Chapter 399 — Kang Jingming's Upset Stomach

Yet the hardships of life and the torment of the years had worn his edges smooth. He who had once dreamed of great achievements could now only tend this little teahouse with painstaking care, transformed into a genial fellow who had to weigh every side of every matter, offending this person or that at the slightest misstep.

He did not want his son to walk the same road as he had, from hope to disappointment, and so certain things had to be stated plainly beforehand. The intention was good, but putting it into practice was another matter entirely.

Taking a sip of tea, Father Kang went on, "I say you'd best keep your mind on one thing. Put the corporate management business aside for now. Once a real big company actually wants you, it won't be too late to study it then..."

"If it were a small company, I wouldn't have bought all these management books at all..." Kang Xiaofeng said with a bitter smile. "The one heading the investment is a big company! He's planning to open a pharmaceutical company with Guan Xuewen, Dr. Guan. They're putting in a hundred million to start..."

"Pfft—" The tea in Father Kang's mouth sprayed straight out. "Cough, cough... What? Guan Xuewen? A hundred million?"

"That's right, Dad. What did you think my pressure was all about? Me, someone who knows nothing, helping to run a company that big—can I do it without studying?" Kang Xiaofeng found his father's expression somewhat amusing, yet he was rather smug inside. Didn't you say your son was no good? So what if he isn't? With a good leader, even a useless one becomes useful!

"Good heavens, how much is a hundred million?" Mother Kang's eyes went wide as well. "Your father's teahouse is a few million at the very most, and that's counting the building.

Father Kang shot Mother Kang a glare. "A hundred million looks like a lot to you, but to my second uncle it's nothing much. Their family has at least a billion or more in assets. Still, a company starting with a hundred million in investment counts as a big company! Xiaobo, if you really can't handle it, don't force yourself to be brave and end up losing their money for nothing—what would you do then?"

"What second uncle? Just look at how he treated our Xiaobo today—the nerve of him!" Mother Kang snorted. "Xiaobo, Mom's behind you. Since your leader trusts you so much, you should repay him well and make something of yourself, and show your second grandpa's family a thing or two!"

"Yeah, I know!" Kang Xiaofeng clenched his fist. "That's what my leader told me too!"

Matters having come to this point, Father Kang could say no more. He could only silently bless and support his son. "Xiaobo, since you've made up your mind, then do it well. Don't let us down!"

"Yeah. I'll head back to my room first. What happened today has been too much of a shock for me—one thing after another. I almost feel like I'm dreaming. I need to sit down and digest it all," Kang Xiaofeng said, a little embarrassed.

Father Kang nodded, but inside he smiled bitterly. Never mind a child like you—even a man like me who has weathered great storms nearly dropped his teacup when I heard your news...

After Kang Xiaofeng had gone, Mother Kang's face was wreathed in excitement. "I told you our son was something special! See? Our family's about to turn things around! Then we'll see whether your second uncle's family still looks at us properly! Dr. Guan Xuewen is far better than that half-baked miracle doctor your second uncle!"

"Nothing's settled yet, so what are you going on about? Besides, you can only encourage him, not praise him. Children get carried away easily. Don't let Xiaobo's pride swell up—it'll only do him harm in the end," Father Kang said sternly. "Don't bring this up again from now on. We'll just watch quietly."

"All right, I'll listen to you!" Mother Kang nodded. She understood well enough that Father Kang was right. "Old Kang, why don't you ask about that Xiaofen? Aren't you going to talk with our son about her? At the very least you should ask what's going on, shouldn't you?"

"Since we neither support nor oppose it, what's the point of asking so much?" Father Kang shook his head. "Think about it. I'd guess half of Xiaobo's drive right now comes from that girl, so why should we interfere? If Xiaobo really does make a name for himself one day, Xiaofen will have been the one who made it possible. If he wants to break up with her then, we won't agree to it either! But on the other hand, if she leads Xiaobo astray, then we'll have to break them apart no matter what it takes!"

"You do make sense. Hearing you say it, that really is the way of it!" Mother Kang nodded. "Then we won't say anything more!"

That evening, Kang Jingming made the miraculous discovery that he had begun vomiting and suffering diarrhea. At first the Kang family was given a fright, thinking he had been poisoned.

"Dad, I told you that Kang Xiaofeng was up to no good, sending us a poison!" Kang Cuipu's eyes were red as he watched his son suffer, and he felt a sudden urge to go and kill Kang Xiaofeng.

Divine Doctor Kang frowned, looking at Kang Jingming on the sickbed, deeply puzzled himself. Could it be that Kang Xiaofeng truly feared nothing and had sent over a poison with no scruples at all?

"Zhaoming, how do you feel? Do you need to go to the hospital?" Divine Doctor Kang looked at his younger grandson and asked with unconcealed worry. Though he did not dote on this grandson as much as on the elder one, he was still his grandson—how could he not feel for him?

"Grandpa..." A faint smile forced its way onto Kang Jingming's pale face. "...I feel as though my body isn't my own anymore... a kind of floating sensation... If I die, would that count as being a hero of the Kang family?"

"You're not going to die. You're already a hero of our Kang family!" Divine Doctor Kang was deeply moved. "Whether this works or not, I'll give you five percent of the shares in the Kang Group as a reward!"

"Thank you, Grandpa... but I may not need it. Just give it to my dad..." Kang Jingming said haltingly.

"Zhaoming, don't scare your dad like that! If you die, what use are the shares to me?" Kang Cuipu was startled half to death by Kang Jingming's words and rushed over at once. "Zhaoming, why don't we go to the hospital? Toughing it out like this isn't going to work!"

Just as Kang Cuipu was growing frantic, he saw Kang Jingming wink at him, then say, "We can't... we can't go to the hospital. No one can find out that we fished out the pills Kang Xiaofeng gave us and took them again—they'd laugh themselves to death over it... Even if I die, I won't allow it. The Kang family's face cannot be lost..."

As a matter of fact, although Kang Jingming felt wretched, he knew perfectly well that nothing was really wrong with him. His body did feel light and floaty, but it was a different sort of lightness—the lightness of feeling that all the filth inside him had been purged, the lightness of a clear mind and refreshed spirit!

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