Chapter 850 — The Kang Family's Urging

"Just be as careful as you can, then." The old director knew Yu Xiaoke had already made up her mind, and so he said no more to dissuade her. Besides, the orphanage truly could not afford to lose that income—without it, they really would not be able to keep going.

Yu Xiaoke posted a commission on the "Thieves' Guild" website, then sat back and waited for someone to take up the job.

Still, once a commission was posted, it was hardly possible that someone would respond right away. So during this period, Yu Xiaoke wanted to find something to do. She thought and thought, and felt she had no particular skills; the only thing she could come up with was selling flowers at the hospital entrance. That was the only plan with low risk and some profit in it. So after mulling it over, she took Little Ken and a few of the older children to the wholesale market, bought up several lots of flowers, and set up a fresh-flower stall at the entrance of the First People's Hospital.

As it happened, the flower trade in this area was controlled by a local tough. But this tough knew Yu Xiaoke and knew she was a lady cat burglar who was not easy to cross. He had also heard that the city had recently been tightening law enforcement, so he understood that Yu Xiaoke's flower-selling was merely a temporary arrangement and would not last long. He thus turned a blind eye to it.

Kang Jingming lay in his hospital bed. Fortunately, his legs had only suffered a hairline fracture rather than a comminuted one—a relatively minor break. Still, as the saying goes, a bone or tendon injury takes a hundred days to heal, so even with some good medicine, Kang Jingming would not be up and walking anytime soon.

Luckily, wheelchairs nowadays were fairly smart—they could go forward and backward and even turn corners—and with Wang Shubin and Zhu Xiaozhang, his two underlings, following him around, it did not hold him back much.

Today was the day Kang Jingming was to be discharged. Generally speaking, leaving the hospital is a cause for rejoicing for anyone except the terminally ill, yet Kang Jingming was somewhat out of sorts.

He had lain in that hospital bed for so many days, and Guan Xin had never come again after that one visit to look in on him! Kang Jingming's main reason for being hospitalized had been to get close to Guan Xin, but now he had not managed to get close to her at all; instead, he had suffered miserably for several days for nothing.

"Shubin, do you have any other good ideas?" Kang Jingming was getting anxious. Lately his family kept calling to urge him on, telling him to win Guan Xin over as quickly as possible—but his legs were broken, so what chance did he have to win her over?

"Young Master Ming, I don't think the 'getting sick' routine is going to work anymore for getting close to Guan Xin!" Wang Shubin thought for a moment, then said.

"No kidding! You think I don't know it won't work? Guan Xin is already a little suspicious. If I get sick again, even if she doesn't think I did it on purpose, she'll think I'm some unlucky wretch who falls ill all the time—why would she still want to be friends with me?" Kang Jingming snorted. "Besides, among the patients under her care, who could conveniently get hurt exactly like that? Too light, too severe—it's impossible to control!"

"True. But I really can't think of any good ideas either…" Wang Shubin said cautiously. "Those online guides to picking up women are all nonsense, just there to string people along—they have no practical application at all!"

"What do they say online?" Kang Jingming asked.

"It's all stuff like slipping a drug into her drink, or getting her into bed first and making it official later…" Wang Shubin said.

"What the hell, was it some kind of trash site you were on? What kind of garbage is that!" The moment Kang Jingming heard Wang Shubin's words, he knew it was completely unworkable. If he drugged Guan Xin and did that to her, he would be lucky if she did not hate him to death—as if she would then tell him the prescription! Dream on!

"Yes… yes…" Wang Shubin wiped the sweat from his brow, thinking to himself, didn't you tell me to look it up? But he did not dare talk back.

Just as they were talking, Kang Jingming's phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was actually his older brother, Kang Jinglong, calling. He quickly answered: "Big Brother?"

"Zhaoming, I heard you're being discharged today. How are you doing?" Kang Jinglong did have business with Kang Jingming, but since his younger brother was just leaving the hospital, as the elder brother he still ought to express his concern first.

"Not bad, though I still have to use a wheelchair. Big Brother, you're looking for me about something?" Kang Jingming asked.

"What else but that matter?" Kang Jinglong sighed. "The Xiao family came to the house to pressure Grandfather into the marriage, and they even brought along a Mystic-rank expert. Damn them—are they trying to intimidate our Kang family? So you need to hurry up on your end. You absolutely must win over Guan Xin and get that prescription! Whatever means you use, it must be done as soon as possible—otherwise your brother will have no choice but to marry Wang Xinyan…"

Kang Jingming thought to himself, what a wonderful thing it would be to marry Wang Xinyan! If it were up to him to marry her, he would be more than happy to!

But he also knew that if the Kang family truly obtained the recipe for the Life-Extending Detox Pill, it would achieve a qualitative leap and, on the strength of that recipe alone, become a red-hot great family overnight!

Although none of the families that had taken the Life-Extending Detox Pill had publicly proclaimed anything about its effects, they had all secretly sent people to inquire of the Kang family whether the Life-Extending Detox Pill the Kang family had purchased at the auction might be available for transfer, and if so, they would offer a reasonable price!

A reasonable price? The Kang family had already spent more than four hundred million to buy that Life-Extending Detox Pill, so would a "reasonable price" not have to be more than four hundred million? It was truly unimaginable! But Kang Jingming was also clear that even five hundred million would be worth it to the old-timers of some great families, or even of hidden families! A single pill that added ten years of life—that was buying life with money! At any price, it was worth it!

Moreover, Kang Jingming had experienced the effects of the Life-Extending Detox Pill firsthand. Even now he was still reaping boundless benefits from it—otherwise, his recovery from that earlier cold, and now from being hit by a house, would have been remarkably fast, all thanks to the change in his constitution!

If it had been the old Kang Jingming, frail and weak from kidney deficiency, he would have long since been laid up in a hospital and unable to come out!

So once the Kang family obtained the prescription and refined the Life-Extending Detox Pill, which of those great houses would not show the Kang family a measure of respect? When that time came, the Kang family's elevation to great-house status would follow as a matter of course!

"I'll get on it right away..." Kang Jingming said. "But this isn't the sort of thing that can be rushed, is it?"

"It is urgent! Very urgent! You must get on it at once - this is Grandfather's wish as well!" Kang Jinglong said. "Beyond that, there is another matter. I hear that Guandafu Pharmaceuticals will be launching a product next month, one with the same efficacy as our Kang family's Gold Wound Medicine, only it is called Trauma Medicine! Besides getting your hands on the Life-Extending Detox Pill's prescription, you had best also find out the prescription for Guandafu's Trauma Medicine - and in particular, learn all you can about the channels through which they procure their raw materials!"