Chapter 856 — Kang Jingming's Visit

"That must be him—or at the very least, her father's driver!" Wang Shubin nodded. "Young Master Kang, it just struck me: if you were to pay a visit to Guan Xin's father, Guan Xiaopeng, it would likely be far more effective than visiting Guan Xuedmin!"

"Oh? How so?" Kang Jingming asked at once.

"Young Master Kang, doesn't your family's Divine Physician Kang Pharmaceutical Company have partnerships with plenty of hospitals? The First People's Hospital and the Second People's Hospital are both among them—and aren't those both under Guan Xin's old man's company?" Zhu Xiaozhang cut in. "That being the case, Guan Xiaopeng, given his company's partnership with the Kang family, surely won't openly offend you. All he has to do is agree to let you have contact with Guan Xin, and your goal is achieved." "Hmm, that makes sense. Come on—get in the car. We'll follow them and see where they're headed!" Kang Jingming nodded.

Guan Xiaopeng had never studied surveillance or counter-surveillance, so he never noticed that a Porsche Cayenne had slowly fallen in behind him. He went on chatting with Guan Xin as though nothing were amiss. "Xinxin, is work busy? Are you worn out?"

"It's fine, really. It gets a little tiring sometimes, but I like the job," Guan Xin said with a nod.

"If it ever wears you down, why not come work at Dad's company? You can't be a nurse your whole life, can you?" Guan Xiaopeng said with a smile. He had always wanted Guan Xin to join his company, but she had never agreed.

"No. I want to stay here with Grandfather," Guan Xin said, shaking her head.

Guan Xiaopeng sighed and let the subject drop. Then he asked, "*** is in good health, I hope?"

"Pretty good. Lately Grandfather's been in high spirits because of the company," Guan Xin said.

"The company? You'll have to keep an eye on your grandfather for me. He's never run a business in his life—I don't want him getting cheated and losing his good name over it!" Guan Xiaopeng was a little displeased to hear about his father starting a company. Back when he had gone into business for himself, he too had meant to use his father's name as a springboard to make something of himself. "Especially that Wei Zhao fellow—so young, and who knows what talent he has, yet your grandfather holds him in such esteem!"

But when he had voiced that idea, his father had rebuked him in the harshest terms, saying he was afraid of being cheated by friends and of dragging his own reputation down with him. In the end, it was only thanks to a benefactor's help that he had managed to build his business into what it was; otherwise he might never even have married his girlfriend—Guan Xin's mother!

Back then, Guan Xin's mother's family had opposed the match with all their might! So whenever this matter came to mind, Guan Xiaopeng felt a splinter lodged in his heart. Though so much time had passed, a certain distance still lingered between father and son. They cared for each other, yet they were not truly close.

"He won't. Wei Zhao is a good man—he would never cheat Grandfather," Guan Xin said, instinctively rising to Wei Zhao's defense. But the moment the words left her mouth, she felt she had spoken a little too hastily, and her face flushed at once.

Seeing his daughter's expression, Guan Xiaopeng frowned. Could it be that his daughter had fallen for Wei Zhao?

Guan Xiaopeng did not pursue the subject further. The car slowly pulled into Songshan Medical and Pharmaceutical University, and he parked at the gate of his father's villa. Though relations between father and son seemed less than harmonious, Guan Xiaopeng always came home to see Guan Xuedmin whenever he was back in town on business.

Guan Xuedmin's relationship with his son had been much the same over the years, and by now he was used to it. Seeing his son return, he gave a nod, said little, and went back to the study to busy himself with his own affairs.

Guan Xiaopeng, meanwhile, sat on the living-room sofa chatting with Guan Xin about this and that around the hospital.

Kang Jingming followed Guan Xiaopeng's car all the way to the gate of Guan Xuedmin's villa. In his pursuit of Guan Xin, he had gone so far as to buy a forged university pass, purely for the convenience of getting in and out of the faculty residential area.

"Young Master Kang, it looks like that man must be Guan Xin's father. A driver would never be able to get into the villa. Shall we pay a call on him tonight?" Wang Shubin asked.

"Yes. First we'll buy some gifts, then we'll pay a visit," Kang Jingming said. Now that he was certain the man was Guan Xin's father, Guan Xiaopeng, he felt greatly reassured.

Carrying some fine cigarettes and liquor, with Wang Shubin pushing his wheelchair, Kang Jingming arrived at the villa's front door and rang the bell of Guan Xuedmin's house.

Zhu Xiaozhang had been left behind to keep watch in the car; his temperament made him unfit to be brought inside.

Auntie Liu opened the door. At the sight of Kang Jingming in his wheelchair and Wang Shubin pushing him, she was momentarily taken aback. "Excuse me, are you here to see Professor Guan about a medical consultation?"

"No—this young master... ah, I am Kang Jingming, second grandson of Divine Physician Kang of East Sea. I've come specially to call on President Guan Xiaopeng."

"Oh, then please wait a moment. I'll go and ask for you," Auntie Liu said with a nod. She did not open the outer iron gate, but turned and went straight back into the living room.

"Liu Ma, who's here?" Guan Xiaopeng asked, somewhat puzzled, when he saw that Liu Ma had not brought anyone inside.

"Mr. Guan, there is a man who claims to be Kang Jingming, the second grandson of Divine Physician Kang of East Sea. He wishes to pay you a visit. What do you say?" Liu Ma said.

"Oh? Someone from the Kang family?" Guan Xiaopeng was taken aback. "I'll go and have a look," he said.

Guan Xin's expression, however, changed. She had not expected Kang Jingming to actually dare show himself at their door. What was he plotting? She was just about to tell her father not to go, but seeing that he had already risen to his feet, she held her tongue, thinking: Let him come in. It might be just as well to have things out with him plainly!

Guan Xiaopeng and Liu Ma reached the entrance together. At the sight of Kang Jingming sitting in a wheelchair, he could not help but start. He had never met Kang Jingming, but he had certainly not expected the man to arrive in a wheelchair. He could not resist asking, "You are Kang Jingming? What happened to you?"

"Hello, Uncle Guan. I am Kang Jingming!" Seeing that Guan Xiaopeng had come out to receive him in person, Kang Jingming hurriedly said, "I just got struck by something a couple of days ago, that's all. It's nothing serious—an ordinary bone fracture. I'll be fine very soon!"

"I see..." Guan Xiaopeng did not feel it appropriate to press further. Instead, he opened the iron gate and let Kang Jingming and Wang Shubin into the villa. "Kang Jingming... you don't mind if I call you that?"

"Not at all, not at all. Uncle Guan, you can just call me Zhaoming!" Kang Jingming said respectfully. He wanted to make a good impression on Guan Xiaopeng, so naturally he put on the air of a model young man.

Guan Xiaopeng nodded. "Kang Jingming, you came here to visit me? Might I ask what this is about? Are you speaking on behalf of your grandfather, or...?"

"It's like this, Uncle Guan. How about we talk in the study?" Kang Jingming was afraid that Guan Xin might contradict him while he spoke, so he suggested that Guan Xiaopeng take him to the study.