Chapter 686 — Failed Again

"Achoo!" Kang Zhaoming sneezed the moment he came through the door, giving Guan Xin, who was in the middle of preparing medicine, a start. She turned her head, saw him come in propped up between two men, and blinked in surprise. "You again?"

"Guan Xin, I've come to see a doctor..." Kang Zhaoming felt he had finally found a reason to approach her, and he perked up with a flicker of excitement. "I've caught a cold. Will you give me a shot?"

"Are you registered? Have you been to the outpatient clinic? Do you have a doctor's order?" Guan Xin frowned. She could not understand how Kang Zhaoming had gone out for a turn and come back at death's door — and he did look gravely ill.

But whether his illness was real or feigned, Guan Xin could not give him an injection. Without a doctor's order, how could she administer treatment at random?

"Huh? I have to go to the clinic too? Look at me — if I don't get a shot soon I'll die..." Kang Zhaoming was taken aback, and only then did it strike him that there was a procedure to seeing a doctor at a hospital. It was all his fever's fault; his head was muddled, his wits dulled. And Zhu Xiaozhang and Wang Shubin, the two idiots — why hadn't they reminded him? They weren't running fevers, so how were they this stupid too?

He could not help glaring at Zhu Xiaozhang and Wang Shubin in annoyance, but in front of Guan Xin he had no way to scold them outright.

In this he did them wrong. Young gentlemen of their sort had never registered for a doctor back in the provincial capital. Especially with Kang Zhaoming's connection to the Divine Doctor Kang family — wherever they went, there was always an acquaintance at the hospital, someone to lead them straight to shots and medicine, and whatever treatment was needed was simply given. Who had ever heard of needing to register?

"Um... Nurse Guan Xin, Young Master Ming's illness is severe and urgent, and we didn't have time to register. How about you treat him first, and I'll go register to make up for it?" Wang Shubin said hurriedly.

"Then you should go to the outpatient clinic as well. Without a doctor's order, I can't prescribe at random!" Guan Xin said. "Since he's this ill, you'd better take him to the clinic first."

"Uh... the thing is, I don't really know anyone at this hospital, not a soul, and I'm afraid they'll fleece me..." Kang Zhaoming said, seizing on a sudden inspiration. "Look how lavishly this place is decorated — they must have squeezed a fortune out of the people. If I don't have an acquaintance here, I wouldn't dare. What if they botch the treatment and kill me? You're the only person I know here. Help me out..."

Kang Zhaoming was rather pleased with his own quick thinking. The reason made perfect sense — the newspapers and news reports were full of hospital scandals these days, so he wasn't talking nonsense; he had a solid case.

Just as Kang Zhaoming was feeling smug, Guan Xin's face darkened. "Our hospital's rules are perfectly clear, and we have a fixed fee schedule. No one is going to fleece you. And every doctor here holds a medical license — no one is going to treat you to death."

"That's hard to say. Even with clearly marked prices there can be shady dealings under the table!" Kang Zhaoming's head was still foggy; plainly he had not noticed that Guan Xin was already very displeased, and he went on, full of self-assurance. "These hospital owners nowadays, their hearts are black as coal. I really can't feel safe..."

"My father's heart is not black." Guan Xin shot him a glare and turned away, refusing to have anything more to do with him.

"Gah?" Kang Zhaoming was stunned by her words, then it hit him all at once. Guan Xin's father, Guan Xiaoxiang, was Guan Xuemin's son — and Guan Xuemin's younger son, Guan Xin's father, was a shareholder in this very hospital.

Finished. This time he was truly finished. Hadn't he just been pointing at the mulberry while cursing the locust tree? Hadn't he just made Guan Xin hate him forever? Last time he had called her grandfather a swindler; this time he had called her father a black-hearted boss... Good God, was there any hope of salvaging this?

Kang Zhaoming nearly keeled over on the spot. He could not have been more mortified. It seemed this cold and fever really did a man harm — with a muddled head, one's words came out all topsy-turvy.

"Guan Xin, don't be angry, that's not what I meant. I wasn't calling your father black-hearted — I've just been burned so many times by black-hearted businessmen!" Kang Zhaoming explained hastily. "I've caught a cold and I'm running a fever, my head isn't clear, and when the fever muddles me I talk nonsense. Surely you wouldn't hold it against a sick man?"

"If you're sick, then go and get treated. I have work to do!" How could Guan Xin fail to see through Kang Zhaoming's intentions? If he weren't trying to court her, why would he come fishing for closeness? But she did not like him, and she gave him no opening.

This time Kang Zhaoming was too embarrassed to keep pestering Guan Xin to accompany him to the doctor. Rather sullenly, he shot Wang Shubin and Zhu Xiaozhang a look, telling them to take him to register and see a doctor. After all, once he had a doctor's order, he could still come back to Guan Xin for his injection.

Not long after Kang Zhaoming left, Kang Xiaobo came looking for her.

Kang Xiaobo had no acquaintances at the hospital either, and bringing Xiaofen for a follow-up would naturally be easier with someone he knew. He had met Guan Xin last time through Wei Zhao, and knowing she was Guan Xuemin's granddaughter, he was on good terms with her as a matter of course.

Guan Xin was glad to be friendly with Kang Xiaobo too. Why, she could not quite say herself — was it because he was Wei Zhao's good friend?

Still, seeing Tang Yun beside Kang Xiaobo, Guan Xin felt a little awkward. Her small secret, it seemed, had not escaped that beautiful girl's eyes.

"Guan Xin, I've brought Xiaofen for a follow-up. Are you busy? Could you take us over?" Kang Xiaobo asked with a smile once he had stepped into the nurses' duty room.

"Of course. Just let me finish what I'm doing." Guan Xin was preparing some medicines for external injuries, which had to be delivered to the wards shortly, so she had to finish before she could do anything else.

"Then I've really put you out." Kang Xiaobo nodded his thanks. Sometimes doctors did not hold clinic hours and might be in the wards, so if Kang Xiaobo took Xiaofen for a follow-up, there was a good chance he would not find the person he needed.

"It's nothing. What's the trouble in that?" Guan Xin shook her head. "Have a seat, both of you. I'll be a little while yet."

"All right, take your time." Kang Xiaobo drew Xiaofen down onto the sofa at the side, while Tang Yun looked a little ill at ease. A girl's sixth sense told her there was something faintly ambiguous between Wei Zhao and Guan Xin.

But she did not know what to do about it. Guan Xin was always so soft and gentle, never showing anything, never contending or fighting, so that Tang Yun could not even summon the will to contend with her. Besides, her own father was hospitalized here, and Guan Xin had helped a great deal; that made it even harder for Tang Yun to harbor any ill feeling toward her.

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