Chapter 415 — The Kang Family's Marriage Alliance "Bang!"

Divine Doctor Kang slapped his own thigh and sprang excitedly to his feet: "A word from you has woken the dreamer! Truly, a word has woken the dreamer! Zhaoming, what you've said makes excellent sense — if urine can cure disease, why not dung?"

"Exactly, Grandfather. Don't people say 'stinking dog shit'? That proves dog shit stinks, and in the old days surely nobody ever ate it, because it stinks too much!" said Kang Zhaoming. "But it's possible that someone stumbled onto the secret of dog shit by pure accident, and that's how the Longevity Detox Pill was made. In fact, the stuff in it is very likely just stinking dog shit!"

"Grandfather, there's something to what Zhaoming says!" How could Kang Zhaolong let Kang Zhaoming hog all the glory? He had once been the most outstanding of the household's younger generation, so he hurried to cut in: "Grandfather, I think so too. Look at the so-called dog treasure — it's nothing but a stone from a dog's belly. In any other animal, a stone is garbage, a waste, but in a dog it becomes a treasure. So I'd say dog shit may not be such a bad thing either. It's probably the main ingredient of that Longevity Detox Pill!"

"Right, Zhaolong makes sense too!" Divine Doctor Kang nodded. "Your grandfather didn't dote on you two for nothing. With you brothers in this generation, the Kang family is bound to shine even brighter! I'm very pleased. If this Longevity Detox Pill is successfully developed, you two brothers will deserve the greatest credit, and when the time comes, you'll take the lion's share of the shares."

"Thank you, Grandfather!" Kang Zhaolong and Kang Zhaoming were both delighted. A few words had won them shares in a new drug — it was almost too easy.

"Then here's what we'll do, Zhaolong: arrange for some people to collect dog shit, and we'll run an experiment!" Divine Doctor Kang instructed. "Produce the Longevity Detox Pill as quickly as possible. Once we do, the Kang family's standing will climb another level! That Golden Wound Medicine of ours will be small potatoes by comparison!"

"No problem, Grandfather. I'll find someone to handle it right away and get it done as soon as possible!" Kang Zhaolong nodded and accepted the task.

"Good, very good!" said Divine Doctor Kang. "There's one more very important matter I want to raise — your marriage, Zhaolong."

"My marriage? What do you mean?" Kang Zhaolong was startled. "I don't even have a girlfriend. What marriage are we talking about?"

Kang Zhaolong was not like Kang Zhaoming. Kang Zhaoming romped through every flower garden, changing girlfriends more often than he ate meals. Kang Zhaolong was different. As the rising star of the Kang family's third generation, he had been laden with expectations since childhood. He wanted to fall in love and find a girlfriend too, but he was a man of iron self-control and immense ambition, so he had resolutely given up on romance; even when a girl stirred his heart, he chose to let her go.

He devoted himself wholly to scholarship — otherwise he could never have sailed through his doctoral studies. All of it was won by his own effort; he had never once invoked the Kang family's influence.

That was the main reason Divine Doctor Kang thought so highly of him, so now that the old man had brought up his marriage, he was rather baffled.

"Heh heh, girlfriend or no girlfriend doesn't matter. Your grandfather has arranged a match for you. The girl in that family is very beautiful, and they're a great clan. What do you say, Zhaolong?" Divine Doctor Kang asked.

"This... isn't it a bit soon? Grandfather, I haven't even finished my doctorate..." Kang Zhaolong was somewhat taken aback; the whole thing felt too sudden.

"It's not soon at all! You're already a doctoral student — plenty of people bring their children along when they go for a doctorate. At your age, your grandfather already had your second uncle!" Divine Doctor Kang waved a hand. "Zhaolong, you must understand that this is a marriage alliance between families, and it matters enormously to the Kang family's prestige in high society. These years we've made our name on the Golden Wound Medicine, but in the end we're still just a merchant family with a miracle prescription. People call me Divine Doctor Kang, but that's only out of respect — in truth, what kind of divine doctor am I? So if the Kang family is to take its place among the great houses, we must work on ourselves, yes, but we must also marry into other families!"

"Of course, those great families look down on us and disdain an alliance with us. But some families that have fallen on hard times are only too glad to do it! And however far they've fallen, they were once great clans, and they still have a certain standing and reputation. Once we join forces, the Kang family will advance another step!"

"I leave it entirely to you, Grandfather!" Kang Zhaolong hesitated a moment, then nodded. If that was how it was, then this marriage would be the bond that carried the family to success, and he himself would be a man of merit; his standing in the Kang family would rise sharply. This was a good thing for him. So after only a brief hesitation he agreed: "Grandfather, which family is it?"

"The Xiao family of Yanjing!" said Divine Doctor Kang. "Old Master Xiao grew muddled in his later years and signed a few contracts that ruined him, losing most of the Xiao family's holdings. The Xiao brothers are at their wits' end. If they want to preserve the Xiao family's standing, an alliance by marriage is their only choice!"

There was one more thing Divine Doctor Kang did not say: the Kang family now wanted to take its place among the great houses, and the two families' wishes happened to fit together perfectly.

"All right, I have no objection." Kang Zhaolong nodded in assent.

"Good. Since you agree, I've brought a photograph of the girl. Take a look. If it suits you, I'll send the betrothal gifts!" said Divine Doctor Kang. "Then we'll pick a date and hold an engagement ceremony first, to make the matter official, and our family's prestige will rise as well! The Xiao family may have no money now, but they still have all their old connections in the business world. Our Kang family's pharmaceutical group can use those connections to expand on a grand scale."

"Very well! I'll leave the arrangements to you, Grandfather!" Kang Zhaolong nodded. Whether the girl was pretty no longer mattered; what mattered was that this alliance would secure his position in the Kang family. If she was plain, he would accept it; if she was pretty, he would count it a windfall.

"This is her photograph. If you're satisfied, go and meet her yourself first — you young people ought to get along," said Divine Doctor Kang, handing Kang Zhaolong a photo. "She's an outsider by surname, but the girl's father is not to be underestimated either. He runs a pharmaceutical chain in Songshan City, and he'll be a useful arm for us."

Kang Zhaolong was overjoyed to hear it. He hadn't expected the girl's family to be so well off. This would only add wings to his position in the Kang family! He took the photograph and glanced at it casually at first, but then his eyes could not move away.

The photograph had been taken casually, yet the girl's striking beauty and her clear, refined air seized Kang Zhaolong at once! He had never imagined that his betrothed would be so beautiful. For a moment he was utterly dumbstruck.