Chapter 3158 — Tianchan's Heart's Desire

This was no joke; it was entirely possible!

Of course, Tianchan had omitted a portion of this file and had not given it to Xiao Taohong. Nearly everything Xiao Taohong saw concerned Kang Xiaofeng, with only a few scattered scraps of news about Wei Zhao attached.

"Kang Jingming... so he was this kind of man?" Xiao Taohong's eyes filled with fury as she read. She had once been utterly bewitched by Kang Jingming; looking back now, she had been such a fool!

"Xiao Taohong, you've finally seen through him?" Tianchan shook her head. "Kang Jingming is consumed by greed for gain. From the moment he joined the Xuandan Sect, I felt there was something rotten in his nature. But you liked him, so I said nothing. Now it seems it's a blessing you two never went further; otherwise you would have suffered for it in the end. One day, if Kang Jingming finds a more powerful patron, he will cast aside even Little Eleven and Ancestor Xuanchen just the same!"

"Alas, Young Sect Master, if not for you opening my eyes, I would still have thought Kang Jingming had no choice in the matter." Xiao Taohong sighed. She had never imagined that her beautiful first love would end so cruelly, dying before it could even begin. From now on, she would be wiser and would not trust others so easily.

"Good. Pack your things and go to Kang Xiaofeng's company. Kang Xiaofeng is a decent sort; if he takes a liking to you, it could be a fine match." Tianchan's impression of Kang Xiaofeng was rather good. Besides, how bad could one of Wei Zhao's underlings be? And there was another purpose behind Tianchan's arrangement: she hoped, through Xiao Taohong and Kang Xiaofeng, to make contact with Wei Zhao.

Since Kang Xiaofeng truly was a good man, and the ancient sects made no fuss over the distinction between a first wife and a lesser wife, Tianchan felt this would be a fine destination for Xiao Taohong!

"Huh?" Xiao Taohong was suddenly struck dumb. She had not expected Tianchan to tell her to get close to Kang Xiaofeng, and her cheeks flushed with shyness. Xiao Taohong was not one to confuse right and wrong; reading Kang Xiaofeng's profile, she could tell he was a fine man. Set beside Kang Jingming, it was simply one in the heavens and one beneath the earth!

It would be impossible to say Xiao Taohong felt nothing for such a man. But having just suffered a wound in love, it was not easy for her to step out of the shadow all at once and begin another romance. At the very least, she was somewhat disillusioned, and rather afraid to fall in love.

"Young Sect Master... I want to serve at your side all my life. I don't want to marry..." Xiao Taohong said after a moment's hesitation.

"Heh heh, if you end up with Kang Xiaofeng, who knows? You might still be at my side, in the end!" Tianchan smiled mysteriously.

"Huh? What do you mean? Young Sect Master, do you like Kang Xiaofeng too?" Xiao Taohong was slightly taken aback.

Tianchan's face immediately darkened. "I do not like Kang Xiaofeng. Enough, don't ask any more. Go pack your things and report to me the moment you have news!"

"Oh, all right! Young Sect Master." Xiao Taohong nodded and went off to pack...

After Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals weathered the upheaval of its great rise and fall, some employees who had wavered in their loyalty resigned to seek better prospects elsewhere. For the other half, those who had remained steadfastly loyal to the company to the very end, Fatso Lai and Kang Xiaofeng promoted them and raised their salaries accordingly, so that they might rejoice in the choice they had made!

With her outstanding theoretical knowledge and poised, well-bred bearing, Xiao Taohong passed every test with flying colors and became Kang Xiaofeng's new secretary! Kang Xiaofeng was delighted with this newly selected secretary, and even Fatso Lai looked on with envy. Fatso Lai's own secretary had been a hire through connections, and she too had resigned this time. But Xiao Taohong had applied for the post of vice president's secretary, not the president's, so Fatso Lai could hardly snatch her away.

Thus, on the very first day after being hired, Xiao Taohong took up her post. Her formidable professional knowledge made Kang Xiaofeng regard her with new eyes, and he came to rely on her more and more...

As for Xiao Taohong's successful ascent, Kang Jingming was utterly thrilled. Above all, as Xiao Taohong came to be trusted more and more by Kang Xiaofeng, Kang Jingming felt that the day he laid hands on the first-grade pill cauldron was not far off!

Because Tianchan's file had prejudiced her in his favor, Xiao Taohong's impression of Kang Xiaofeng was very good. Once she was at the company, since her work made her answerable to Kang Xiaofeng alone, she came into contact with him every day. Gradually and half-unwittingly, she began to pay ever more attention to Kang Xiaofeng.

What disappointed Kang Jingming, however, was that the reports Xiao Taohong sent back had almost nothing to do with the first-grade automatic pill cauldron. The work and financial statements Kang Xiaofeng handled each day likewise had no connection whatsoever to the first-grade automatic pill cauldron!

Either the finished first-grade automatic pill cauldrons were not routed through the department Kang Xiaofeng oversaw, or the first-grade automatic pill cauldron was simply not produced by Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals at all! As Xiao Taohong came to be trusted more and more by Kang Xiaofeng, she was exposed to more and more of Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals' core secrets, even coming into contact with certain raw materials and costs for products like painkillers and wound medicine. Yet there was not the slightest scrap of news about the first-grade automatic pill cauldron.

Of course, the reports Xiao Taohong made were all vetted by Tianchan. Tianchan always made sure that the tidbits passed on to Kang Jingming looked precious but were in fact utterly useless.

For instance, she would single out several of the most ordinary raw materials used in wound medicine and painkillers, the sort anyone could guess at, and have Xiao Taohong tell Kang Jingming of those, so that he would suspect nothing.

As for news of the first-grade automatic pill cauldron, Xiao Taohong truly had none to obtain. It was not that she was deliberately holding anything back!

After some time spent probing, Kang Jingming gradually lost patience. After all, he had begun to suspect that the first-grade automatic pill cauldron might not be manufactured by Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals at all, but produced solely by the Liu family.

Thinking it over now, it really did seem possible. Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals was merely a name on paper. The first-grade automatic pill cauldron was electronic equipment, whereas Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals produced medicinal materials!

And according to Kang Jingming's investigations, the Liu family did own an electronics company. It had formerly specialized in computer components, and now turning to the manufacture of first-grade automatic pill cauldrons was quite plausible!

(The Yuren Qidian Readers' Club event will be held on Wednesday the 30th, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., at the Zhihong Hall of the Shanghai University of Engineering Science Library and Information Center (Songjiang Campus, 333 Longteng Road, Songjiang). Readers in the area are welcome to attend!) RS