Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 176 - 119 From now on, our Life-saving Style will follow him! _2

Chapter 176: Chapter 119 From now on, our Life-saving Style will follow him! _2

Harano fell silent for a while. These wild kids were all about to split up, and still not a single decent word could come out of their mouths. But as harsh as her words were, they made sense—in this godforsaken era, people die for no reason, so it’s perfectly normal that a parting could be a goodbye forever.

He sighed, looked up, and asked, "Where’s Ah Qing?"

Ah Man sighed too, slumping her brows like beans and said, "She doesn’t want to come over. She’s off feeding the chickens." After a pause, she sighed again, "And in a bit, you don’t need to come see us off, either. Doesn’t help anything, just makes it harder."

Harano nodded silently, turned around and brought over a leather pouch, set it in front of her, and sighed, "Take this money back and use it. And all the horses and armor and whatever you’re using now, just take them back too, don’t be polite. You know it’s easy for me to make money—a dozen days and I can earn it all back. This stuff is nothing."

After a pause, he added seriously, "Live well. Live until we meet again!"

Ah Man’s eyes instantly burned, and she hurriedly tilted her little face upwards to hold back the tears. Then, not acting polite at all, she hefted the pouch, stood up, and said, "You better live well too!"

"Don’t worry. No matter what, I’ll do my best to stay alive."

"Good!"

Ah Man kinda understood why Ah Qing didn’t want to come over. Saying goodbye really feels like hell. When she was done talking, she wanted to say something more but found there was nothing left to say; she opened her mouth, closed it again, grabbed the pouch, and turned to leave without a word.

She went to get Ah Qing, packed both their stuff and lashed it all to the horses. She’d shed blood and risked her life alongside Harano, so taking these things didn’t make her feel guilty at all. Besides, she and Ah Qing had been missing for over a year—she needed something to explain to Grandpa when they got back. She’d just say all these weapons and armor were payment—if anything, even if her old man got mad, he’d have nothing useful to yell about.

Once everything was ready, she finally went to let Ah Qian and Ah Yu out, kicking their butts and driving them outside.

Ah Qian was indignant, and felt thoroughly humiliated. She fumed, "You old bastard, what the hell do you want now! Treat us like this and we’ll tell the old man—he’s not going to let you off!"

"Suit your shit!" Ah Man was in a foul mood now. She kicked her in the ass again and snapped, "Move it! Go find the old man right now, I’ll watch you squeal on me, and after you’re done, just see how I’ll deal with you!"

Ah Qian was sent stumbling by her kick, but managed to steady herself, then froze for a moment, suspicious and uncertain, "You’re really willing to go back?"

Just last night, Ah Yu had sworn up and down that with things so good here, there was no way Ah Man and Ah Qing would ever go back to being Koka folk; for sure they’d stay and enjoy life. Ah Yu even suggested that when it was time for ’questioning,’ they should act meek for now, maybe even stay behind and chill—they might even score themselves a set of gear. If that old bastard Ah Man could hustle her way into all that, it should be even easier for them. No reason not to try... And yet, so early this morning, Ah Man actually agreed to go home?

Honestly, the old man wasn’t that big a deal. Even if they were a few months late getting back, so what...

She couldn’t help but want to persuade Ah Man to delay a little longer. Anyway, worst-case, they could always blame the late return on them, say they just couldn’t find the others for a while. But Ah Man had no patience for her crap right now, and landed another kick to her ass, face gone dark, "I’ll do what I want. Don’t need your damn opinions. Just get moving!"

And she didn’t forget Ah Yu—went over and kicked her ass too, telling her to get moving, fast.

Not a shred of reason from her—she didn’t see either of them as people, just booted both of them straight out to the door. Ah Qing was standing there, lost in thought with the horses, waiting for them. When she heard Ah Man’s shout, she hesitated, then pulled out her copper ring staff and stuck it in the ground by the door.

That was her favorite weapon, the one she’d used since she was a kid—she was leaving it for Harano as a keepsake.

After she’d stuck the staff in the ground, she looked again at this still-rough little home, then finally turned away leading her horse. Ah Man cut the ropes off Ah Qian and Ah Yu, climbed onto her horse, and ordered, "Run behind the horse! Move it! You try slacking and don’t blame me if I whip you!"

With that, she spurred her horse and rode out of Wanjin Village. But halfway through the run, she looked back and found Ah Qian and Ah Yu weren’t following at all—they were chatting and ducking off into the wildlands! She quickly jerked the reins around and rode up behind them, snapping the whip in the air, annoyed: "Where do you two think you’re going? Aren’t we heading back to Minoh?"

Now that she was free and out in the wilderness, Ah Qian’s courage surged up again. She shouted right back, "The old man just told you two to go home—didn’t say a thing about us! We have our own mission! You guys go on ahead!"

"You two have a mission?"

"Yeah, like I said, we’re supposed to scout out Owari’s situation, and we haven’t finished yet! No way we can go home now!"

"Forget wandering around—Owari’s situation, I know it well enough. You can just go back."

Ah Qian froze, while Ah Yu piped up right away, "Big Sis Ah Man might know, but Grandpa told us to have a look at Bai Chuan Pass specifically—so, we’ll head there first before returning to Minoh."

Ah Man slapped the riding crop in her hand, stared at them for a while, then slowly said, "You two little bastards aren’t planning to wait for us to leave and then sneak back here to freeload off him, are you?"

Ah Qian insisted, "No way! We’re not like you—shameless enough to pull something like that!"

"I could maybe believe you got some dignity, but her, that little troublemaker, she’s even worse than me!" Ah Man knew Ah Qian and Ah Yu too well—especially Ah Yu, a born little troublemaker, just young and hidden behind Ah Qian for now so most people wouldn’t notice.