Chapter 1018 — The Kang Family's Attitude Toward the Xiao Family

"Oh? Not bad!" Hearing Kang Zhaolong's words, Divine Doctor Kang could not help but laugh aloud. "Hahaha! Zhaolong speaks the truth. The Xiao family has fallen, and we must make them fall further still! Only when they have fallen further will we have our chance! Good! Good! Good! A truly excellent idea!"

"Grandfather flatters me!" Kang Zhaolong smiled faintly and answered with modesty.

Kang Cuipu frowned. What sort of sense was there in that? If Kang Zhaolong had not been doing him a kindness by saying so, he himself knew his words were nonsense. But his mind was not on such things, and he had no schemes to speak of.

"And Zhaoming? What do you say? What should be done?" Divine Doctor Kang looked toward Kang Zhaoming.

"Grandfather, in truth, what Elder Brother said has some sense to it, but I do not think it is entirely so." Kang Zhaoming felt that since his father had lost face, it fell to the son to win it back; and he wished as well to make a good impression before his grandfather. So he had pondered long and hard before speaking these words.

"Oh? Then tell me, how is it not entirely so?" Divine Doctor Kang still set great store by Kang Zhaoming's words. Wastrel though Kang Zhaoming was, he was far better than his father Kang Cuipu.

"Grandfather, as the saying goes, even a salted fish has its day to turn over!" Kang Zhaoming said. "The Xiao family may have fallen, but they are a great family after all, and the connections they hold are beyond our knowing. If they truly rise again, that would be hard to say."

"Rise again?" Divine Doctor Kang shook his head. In his view, how could the Xiao family ever rise again? Their house broken and their people dead was more like it. But Kang Zhaoming had lately won much credit for the family, so Divine Doctor Kang could not well rebuke him, and merely asked on, "Then what do you think should be done?"

"I think the marriage alliance with the Xiao family must not be broken, but it should not be with Elder Brother!" Here Kang Zhaoming gave an embarrassed cackle. "Elder Brother's betrothal could be shifted to me! I will grudgingly take that pretty girl of the Xiao family. I am a wastrel of the Kang family anyway, so if the Xiao family falls, I can kick her out with one foot and it will do us no harm, because I am a profligate son who plays with women; if I cast her off, no one can say a word against us. But Elder Brother could not do such a thing! And if they do not fall, then we can still keep the ties."

Hearing Kang Zhaoming's words, Divine Doctor Kang fell into thought. But Kang Zhaolong laughed aloud and looked at Kang Zhaoming. "Little brother, have you taken a fancy to Wang Xinyan? Where are there no pretty girls? In any case, she is your elder brother's wife. Such a thought is not good."

Kang Zhaoming did indeed have selfish motives, and being seen through, he flushed at once. Still he quibbled, "I am doing this for the good of the Kang family!"

"Let us do as Zhaolong says." Hearing Kang Zhaolong, Divine Doctor Kang said no more about Kang Zhaoming's opinion, only adding, "Zhaoming, Zhaolong is right. One who does great things should not care so much about women."

"Yes... Grandfather..." Kang Zhaoming was somewhat resentful. In fact, he truly felt this way; as for getting his hands on Wang Xinyan, though selfishness was in it, what if the Xiao family were not stripped of their great-family name after all?

After all, the Yu family had also suffered losses recently. If at the Great Family Assembly the Yu family, badly weakened, kept a low profile and let the Xiao family off for the time being, or if, sharing the same enemies as the Xiao family, they came to feel a kinship of shared fate, then the Xiao family still had value to be used.

But Kang Zhaoming knew that nothing he said now would help. He could only let his grandfather believe that he wanted to dally with Wang Xinyan. Of course, that was indeed what he wanted.

Since the Kang family had settled on how to treat the Xiao family, there was no longer any need for concealment.

Kang Guifeng went straight out of the Kang family villa and walked toward the Xiao brothers.

Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben had waited a long while at the gate of the Kang family villa. They had already sent someone in to announce them, but half an hour had passed and still no one from the Kang family had come out, and they could not help growing restless.

"Second Brother, do you think the Kang family will refuse to see us? Damn it, what snobs! When our Xiao family was at its height, they scrambled to cozy up to us, and now that we have had a little trouble, this is how they treat us!" Xiao Ji was of a rough temper, and having waited so long, he began to curse and shout. "How long has it been? Half an hour, is it not? And still no one has come out? What the hell is the Kang family playing at?"

"..." Xiao Ben looked at his furious elder brother and sighed softly. "Elder Brother, be patient. Is our Xiao family merely in a little trouble now? Uncle Pi has become a vegetable, the only support our Xiao family had is gone, and we still owe that brat Wei Zhao a mountain of debt. We are beset with troubles now. It is only natural that the Kang family does not wish to see us."

"Natural? I call it shameless snobbery!" Xiao Ji snorted. "What sort of creatures are they?"

"Elder Brother, someone is coming! Stop shouting!" Xiao Ben had sharp eyes and saw the villa's gate move. He hurriedly stopped Xiao Ji from cursing further, lest they give offense.

Hearing that someone was coming, Xiao Ji quickly shut his mouth. He had only been venting, taking a cheap satisfaction in words; now that the Kang family had truly come out, he dared not curse. After all, they had come to beg a favor, not the other way around.

But what the Xiao brothers had not expected was that the one who came out of the villa was Kang Guifeng, eldest son of Divine Doctor Kang and father of Kang Zhaolong, who was betrothed to Wang Xinyan! Xiao Ben's heart eased. To send a man of such weight to receive the two brothers—there was still hope, it seemed.

At the thought, he hurried forward with a smiling face. "Brother Kang, how could you come out to receive us in person? We hardly deserve it!"

Xiao Ji was also startled. He too had not expected Kang Guifeng to come out in person, and so the resentment in his heart lessened greatly. He hurried forward as well. "Brother Kang!"

"I wonder what business the two Xiao brothers have come to our Kang family for?" But Kang Guifeng's expression was not so pleasant; he asked Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben in a very cold voice, as though he were not at all acquainted with them.

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