New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live-Chapter 1089: Aunty Yīng
Chapter 1089: Aunty Yīng
The old woman looked at him and huffed.
"Nonsense! It is the easiest thing ever. Laughing in the face of adversity is the essence of life. It drives humans to keep moving forward, even when we know death is the last outcome. You should try it sometime," she said, her face a mask of confidence.
Seeing Liu Yan’s unwavering frown, she put her purse down and slid closer to him to grab his hand.
"Like this," she said before pumping her arm up, dragging his arm with it.
"Curse you, life! I won’t give up! I’m stronger than you!"
Liu Yan looked at her in disbelief, unsure if she had just lost her mind, and the shift in her attitude left him in shock.
"Come on. Repeat what I said!" she urged him.
"Uh... Curse you, life... I won’t give up... I’m stronger than you?" he muttered, realizing people were looking at them from a distance after she had yelled.
"What was that? Are you asking life if you’re stronger or making a statement? Put some vigour into it, young man!" she admonished him.
"Ma’am, I’m not sure this—
"Stop whining and repeat the phrase!" she snapped.
"Curse you, life. I won’t give up. I’m stronger than you," he blandly repeated.
"Louder! Put some strength into it! Where is your spunk, boy!" she roared, looking at him with bulging eyes and a wide grin.
"Curse you, life! I won’t give up! I’m stronger than you!" he shouted, the gazes of others sliding off him as his mind honed in on the words.
He slowly felt the dread from earlier die down inside him as the words resonated with his earlier desire to give Alexander his chance.
"Yes! Louder! Laugh in the face of adversity!" the old woman roared, standing up and pulling on his arm to force him to his feet as well.
"Curse you, life! I won’t give up! I’m stronger than you! You can’t hold me down!" he roared, closing his eyes and lifting his arms to the skies.
"Yes! That’s it! Now, go! Climb that mountain! Your friends are waiting for you at the summit!" the old woman exclaimed, pushing him toward the path.
"Yes, Aunty! Wait, what?" he said, realizing something.
"I never told you about my friends," he said, turning toward her.
"An old bat’s intuition. Just go!" she said, pushing him again, not giving him the time to do the math.
Liu Yan felt a wave of determination brush against his mind, and he let himself get swept by the emotion, discarding the confusion in his mind about the woman’s knowledge of the situation as he ran toward the mountain path.
’Let me make it in time. I don’t want to lock myself in anymore.’
The old woman looked at him leave, her smile returning to her face.
She grabbed her purse again, before walking away. Her job was done.
Rounding the corner of a building at the mountain base, her form changed to that of a young woman clothed in black, with a cocky grin on her face.
"Thanks for the assist, Mai. He would have stayed there until their return, if we hadn’t done something," Kujaku said, shaking her head in disappointment.
The young girl with the fauxhawk looked at her and shrugged.
"I don’t understand why we even butted in. If the boy was too much of a wimp to man up and confront Alexander, why is he worth the effort?" Mai asked, grimacing.
If there was one thing she disliked more than being recognized by strangers, it was wimpy boys who couldn’t stand alone and wept at their fates. It was why she dressed like this when she wasn’t wearing other people’s clothes.
It pushed away all the wimps and pushovers.
Kujaku shook her head at her.
"It was something David said about him. He has potential. Every piece we can get on this board that boosts our chance at survival is a piece I want at full capacity. You’ll understand one day when he stops holding himself back," she chuckled, looking at the unconvinced face of her junior. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel-com
"Is that why we stayed here instead of returning to the hotel with the others? Did you know he would come?" Mai asked, looking back at the mountain path where Liu Yan had already vanished.
"I had a feeling he would show up. Seems I was right. However, even if I had been wrong, staying here was also a precaution in case the Syndicate showed up. I don’t like that they gave up on us so fast. It’s not like them..."
Mai wasn’t knowledgeable enough about the Syndicate to express her thoughts. She felt like her boss might be a bit of an over-worrier.
But she wasn’t about to call her out on it. Her wariness was what had kept them out of sight of other organizations, after all.
When she had splintered off from her father’s organization, bringing with her a few of the talents her father had carefully groomed and finding so many new talents, the risk of getting swallowed by another organization had been ever-looming over their heads.
Kujaku’s wariness and her precautions over precautions had kept them under the radar long enough to get their footing and tide their early rise.
She had nothing but respect for her, even if she found her over-cautious. The woman was truly fearsome, on top of being incredibly smart.
"Whatever you say, boss. I’ll give you props on the old bat act, though. That shit was on point until you started yelling. You should have been an actress," Mai joked, pulling out cigarettes from her jacket pocket.
Kujaku laughed at her comment.
"In some way, I always was. When you live your life, hiding your intentions from everyone around you and infiltrating so many groups that you lose count of them, you develop some sense for acting.
"You would be surprised at the information network Aunty Yīng holds in the Mahjong houses of China. It isn’t my first time being her. I usually dress up and painstakingly put on makeup for hours, however. Your illusions just made it faster to take her on this time."
Mai flicked her cigarette between her fingers, making the ashes at the tip fall to the ground, before she put it back into her mouth.
"Whatever you need, boss."