Chapter 520 — The Kang Grandfather and Grandson

Wasn't the gap between them a little too absurd? Still, there was nothing to be done about it—who had told him to misjudge things earlier? He had assumed that the bidding for the first Longevity and Detox Pill had been the work of those two nuisances Liu Tianyi and Fatty Lai, driving the price up at random, and that the second one ought to come cheaper!

It was not that Divine Doctor Kang was given to wild fancies; that was simply how auctions usually went! Even with the deluxe edition of their family's Golden Wound Medicine, the same held true—at first it could fetch five hundred thousand, but by the end the price had dropped to three or four hundred thousand.

Who could have guessed that the second Longevity and Detox Pill would be bought by someone from the Yu family, and at the very same price of two hundred and eighty million! That was what finally made Divine Doctor Kang somewhat anxious—he knew the pill was genuinely worth that much! Yet he dared not compete with the Yu family, for after all, whether his clan could be recognized and promoted to a great house depended decisively on the Yu family!

So Divine Doctor Kang could only wait for the third Longevity and Detox Pill. But the tragedy was that Fatty Lai had also set his sights on the third one, and actually bid it up past four hundred million! Divine Doctor Kang felt a violent urge to vomit blood, yet there was not a thing he could do!

In the end, weighing the value of each Longevity and Detox Pill and the long-term benefits it could bring his clan, Divine Doctor Kang had no choice but to grit his teeth and spend the exorbitant sum of four hundred and thirty million to buy the last Longevity and Detox Pill. If he could truly analyze its ingredients, it would bring his clan incalculable advantage!

Four hundred and thirty million—nearly all of the Kang family's liquid capital! The Kang family's liquid assets amounted to only about five hundred million, and in one stroke more than eighty percent of it was gone!

Still, it was fortunate that tomorrow there was one lot which, if they managed to win it, would bring the Kang family an unexpected profit! At that thought, Divine Doctor Kang took a measure of comfort.

Suddenly he heard a knock at the door outside his room. Divine Doctor Kang frowned and called out, "Who is it?"

"Grandfather, it's me—Zhaolong!" Kang Jinglong had hurried back to the hotel; he wanted to tell his grandfather about making the acquaintance of the Wu family today.

"Come in! The door's unlocked," said Divine Doctor Kang. Hearing that it was Kang Jinglong, he let him enter.

Kang Jinglong stepped inside, then casually shut the door behind him and bolted it.

"Why are you locking the door?" Divine Doctor Kang asked, baffled.

"Grandfather, I have something momentous to tell you!" Kang Jinglong lowered his voice, strode quickly to Divine Doctor Kang's side, and sat down on the sofa beside him.

"Momentous? What momentous thing?" Divine Doctor Kang asked in return.

"Today I successfully established a connection with Wu Chengtian of the Iron Hand Wu family!" Kang Jinglong said, and then recounted the day's events to Divine Doctor Kang in full detail—including running into Wei Zhao and Feng Xiaoxiao, and helping Wu Chengtian take photographs; he left nothing out.

Hearing Kang Jinglong's account, Divine Doctor Kang fell into thought at once. After a long while he nodded and said, "Zhaolong, you've done well! Fifteen million—that was money well spent! Given Wu Chengtian's flashy, ostentatious nature, you can use this affair to build a pretty good relationship with him!"

"Exactly, Grandfather! With the Wu family's backing, can our family start looking into the matter of upgrading to a great house?" Kang Jinglong asked cautiously.

"Upgrading to a great house..." Divine Doctor Kang drew a deep breath and looked at his grandson with some surprise. He had not expected the boy's ambition to outstrip his own—here he had barely made the acquaintance of a junior member of the Wu family, and already he was scheming to upgrade their status.

"The Wu family holds a very special place among these great houses. If Wu Gonggao speaks up in support of us, I'm afraid no one would object—even the Yu family would have to weigh the value of a Mystic-rank expert!" Kang Jinglong continued. "The relationship between Wu Chengtian and me, frankly speaking, is purely one of mutual interest. I settled his bill and gave him face; right now he's grateful to me and willing to help me with a few things, but I fear that as time passes he'll simply forget. Better to strike while the iron is hot and set this matter in motion!"

"What you say does have some sense to it!" Divine Doctor Kang nodded. "If I hadn't finished reading this catalogue of tomorrow's lots today, I would still have to weigh your proposal carefully! But as things stand, we really can give it a try!"

"Oh? The catalogue? Is there something in the catalogue that benefits our Kang family?" Kang Jinglong asked, startled.

"There is! And it's extremely beneficial!" Divine Doctor Kang nodded. "Our family's Golden Wound Medicine—its original efficacy was actually not limited to what it does now. It can also remove old, long-standing scars from the skin, leaving it fresh and new!"

"I know that, but isn't there one ingredient that's scarce, so it had to be cut from the formula?" Kang Jinglong was in charge of the Kang family's laboratory, so he knew a thing or two about the Golden Wound Medicine's recipe.

"Precisely! And among the lots up for auction tomorrow is that very ingredient!" Divine Doctor Kang tapped the catalogue in his hand.

"Oh?" Kang Jinglong was briefly taken aback. He hastily took the catalogue from his grandfather's hands and glanced at the page lying open—and was at once astonished. "A thousand-year snow lotus? Such a thing really exists?"

"Of course it's real! An herb like this must have been appraised, or it would never be put up at an auction like this—otherwise, if a fake turned up, it would cost the Yu family face too!" Divine Doctor Kang said. "This thousand-year snow lotus we must have, no matter the cost!"

"But Grandfather, even if we do manage to formulate this Golden Wound Medicine, what does that have to do with contending for the status of a great house?" Kang Jinglong was briefly taken aback, unable to see the necessary connection between the two.

"A medicine for removing scars naturally cannot be mentioned in the same breath as a Life-Extending Detox Pill, but it is still a wondrous medicine!" Divine Doctor Kang laughed. "Used well, it will be of enormous benefit to our family!"

"Oh? You mean, Grandfather, that we use this Golden Wound Medicine for public relations?" Kang Jinglong had of course understood his grandfather's meaning; what he could not grasp was what decisive role this particular Golden Wound Medicine could possibly play.

"Heh heh, Zhaolong, you are still young, you have no wife and no daughter, so naturally you cannot understand the subtlety of it!" Divine Doctor Kang waved a hand and explained with a smile. "Think about it—which great house has no women? Women all love beauty. This special Golden Wound Medicine of ours, though of little practical use, is a panacea in the eyes of these women!"