Chapter 853 — The Great Courtship Offensive

"Wahahaha, you know me too well! Of course, of course!" Kang Jingming thought to himself that with Yu Xiaoke's kind words, he was sure to win the day. Overjoyed, he said to her, "Didn't we agree on thirty thousand before? You've done well for me today, so I'll give you fifty thousand! But besides the banner, you'll have to buy a few more things for me!"

"Sure, boss, just tell me what you need!" Yu Xiaoke thought: I've run into a fool today — if I don't fleece him, I'd be doing myself a disservice!

"Go get some fireworks, then a beat-up old guitar, and a loudspeaker — I'm going to make a declaration of love!" Kang Jingming figured that in the movies, besides the sea of flowers, there were always fireworks and the like, so he took the opportunity to bring it up. As the saying goes, don't trouble two people for one task, and he couldn't be bothered to go buy them himself. Besides, he had no idea where fireworks were sold, and he wasn't very familiar with Songshan City, so he might as well let Yu Xiaoke do it for him.

Yu Xiaoke happily went off to procure these things. As a female cat burglar, she had been to many places in Songshan City, so she knew exactly what was sold where and what was available. She sent Xiaoken to the flower market to buy flowers wholesale, another child to buy fireworks, and another to the secondhand market for the beat-up guitar and loudspeaker, while she herself went to prepare the banner slogan for Kang Jingming.

Because there were many hands and the division of labor was clear, by the time Yu Xiaoke returned with the banner from the copy shop, the others had also brought back the goods one after another, and everything was set up according to Kang Jingming's requirements.

Kang Jingming had not expected Yu Xiaoke to get it all done so quickly. He was overjoyed and readily handed over the remaining forty thousand yuan to her.

Xiaoken and the other children had not expected Yu Xiaoke to be so formidable — she had casually closed a fifty-thousand-yuan deal. The flowers, the banner, and the secondhand guitar and loudspeaker had cost no more than four thousand yuan in total, which meant they had just made forty-five thousand in one go. They could hardly believe it.

Yu Xiaoke took the money and vanished. She had already earned plenty here — any more and she would invite jealousy! Yu Xiaoke knew the rules of the trade in this area; there were flower shops around here, and those shops also sent people to sell flowers on the street in front of the hospital. She had just snatched such a huge piece of business from them — how could the flower shops take that lying down?

If she kept doing business here tomorrow, those people would surely come looking for trouble with Yu Xiaoke, so she knew when to advance and when to retreat. She simply took the money and left.

Even so, she still drew some envy. The owner of the nearby flower shop watched Yu Xiaoke leave with a gaze that bordered on greed and resentment, deeply displeased. If Crazy Bull, who ran this territory, had not told him that Yu Xiaoke was not someone to be trifled with, he would certainly have stepped forward to grab a share of the pie!

Seeing Yu Xiaoke leave, the flower shop owner walked over and found Kang Jingming. "Boss, I'm from Tiandao Florist. Do you still need any flowers? I've got them too, a full selection..."

"We've already bought everything — what else is there to buy?" Kang Jingming was eagerly preparing to confess his love to Guan Xin, and this flower shop owner had come over to pester him, which put him in a foul mood. "Get lost, don't be a nuisance here!"

"Well..." The flower shop owner had no choice but to back off. "Then next time you buy flowers, you can come to my shop. I can give you a discount..."

"All right, all right, I got it!" Kang Jingming waved his hand and said impatiently, "Now scram!"

Although Guan Xin was only a nurse at First Hospital, plenty of people here knew her. If anyone deserved the title of the hospital's beauty queen, it was Guan Xin, so whether or not they had ever spoken to her, almost everyone had heard the name.

Now that Kang Jingming had put up the huge banner reading "Guan Xin, I Love You," many people stopped in their tracks and turned to look when they saw it, speculating about Kang Jingming's identity. Could this man in the wheelchair be Guan Xin's boyfriend?

Over on Guan Xin's side, word spread quickly as well. Those who knew Guan Xin immediately told her what was going on at the hospital entrance.

"Xinxin, Xinxin, I've got big news for you! Outside our hospital, someone's set up a sea of roses and is about to confess his love! It's so romantic... Must be rich people..." Li Xiaomei said enviously.

"Oh..." Guan Xin merely smiled faintly after hearing it. "What does that have to do with me?"

"How does it have nothing to do with you? That person even put up a banner saying 'Guan Xin, I Love You' — it's obviously prepared for you! It's already spread all over the hospital!" Li Xiaomei said. "I just went to the ward, and the doctor over there told me!"

"Huh? Me?" Guan Xin's eyes went wide at Li Xiaomei's words, and she looked at her in disbelief. "Really? You mean me?"

"Really!" Li Xiaomei nodded. "It's definitely you."

Who was it? Who would do such a thing? Was it Wei Zhao? Instinctively, the first person Guan Xin thought of was Wei Zhao, but after thinking of him, she shook her head again, somewhat self-deprecatingly. It couldn't be Wei Zhao — how could he possibly come to confess his love to her? She was really letting her imagination run wild...

Once she thought that the person was not Wei Zhao, Guan Xin lost interest, and no trace of excitement showed on her face. "Who's so bored?"

"Huh? Xinxin, after hearing this explosive news, you're not moved at all? You don't even want to go out and see who set it up?" Li Xiaomei asked, puzzled.

"No," Guan Xin said with a shake of her head. "What's there to look at? It's probably just that bore Kang Jingming."

"Hey, now that you mention it, it really could be him!" The moment Li Xiaomei heard that name, her interest dried up as well. She felt nothing at all for Kang Jingming, and through Guan Xin she had also come to know Xiaofen and learned that Xiaofen's ruin had been Kang Jingming's doing. So her impression of him had never been good to begin with, and now it was worse than terrible.

"So — back to work!" Guan Xin set about her tasks again.

After work that evening, Guan Xin and Li Xiaomei walked out of the hospital gates together. Wang Shubin, who was on lookout duty just outside the entrance, spotted Guan Xin the moment she emerged and hastily signaled to Kang Jingming and Zhu Xiaozhang over on the other side.

In an instant, fireworks blazed to life before the hospital gates, and then came Kang Jingming's voice: "Beautiful Miss Guan Xin, permit me to pour out to you my confession of love..."