A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

When Gui'er opened her eyes early in the morning, she saw Song Xichen standing in front of her bed. She was startled and stood up with a somersault. She lost her balance and almost fell. Song Xichen reached out and hugged her. He lifted her up with one hand and put her on the bed to sit. Then he asked with a smile, "Are you awake?"

At this time, Nanny Zhou also walked into Gui'er's room and said seriously, "Guier, you are the eldest young master's personal maid. You should help him get up and wash. How can you get up later than him?"

Gui'er quickly stood up in a panic. Seeing that her hair was messy and her clothes were the same as during the day, Song Xichen combed her hair with his hands, trying to braid it for her while asking, "Do you only have one set of clothes?"

Nanny Zhou came over and said to Song Xichen, "Master, she's a servant, please don't break the rules. Let me do it. I'll find her some extra clothes later. Don't worry about it. Please go to the front hall and have breakfast first."

After Song Xichen left, Nanny Zhou helped Gui'er tie her hair while saying, "You two new girls are quite pretty, but I don't know why you've become so captivated by our young master and young lady. We in the Song family never have such a rule where young masters and young ladies come to serve servants. If word got out, people would think everyone in our family had been captivated by the young prostitutes who came on the boats."

Gui'er quickly said, "Madam Zhou misunderstood. We didn't come here on the flower boat. Our family was so hungry because of the poor harvest that we were sold to the flower boat. We were rescued by the young master just two days ago. I didn't even have time to see what the flower boat looked like."

By this time, Nanny Zhou had already braided Gui'er's hair and was leading her hand towards the front hall, asking, "Can you tell me where you're from?"

Gui'er felt a little guilty because she had no idea where the original owner lived. She was also afraid her fabrication would be exposed, so she said, "I hit my head on the ground while resisting and got hurt. I can't remember a lot of things. I only remember that my family had two acres of thin land and I had three older brothers. Taohua should know that her home was in the village next to mine."

By this time, they had already arrived at the front hall door. Nanny Zhou instructed Gui'er, "Just stand behind the eldest young master. Only do what the young master tells you to do. Also, every morning, you have to see when the eldest young master gets up and serve him, and when he changes his clothes and washes up, okay?"

Guier nodded obediently and said, "I understand." Then she walked into the front hall.

She was originally worried that she would be criticized for coming in late, but fortunately the master and the mistress had not arrived yet, and only a few young masters and young ladies were there. Taohua was also standing behind the young lady. When she saw Guier come in, she winked at her. Guier also smiled at Taohua and walked to stand behind the eldest young master.

Soon the master and the mistress arrived. Guier noticed that the mistress was followed by two middle-aged women. One was wearing a velvet cheongsam with mid-sleeves and a emerald green jade bracelet on her wrist, and the other was wearing a Xiao Fengxian gown with pearl necklaces on her hands and neck. They looked slightly younger than the eldest mistress. They were followed by maids. Guier guessed that these two should be the second and third mistresses.

Then the masters of the Song family began to sit down to have breakfast. The servants stood far away and waited to be served. Guier secretly glanced at the breakfast on the table. There were egg cakes, rice rolls, crystal shrimp dumplings, kidney bean rolls, water chestnut paste, small pot heads, meat patties, steamed spare ribs, and the masters and mistresses chose soy milk, the young lady chose milk, and the two young masters chose coffee. It seemed to be no different from the breakfast of modern people, but Guier knew in her heart that their breakfast could probably replace a large amount of income for a poor family.

A few days ago, Gui'er was still working on the flower boat with injuries, eating two sweet potatoes and a bowl of porridge with little rice a day. Looking at this breakfast, it seemed like a lifetime ago. She was once again glad that she had tried her best to stay. If she had been sent to an orphanage, her life would probably be very different.

Halfway through breakfast, the eldest wife, Wang Wenhui, spoke up: "Xichen, my sisters and I are going to Guanyin Temple to burn incense today. Can you take us there?"

Song Xichen didn't even raise his head and said, "I have to go to the police station to work. Ask Xilun to take you there."

The eldest wife said, "Why don't you just drop us off there first and then go to work? What's going on at that police station that requires you to go there early in the morning and come back after dark every night?"

At this time, the lady in the mid-length cheongsam said, "Xichen, this time you should obey your elder sister. We're going to Guanyin Temple to burn incense. Actually, the daughter and wife of the Zhou family, the silk and satin factory in the north of the city, are also going there. It's a good opportunity for you to meet them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the eldest wife glared at her fiercely, and she was so scared that she immediately fell silent. When the second young master saw this, he opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. Gui'er guessed that this person should be the second wife He Xiufang.

Song Xichen frowned but said nothing. The master glanced around and said to Song Xichen, "Just send your mother there. If you don't like it, forget it."

After breakfast, the masters set off.

Gui'er was also preparing to return to the eldest young master's courtyard. Just as she reached the corner, she ran into Taohua, who was also preparing to return to the young lady's room. The two friends were so happy to meet each other that they walked hand in hand and chatted. Taohua said, "I heard that the eldest young master chased Wu Ma to the second young master's courtyard and reassigned a lot of people to work there. You should have a much easier time now."

Gui Er didn't expect that she was quite well-informed. She said, "Yeah, how did you know?"

Taohua said proudly, "Our young lady loves to inquire about these things. As soon as Aunt Wu left the eldest young master's courtyard, our young lady knew about it."

Guier glanced at Taohua. Her current outfit wasn't as flashy and ostentatious as before, but it was still made of silk. The white top with black pants looked elegant and lovely. Guier asked Taohua, "How do you usually serve the young lady?"

Taohua tilted her head and counted on her fingers, saying, "Every night I help her prepare clothes for the next day, help her organize things on her desk, and even help her go out and find out the news from the other rooms outside."

Gui'er said, "Dressing, putting on makeup, and organizing paperwork?"

Taohua opened her eyes wide and said, "I can help the young lady change her clothes, but I'm not very good at dressing up. There are special sisters to help her with that and organize the paperwork. The young lady is still a female student, so she doesn't have to do these things at all."

Gui'er finally understood that Taohua was actually just a playmate of the young lady in the house. Her job was easy and suitable for her.

Back in the young master's courtyard, Gui'er saw that the servants were busy with their own things. Seeing her come back, they nodded politely and said, "You're back."

Gui'er wasn't familiar with them yet, so she politely nodded and said, "Yes, yes, thank you for your hard work."

At this time, the servants in charge of cleaning the inner room had finished cleaning and left. They were still very sensible and would never stay in the young master's room for too long after finishing their work every day. At this time, the eldest young master was not there, so Guier came to the eldest young master's study. She wanted to find some books and other things to learn about this world she had just traveled to.

There was a bookshelf in the eldest young master's study, which was filled with some thick books. She reached out and took one down, and when she opened the page, it was actually in English. Gui'er's English level was getting better and better. At this time, she really regretted not studying hard in class, so she had to put the book back.

While she was calculating, she suddenly saw a stack of newspapers in the corner of the desk. She quickly picked it up and saw that the layout was vertical and used traditional Chinese characters. Although she was not used to it, she could still understand it. Guier walked out of the study to see if there was anyone around, then came back to find a seat and began to read the newspaper calmly.

There is usually a photo of a beautiful woman in the center of the front page of these newspapers, with the name of socialite so-and-so or female star so-and-so written on it, followed by advertisements for accommodation in major shopping malls, department stores with big sales, silk and satin clothing, cinemas promoting new movies, and big hotels and hospitals. When you open the page, you will see all kinds of announcements, including engagement announcements, missing person notices, and divorce notices. Further inside, there are comics with a style similar to Sanmao's Wanderings.

Gui'er read with great interest the whole morning. When she looked up, she found that the clock in the study had already reached 11:00. She didn't know whether the eldest young master would come back for dinner, so she quickly packed up the newspaper and ran to the front hall. The master and the second young master and the young lady were not there. There was only the eldest young master and the three ladies, and two unfamiliar ladies and ladies. Gui'er quickly walked behind the eldest young master and stood there as inconspicuously as possible.