Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 175 - 119: From now on, our Life-saving Style will follow him!

Chapter 175: Chapter 119: From now on, our Life-saving Style will follow him!

Ah Qing had never been one to make decisions herself; she was naturally cool and reserved, didn’t care much for worldly things, and tended to go with the flow. Now, confronted with something she truly couldn’t decide on, her old habit was to ask Ah Man. But Ah Man was silent for a moment, her brow scrunched in a frown as she sat cross-legged, deep in thought, looking completely conflicted.

On one side was Harano, who treated her with genuine sincerity; on the other, her grandfather who raised her. Forced to choose between the two—well, that was really a tough call.

She thought about it for a while, her gaze slowly turning fierce, and regretted a little that she hadn’t just tied up Ah Qian and Ah Yu and drowned them with stones the moment she first saw them. That way, none of these annoying problems would have arisen. But then she quickly realized that wouldn’t solve the underlying issue, and the glint in her eyes faded away.

After a long pause, she let out a long sigh, looking thoroughly dejected. "I think... we’d better go back. We can’t just ignore what the old man says—without him, we wouldn’t even be alive today..."

Ah Qing lowered her eyelids, long lashes trembling slightly, and said nothing.

Her silence was as good as agreement, and she didn’t bother coming up with excuses like "my head’s already been handed in, I can’t leave"—after all, having been through life and death with Harano, that sort of bet didn’t mean anything anymore. Bringing it up would just be an insult to their friendship.

Ah Man had made her decision, and her heart grew even more sullen. She couldn’t even pinpoint why, but deep down she felt extremely annoyed. She really had no idea what Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was.

According to that theory, human needs are layered like steps, from the lowest to the highest, split into five kinds: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.

All five of these needs could be met here with Harano:

She had food, clothing, lodging, and transportation all in excellent order—rarely ever hungry, which was no small feat in these times, when even samurai sometimes had to eat black bean rice.

Personal safety and property were well protected; Harano’s strength was growing day by day, far beyond what their measly Life-saving Style group could muster. Besides, Harano even kitted them out with various gear, worried they might get shot dead by accident.

Even her social needs were satisfied—they had been through thick and thin together, and after living under one roof for so long, there were deep bonds there. Maybe not quite to the level of family, but they were definitely close friends now.

What’s more, those higher needs—esteem and self-actualization—were taken care of too. Harano always admired and praised her abilities, meeting her esteem needs, and staying by his side as he grew stronger let her potential shine far more than running around as a lowly, information-gathering "ninja"; she could do so much more here.

Now that was all over—completely... completely ruined by those two little brats, Ah Qian and Ah Yu!

Even if she wasn’t totally clear on what exactly she’d lost, she just felt, leaving like this, she was losing out big-time. The more she thought, the angrier she got. She couldn’t argue with her old man, but those two little troublemakers she’d won in a bet—she wasn’t scared of them. She said straight to Ah Qing, "Go, drag those two little brats back here! I need to beat a lesson into them to let off some steam!"

Ah Qing didn’t move, just stared blankly at the floor, probably thinking of the chicks she’d just started raising, the second-hand little donkey and the calico pony she played with daily... and feeling sorry that she’d be left with only her monkey friend from now on.

Ah Man looked at her, sighed, and didn’t insist. She sat back down, brow furrowed, not knowing how she was supposed to say goodbye to Harano.

......

All night she delayed going to Harano; tossing and turning, she couldn’t fall asleep, and got her first taste of childhood insomnia. When Harano saw her come in the next day, dark circles under her eyes and totally dispirited, he gave a deep sigh too.

This was his own home, after all. The moment Ah Man dragged those two kids back and locked them up, he’d known—and he’d already found out who they were and why they’d come. He’d spent all night mentally preparing himself for this.

Of course, he didn’t want Ah Man and Ah Qing to leave. They were the only two people in this miserable era he could trust. Bonds forged in life and death were hard to come by. But Ah Man and Ah Qing had to go home—the grandfather who raised and taught them needed them. However much he mulled it over, he couldn’t find a single reason to stop them.

After all, back then when Xu Shu had to abandon Liu Bei for Cao Cao, even if Liu Bei was reluctant to lose a talented man, he didn’t pester Xu Shu to stay and abandon his own mother. Harano figured he couldn’t do any worse than people in the old days; he couldn’t just tell Ah Man to forget about her damn grandfather and stay here in comfort—it just wouldn’t be right.

If Ah Man really did that, he would be scared of her.

So if fate brings people together, treasure it; if it leads them apart, then let it go.

Even parents, siblings—everyone parts one day. Friends are no exception. He’d always been philosophical about such things. Seeing Ah Man at a loss for words, he took the initiative to comfort her: "Since your family’s called you, you should go back and visit. No need to look so down about it—whenever you have time, just come back, or even just drop in when you’re passing by. It’s nothing serious."

"But what if you croak while we’re gone?" Ah Man was still feeling miserable and sighed. "Even if you don’t croak, coming back just to mooch off your good fortune later would feel shameless."

Back when Harano was a stranger, just some gullible sucker in her eyes, she’d take as much as she could get, and not getting one more bite felt like a loss. But after a year of living together and becoming close friends, leaving when her friend was still struggling, then coming back to enjoy the good times—it was hard to save face. She didn’t think she’d have the guts to come back after all.