the giggles of a young girl could be heard among the shouts of many women and the music in the background
Suddenly the girl squealed as she was picked up by a woman.
Li Huang laughed out loud as a mature woman swung her around while scolding her.
Technically, Li Huang was already an adult, but be it the hormones in her body or her current body in general, she felt like a kid.
and there was also the factor that she never had anyone to play with her this way
even if it was weird, she felt loved and happy.
"Alright, young lady, you played enough. What about your studies? Do you want to end up like us, working here all your life?" A mature woman stopped swinging Li Huang around as she looked at her, a smile at the corner of her mouth.
"So what of it, Aunty Xie Ning? I will just have to handle the pressure of being the most talented and beautiful girl here and take away all the customers."
A few girls giggled hearing Li Huang's plan while Xie Ning gave them stern looks, and they promptly went right back to work.
"Li Huang, listen to your aunt once in your life and go study a bit; then we will let you study as much as you wish of whatever, even massage techniques!"
Li Huang nodded her head and ran into the back as quickly as she could, almost tripping over a few women that scolded her for her antics.
Li Huang reached the back and jumped into a stool as Xie Ning entered the room not much later. She placed a book on the table and began going over a few things they had already studied.
Li Huang quickly remembered everything and showed amazing academic potential, so Xie Ning wanted her to become a sage or at least become a scholar.
and she could only sigh as she looked at the girl, knowing she was as free-spirited as they came.
She would never sit down and discuss something with anyone if it didn't interest her.
As Xie Ning explained the context of the book to Li Huang, she just nodded along; those things she already knew; it was just basic math and some physics.
After being done after a few hours, Li Huang looked at Xie Ning expectantly, and she just sighed before shaking her head and giving Li Huang another book.
Her eyes went wide as she looked at the images and the information.
It was a book about massages, but not normal massages, but massages that used acupuncture.
From what Li Huang knew so far, this world had mystical beasts and cultivation; she read some stories in her free time but never spent much time on them.
She spent most of her time studying what was ancient culture to her but was state-of-the-art medical and philosophical teachings in this world.
It was because she wanted to try entering the college and study history, philosophy, or even medicine, so she wanted to know what the ancients thought about medicine and philosophy.
Li Huang had shown her talents at arts and academics.
She played almost all the instruments they had to offer her.
played go, chess, and many other difficult games with grandmaster mastery, and even her paintings were top-notch.
and that's before considering her talents to absorb academic knowledge like a sponge
As Li Huang lost herself in the book, Xie Ning just watched her with a smile before going back to her work, making sure everything was in order in the money aspect of the business.
Li Huang was free to do as she wished, so she went outside reading the book while walking around. The only thing she didn't do was interrupt private sessions.
The girls walking around played with her, and she played with them.
going around talking with the woman about what she thought about something
or about something interesting she learned
Sometimes she would play an instrument while reading to help pass the time and learn two things at once!
Li Huang was reading the book Xie Ning gave her while sitting on the lap of one of the workers; she was playing go with a patron of the place.
Li Huang looked away from her book and into the board; she then whispered something into the woman's ear, and she ruffled Li Huang's hair and then made her move.
The man watched the move for only a second before moving, and then the woman made her move, and the man's jaw fell out as she won, something he did not see.
"Good job, Li Huang! sharp as always!" The woman giggled seeing the man's jaw almost fall out.
Li Huang smiled and continued on with her day.
By the end of the day, Li Huang saw one of the women who was her friend massaging her own back.
"Aunty, Aunty! Let me help you! I learned a lot about massaging and pressure points recently!"
She smiled at Li Huang.
"Sure thing, sweetie," and she went to lie down on a couch as Li Huang got up on her back and, with her tiny fingers and deft precision, pushed on the exact pressure points that were needed, the woman gently moaned under Li Huang's massage as the pain in her back went away.
Li Huang was all smiles after she got up, not feeling any pain in her back.
She then picked Li Huang up and ruffled her hair while she giggled.
"We have a little masseuse in the making here."
"Not just a masseuse; don't forget painter, musician, grandmaster in chess, and all my other important titles."
"Sure thing, sweetie."
Time passed, from just a little girl spending her time studying Li Huang began working there, not as a worker worker, but as a receptionist.
Most of the regulars already knew Li Huang and kissed her ass daily just to make them appear in a better light to the woman inside.
After age ten, Xie Ning forced Li Huang to work out so she wouldn't become sedentary.
During the morning she exercised; in the evening she studied what she was made to and what she wanted to, and during the night she worked.
She even earned herself some money, so she began going out into the city with her aunties.
and as she walked outside, her eyes always went wide at the magical things she saw.
some people selling heaven-defining medicines that could restore limbs
others selling weapons handcrafted by masters of blacksmithing that could cut a tiger in half like he was made of paper
but what made her most excited were the people who once in a while flew by in the sky
the used treasures like boats, weapons, or in some cases flying only using their own power
At thirteen, Li Huang was face to face with Xie Ning and a few other women, all looking at Li Huang with sour faces and grim expressions.
"No, Li Huang, we indulge you, but that is a plain old no; we won't let you."
"You have such potential; why do you want to waste all that doing that? Don't you think that's bad?"
"Yeah, Li Huang, why would you want to do something like that? It makes no sense!"
Li Huang looked at them all with wide eyes; that was the first time she had been so absolutely and uniformly rejected.
"Why not?! Why can't I cultivate and fly out in the skies?!"
Xie Ning looked exhausted even having to discuss that with Li Huang.
"Look, it's not that we don't want you to cultivate."
"Yeah, we do!" One woman piped up, and Xie Ning glared at her before continuing.
"It's not that we ALL don't want you to cultivate; it's just that... it's hard, and worst of all, it's dangerous."
"Why would it be hard or even dangerous? I can just sit down and cultivate in here!"
Xie Ning sighed as she shook her head, and the other women were just as exhausted.
"First of all, you have to be born with the talent to cultivate, which means being born in the top one percentile of the world; second, you have to have enough talent—that's another one percent of that one percent."
"And finally, after being born with the talent to cultivate and the talent to go far, you actually need to cultivate until you are able to fly; on the way, people will try and kill you. Why? Folks don't like change; if you try to change something by becoming stronger, you will have to affiliate yourself with a group, because if you are no one's ally, you are everyone's potential enemy, and it's better to get rid of a potential enemy than try and seduce a potential ally.
"But that's dumb!"
"We know! But we can't do anything, Li Huang; we are just mortals! We have some cultivation because everyone can cultivate a bit of the superficial stages, but only a few can actually advance further in the world of cultivation and get amazing skills like flight."
Xie Ning sighed.
"If you truly want to cultivate, you have to start training even more after your fourteenth birthday; only after the fourteenth birthday can someone begin training their body to cultivate, and only after the eighteenth can someone actually cultivate."
"But the superficial cultivation is the most I and everyone here will allow you to go." Xie Ning had a stern look on her face; it was clear that it wasn't up for debate.
Maybe it was pent-up anger from her previous life, thinking that those she thought were her family were trying to sabotage her once again, but tears fell down Li Huang's face.
She thought she could be happy.
Xie Ning was heartbroken seeing Li Huang cry, so she was about to approach Li Huang and hug her, but she slapped her arms away.
"Fuck you! I wished my mother was here! She would let me cultivate and become stronger so nothing would happen to me, her, or you all!"
After realizing what she just said, Li Huang cried even harder and ran out of the room while all the other women got misty-eyed, and Xie Ning stopped for a bit before she had to put her hands on her face and cry silently into them.
Li Huang was hiding in her room, crying silently in both rage and guilt.
Sometimes she felt like her emotions were that of a kid, and she wasn't in total control of them.
She didn't want to explode on them like that.
much less bringing her mother into the thing
all those women truly loved her and didn't want her to face the world of cultivation and die while she had so much potential in other things.
It was only late in the night that Xie Ning entered her room and sat beside Li Huang while she was under her covers crying.
Li Huang felt a hand pass along her body, and she shivered; her crying that was slowly stopping came back, and she jumped into Xie Ning's arms.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say those things; please forgive me, aunt." Li Huang cried in her arms as Xie Ning slowly caressed her back.
"It's okay, Li Huang, you just got angry; it's natural. You said something you didn't mean to while angry; we don't blame you."
Hearing those words, Li Huang cried even harder; she then looked up at Xie Ning.
"I won't talk about cultivating anymore, I promise."
Xie Ning shook her head.
"It's your life, and no one else will stop you from feeling happy and free. If you want to cultivate in the future, we won't stop you, but until you are eighteen, you will remain here, alright? We will let you practice the rudimentary training, and once you are eighteen, you will truly have made up your mind; then you can leave and search for your happiness."
"But if you want to stay even then, we will also accept you with wide arms, okay, Li Huang? No one here wants to oppress you; we just want you to live a long and meaningful life."
Li Huang cleared her tears and looked at Xie Ning's old and wise eyes.
"Whatever happens, I won't even forget you, Aunt."
Xie Ning smiled.
"I know you won't; now go to sleep; it's late, and you are a growing young lady." Xie Ning tucked Li Huang in and kissed her forehead.
"Good night, Li Huang."
"Good night, Aunt."
Xie Ning smiled as she watched Li Huang fall asleep, and she then left her room with a gentle smile on her face.