconcealable uneasiness, but Xun Yu couldn't say much, he just sighed softly, "Go in."

Seeing him exit the conference room and close the door behind him, Cao Pi had to bite the bullet and walk to the conference table, calling out a little stiffly, "Dad."

"Sit." Without even looking at him, Cao Cao cut straight to the point, "Separate from that man."

The movement of sitting down paused, Cao Pi pretended to be stupid subconsciously, "I don't know..."

"You know who I'm talking about." He blurted out and interrupted him. Obviously, Cao Cao's always limited patience was no exception this time.

Putting away his fluke mentality, Cao Pi fell into deep thought, and unconsciously tightened his hands on his knees, grabbing a few folds out of the flat trousers.After a while, he raised his head to meet Cao Cao's gaze, as if he had made up his mind, "I can't do it."

"It's 47:08 now, and the company starts work at 30:43." Looking down at the mechanical watch on his wrist, Cao Cao didn't show any irritation at his answer, "We have an hour and [-] minutes to convince each other. What do you think? Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"No need." Standing up with both hands on the edge of the table, Cao Pi saw that his father's hand holding the phone was stiff at first, and then his veins were bulging, and his joints were turning white.

"Cao Pi." Cao Cao's voice was low and dangerous, "Don't toast and eat fine wine."

26

"I can't see that you and your father are so cowardly in front of you." Sima Yi raised his eyebrows, and there was a bit of teasing in his tone.

"It's not because of you!" Cao Pi was angry, and gave him a silent look, and kicked his knees under the table ruthlessly.

Sima Yi was kicked until he yelled, "Ouch, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ok, ok, ok, ok, I was wrong, I shouldn't interrupt, you continue to talk." "

"You deserve it, it hurts you to death!" Cao Pi was still a little worried that his foot was not serious just now, so he got up, went to the medicine box in the living room, found safflower oil and threw it to Sima Yi, while he sat cross-legged on the sofa Continue the previous topic.

27

The tense atmosphere in the conference room didn't last long, Cao Pi admitted his cowardice, and sat back in his chair honestly, "Dad, I didn't mean to offend you. I just think that neither you nor I can convince anyone, let alone One hour and 47 minutes, even if it is one month and 47 hours, one year and zero... Anyway, it will not work."

For some reason, Cao Cao suddenly became unexpectedly good-natured, soothed his face and said, "I'm not relying on the old to sell the old, Cao Pi, it's not in vain to have lived longer than you, and I have seen more things than you. Who didn't have two times when they were young?" How many people are really together in the end? Back then, you were young and full of passion, but in the end, you should get married and start a family. It’s different with you?"

The hands on his knees clenched into fists again, Cao Pi turned his head to the side and refused to answer, the lines of his profile looked particularly stubborn.

With a sneer, Cao Cao continued, "I don't believe that you can get any good results if you mess with a man." Finally, he returned to the state of earnestness, "It's nothing to like the wrong person, don't make mistakes That's it."

The fingernails were embedded in the palms, and it was very painful. Cao Pi thought that he was still awake.

28

"Sima." Turning his head to look at Sima Yi who sat next to him at some point, Cao Pi's expression was very serious.

"Compared to wrong persistence, I am more afraid of giving up prematurely."

Sima Yi's eyes were a little swollen, at this moment, apart from a warm hug and a period of patient listening, he couldn't think of any better comfort.

29

Don't hit the south wall and don't look back.

Cao Cao commented on this son in front of him in his heart.

"Very good." Looking Cao Pi up and down, he said with a half-smile, "If that's the case, let's make a bet."

"What?" Cao Pi didn't expect Cao Cao to give in so easily, and Cao Pi couldn't react for a while.

"Just bet on this." Sliding a document clipped with a clip along the smooth surface of the conference table to Cao Pi, Cao Cao folded his arms and leaned back on the back of the chair, waiting for his reaction.

Flipping through the document page by page, there were many calculation formulas, experimental records and theoretical graphic analysis that Cao Pi could not understand, which made him confused, "What is this?"

"can't read?"

Cao Pi nodded, a little embarrassed.

"It's okay, it's not embarrassing, and I don't understand it either." Cao Cao said calmly, but what he said next made Cao Pi's heart tighten, "You go back and show it to Sima Yi, as long as he understands it."

"What the hell is this? If you don't explain it clearly, I won't show it to him." Cao Pi looked alert, like a feline protecting food.

Cao Cao tapped his fingers on the table again and again, not in a hurry to answer, as if appreciating his uneasiness at the moment.After a long period of silence, Cao Cao finally spoke, "As you can see, an unfinished research report."

"What does this have to do with Teacher Sima?"

"It's a big relationship." Cao Cao's mouth curved slightly, unfathomable, "Sima Lang, Sima Yi's elder brother, is also the owner of this research report in your hand. Twelve years ago, he proposed a scientific research project and devoted his heart and soul to it. Countless, painstaking research, which lasted six years, and the entire research project is only halfway through." Speaking of this, Cao Cao suddenly stopped.

"and then?"

"Then?" Cao Cao sighed, looking very regretful, "He died, and the research project was put on hold. No one took over, no one invested in research funds, and this project also died."

Cao Pi had never heard Sima Yi say these things before, and when he heard them all of a sudden, he didn't know what it was like.

"The greatest tragedy for researchers is this. However, I can re-inject start-up funds into this project." Cao Cao noticed that there was a flash of light in Cao Pi's eyes, "But whether this project can be revived depends on It's up to you. If you want, let Sima Yi come to me for an interview, and I'll be waiting for you anytime during the three-month period."

"Is this the bet you made with me?"

"That's right." Cao Cao was full of confidence, as if he had the chance to win, "If he chooses to come to me, you are willing to admit defeat, separate from him, and listen to my arrangement; if he chooses not to come, I think I am unlucky, what do you like? How about it, I won’t ask any more. I’ll let you try and see what you can get back with your persistence. Don’t worry, I will never give up in these three months.