Chapter 196 — An Agitated Kang **

Lan Zhi had likely been frightened by the fall from such a height, or perhaps Kang ** had simply held her too tightly; either way, she had now lapsed into unconsciousness. Song Huiping felt for the breath beneath Lan Zhi's nose, found that she was still breathing, and only then let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew..." Seeing that Xiao Fen was unharmed and merely unconscious, Liu Xinlan shot Kang ** a thumbs-up. "Impressive, hero! From that height, and you actually caught her — amazing!"

At Liu Xinlan's words, Song Huiping too came to realize that the young man before her was her daughter's savior. Stroking her daughter's thin cheek, she thanked Kang ** profusely: "Young man, I truly can't thank you enough. If not for your quick hands, my Xiao Fen would have..."

Here she broke off, and tears of retrospective dread welled from Song Huiping's eyes. Yes — the very thought of what had just happened was terrifying. Her daughter had come falling out of the sky; had Kang ** not caught her, that fall... the consequences did not bear imagining!

"Auntie, it was the least I could do — really, it was nothing..." Kang **'s face flushed slightly. He had saved Lan Zhi purely out of his infatuation with her. With anyone else, he might not have been so agitated and frantic...

Kang ** was no saint. He was not a firefighter, not a police officer, and certainly not Ultraman. Had the person jumping not been Lan Zhi, he would never have rushed over so recklessly.

Never mind whether he could actually save her — the greater worry was that he might fail to catch her and instead be crushed or killed himself. That would be a loss with no gain. Such things had happened before: a man sees someone jump from a building, tries to catch them, fails, and is killed by the falling body.

"Nothing? Brother, you really are something — I, Liu Xinlan, salute you!" Liu Xinlan had not noticed Kang **'s expression and clapped him on the shoulder excitedly. "If you ever need anything, come to your sister here — I won't shirk it!"

"I just happened to be in the right place..." Kang ** was telling the truth. He himself was not entirely sure how he had caught Lan Zhi.

The right place? Tang Zhi glanced thoughtfully at Wei Zhao, who had by now slipped quietly to one side, and the corners of her mouth curved up faintly... What a strange person he was.

No one else had noticed anything, but the observant Tang Zhi had spotted a problem. When Kang ** had been saving Lan Zhi, Wei Zhao had rushed over with him — yet instead of going to catch the girl, he had been pushing and shoving at Kang **. That was what made Tang Zhi suspicious.

Did the rescue just now have anything to do with him? Tang Zhi did not know why she was paying Wei Zhao such attention. At this thought, her feelings grew complicated, and she shifted her gaze away from him, fixing her attention on Xiao Fen instead.

A shrill siren wailed from far to near — the alarms of ambulances, police cars, and fire engines mingled together as they sped toward the alley.

When the firefighters learned that the girl who had jumped had already fallen and been caught, they were rather astonished; but after clarifying the situation, they left.

The police did select a few people from the onlookers to take statements at the scene and learn the ins and outs of what had happened. Toward Lan Zhi's plight, they could only express sympathy. Once it was clear she had not jumped out of grievance over some injustice, the matter fell outside their jurisdiction. After all, though that Kang Jingming had treated Lan Zhi shabbily in abandoning her, it was merely a matter of romantic entanglement and did not rise to the level of a criminal offense.

On the ambulance, several nurses took Lan Zhi from Kang **'s arms, laid her on a stretcher, and lifted her aboard. Then a middle-aged man who looked like the doctor on duty addressed the crowd of onlookers: "Who is the patient's family? Come aboard and ride to the hospital with us. Everyone else, disperse!"

"Me — I'm Xiao Fen's mother!" Song Huiping stepped forward and said to the doctor.

The doctor glanced at Song Huiping and nodded. "Then get in with us."

Song Huiping hurried aboard after the doctor. But Liu Xinlan and Tang Zhi — and Kang ** especially — wanted to go to the hospital too, and pressed in around the vehicle. "We're her friends — can we come along as well?" Liu Xinlan asked the doctor.

"No. This is an ambulance! There aren't that many seats, and we can take only one more family member. Which of you will it be?" The doctor shook his head in explanation.

Before Tang Zhi or Liu Xinlan could answer, an agitated, urgent voice cut in. The two of them looked — it was Kang **!

Without a word, Kang ** made to charge onto the ambulance, and Wei Zhao, with a bitter smile, caught him and hauled him back. Of course Wei Zhao understood how he felt — but what would it look like for him to barge aboard? How would they explain to Song Huiping what he was to Xiao Fen?

They could hardly say they had only met today — or rather, had not even been introduced. It was nothing more than Kang **'s own love at first sight.

"Liu Xinlan, you ride with them," Wei Zhao said to her, having pulled Kang ** behind himself.

"Boss, let me go up — I'm begging you!" Kang ** was visibly overwrought, as though he would not rest until he was allowed aboard.

"...**!" Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words. "What would it even mean for you to go up there now? Ride in my car — we'll just follow behind, won't we?"

"Uh... right, I suppose so!" Only then did Kang ** settle down. He nodded, a little embarrassed; Wei Zhao's words had brought him to his senses. Indeed, if he went up to the ambulance now, how would he ever explain it to Song Huiping, Xiaofen's mother?

Liu Xinlan and Tang Zhi both glanced at Kang ** with some surprise. Tang Zhi had vaguely guessed something — earlier, when Kang ** had been at her home, he had seemed unusually interested in the photograph of Lan Zhi. Liu Xinlan, though, was at a loss, unable to make sense of what had come over Kang **.

But now was no time for questions. The ambulance was still waiting, so Liu Xinlan could only leap quickly into the vehicle. The ambulance doors shut, and with a wail of sirens it sped off toward the Municipal First People's Hospital.

"Are you coming?" Once the ambulance had gone, Wei Zhao turned to Tang Zhi and asked.

Tang Zhi bit her lip. She did not much care for the idea of riding in Wei Zhao's car, but she was worried about Xiaofen, so she nodded: "Mm..."

The Beetle's back seat had no doors — the front seats had to be folded down before one could climb in, which was rather a nuisance. Yet Kang **, though his heart was still set on Xiaofen, did not forget to create an opportunity for Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi: he yielded the front seat to Tang Zhi and squeezed himself into the back.

"Tang Zhi... could you tell me about Lan Zhi?" Kang ** was profoundly curious about the matter between Lan Zhi and Kang Jingming, and was eager to learn the truth of it.