Besides, the Kang family could hardly bankrupt itself over this thousand-year snow lotus, and to be left without a penny in hand would never do.

Kang Zhaolong sighed, for it was too late to stop his father! But now that they had locked horns with Fatty Lai, there was no backing down, for the Kangs were not people who shied away from trouble!

"Deliberate?" Fatty Lai had been on the verge of giving up, but Kang Guifeng's shouting only stiffened his resolve, and he rose to his feet to fire back: "Well, the general manager of the mighty Kang Miracle Doctor Pharmaceutical Group does not know what an auction is? You are allowed to bid, and I am not?"

Kang Zhaolong had no choice but to stand up at this point. He too was a member of the Kang family, and with his father already on his feet, how could he as a junior sit by and do nothing?

Yet Kang Zhaolong's voice was not as aggressive as Kang Guifeng's, but calm and measured as he said: "Mr. Lai, my father did not say you cannot buy it, but what use would this thousand-year snow lotus be to you? Could you tell us? Precious as this herb is, it is hardly needed in every Chinese prescription, is it?"

"What use?" Fatty Lai burst out laughing when he heard that: "What I want it for is none of your business, is it? What if I just want it for fun? Why do you not tell me first what you want it for?"

Kang Zhaolong smiled faintly, for Fatty Lai's words were exactly what he wanted. He had been hoping Fatty Lai would say just that, so he could move on to the next step of his plan! He had worked it all out from the moment he stood up.

"Mr. Lai, I have no objection to telling you!" Kang Zhaolong said: "We run a pharmaceutical company, and while we do seek profit, our mission is to heal the world and save lives. There is nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Fatty Lai frowned, unsure what Kang Zhaolong was driving at, but he offered no rebuttal.

"Mr. Lai, our Kang family wants this thousand-year snow lotus in order to save a life! As the saying goes, saving a life is like putting out a fire, and this thousand-year snow lotus is the guiding ingredient we need. The patient we are treating lacks only this one ingredient." Kang Zhaolong went on in the same even tone: "Though there may be some friction between us, I hope that, as fellow workers in the sacred profession of medicine, Mr. Lai will put the greater good first and the patient above all! If you are only buying it for amusement, then yield it to us, for we mean to use it to save a human life!"

When Kang Zhaolong finished this speech, the whole hall fell silent at once! Kang Zhaolong sneered inwardly, try your tricks on me and you are still green. When it comes to playing dirty, what the hell do you amount to?

It had to be admitted that Kang Zhaolong's words swung public opinion across the room toward the Kang family! They had said it was to save lives, so if Fatty Lai kept fighting them for it now, would that not be going too far? Besides, Fatty Lai himself had said he was bidding for fun. You are playing, they are saving lives. How could those be the same?

If you refused to yield it to them, that would be watching someone die without lifting a finger! You are in the medical business yourself, have you never heard that a healer must have a benevolent heart? Would you just stand by and watch a man die?

Of course, Kang Zhaolong was not afraid that Fatty Lai would change his story and claim he too was buying it to save lives, for it was too late for that now. What coincidence could be so neat? They save lives, so you save lives too?

He did not believe Fatty Lai would do such a thing, for that would only bring him even greater contempt.

Fatty Lai frowned. He had already meant to give up, so he had not bothered scheming against the Kangs, thinking a couple of taunts would settle it, but he had never expected the Kang boy to be so venomous, putting him in an unjust and unfeeling light with just a few sentences!

Shrewd all his life, Fatty Lai had capsized in a gutter! Yet it was hardly his fault, for Wei Zhao had already told him to drop it, so why would he waste any thought sparring with the Kangs?

"Who said we were fighting you for that thousand-year snow lotus?" Before Fatty Lai could speak, Feng Xiaoxiao rose to her feet.

"Oh? Did I mishear just now?" Kang Zhaolong smiled slightly, showing no anger, though inwardly he frowned. This Feng Xiaoxiao was no easy mark. She had nearly fleeced Wu Chengtian to death yesterday, the little minx was sharp as they come!

"What thousand-year snow lotus? I want that box!" Feng Xiaoxiao pointed at the box holding the thousand-year snow lotus on the auction stage and said: "I just think that box looks nice and want it for a makeup box. What does that have to do with the thousand-year snow lotus?"

Feng Xiaoxiao's words chilled the auction to dead silence. So Fatty Lai had been bidding all this time just to buy a makeup box for this girl?

Kang Zhaolong sneered inwardly, you would spend a hundred million on a makeup box? Who are you trying to fool? Knowing how sly and deceitful Feng Xiaoxiao was, able to lie without blinking, Kang Zhaolong did not believe a word she said!

As he saw it, Feng Xiaoxiao had stood up now most likely to rescue Fatty Lai! After all, he had just said they were buying the thousand-year snow lotus to save lives! And Fatty Lai would now have to bow his head and yield it, but would that not cost him face?

Feng Xiaoxiao's move, then, was to spare Fatty Lai that humiliation, for what they were buying was the makeup box, not the thousand-year snow lotus, so they were not deliberately fighting him for it at all.

"Oh? So it is a makeup box you are after? Little sister Xiaoxiao certainly has unique taste!" Kang Zhaolong was no Wu Chengtian, how could he possibly believe Feng Xiaoxiao's nonsense?

"Yes, so why do you not let me have it? I so rarely take a liking to anything!" Feng Xiaoxiao gazed at Kang Zhaolong with a beaming smile, as cute as cute could be, cute enough to kill without paying for it.

Kang Zhaolong snorted coldly in his heart, trying that trick on me? Useless! Do you take me for Wu Chengtian, to be fooled so easily? Fine, Feng Xiaoxiao, I have yet to settle with you for making me spend fifteen million yesterday, and today you walk right into my hands. If I do not teach you a lesson, will you really think I, Kang Zhaolong, am easy to bully?

With that settled in his mind, Kang Zhaolong stopped looking at Feng Xiaoxiao and turned instead to Fatty Lai, asking with the same composure as before: "Mr. Lai, so what you want is this box? Not the thousand-year snow lotus?"

"Yes, I am just helping her win this box!" Fatty Lai vaguely grasped what Feng Xiaoxiao meant, and naturally played along at this moment, though his manner seemed a little forced since he did not know her full plan.

That awkwardness, falling into Kang Zhaolong's eyes, only delighted him further. Clearly Fatty Lai was saying one thing and meaning another! People say some will slap their own faces swollen to look prosperous, but if this Fatty Lai slapped his face swollen, just how fat would he get?

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