Chapter 196 — The Excited Kang Xiaobo

Lan Fen had likely been frightened out of her senses by the fall from such a height, or perhaps Kang Xiaobo had held her too tightly, for she had now slipped into unconsciousness. Song Huiping laid her fingers beneath Lan Fen's nose, felt breath still stirring there, and only then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew..." Seeing that Xiaofen was all right and had only fainted, Liu Xinwen gave Kang Xiaobo a thumbs-up. "Amazing, hero! From that high up, and you actually caught her! Impressive!"

Only at Liu Xinwen's words did Song Huiping realize that the young man before her was her daughter's lifesaver. Even as she stroked her daughter's gaunt cheek, she thanked Kang Xiaobo over and over. "Young man, thank you so much. If you had not been so quick-eyed and quick-handed, who knows what would have become of my Xiaofen..."

At this point, tears of belated fear rolled down Song Huiping's face! Yes, the mere thought of what had just happened was terrifying. Her daughter falling from the sky like that, if Kang Xiaobo had not caught her, the fall... the consequences did not bear imagining!

"Auntie, it was only what I should do. It is nothing..." Kang Xiaobo's face flushed slightly. He had saved Lan Fen entirely out of his admiration for her. Had it been anyone else, he would never have been so frantic and so desperate...

Kang Xiaobo was no saint. He was no firefighter, no policeman, and certainly no Ultraman. If the one jumping had not been Lan Fen, he would never have rushed forward so rashly!

Never mind whether he could have caught her at all. If he failed and ended up crushed or killed himself, the loss would outweigh any gain! Such things had happened before. Someone saw a person jumping and tried to catch them, only to miss and be smashed to death by the falling body instead!

"You call that nothing? Brother, you are the real deal. I, Liu Xinwen, admire you!" Liu Xinwen had paid no attention to Kang Xiaobo's expression and excitedly clapped him on the shoulder. "If you ever need anything, come find me. I will not refuse!"

"I just happened to be in the right place..." Kang Xiaobo was telling the honest truth. How he had caught Lan Fen, he himself scarcely knew.

Just luck? Tang Yun cast a thoughtful glance at Wei Zhao, who had by now slipped quietly to one side, and the corner of her mouth lifted faintly... What a strange man he really was?

No one else had noticed anything, but the observant Tang Yun had spotted something wrong! When Kang Xiaobo had gone to save her, Wei Zhao had rushed forward too, yet instead of trying to catch anyone, he had pushed and shoved at Kang Xiaobo. That left Tang Yun suspicious...

Did what had just happened have something to do with him? Tang Yun did not know why she paid such attention to Wei Zhao. At the thought, she shifted her gaze from him with complicated feelings and fixed her attention on Xiaofen instead.

A shrill chorus of sirens swelled from far to near, the alarms of ambulance, police car, and fire engine blurring together as they sped toward the alley.

When they learned, however, that the girl had already jumped and had been caught by someone, the firefighters were astonished, but once they had the facts straight, they left.

The police picked out several onlookers for statements at the scene and pieced together what had led up to it. For Lan Fen's plight, they could only offer sympathy. Since she had not jumped because of some unredressed wrong, there was nothing the police could do. Though Kang Zhaoming had acted shabbily in abandoning Lan Fen, it was only a matter of the heart, and did not rise to the level of a crime.

Several nurses from the ambulance took Lan Fen from Kang Xiaobo's arms, laid her on a stretcher, and lifted her into the vehicle. Then a middle-aged man who looked like the doctor on duty said to the crowd, "Who is the patient's family? Come with us to the hospital. Everyone else, disperse!"

"I am! I am Xiaofen's mother!" Song Huiping stepped forward and said to the doctor.

The doctor glanced at Song Huiping and nodded. "Then come with us."

Song Huiping hurried after the doctor into the ambulance, but Liu Xinwen and Tang Yun, and Kang Xiaobo most of all, wanted to go to the hospital too, and crowded forward. "We are her friends. Let us go along?" Liu Xinwen said to the doctor.

"No. This is an ambulance! There are not that many seats. Only one family member can come aboard. Which one of you is it?" The doctor shook his head in explanation.

Before Tang Yun or Liu Xinwen could speak, an excited and hurried voice rang out. They looked, and to their surprise it was Kang Xiaobo!

Without another word, Kang Xiaobo charged toward the ambulance, and Wei Zhao pulled him back with a wry smile. Wei Zhao understood his feelings perfectly, but what would it mean for him to rush aboard like that? How would he explain his relationship with Xiaofen to Song Huiping?

He could hardly say they had met only today. They had not even met at all. It was nothing but love at first sight on Kang Xiaobo's part.

"Liu Xinwen, you go with them." Wei Zhao dragged Kang Xiaobo behind him, then said to Liu Xinwen.

"Boss, let me get on, please!" Kang Xiaobo looked thoroughly agitated, as if he would never relent unless he were allowed aboard.

"... Xiaobo!" Wei Zhao was at a loss for words. "What would it look like for you to go up there now? Ride in my car. We can follow right behind. Is that not enough?"

"Uh... right!" Kang Xiaobo finally calmed down and nodded in embarrassment. Wei Zhao's words had awakened him. Indeed, if he went along now, how would he explain himself to Xiaofen's mother, Song Huiping?

Both Liu Xinwen and Tang Yun looked at Kang Xiaobo in surprise. Tang Yun had dimly guessed something, for Kang Xiaobo had seemed so attentive to Lan Fen's photograph back at her house, but Liu Xinwen was utterly baffled and had no idea what had come over him.

This was no time for questions, though, with the ambulance waiting. Liu Xinwen could only leap aboard quickly. The doors swung shut, and the ambulance wailed all the way toward the City First People's Hospital.

"Are you coming?" Wei Zhao waited until the ambulance had gone, then turned to Tang Yun and asked.

Tang Yun bit her lip. Though she had little wish to ride in Wei Zhao's car, worry for Xiaofen won out, and she nodded. "Mm..."

The Beetle's back seat had no door of its own and could only be reached by folding the front seats forward, which was troublesome. Yet though his heart was with Xiaofen, Kang Xiaobo still remembered to make an opportunity for Wei Zhao and Tang Yun, yielding the front passenger seat to Tang Yun and squeezing into the back himself.

"Tang Yun... can you tell me about Lan Fen?" Kang Xiaobo was burning with curiosity about Lan Fen and Kang Zhaoming, and desperate to learn the truth.

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