Kang Mu lightly hit Kang Liang over the top of the head. "Don"t be a smart mouth.""You didn"t have to hit me!" Kang Liang whined despite feeling no pain whatsoever.
"Be serious, don"t show your face in there if you"re going to act like a fool!" Kang Mu scolded. He then turned to Kang Jun and spoke softly, "h.e.l.lo, Jun."
"h.e.l.lo, father." Kang Jun"s manner didn"t stray from the usual.
Kang Mu sighed.
Seeing his son for the first time in a while made him happy but at the same time, it didn"t. Kang Jun was the same as he had always been, which made it hard for Kang Mu to communicate with him.
He didn"t understand this son at all.
By being so unapproachable, Kang Mu believed that the man wasted his intellect and good looks.
If his son got married or at least got into some kind of romantic relationship with the opposite s.e.x, he believed things would change. But getting Kang Jun to date was harder than climbing Mount Everest while naked…
Until now, of course.
Thank G.o.d the boy had finally come to his senses! Kang Jun would be married soon. Kang Mu would make sure of it.
Kang Mu guided his sons into the dining room. In there, they all took their seats. At the table, only two seats were empty, one reserved for Qiao Lan and the other belonging to the eldest of the Kang children, the late Kang Zhi.
"I"m glad you both came." Elder Kang said truthfully.
Out of all the Kang children, Kang Jun and Kang Liang were the hardest to meet with, so both boys greeted their grandfather respectfully.
Kang Jun examined his surroundings. On one side of the table was his father, and his two younger brothers Kang Nianxi and Kang Liu Ran, while on the other sat his mother, Mo Ruyi, Kang Liang and himself while at the head, Elder Kang sat with Secretary Rong standing at his side.
Kang Jun looked at his mother from the corner of his eye. She was a woman with an even colder aura than Kang Jun. She looked like an almighty ice queen in both beauty and manner.
Mo Ruyi was the mistress of the Kang family and the only woman Kang Mu had ever married.
"Son." She said coldly. She didn"t even turn to greet him.
"Mother." Kang Jun replied, in the same fashion.
Kang Mu watched mother and son interact and sighed. "If they keep acting like that, those two will cause another ice age." He didn"t like the way they acted towards each other but he would never voice his opinion in fear that their frigidity would turn towards him.
Seeing an uncomfortable atmosphere begin to form Elder Kang sighed.
The Kang family was complicated. It was so bad sometimes that Elder Kang sometimes believed he was cursed.
Elder Kang only every had one son, and his one son, maybe lacking in guidance and company, slept around like his life depended on it.
It was one of the biggest shames on the Kang family… but Elder Kang had recognized them all as his grandsons to allow him to have a choice in successorship.
When Kang Mu had succeeded him as the president of Kang Corporations he was so horribly unqualified that he almost drove the company into the ground, forcing him to take it back.
He didn"t want the same thing to happen again, but now he had three qualified grandsons. He had had four, but… That was all in the past now.
The whole room was quiet. No one spoke, waiting for Elder Kang to gather himself, while Kang Jun glanced at Qiao Lan"s chair.
Catching this, Elder Kang spoke up.
"She"s at the hospital."
Kang Jun nodded.
Hospital…
He hoped that Lu AnLing wouldn"t ever b.u.mp into her. Though even if she did, Qiao Lan wouldn"t bother with her. It wasn"t because of how Lu AnLing looked or acted but because of her families status, Qiao Lan would never interact with Lu AnLing in public. The girls status was not high enough for Qiao Lan to seek benefit from.
Kang Jun thanked the heavens for that, but when he remembered that Qiao Lan had contacted Lu AnLing, he began to worry once more.
"Why is she at the hospital? Where are the kids?" Kang Mu took the initiative to ask.
Elder Kang didn"t look at Kang Mu. His gaze swept across the table. The elder ignored the first question, but he answered the second one. "Mei Xue went with her mother, while Mingyu is hauled up in his room."
After hearing that, Kang Jun pushed himself up from the table. It was so abrupt that everyone turned to look at him in confusion, even his mother who seemed disinterested in everything around her had to turn to look at him.
Kang Jun began to walk to the door.
"Where are you going?" Kang Mu called after him.
"Talk amongst yourselves." Kang Jun said, not caring to explain a thing. He didn"t owe it to anyone to tell them anything.
"Kang Jun!" Kang Mu screamed. He made the move as if to push himself from the table but he was interrupted by Elder Kang"s commanding voice,
"Let him go."
Kang Mu: "But father—"
"Shut up!" Elder Kang"s voice exploded.
Kang Mu had no choice but to comply. He relaxed his body and leaned back into his chair.
Beside him, Kang Nianxi and Kang Liu Ran looked at the doorway where Kang Jun disappeared and glared.
They hated their elder brother the most. They never understood why so many people preferred him to them and now, he already acted as the head of the family.
It was true that Kang Jun had worked hard and was talented but they were like that also!
What made him so special?
Kang Liang, on the other hand, wished he could also leave the room. He never liked family gatherings everything was always tense and there was always one person that pushed someone too far.
It was only a matter of time until something starts to unravel.
Only his elder brother had the ability to stay calm and collected in situations like this and that is where Kang Liang drew his strength.
Outside the room, Kang Jun sighed and then made his way upstairs slowly. At the top of the stairs, he stopped for a moment. Everything was quiet. It was strange. He walked towards Kang Mingyu"s room and knocked. When no one answered he just walked in.
Inside, Kang Mingyu laid in his bed in a ball. He covered his face with a blanket.
Kang Jun walked to him and then patted his head.
Feeling the touch, Kang Mingyu violently slapped him away and then bolted up in bed. His eyes full of fear. He looked like a doe, about to be shot by a hunter and his heart began to beat so hard in his chest that it was deafening.
Seeing this reaction, Kang Jun"s eyebrows furrowed and he frowned furiously.
"Mingyu, come here." Kang Jun opened his arms and commanded.
Hearing the man"s voice, Kang Mingyu"s eyes began to burn. Despite the darkness in the man"s voice, It was one of the safest sounds the boy could hear at the moment. Though he continued to hesitate.
"Come." Kang Jun said with a softer voice.
This time, Kang Mingyu complied. He crawled into the mans arms.
As Kang Mingyu laid safely in his arms Kang Jun patted the boys head and then with his free hand he began to roll up one of the boy"s sleeves. At first, Kang Mingyu didn"t notice but when he felt the burning pain on his upper arm he winced and then glanced at the site of the pain.
Once Kang Jun had rolled up his sleeves it revealed many blue and green bruises. Some were even turning purple.
Kang Jun"s face turned pitch black.
He knew exactly how Kang Mingyu had gotten those wounds. Someone had some explaining to do, or rather than that… Someone had to pay.
To Qiao Lan, the wounds on Kang Mingyu"s arms were nothing but to Kang Jun they represented every reason why he hated Qiao Lan.
"I"m fine. I deserved it. I did something wrong." Kang Mingyu repeated like a robot as he buried his face into Kang Jun"s arms.
Kang Jun"s heart wrenched.
"Look at me." He ordered, trying to keep his voice soft, but it was hard. Once Kang Mingyu looked up to meet his eyes, Kang Jun spoke again. "It"s not your fault. You did nothing wrong."
"Three months, just three months. I"m so close... I"ll get you out of here, I promise…" Kang Jun didn"t want to voice those words. It would give him too much hope and the man really did believe that it bred eternal misery.
Anything could happen in the span of three months, so he refused to voice a promise he couldn"t guarantee.
Kang Mingyu looked at the man who continued to repeat the opposite of what Qiao Lan had told him.
You"re not at fault…
You did nothing wrong…
The words reverberated in his head and heart. The more he would hear it the more his eyes would well up with tears until he could no longer hold it back anymore.
In Kang Jun"s arms, the boy burst into tears, releasing all the pent-up pain he held within.
Kang Jun was his heaven…
The safest place he could ever be.
Watching the boy cry made Kang Jun"s heart sink into the depths of h.e.l.l. He wanted to go downstairs, drive to the hospital and do onto Qiao Lan what she had done to Kang Mingyu or worse but he held back his anger.
As the granddaughter of a former general, he couldn"t do anything rash to her, and a part of Kang Jun also blamed himself.
He had provoked the devilish woman, but at the same time how would he have known that Elder Kang would be reckless enough to break the promise he had made to him.
h.e.l.lfire burned at the pits of Kang Jun"s stomach as the guilt began to consume him.
He vowed he would take Kang Mingyu away and make Qiao Lan regret the day she had married into the Kang family.
If anyone decided to stand in his way, he would destroy them with no remorse.
It had been a long time since he had felt a hate so pure.