A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er and Song Xichen were chatting enthusiastically when Sha Yanxiao suddenly turned back, took Gui'er's hand and walked back. Song Xichen had no choice but to follow him.

The three of them returned to the hall. The Marshal, his wife, Mr. Song, and Mrs. Song were still sitting there chatting. Mr. Song complimented the Marshal politely and tactfully. The Marshal smiled and was very pleased, but he glanced at Mrs. Song from time to time. Mrs. Song kept smiling and occasionally flattered the wife. The wife just smiled slightly when she heard it, and it was obvious that she did not take Mrs. Song seriously.

Sha Yanxiao walked over to the Marshal and leaned over to whisper something in his ear. The Marshal's expression suddenly became nervous. Without saying anything else, he stood up and left with Sha Yanxiao. Everyone present was stunned for a moment. The lady smiled and said, "That's how they behave when they're busy. Don't mind me, please."

Mr. Song laughed awkwardly twice, while Mrs. Song stretched her neck and looked in the direction where the Marshal left for a long time. It was not until she realized that the lady had noticed her that she withdrew her gaze and smiled awkwardly.

Song Xichen smiled and nodded at Gui'er, then said to Master Song and Madam Song, "Father and Mother, we've been here for a long time. Since the Marshal has something to do, we'll take our leave first."

When the lady heard this, she stood up and said with a smile, "Then I won't see you off. Take care."

Mr. Song also stood up quickly, and said with a timid smile, "No, no, madam, you are too polite."

Mrs. Song, on the other hand, stood up as well, but she still glanced at the direction where the Marshal left with some reluctance before turning back and smiling at her wife, "Yes, Madam, you are too polite."

The lady turned and went upstairs.

Gui Er stood up and walked them all the way to the gate, saying with a smile, "Master Song, Madam Song, Brother Xichen, please take care."

Mrs. Song didn't care. Song Xichen smiled and nodded. Mr. Song suddenly looked at Gui'er and asked, "Guier, are you okay here?"

Gui Er was surprised that Master Song would care about her, and said with a smile, "Thank you for your concern, Master. I'm doing fine here."

Mr. Song smiled and nodded, a little embarrassedly saying: "I heard from Xichen that you are a good student and have skipped a grade. We didn't take good care of you in the Song family before..."

Gui'er quickly said, "It's okay, Master Song, don't worry about the little things that happened in the past."

Mrs. Song was a little nervous when she first heard Mr. Song mention the past, but now she was relieved when she heard Gui'er say that she didn't need to worry about it. She quickly said to Gui'er with a flattering smile, "Guier is right. Take care of yourself. Don't send me off now. Go back and rest."

After the Song family left, Gui'er went to look for Sha Yanxiao and finally found him in the study. In addition to Sha Yanxiao, there were also the Marshal and the Second Miss. Gui'er was a little surprised. After arriving in Shanghai and the housekeeper arranged everyone's rooms, she never saw the Second Miss again.

The second young lady was still dazed and unresponsive, but she looked much more refined. Sha Yanxiao sat down next to her and said gently, "Second sister, have you heard anything from Marshal Zhang? Some people say he's coming to attack us. If you know anything, please let us know."

At this time, Butler Liu also came over and said to the Marshal, "Master, the doctor from Renji Hospital came to see her and said that the young lady was most likely overly frightened or injured. We need to take it slow."

The Marshal said irritably, "There's no time now. What on earth did that Zhang Damazi do to my daughter? Why did he leave her like this?"

Gui'er interrupted and said, "Father, why don't you ask her two maids? Maybe they'll know something."

After a while, the housekeeper brought the two of them over. Sha Yanxiao asked, "Young lady was fine when she got married. Why is she like this now?"

The two maids stammered, "We really don't know."

The Marshal slammed the table and said, "You are talking nonsense, slaves. You are my personal servants, how could you not know the truth? If you don't tell the truth, I will beat you up and sell you out."

The two maids were so frightened that they knelt down, crying loudly and stammering, "Marshal, we really don't know. It's just that one time, after the young lady came back from Marshal Zhang, she seemed to be frightened. She couldn't eat or sleep, and she was in a trance. Then it got worse and worse."

The Marshal waved his hand impatiently and asked the two maids to help the Second Young Lady back. Sha Yanxiao said to Gui'er, "I still have a meeting with my father. You should go back to bed first."

Gui'er had no choice but to go back to her room to rest, and the housekeeper left tactfully.

Just as she was drifting off to sleep, there was a sudden knock on the door. Gui Er suddenly woke up, tiptoed to the door, and asked, "Who is it?"

"Me." Sha Yanxiao's voice.

Gui'er then breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door.

Seeing that she was only wearing pajamas, Sha Yanxiao quickly carried her to the bed and wrapped her in a quilt. Then he moved a stool and sat in front of her, saying, "I'm leaving now. I came here to tell you."

Gui'er was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that he was going back to his hometown, so she asked, "Is the situation so serious?"

Sha Yanxiao sighed and said, "I don't know. I'll find out when I go back and see for myself."

"Will your father go back with you?"

"No, I'll go back first, find out what happened, and then notify my father."

Gui'er was inexplicably worried and said, "Then be careful when you go back."

Sha Yanxiao nodded, took out a small cloth bag from his pocket, handed it to Guier and said, "Here are some silver dollars and gold bars. Keep them just in case."

Gui'er looked at the bulging bag. She needed both hands to hold it steady. She was sure there was a lot of money in it, so she said, "I have money. Didn't you see it before? You'll need money when you go back, too."

Sha Yanxiao stuffed the purse into her hand and said, "If what Song Xichen said is true, and Marshal Zhang really wants to annex my father's territory, then a war is inevitable. I'll have to fight tooth and nail when I return. If I win, I'll be richer, but if I lose, I won't have the chance to spend it. So I'm leaving some for you. Don't tell anyone else, or you'll bring disaster upon yourself."

Gui'er was stunned for a moment. She hadn't expected it to come to this. Suddenly, she felt a little scared. She grabbed Sha Yanxiao's hand and said, "Can't you just not go back yet? Find someone to go back and find out what's going on, and then make plans."

Sha Yanxiao smiled. "I'm the one who's going back to investigate. If something like that really happened, the army would have to be mobilized immediately. Besides Father, I'm the only one who can do that, so we can't both go back at the same time." He patted Gui'er's head and said, "Father has been operating there for many years, so his chances of success are pretty good."

Then he pulled out something wrapped in cloth from his arms. When he opened the cloth, he found a pocket pistol. Sha Yanxiao said, "Da Li will go back with me. You should be able to use this gun. I'm leaving it for you to defend yourself."

As he spoke, he taught Guier how to remove the magazine, install the magazine, load the gun, and unload the gun. He demonstrated it once and watched Guier do it again before he felt relieved.

Gui'er learned it very seriously. She knew in her heart that although she was Sha Dashuai's adopted daughter on the surface, she was actually adopted by Sha Yanxiao. If Sha Yanxiao was gone, she would probably become like the fifth and sixth concubines, and be arranged by people at will, and might even be worse than them.

Sha Yanxiao stroked her face and said, "I'm leaving tonight. If anything really happens, you can go find Song Xichen, but don't do what you did today. It's shameful for a lady from a prominent family to pass notes to a man from another family. You can only cover it up now because you're still a child, but you can't do that again in the future, understand?"

Gui Er said a little embarrassedly, "How did you know? I saw him over there, but I was too embarrassed to shout, so I folded the plane and flew over."

Sha Yanxiao smiled bitterly and said, "There's no such thing as an impenetrable wall in this mansion. Although Song Xichen probably has no ill will towards you, I don't like him. Unless it's absolutely necessary, don't go see him."

After that, he looked at his watch and said, "I should go now."

Gui'er quickly stood up to see him off, but Sha Yanxiao held her back and said, "You're wearing so little. Don't get up. Go back to sleep."

With that, he walked out and closed the door.

Guier heard his footsteps going down to the first floor, so she quickly got up, picked up her cloak and put it on, then quietly opened the door and went to the second-floor balcony in front.

Dali had already parked the car at the door. It was midnight and there was no light on in the house. It was pitch black all around, with only a thin ray of light coming through from the street lamp outside.

Sha Yanxiao was about to get in the car when he suddenly felt something. He turned around and looked up, and saw a small figure standing on the balcony, looking down. He didn't say anything, waved to Guier, got in the car, and left.