Chapter 501 — Some Left Over

Xiao Wangba and Wu Chengtian had once been on fairly good terms—the kind of drinking buddies who shared wine and women—so at least they were familiar faces to each other. And with Xiao Wangba fawning over him so deliberately now, Wu Chengtian did not rebuff him. He glanced at Xiao Wangba and said, "Don't even mention it. I ran into some little punk who tried to snatch my woman, and Grandfather wouldn't even stand up for me—just dragged me out of there. I don't know what's so untouchable about the brat. So what if he's with Dr. Guan?"

"Exactly. Dr. Guan is nothing. It's Divine Doctor Kang who's really formidable!" The speaker was Xiao Wangba's younger brother, Xiao Wangdao, Xiao Ben's son. The Xiao and Kang families were about to be joined by marriage, so naturally he spoke up for Divine Doctor Kang.

"Exactly!" Wu Chengtian felt an instant liking for the Xiao brothers. "What are you two up to? If you're free, come with me—drinks are on me!"

Wu Chengtian was in a foul mood and badly wanted someone to pour his heart out to. The Xiao brothers exchanged a glance and were secretly delighted. They had already been looking for a way to ingratiate themselves with Wu Chengtian, and now that he was inviting them to dinner of his own accord, how could they not be overjoyed?

"Sure! But let us treat you, Brother Chengtian. You're the elder brother and we're the younger ones—how could we let the elder brother pay?" Xiao Wangba said.

"If you put it that way, then I definitely can't let you pay. Since I'm the elder brother, it's only right that the elder brother treats!" Hearing the Xiao brothers' flattery, Wu Chengtian's earlier displeasure faded somewhat.

"All right then, but we'll have to wait a bit. Divine Doctor Kang's son, Brother Zhaolong, and his fiancée—my cousin—will be here any moment. Let's go together!" Xiao Wangba said with a nod.

"Oh? Kang Jinglong?" Wu Chengtian was slightly taken aback. "I know him. We've met. Then let's go together!"

After a short wait, a Nissan Quest minivan pulled up slowly. It was the Xiao family's car. Though the Xiao family had fallen on hard times, they had not sold the vehicle. A car like that cost a fortune to buy but would fetch far less on resale, so it was better kept to keep up appearances.

Originally, the Xiao family and Divine Doctor Kang had intended for Kang Jinglong and Wang Xinyan to attend the auction as well, but Wang Xinyan refused no matter what was said. There was no help for it—Kang Jinglong stayed home to keep her company.

All afternoon, Wang Xinyan sat quietly on the sofa listening to her MP3 and scrolling through a novel on her phone. Whatever Kang Jinglong said, her answer was either "Mm" or "Oh," leaving him utterly at a loss.

At long last evening came and the auction ended. Xiao Wangba and Xiao Wangdao invited Kang Jinglong out to dinner. At her parents' urging, Wang Xinyan had no choice but to go along with Kang Jinglong and make an appearance.

Her father had promised her that it was just one meal, a chance to spend some time together and see how things went—there was no rush to decide, and she could return to Songshan right after dinner. So it was reluctantly that Wang Xinyan came with Kang Jinglong to the auction venue.

"Brother Chengtian, do you have a car?" Xiao Wangba asked Wu Chengtian when he saw his family's vehicle arrive.

Wu Chengtian had come with Wu Gonggao, but Wu Gonggao had clearly gone off to visit friends. Wu Chengtian, still fuming that his grandfather had not stood up for him, had stayed behind alone to sulk instead of leaving with the old man—so where would he have a car now?

"Let's go. We'll ride in your family's car." Wu Chengtian did not feel that lacking a car was a loss of face. After all, at the Wu family's level, no one would believe it if he said he had no car.

"Good, wonderful. Brother Chengtian, please get in!" Xiao Wangba ushered Wu Chengtian into the car, then he and Xiao Wangdao climbed in after him.

"Brother Kang, this is Brother Chengtian of the Iron Hand Wu family!" Once inside, Xiao Wangdao made the introductions to Kang Jinglong.

"Oh? Brother Chengtian, hello. We've met before!" Kang Jinglong said with a smile, extending his hand to Wu Chengtian. "This is my fiancée, Wang Xinyan! Xinyan, this is Brother Chengtian, the finest of the Iron Hand Wu family's younger generation—our idol!"

"Ha, you flatter me!" Kang Jinglong's words left Wu Chengtian greatly pleased. "Zhaolong, you certainly have a way with words. You'll have to drink a couple extra cups with me later!"

"No problem!" Kang Jinglong readily agreed. He was a good student, but no bookworm—on the contrary, he was thoroughly cunning, and he knew very well how to curry favor with Wu Chengtian.

Wang Xinyan, meanwhile, sat quietly in her seat without a word, listening to her MP3, as though everything around her had nothing to do with her at all.

Seeing that Wang Xinyan said nothing, Kang Jinglong was rather helpless, but fortunately Wu Chengtian did not mind in the least. He sat there and fell into conversation with Xiao Wangba...

Wei Zhao delivered the twenty bottles of "premium edition" trauma medicine he had prepared to Fatty Lai's room. Fatty Lai had not expected Wei Zhao to finish so quickly. Beyond his astonishment, he was endlessly impressed by his own brilliant decision to follow Wei Zhao. "Boss... how should we price this premium edition of the Golden Wound Medicine?"

"You figure it out." Wei Zhao would not interfere with the pricing of auction items like this, since everyone attending the auction was a wealthy merchant or tycoon—it did them no harm to bleed a little.

"Fine!" With Wei Zhao's carte blanche, Fatty Lai found it much easier to act on his own. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Er... boss, this deluxe-grade trauma medicine - can I join the bidding?"

"You need this?" Wei Zhao gave him an odd look. A man ought to have no use for such a thing. Wei Zhao himself bore a few scars left over from fights, but he had never thought of having them removed; there was simply no need.

"Heh heh, it's for my wife. A few years back she had her appendix out, and it left a scar..." Fatty Lai trailed off, a little embarrassed. "You know how it is - every time we get intimate, that scar bothers me, and my wife's a vain one besides. She can't wear crop tops in summer..."

"All right, I get it..." Wei Zhao saw that Fatty Lai was rambling on without end and waved a hand. "I've still got some left over in my room. I was going to throw it out anyway - if you need it, take it."

"What? Throw it out?" Fatty Lai nearly keeled over. "Boss, this stuff is money! What a waste to throw it away - you might as well be chucking cash in the bin!"

"I mixed up too much of it and ran out of bottles. It's in the way on my bed, and I still need to sleep at night." Wei Zhao shrugged indifferently. Cheap stuff like this, he truly did not much care about.

"I've got room at my place - I'll go without sleep!" Fatty Lai counted himself lucky. A moment later and he would have been left with nothing at all.