Chapter 855 — Guan Xin's Father

"Isn't that just stating the obvious? I know that much already!" Kang Jingming snapped. "What I need right now is a workable plan I can actually put on the table, not this kind of theoretical analysis from you! I'm out of time, don't you understand? The situation is this: my family is pressing me hard, and if I really can't get those formulas this time, my standing in the Kang family will plummet overnight. And you two idiots, without me backing you up, won't be swaggering around so high and mighty anymore either!"

"That..." Wang Shubin and Zhu Xiaozhang only realized, upon hearing this, how serious the matter had become. Indeed, if Kang Jingming fell out of favor in the Kang family, then the two of them, his underlings, naturally wouldn't be able to summon the wind and call the rain the way they did now.

At that thought, Wang Shubin drew a deep breath and began to rack his brains for a countermeasure.

Seeing him in thought, Kang Jingming did not disturb him. Among the three of them, Wang Shubin was the only one who could be called a strategist, so everything still depended on him.

"I've got it!" Wang Shubin suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Young Master Ming, all the signs suggest that Guan Xin is a good girl of the well-behaved type, and girls like that always listen to their families. So if we go straight to the Guan family with a proposal of marriage, there should be a certain chance of success! Think about it — you are the grandson of the renowned physician Kang, and Guan Xin is the granddaughter of Doctor Guan. Yours would be a union of the strong with the strong. I don't think Guan Xuewen would object, would he?"

"Your idea has some feasibility, but you need to understand this clearly: I'm going after Guan Xin not to marry her. I only want to use her to wheedle those formulas out of the Guan family. If I can have some fun along the way, so much the better; if not, no loss. But marriage is absolutely out of the question!" Kang Jingming said. "Once I've got the formulas out of them, how could I possibly marry her? And even if it were a fake marriage, my grandfather would have to put in an appearance. I can't very well go barging up to Guan Xuewen to propose like some fool, can I? Do you think Guan Xuewen would believe that?"

"That..." Wang Shubin hesitated. "Young Master Ming, how about this — you go pay a visit, saying you only want to have more contact with Guan Xin and make friends with her? It's not a formal proposal, but it's still a hint. I imagine Guan Xuewen won't refuse outright, and that way, your getting close to Guan Xin will be perfectly proper and justified?"

"Hmm... that makes sense!" Kang Jingming nodded. "But I'm not familiar with Guan Xuewen, and I've never even met him. What if he objects when the time comes?"

"That... I think, Young Master Ming, since you're not formally proposing, only suggesting that you'd like to make friends with Guan Xin, Guan Xuewen will be constrained by appearances and probably won't turn you down to your face. As long as he doesn't refuse, the thing can be done," Wang Shubin said. "Of course, if Guan Xuewen is strongly opposed, then even if you did win Guan Xin over, he would find some way to break the two of you apart, and he certainly wouldn't hand the formulas over to Guan Xin so easily!"

"You're right! The key is still the Guan family's attitude! Then shall we go pay Guan Xuewen a visit?" Kang Jingming nodded. "I'll have to discuss it with the family first. I can't go empty-handed — I'll need to bring some gifts."

As the three of them were talking, the hospital reached quitting time. Guan Xin and Li Xiaomei walked out of the hospital, and as they neared the entrance, Guan Xin said to Li Xiaomei, "Xiaomei, take the commuter bus by yourself today. I have something else to do..."

"Oh? A date?" Li Xiaomei was slightly taken aback, then looked at Guan Xin with a teasing smile. "Don't tell me it's with that Kang Jingming?"

"As if!" Guan Xin shot her a glare. "I'd sooner die than go on a date with him. Stop guessing — my dad is in Songshan City on business, and he's coming to pick me up and take me home tonight."

"Heh, so that's it!" Li Xiaomei nodded. "Isn't that the legendary major shareholder? The director ought to come out and welcome him, shouldn't he?"

"My dad is just passing through. He's not making a grand inspection tour of the hospital, so why would the director be notified?" Guan Xin was caught between laughter and tears. "All right, I'm off!"

With that, Guan Xin ran toward an Audi A6L parked at the hospital entrance. The car was parked discreetly a short distance from the hospital gate, not inside the grounds, so no one had yet realized it belonged to Guan Xiaopeng, the hospital's shareholder.

"Young Master Ming, Guan Xin is coming over..." Wang Shubin spotted Guan Xin and alerted Kang Jingming.

"Oh? She's not taking the commuter bus?" Kang Jingming was momentarily stunned. His original plan had been to wait until Guan Xin boarded the commuter bus, then have the three of them follow quietly by car; once they confirmed she had reached home, they would call at her door. He hadn't expected Guan Xin to skip the commuter bus. Did she have something else to do today?

"No... hey? Young Master Ming, she's getting into that Audi A6L — it has Songjiang City plates..." Zhu Xiaozhang pointed in the direction Guan Xin had run and cried out in surprise.

"Songjiang City plates? Could Guan Xin be going to meet a lover?" Kang Jingming's expression immediately turned grim, because the driver of a black Audi A6L was almost certainly male, and from the light in the car when Guan Xin opened the door, one could tell the driver was a man.

"I don't think so? That man looks quite old..." Zhu Xiaozhang had sharp eyes and said quickly.

"Could she be someone's mistress?" Zhu Xiaozhang would have done better to keep quiet; his words only darkened Kang Jingming's expression further. "Investigate for me — whose car is this! Argh, I'm furious!"

Kang Jingming felt as though he had suffered a tremendous insult. He had assumed that Guan Xin's rejection of his confession was because she was too pure — pure as a blank sheet of paper, never having been in love, instinctively on her guard! But now it seemed that wasn't the case at all?

Zhu Xiaozhang and Wang Shubin had no connections in Songshan City, but back in Donghai City, relying on Kang Jingming, they knew plenty of people. One phone call, and they had the information on the car from a friend in the insurance business.

"Young Master Ming, this car belongs to Mingyang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd...." Zhu Xiaozhang reported the result to Kang Jingming.

"Mingyang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Kang Jingming frowned and repeated it silently to himself.

"I remember now, Young Master Ming — isn't Mingyang Pharmaceutical the company owned by Guan Xin's father?" Wang Shubin had once studied Guan Xin's files in careful detail. Back when Kang Jingming was set on courting her, Wang Shubin had been the one in charge of gathering intelligence, and Kang Jingming had read that intelligence himself, which was why the name had struck him as familiar too.