Chapter Thirty-Four: Humans Are Not Worthy of Discussing Friendship

  Watching Ling Ziyu's true feelings, Ouyang Feifei couldn't help but be moved, no matter how hard her heart was. However, she couldn't think of anything to comfort Ling Ziyu, so she sighed and lit another cigarette.

  She drew her feet up onto the sofa, and through the pale blue mist, Ou Yang Fei Fei's extraordinary face became somewhat hazy. In a low voice, she asked: "Wei Wei Er, you've been at An Ye Men for over two years now, have you ever seen An Ye?"

  Ling Ziwai shook her head: "No, I haven't even seen the Yangtze River! It's just that this time I accepted this task and got a call from the Yangtze River, but I have no idea what he looks like. How about you? You've been in the Midnight Gate for quite some time now, right? Have you ever seen Ye Yan?"

  Ouyang Feifei also shook her head: "No! Don't mention seeing him, I don't even know if the Dark Night is male or female, fat or thin, round or flat. Like you, I only receive Longjiang's calls when accepting tasks and have never seen him in person."

  Ling Ziwei's eyes widened in surprise: "Really? You're not the instructor of the Dark Night Sect, are you? How could you have never seen Dark Night? Not even the Yangtze River?"

  Ouyang Feifei smiled wryly: "I'm an orphan, I grew up in an orphanage from a young age. The aunties at the orphanage were pretty good to me, but for some reason, every time someone came to adopt a child, I was never there. At that time, my greatest hope was to have a home of my own like those adopted children, with a couple who could be called Mom and Dad, living in a house that didn't have to be big, just enough for Mom, Dad, and me, and then being able to attend a real school instead of always studying with the aunties at the orphanage.

  One evening, when I was half asleep, my aunt woke me up and said that someone had come to adopt me. I was so happy that I almost jumped up, and without even packing my clothes, I followed the person out. In the car, I secretly took a look at the person and found that it was a woman, probably over thirty years old, not very pretty but with a kind face. I thought, this must be my future "mom".

  It wasn't until later that I found out the woman was an instructor from the Dark Night Gate. She took me to Japan and taught me all the knowledge I possess now, including martial arts and the "Heart Stopping Technique". It was also her who taught it to me. After my studies were over, I never saw her again.

  "As for Dark Night, I probably know as much as you do! Only that he's the founder of the Dark Night Gate, and nothing else."

  "But I think he's probably not too young either? I don't know the specific time from when Dark Night started planning to now, but it's been fourteen years since I was taken away. Even if he started planning back then, he should have been at least over twenty years old at that time. So, Dark Night is at least in his forties or fifties."

  Ling Ziwai hadn't fully recovered from the shock brought by Ouyang Feifei, and seeing that Ouyang Feifei had stopped speaking, Ling Ziwai said dazedly: "I originally thought you must have seen Dark Night before, my god, judging from what you're saying, our Night Old is really mysterious."

  Ouyang Feifei smiled self-deprecatingly: "Actually, we are just tools in the hands of Dark Night. He doesn't believe any one of us, so none of us knows who Dark Night is or what his identity is in real life."

  "In the Dark Night Gate, only Chang Jiang has his phone number. If anything needs to be done, it must go through Chang Jiang to find him; however, if he wants to find Chang Jiang, Chang Jiang is usually nowhere to be found. And as for Chang Jiang, he probably hasn't seen Dark Night either and doesn't know what kind of existence Dark Night is."

  "Before you came, Chang Jiang called me and told me to take good care of you, saying that you were someone Old Night particularly valued. So I thought you knew An Ye, but it turns out you don't know him either."

  Pinching off the cigarette butt, Ouyang Feifei smiled and said: "Today I've said too many things, maybe it's because I was moved by your sisterly affection for Ke'er, or maybe it's because I used 'Heart Capturing Technique' today, my mind is a bit dazed, suddenly wanting to talk to someone."

  Ling Ziwei smiled: "You can treat me as a friend."

  Ouyang Feifei let out a light snort: "Friends? People like us aren't worthy of mentioning that word! In Japan, we can say we're together every morning and evening, including those who studied with you and me, has anyone become friends? No! Not one person! Do you know why? Because people like us can't afford to let emotions interfere. I've always been opposed to having two people work together on a task, it's because most women are more emotional, and once two women who have spent a lot of time together become friends, they'll mess up many things."

  "And I'm telling you, humans are not worthy of having friends. Think about it, when the ancients created the characters for 'friends', how much expectation they had placed on these two words? 'Peng' means 'monthly companionship'; and 'you'? 'A line that spans the world, with a wall to block the wind and rain for you, and also someone to accompany you'. But how many people can truly achieve this? None, I'm telling you, none at all!"

  "What's wrong with that?" Ling Ziwai retorted, "There's Meng Changjun, Qin Qiong and Qin Shubao, there's the Peach Garden Oath of the Three Kingdoms, aren't these famous friendships? Feifei, you're being too extreme!"

  "Hmph! What do you know?" Ouyang Feifei snorted, "Meng Zong's reputation is renowned throughout history, but his good name was earned by his door guest Feng Xuan. Feng Xuan took the initiative to exempt the debts of the poor people who owed Meng Zong, and told them that Meng Zong had exempted their debts, which spread his good name far and wide. When Meng Zong found out later, he scolded Feng Xuan severely, but Feng Xuan said: 'Although I couldn't collect back the money they owed you, I collected back the emotional debt for you.' Later, when Meng Zong was demoted, the people lined up in the streets to bid him farewell with tears, and only then did he understand the importance of emotional debt. Only then did he begin to value Feng Xuan."

  "Qin Qiong? He and his cousin Luo Cheng mutually taught each other martial arts, swearing that if they didn't teach each other wholeheartedly, one would die vomiting blood, while the other would die under a hail of arrows. What happened in the end? Qin Qiong was afraid that after teaching Luo Cheng, he would surpass him, so he held back a 'killer move' and didn't teach it; Luo Cheng also held back a 'reversing spear'. Didn't they both go back on their oaths? One died vomiting blood, the other under a hail of arrows."

  "Take another look at the Oath of the Peach Garden, Liu Bei used Guan Yu's righteousness and Zhang Fei's martial arts to gain a third of the empire. Without Guan Yu's righteousness and Zhang Fei's military prowess, could he have become a lord? In the end, isn't it all about using them?"

  "What is a friend? Only when there's something to gain will they call you a friend. Among beggars, many are talented and exceptional individuals, so why doesn't anyone take the initiative to befriend them? Ugh!! Humans don't even have the qualifications to discuss the two words 'friends'!"