Chapter 285 — The Divine Doctor Kang's Birthday Banquet

Wei Zhao hummed a little tune, swinging two preservation boxes as he headed toward the school. Another wonderful day of campus life was beginning.

"Wei Zhao!" He had just reached the school gate when someone called his name from behind. He turned to find Liu Xinlan running toward him—and behind her stood a delicate, pretty girl. If it wasn't Tang Zhi, who else could it be?

"Heh..." Wei Zhao didn't need to ask; he knew Liu Xinlan had once again become Tang Zhi's messenger. "Liu Xinlan, what's the matter?"

"Yunyun wants you to wait for her at lunch so you can eat together." Liu Xinlan's impression of Wei Zhao had changed somewhat, largely thanks to the matter with Xiaofen—Wei Zhao had been actively helping—so she no longer held the same aversion toward him as before.

Since Yunyun had accepted him, since she was already with him, what was the point of her sticking her nose into it? That was, in fact, the very thought Liu Xinlan harbored in her heart.

"Sure." Wei Zhao agreed without a moment's thought. At noon, he had been wanting to let Tang Zhi taste shark meat—and the precious shark fin, the only bit on the whole fish, he had divided into two portions. One had gone into Kang Xiaofeng's box, for him to bring to Xiaofen; the other he had set aside for Tang Zhi.

As for Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu... those two young ladies had already written off shark fin. In their words, what was so special about vermicelli?

Tang Zhi was clearly still a little embarrassed about being too close to Wei Zhao at school. Seeing him look her way, her face flushed faintly, and she turned her head aside, pretending she hadn't seen him.

That single touch of charm left the passing boys staring, quite dumbstruck—but no one dared covet Tang Zhi anymore. Everyone knew she was the girlfriend of Wei Zhao, the new campus bully. Even Zou Ruoming had been beaten until he was hunting for his teeth on the ground. Who would dare harbor any crooked ideas now?

Liu Xinlan hurried back and pulled Tang Zhi away. Wei Zhao shook his head. Should he buy Tang Zhi a cell phone? His own phone was broken too, and would need replacing. Hmm... it seemed that, at the root of it all, he first needed to earn some money. He could still afford a phone, but there would inevitably be other expenses down the road. A man couldn't get by without financial independence.

Wei Zhao rather regretted having handed over all his earnings to his old man in the past. Back then there had been nothing to spend money on, so he had let the old miser hoard it. Now... money was sorely missed when the time came to use it.

When he reached the classroom, Kang Xiaofeng was already there. Seeing Wei Zhao, he grumbled, "Boss, where did you go yesterday? I called you all day and it was off the whole time. I have something important to discuss with you."

"Oh? You were looking for me yesterday?" Wei Zhao was briefly taken aback, then remembered—his phone had been waterlogged. Of course it was off. "My phone's broken. What's the matter?"

"Next weekend is my second grandfather's birthday, and I've been invited too. I was wondering whether I should bring Xiaofen along?" Kang Xiaofeng hesitated a moment, then said it anyway. For a matter like this, the only person who could make the decision for him was Wei Zhao.

"Bring Xiaofen? To your second grandfather's birthday banquet?" Wei Zhao gave Kang Xiaofeng an odd look. "You want her to meet Kang Jingming?"

"Yes, boss. You know as well as I do that Kang Jingming has always been a knot in Xiaofen's heart. If that knot isn't completely cut away, then even if she's with me, she'll still be thinking of Kang Jingming inside," Kang Xiaofeng said. "Xiaofen tells me she gave up on Kang Jingming long ago, but from the sorrow that slips out of her unguarded moments, I'm certain that deep down, Kang Jingming is absolutely still there."

Wei Zhao nodded. Kang Xiaofeng was no fool—he wasn't blindly, stupidly in love with Xiaofen; he knew how to look at the matter between the two of them with care. "You're right. If Kang Jingming weren't there in her subconscious, she wouldn't have split personalities, nor would she have hallucinations. In fact, the root cause of Xiaofen's schizophrenia is Kang Jingming. If she can make a clean break with him, the wound in her heart will heal on its own without treatment."

"Exactly, that's just what I was thinking," Kang Xiaofeng said. "So, boss, I'd like to ask you to come with me. Would you?"

"Me? Come with you?" Wei Zhao hadn't expected such a request from Kang Xiaofeng. "What would I do there? Besides, does your second grandfather's birthday banquet really allow so many outsiders?"

Even bringing Xiaofen alone was a bit of a stretch—though if Kang Xiaofeng said she was his girlfriend, that might just pass. But what would he be there for? Kang Xiaofeng's classmate?

"Boss, you said it yourself—the root cause of Xiaofen's schizophrenia is Kang Jingming. I'm bringing her to make a clean break, but I'm also afraid she won't be able to bear the pressure of the grief for a moment and will relapse," Kang Xiaofeng said with evident worry. "Actually... boss, I was also hoping you'd give me some courage..."

"Since you call me boss, of course I have no problem accompanying you," Wei Zhao said, naturally not minding making the trip with Kang Xiaofeng. But he added, "Like I said, can you really bring that many people?"

"Don't worry about that, boss," Kang Xiaofeng said. "Actually, my second grandfather's family holds gatherings like this many times a year. The birthday banquet is just an excuse. Every time, they invite friends to bring their sons and daughters along, mainly to foster friendships among the next generation. It's called a birthday banquet, but it's really a social networking cocktail party. Anyone can bring friends—it's just that in past years I never cared much for that kind of socializing, and no one ever bothered to get to know me..."

At this, Kang Xiaofeng laughed a little at himself. As a member of the Kang family like any other, he was the one people cold-shouldered every year. Watching his cousins surrounded like stars around the moon, encircled by crowds of young men and women, Kang Xiaofeng couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.

But that was no wonder. The people who came to make connections were no fools: it was Divine Doctor Kang's direct descendants who were the ones worth cultivating. For a collateral branch like Kang Xiaofeng, so long as appearances were kept up, that was enough. No one would go out of their way to curry favor with him.

"So that's how it is. Then we may as well pay a visit." Wei Zhao nodded. It was just as well—he wanted to see for himself what sort of person this Divine Doctor Kang was. If he were to collaborate with Guan Xuewen on producing and selling finished medicine in the future, he would inevitably end up a rival of Divine Doctor Kang.

"Boss, why don't you bring Tang Zhi along?" Kang Xiaofeng suggested with a chuckle.

"Tang Zhi? She's not really suited to that sort of occasion." Wei Zhao guessed that Tang Zhi had most likely never attended a gathering like this in her life.