Chapter 382 — You Go Call and Ask

Host and guests alike felt the tension: Divine Doctor Kang had not shown Kang Xiaobo's parents a pleasant face all day. Kang Xiaobo's parents could only feel helpless. However big a stir Kang Xiaobo's earlier scene had made, they knew very well that it was not really his fault.

Kang Xiaobo had given his grand-uncle a great gift, a precious elixir, and his intentions had been good; yet Kang Zhaoming refused to accept the kindness and crushed the pill underfoot without a moment's hesitation, while Divine Doctor Kang, seeing it all, did not even try to stop him. That said more than enough.

It showed that in his heart Divine Doctor Kang drew a sharp line between kin near and far, between Kang Zhaoming, his own grandson, and Kang Xiaobo, his grand-nephew. No matter how far Kang Zhaoming went, he was still his grandson and could be indulged. But Kang Xiaobo had done nothing wrong—the doctor merely suspected, somewhat, that the boy had brought a counterfeit elixir to undercut his reputation as a divine doctor, and on the strength of that suspicion alone he had allowed Kang Zhaoming to behave with such inexcusable rudeness.

Even the rather sharp words Kang Zhaoming flung afterward could be excused, in their way—boys will be boys, and it was impossible for a boy not to stir up a little mischief. Kang Xiaobo's parents could comprehend that. What gladdened them more was that Kang Xiaobo's good friend seemed to be a man of no small consequence; so many important people knew him and greeted him warmly. If Kang Xiaobo followed such a friend, he was certain not to come off badly.

So although Kang Xiaobo's parents had received nothing but cold stares and indifference from Divine Doctor Kang's household, there was still some comfort in their hearts.

Divine Doctor Kang's family had no desire to see them either. When the birthday feast broke up, Kang Xiaobo's parents took their leave, and no one so much as acknowledged their farewell. One could see just how furious the Kang household remained over the face it had lost.

"If you ask me, these relatives of yours—after they got rich, they never so much as helped our family out. Fine, we never complained. But to go to their birthday feast and press a warm face against their cold backsides—what was the point of it?" Mother Kang was not a Kang by blood, and her dissatisfaction with the day's events had reached its limit. "Relations like these, we'd be better off cutting ties sooner rather than later!"

"Forget it," Father Kang said with a wry smile. "If Dad hadn't insisted, I wouldn't have wanted to come either. But your son really did make my second uncle lose a great deal of face today."

"Hmph, my son? Isn't he your son too?" At the mention of her son, Mother Kang could not keep a hint of pride from creeping into her voice. "Look at the friend your son has made—what loyalty! He isn't even family, yet he was willing to speak up for justice on his behalf, and he knows all kinds of powerful people! And then those cousins of yours—what are they even good for?"

"By the way, that girl your son was holding by the hand today—why did she walk with a slight limp? And those words Kang Zhaoming said..." Father Kang was a little embarrassed and did not want to keep circling back to his own family. After all, the second uncle was a blood relative and an elder; if reproach was needed, it was his own father's place to deliver it. He himself could hardly say anything more.

"I noticed that too..." Mother Kang was also worried. "The words Xiaobo spoke today—he couldn't have really taken a fancy to that girl, could he? From the look of it, he seemed to be standing up for her on purpose..."

"I'm afraid so..." Father Kang nodded. "What are we to do? Not only is the boy indulging in puppy love, but he's gone and chosen a girl with a limp. I wonder what goes on in that boy's head."

"Yes, why don't we go back and have a good talk with our son? What if it's just a passing impulse and that girl has taken him in?" The more she thought about it, the more worried Mother Kang became.

"Talk about what?" Father Kang snorted with a helpless air. "Your son being taken in? I wouldn't say so!"

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Mother Kang was slightly taken aback.

"Think about it. Kang Xiaobo is young and naive, but that good brother of his—is he a man who could be taken in?" Father Kang saw the matter clearly. "As I see it, this affair was very likely engineered by him, all for the sake of standing up for that girl called Xiaofen! That man's family background is certainly not ordinary. You saw it yourself—Liu Tianyi and Guan Xuemin both know him, and the resort owner too... So I think he actually supports Kang Xiaobo being together with that girl. As for the reason, I can't say just yet; it's only a guess."

"Now that you put it that way, the more I think about it, the more it does seem to be so!" Mother Kang had a sudden realization. "In any case, when we get back, let's ask Xiaobo..."

In Donghai City, in the Seaview Villa District, in a luxurious villa, all the members of the Kang family were gathered in the living room. Kang Laicai—Divine Doctor Kang—sat in the seat of honor, his expression dark as he surveyed the sons and grandsons who stood nervously in the room.

"Zhaoming, what about that so-called Longevity Detox Pill?" Divine Doctor Kang glanced at Kang Zhaoming and asked.

Panic gripped Kang Zhaoming's heart. Carefully he produced the "dog turd" he had picked up and, holding it in both hands, presented it before Divine Doctor Kang. "Grandfather, the Longevity Detox Pill is right here!"

Divine Doctor Kang nodded, picked up the dark-brown object from Kang Zhaoming's hand, and was about to examine it closely when a foul stench came straight at his face; he nearly vomited on the spot. "What smell is this? Why does it stink so badly?"

"Grandfather, this is the natural smell of the Longevity Detox Pill. I was nearly suffocated by it myself at the time..." Kang Zhaoming explained cautiously.

"It's not some trick, is it?" Divine Doctor Kang frowned. "That boy doesn't strike me as reliable. Guifeng, aren't you on good terms with Liu Tianyi? Liu Tianyi seemed quite familiar with that boy today. Go and sound him out, see what he has to say."

As he said this, Divine Doctor Kang was clearly none too pleased, for Liu Tianyi had come to his birthday feast and left halfway through. Even though Liu Tianyi was of the Liu family, it had still caused Divine Doctor Kang considerable loss of face.

As for Guan Xuemin, Divine Doctor Kang dared not say anything against him. For a man of his eminence to come at all was already a great honor. Divine Doctor Kang knew precisely what sort of divine doctor he himself was—a counterfeit, nothing more—while the other was the true divine doctor.

"All right, I'll call and ask right now." Kang Guifeng nodded, took out his mobile phone, and stepped aside to make the call.

While Kang Guifeng was making the call, no one in the room spoke; they waited quietly for the outcome.

"Hello? Brother Tianyi? It's Kang Guifeng!" Kang Guifeng was rather deferential toward Liu Tianyi, for much of the Kang family's business in Yanjing depended on the Liu family's power.

In the final analysis, Divine Doctor Kang possessed only a single miraculous prescription; he was not a true divine doctor, and the great families had no need to court his favor. On the contrary, it was the Kang family that had to curry favor with those great families in order to get ahead.

In the eyes of ordinary people, these great families were lofty, mysterious beings high above the common run; even managing to buy a single bottle of Golden Wound Medicine was no easy achievement. But for the great families themselves, Golden Wound Medicine could be bought in whatever quantity they liked—there was never any worry that stock might run short.