Kang Cuipu and Kang Zhaoming were cast from the same mold; both belonged to the tribe of treacherous petty men. Otherwise, how could the father have passed off a fake ginseng root at the birthday banquet, and the son a fake prescription?

So Kang Cuipu understood Kang Zhaoming's meaning at once: that there was nothing wrong with Kang Zhaoming at all, and that he was putting on this act deliberately.

Kang Cuipu let nothing show on his face, but inwardly he was praising his son as truly formidable, the pupil surpassing the master, more devious even than himself.

"Child, a good child indeed!" Hearing Kang Zhaoming's words, Divine Doctor Kang could not help but be moved to tears that streamed down his aged cheeks. "Zhaolong, since he cannot go to the hospital, you take a look at him. Feel his pulse, and see how he is."

"Yes, Grandpa." Kang Zhaolong watched Kang Zhaoming coldly as he played out his little drama there. As his elder cousin, he knew exactly what sort of man Kang Zhaoming was: full of sly schemes since childhood, greedy for life and terrified of death. If he were truly at death's door, how could he possibly refuse to go to the hospital? So Kang Zhaolong guessed that Kang Zhaoming was faking it, eight parts out of ten.

But he could not say so. To speak of such things at a moment like this was plainly out of place. Still, Kang Zhaolong did rather envy Kang Zhaoming. He himself was the genius of the family, Grandpa's successor, yet Kang Zhaoming had stumbled into dog-shit luck, swallowing one miserable pill and winning everyone's regard. Had he known how it would turn out, he would rather have taken it himself.

Of course, had it been Kang Zhaolong who asked to test the medicine on his own body, Divine Doctor Kang would never have consented. After all, Kang Zhaolong was the future hope of the Kang family; even knowing the pill could not kill a man, Divine Doctor Kang would not gamble with Kang Zhaolong.

At this thought, Kang Zhaolong felt a little more settled inside. He walked over, took Kang Zhaoming's wrist in hand, and checked his pulse. Weak, but nothing life-threatening.

"Hm?" Kang Zhaolong was a meticulous man, and he suddenly noticed that the pores of Kang Zhaoming's body seemed to be covered by a layer of greasy, yellow-black film. "What is this? Something coming out of your body?"

Kang Zhaoming had paid attention only to his own vomiting and diarrhea, and had not noticed that there was a layer of sticky filth on his body as well. "This... what is this?"

"Cleansing the marrow and reforging the bones? Can it be that the pill really is a Life-Extending, Toxin-Expelling Pill?" Kang Zhaolong stared in astonishment at what was being expelled from Kang Zhaoming's body. "It is out, it should be out by now! I have seen descriptions of marrow-cleansing and bone-reforging in certain old medical texts, and the effect they describe is exactly like this!"

"So it really is the Life-Extending, Toxin-Expelling Pill?" Divine Doctor Kang was astonished as well, and at this moment he could not help feeling a touch of regret. If only he had taken it himself! Kang Zhaoming was so young, what toxins did he have to expel? It was he who ought to be extending his years and purging his poisons! But the half that had been cut off obviously could not be eaten now; it would have to be sent to the group's research institute for ingredient analysis and laboratory testing.

"It should be right," Kang Zhaolong nodded. "Only, on Zhaoming the effect is not very pronounced. For one thing he is young and has relatively few toxins in his body; for another, he only took half."

"Good. Zhaolong, take the other half of the Life-Extending, Toxin-Expelling Pill and go at once to our group's research institute for ingredient analysis and testing. If the formula of this medicine comes into our group's hands, then the Divine Doctor Kang brand will surely rise to another level!" Divine Doctor Kang instructed Kang Zhaolong, rather excitedly.

"Yes, Grandpa!" Kang Zhaolong nodded, though inwardly he smiled bitterly. Ingredient analysis, was it so easy? Ordinary components would be one thing, but if some exotic herb had been added, there would be essentially no hope of ever analyzing it out.

In a VIP ward of a high-class hospital in Donghai City, an old man lay weakly on the bed. In the outer room of the ward, a square-faced man was speaking in low tones with a doctor. "If my father does not get a kidney transplant, how much longer can he hold on?"

"Less than a month," the doctor shook his head. "We have already done all we can."

"And if he does get a transplant, what are the chances?" the man asked. This man was Fatty Lai's elder brother, Lai Changtian. "Money is no object."

"Mr. Lai, forgive my bluntness, but Mr. Lai senior's condition is very poor. If we were to operate now, I am afraid he would not even make it off the operating table." The doctor spoke frankly. "With your family's resources, finding a matching kidney is not a problem; if there is none through proper channels, there is still the black market... But this is not a question of money..."

"Doctor, could you think of some other way?" Lai Changtian hesitated a moment, then said, "Or at least, can you wake him up? Him lying there in a coma like this is no good either."

It was not that Lai Changtian truly cared whether his father lived or died. The crux of the matter was this: before falling into his coma, his father had left no will. If his father simply departed like this, the remaining property could only be divided equally with his younger brother. He was not willing to accept that. The effort he had poured into the group was far greater than that of his younger brother, Lai Changyi.

Lai Changyi was in charge only of real estate and trade sales. True, in the eyes of others these two industries were already high-profit businesses, but Lai Changtian was in charge of manufacturing.

Compared with real estate and trade, this sort of electronics manufacturing, with its vast industrial parks, was the true core industry of the group. Even if the two sectors of real estate and trade were stripped away and handed to Lai Changyi, the group would not be gravely wounded.

But Lai Changtian feared that his younger brother would contend with him for control of the industrial park. That was something Lai Changtian absolutely did not wish to see, so he had to wake his father and have him set down a will.

His father was no senile old fool either; he would certainly not want to see the electronics industrial park he had founded with his own hands torn to pieces by family infighting. The best solution would be to leave the two subsidiary companies, real estate and trade, to Lai Changyi, and perhaps give Lai Changyi a portion of the shares in the electronics industrial park as well, but with no authority over operations or decisions, and with the shares in his hands not to be sold at will; if they were to be sold at all, they could only be sold to himself at market price.

Such was Lai Changtian's calculation. The terms were not harsh, and he believed that his father, for the sake of the industrial park's prosperity, would surely agree to his proposal. But if his father simply went like this, Lai Changtian could not guarantee that his younger brother would not come to seize power.

"Waking him... that may be possible, but once he wakes, I am afraid the man will not be good for much either..." The doctor understood Lai Changtian's meaning, and so explained.

"This... let me think about it." Lai Changtian frowned. Who knew whether, in the instant of waking, there would be time to make a will.

Even as they spoke, the ward door was suddenly pushed open. Lai Changyi, that is, Fatty Lai, came rushing in frantic with urgency. "News, good news! Dad can be saved!"

"Changyi, what are you shouting about?" Lai Changtian, startled, scolded him with some displeasure.

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