Chapter 860 — A Meeting at the School Gate
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Kang Jingming was deeply uneasy, uneasy that his standing in the Kang family might not hold. True, if he laid the whole truth before the family, they might not necessarily blame him — after all, it was not that he had failed to try, but that no amount of trying could have succeeded! Guan Xin was already promised to another man. Even if Kang Jingming were Pan An reborn and the Star of Literature descended to earth, the other party could hardly break off the engagement and take up with him, could they?
What Kang Jingming feared was this: the chief blame for the affair might not rest on his shoulders, but the earlier failure to investigate did. Had he discovered from the start that Guan Xin was already betrothed, would he ever have needed to spend such effort courting her? Was that not simply a waste of time?
As Kang Jingming's subordinate, Wang Shubin was naturally just as anxious. When one rises, all rise; when one falls, all fall — that was the way of things, and he understood it perfectly. With the skin gone, what can the hair cling to? If Kang Jingming lost his place in the Kang family and his prestige along with it, what good days could the two of them, his underlings, possibly enjoy?
So it had become Wang Shubin's duty to smooth away Kang Jingming's troubles. When he had heard Guan Xiaopeng turn Kang Jingming down, he had already begun turning over the next move in his mind: "Young Master Ming, since this road is blocked, then we simply won't take it!"
"Won't take it? Then how am I to answer to the family? Back then I boasted that I could most certainly win Guan Xin over!" Kang Jingming said bitterly. "But who knew she was already engaged? Now I've no way to account for myself at home — doesn't it just make me look incompetent?"
"Not so!" Wang Shubin waved a hand. "Young Master Ming, if you look at the problem from another angle, it becomes far simpler! Courting Guan Xin was never your true aim — the true aim was only ever to obtain the prescription. If you can get the prescription without courting Guan Xin, haven't you fulfilled the mission all the same? I daresay what Divine Physician Kang values is the prescription, not Guan Xin!"
"Mm, that much is true! But if I don't win Guan Xin over, where am I to get the prescription?" Kang Jingming felt Wang Shubin had a point, yet he was still somewhat at a loss.
"There are many roads to a prescription — theft, robbery, threats, and the like. It needn't be through Guan Xin. We can still work on other people at Doctor Guan Pharmaceutical," Wang Shubin said. "I hear that younger brother of yours, Kang Xiaofeng, is some sort of vice president there as well, isn't he?"
"Yes, and the very mention of it makes my blood boil! Kang Xiaofeng actually became a vice president — more accomplished than me! It's infuriating! He's nothing but a relative of the Kang family, and yet he's faring better than I am!" The thought of Kang Xiaofeng set Kang Jingming seething with resentment.
The news that Kang Xiaofeng had become vice president of Doctor Guan Pharmaceutical was no secret; Doctor Guan Pharmaceutical had already announced it to the media.
"Young Master Ming, as the saying goes, brothers fight side by side in war, fathers and sons march together into battle!" Wang Shubin said. "Think on it — you and Kang Xiaofeng are cousins. And though he may be a vice president at Doctor Guan Pharmaceutical, I doubt he's earned much money yet. I say you should go to Kang Xiaofeng. He is a Kang man in the end. Reason with him, move him with sentiment, and tempt him with substantial profit — it shouldn't be difficult to coax the prescription out of him!"
"Kang Xiaofeng would know the formula for the Longevity Detox Pill? Impossible. He may be a vice president, but that formula should be known only to the top brass — Guan Xuewen, Fatty Lai, and the like, no?" Kang Jingming was no fool; he shook his head.