Chapter 376 — I'll Stamp On It Myself

A wastrel, a good-for-nothing! Divine Doctor Kang lamented inwardly. Still, thank goodness he had his eldest son Kang Guifeng and his eldest grandson Kang Jinglong to bring honor to the family; the Kang household would carry on, and would not decline after he was gone.

At least down to Kang Jinglong's generation, there was nothing to worry about. As for the great-grandchildren, each generation had its own fortune — Divine Doctor Kang could hardly govern what happened after his death.

Divine Doctor Kang placed Kang Jingming's prescription beneath Kang Jinglong's old award certificates, and nodded as though nothing were amiss. "Good. Whether or not this formula is of any use, it is a token of Zhaoming's feeling for me!"

Once Kang Jingming had stepped down, it was Kang Xiaofeng's turn to present his gift. When the host called Kang Xiaofeng's name, he grew nervous at once. "Boss, think I can do it?"

"Of course you can! Just get up there!" Wei Zhao clapped him on the shoulder and urged him on.

Kang Xiaofeng nodded, carried the little box of antique design that Wei Zhao had given him up onto the stage.

"Second Grandfather, what I hold in my hands is a rare and wondrous pill, called the Longevity and Detoxification Pill. Once taken, the body expels a great quantity of impurities, achieving the purpose of washing the marrow and purging the bones; after the detoxification, the body's entire physiological function is restored to its peak state, and at the very least it can add five to ten years to one's lifespan!" Having said this, Kang Xiaofeng presented the little box with both hands. "Second Grandfather, happy birthday!"

"Oh?" Divine Doctor Kang frowned, suddenly somewhat displeased. As Divine Doctor Kang, a man at the very pinnacle of the medical world, he had never even heard of this so-called Longevity and Detoxification Pill! A thing that, once swallowed, could wash the marrow and purge the bones and truly achieve longevity — was that even possible?

Divine Doctor Kang felt that if he accepted this pill, he would plainly lose face. He was Divine Doctor Kang — did he need such a pill? And besides, it was something that sounded like an elixir of the immortals, so unreliable!

But before Divine Doctor Kang could speak, Kang Jingming shot out with a swoosh and snatched the little box from Kang Xiaofeng's hands! He had been fretting over how to find a reason and a pretext to attack Kang Xiaofeng — and here the fellow had delivered himself right to his door!

"Kang Xiaofeng, stop playing the mystic! A Longevity and Detoxification Pill? As if that could be! Who do you think you are, peddling miracle cure-alls on the street?" Kang Jingming glared. "Who am I? I am Kang the Divine Doctor — what does our house not have? And yet we have never even heard of such a thing in this world!"

"There's a great deal you have never heard of!" Kang Xiaofeng said coldly.

"Hmph, what kind of worthless junk is this? Then I'll open it and show everyone!" Hearing that Kang Xiaofeng still dared to argue back, Kang Jingming flew into a rage. "You won't shed tears till you see the coffin!"

With that, Kang Jingming pried open the little box in Kang Xiaofeng's hands, took out a pitch-black pill, and burst into loud laughter. "You call this lump of mud a Longevity and Detoxification Pill? It can wash marrow and purge bones too? Have you been reading too many martial arts novels? Have your qi channels gone crooked?"

"Second Grandfather, my birthday gift has been presented, and my good intentions have reached you. Since my second cousin will not believe it, there is nothing I can do." Kang Xiaofeng forcibly suppressed the urge to turn on him at once, and spoke without humility or arrogance.

"What's this? Feeling guilty?" Seeing Kang Xiaofeng's expression, Kang Jingming took it for a guilty conscience. "Kang Xiaofeng, don't think I don't know why you're here. Aren't you here to stand up for that bitch of a woman? A worn-out piece of goods I already had my fill of, and you still treat her like a treasure! You make up some fantastical thing we've never heard of, pass it off as an immortal elixir and give it to me — aren't you just trying to make our family look foolish? I know what's in your mind. You want people to see that a family of physicians has never laid eyes on an elixir like this! That's what you're thinking, isn't it? But your clever scheme has backfired — I don't want your worthless junk!"

As he spoke, Kang Jingming flung the Longevity and Detoxification Pill to the ground, then stamped his foot down on it. Not content with that, he ground it back and forth with the sole of his shoe until it was reduced to a sticky heap of powder, and only then desisted. "There. Your birthday gift has been presented. Now get down!"

Through all of this, Divine Doctor Kang said not a word, standing there with a dark face! Because he too had had his doubts — to say nothing of Kang Xiaofeng, even his own eldest son could not produce such an immortal elixir, so where had Kang Xiaofeng gotten his? Most likely it was a fake!

He could tolerate Kang Jingming, because Zhaoming was his own grandson, but he could not tolerate Kang Xiaofeng. He felt that Kang Xiaofeng had come to stir up trouble! Especially after hearing his grandson Kang Jingming's words — so this grandnephew Kang Xiaofeng had come to settle scores for a woman, to fight over a woman out of jealousy!

"Outrageous!" Divine Doctor Kang gave a cold snort and looked toward Kang Xiaofeng's father. "A fine son you have raised! Take him away at once — must he stay here making a spectacle of himself?"

Yet toward Kang Jingming, who had swaggered and trampled the pill to bits, Divine Doctor Kang asked nothing and blamed him not a word — plainly shielding him.

Kang Xiaofeng's father was furious. Though it did seem somewhat improper for his son to present some immortal elixir as a birthday gift, from first to last it had been Kang Jingming stirring up trouble — how could one call his son a spectacle?

"Xiaobo, have you been bewitched by someone? Who gave you this worthless elixir? Hurry and apologize to your Second Grandfather!" Kang's father chided Kang Xiaofeng lightly. To give him a way out, he shifted the blame for the elixir onto someone else, implying that Kang Xiaofeng had been misled by another and that it had nothing to do with him.

"Impossible! How could a pill from the boss be fake? It is certain people who have no eyes, who cannot tell good goods when they see them!" Kang Xiaofeng was furious too. He stiffened his neck and said stubbornly, "For fine things to be wasted — what a pity!"

Kang Xiaofeng trusted Wei Zhao unconditionally. If Wei Zhao said it was an immortal elixir, then of course he believed it was an immortal elixir! Kang Xiaofeng had been holding himself back for a long while, and now even his own father was blaming him — at last he exploded.

"Xiaobo, the gift has been delivered in any case. Some people make false claims to divine medicine, when in truth they are nothing but doddering old quacks." At this, Wei Zhao walked over with Tang Zhi and Xiaofen in tow and spoke coolly to Kang Xiaofeng.

"This is a matter of our Kang family. What place do you have to speak of it?" Divine Doctor Kang had been furious ever since Wei Zhao exposed the ginseng for what it was. Now, seeing him leap out again to meddle in his family's affairs, he held nothing back.

Today's birthday banquet had already been thrown into utter disarray by Kang Xiaofeng and his classmates, and Divine Doctor Kang had torn off all pretense of civility. This was supposed to be his grand day of celebration, and these people had come to make trouble. How could he endure it? Faster, and safer too!