Chapter 399 — Kang Zhaoming's Vomiting and Diarrhea — Although Father Kang Said This to His Son, His Tone Was Not Especially Harsh! When Had It Ever Been Otherwise? Back When He Was His Son's Age, Had He Not Also Been Ignorant of How High the Sky Stood and How Far the Sea Reached, and Seeing His Second Uncle's Family Rising Day by Day, Felt Unconvinced in His Heart and Longed to Fight His Way to a Career of His Own?

But the hardships of life and the ordeal of the years had long since worn away his sharp edges! A man who had once wanted to accomplish something great, he could now only run this little teahouse with the most painstaking diligence, turned into a good-natured soul who had to weigh every side of every matter, offending this person and that at the slightest misstep!

He did not want his son to walk the same road he had, from hope to disappointment, so certain things had to be made clear in advance. The intention was good, but in practice it was very difficult indeed!

Father Kang took a sip of tea and went on, "I think you had better just concentrate. Put the corporate management business aside for now; when a big company really comes for you, it will not be too late to learn it then..."

"If it were a small company, I would not have gone and bought all these management books..." Kang Xiaobo smiled bitterly. "The one heading up the investment is a big company! He plans to open a pharmaceutical company with Guan Xuemin, Doctor Guan. The initial investment is set at a hundred million..."

"Pff—" The tea in Father Kang's mouth sprayed straight out. "Cough, cough... What? Guan Xuemin? A hundred million?"

"That is right, Dad. Otherwise, why do you think my pressure would be so great? You want someone like me, who knows nothing at all, to help run a company that size. How could I manage it without studying?" Kang Xiaobo found his father's expression rather funny, yet inwardly he was quite pleased with himself. Did you not say your son was no good? So what if he is no good? Attach yourself to a good boss, and even a useless man becomes useful!

"Good heavens, how much is a hundred million?" Mother Kang's eyes went wide as well. "Your father's teahouse is worth a few million at the very most, and that is counting the building."

Father Kang shot Mother Kang a glare. "A hundred million looks like a lot to you, but in my second uncle's eyes it is nothing much. Their family has at least a billion in assets. Still, a company with an initial investment of a hundred million does count as a big company! Xiaobo, if you truly cannot manage it, then do not force yourself to put on a brave front and lose their money for nothing. What would you do then?"

"What second uncle of yours? Look at how he treated our Xiaobo today. What a piece of work!" Mother Kang was unimpressed. "Xiaobo, your mother is behind you. Since your boss trusts you so much, you ought to repay him well and make something of yourself, and show your second grandpa's family a thing or two!"

"Yes, I know!" Kang Xiaobo clenched his fist. "That is what the boss told me too!"

Now that the talk had gone this far, Father Kang could say nothing more, and could only silently bless and support his son. "Xiaobo, since you have made up your mind, then go and do it well. Do not let us down!"

"All right. I will go back to my room first. What happened today struck me too hard, one thing right after another. I almost feel as if I am dreaming. I need to go digest and sort it all out!" Kang Xiaobo said, a little embarrassed.

Father Kang nodded, but inwardly he smiled bitterly. Never mind a child like you. Even a man like me, who has weathered great storms, nearly dropped the teacup in his hand when I heard your news...

After Kang Xiaobo had gone, Mother Kang's face was wreathed in excitement. "I always said our son was something special. See? Our family is about to rise in the world too! Then we will see whether your second uncle and his lot still look at us sideways! Guan Xuemin, Doctor Guan, is far better than that half-baked miracle doctor of your second uncle's!"

"The character has not even its first stroke yet, so what are you talking like that for? Besides, you can only encourage him, not praise him. Children get carried away easily. Do not let Xiaobo's self-importance swell up, or it will end up working against him!" Father Kang said sternly. "Do not bring this up again from now on. We will simply watch quietly."

"Fine, whatever you say!" Mother Kang nodded. She naturally understood that Father Kang was right. "Old Kang, why did you not ask about that Xiaofen girl? Are you not going to talk with our son about it? At the very least you ought to ask what is going on, should you not?"

"Since we neither support it nor oppose it, what is the point of asking so much?" Father Kang shook his head. "Think about it. Half of Xiaobo's drive right now, I would guess, comes from that girl. So why should we meddle so much? If Xiaobo truly does make something of himself one day, then Xiaofen will have earned the credit, and if he wants to break up with her, we will not agree to it either! But on the other hand, if she leads Xiaobo astray, then no matter what, we will have to break the two of them apart!"

"You are the one who makes sense. Put that way, it really is the truth!" Mother Kang nodded. "Then we will not say anything about it!"

That evening, Kang Zhaoming made the wondrous discovery that he had begun to vomit and to have diarrhea. At first it gave the whole Kang family a fright, and they thought he had been poisoned.

"Dad, I told you that Kang Xiaobo was certainly up to no good, sending us a poison!" Watching his own son suffer, Kang Cuipu's eyes went red, and he felt an urge to go and kill Kang Xiaobo.

Divine Doctor Kang frowned, gazing at Kang Zhaoming on the sickbed, and his heart was full of doubt as well. Could Kang Xiaobo truly be so fearless, so utterly without scruples, as to send over a poison pill?

"Zhaoming, how do you feel? Do you need to go to the hospital?" Divine Doctor Kang looked at his youngest grandson and asked, not without worry. Though his affection for this grandson could not match that for the elder one, the boy was his grandson after all, and how could he not feel for him?

"Grandpa..." A faint smile squeezed its way onto Kang Zhaoming's pale face. "...I feel as though my body is no longer my own... There is a kind of floating feeling... If I die, will that count as being a hero of the Kang family?"

"You are not going to die. You are already a hero of our Kang family!" Divine Doctor Kang was deeply moved. "Whether this works or not, I will give you five percent of the Kang Group's shares as a reward!"

"Thank you, Grandpa... but I probably will not need it. Just give it to my dad..." Kang Zhaoming said, brokenly.

"Zhaoming, do not frighten your dad like that! If you die, what use are shares to me?" Kang Cuipu was startled by Kang Zhaoming's words and threw himself forward at once. "Zhaoming, how about we go to the hospital? You cannot keep toughing it out like this!"

Just as Kang Cuipu was frantic, he saw Kang Zhaoming wink at him, and then the boy said, "We cannot... we cannot go to the hospital. We cannot let anyone know that we went and picked up that pill Kang Xiaobo gave us after all. They would laugh themselves to death... Even if I die, no, we cannot. The Kang family's face cannot be lost..."

In truth, though Kang Zhaoming was uncomfortable, he was quite clear that nothing was really wrong with him. His body felt light and buoyant, but it was another kind of buoyancy, the buoyancy of feeling that all the filth inside his body had been purged away, a buoyancy of clear mind and refreshed spirit!

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