A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The first and second wives warmly addressed the young lady as Mrs. Zhou and Miss Zhou. As soon as Guier heard it, she knew that they must be the young lady and lady from the Zhou family silk shop that they had mentioned when they went to Guanyin Temple to burn incense in the morning.

The clothes worn by Mrs. Zhou and Miss Zhou seemed to be made of high-end materials, but they were followed by only an old maid who looked very old. She wore old black cloth clothes that looked like they had been worn for many years. They were far inferior to the servants of the Song family. Miss Zhou seemed to have sensed this as well and looked particularly unwell.

After lunch, the ladies said they would go here for tea. Gui'er was about to follow the eldest young master back to the courtyard. Just as she reached the front hall door, the eldest lady spoke: "Xichen, Miss Zhou is a young lady. I'm afraid she doesn't like staying with us older people. Why don't you take her to your room to play for a while?"

Song Xichen glanced at Miss Zhou, who shyly lowered her head, but after a few seconds raised it again, secretly glancing at Song Xichen from the corner of her eye. Gui'er felt that Miss Zhou must have taken a fancy to Song Xichen, so she turned her head curiously to see Song Xichen's reaction.

Song Xichen seemed to sigh softly, and then politely made a gesture of invitation, saying, "Miss Zhou, please."

Miss Zhou was a little flattered and walked out slowly. Gui'er followed them carefully, keeping a distance from them. After Song Xichen walked Miss Zhou around the courtyard, Gui'er quickly walked into the living room to make tea. She then went to the corridor to call a maid who was on standby and asked her to go to Aunt Zhang to get some snacks.

When Song Xichen brought Miss Zhou into the living room, he saw the tea and snacks already prepared on the table and looked at Gui'er with approval.

The two of them sat in the living room drinking tea and chatting, Gui'er stood by and served them. Although Miss Zhou was quite reserved, she was always actively looking for topics to talk about. Gui'er, with the mentality of watching gossip, secretly looked at Miss Zhou and found that the shoes she wore were made of the same cloth shoes as the servants in the Song Mansion. It seemed that the strength of the Zhou family was still quite different from that of the Song family.

Song Xichen actually had little interest in chatting with Miss Zhou, but he had to deal with her politely. As time went on, his impatience gradually showed, and he became a little absent-minded. Gui'er, who was standing next to him, felt embarrassed for Miss Zhou.

Suddenly, Miss Zhou looked at Gui'er and said, "Is this the little girl you rescued from the flower boat? I think she's quite attractive and knows the rules. After all, she's trained. I guess men like that."

Gui'er felt something was wrong when she heard this. It was said to be a compliment, but in reality it was an insult. Song Xichen glanced at Miss Zhou, then at Gui'er: "I rescued her the day she was sold to the brothel, so she wasn't bullied."

Gui'er knew that she would probably never be able to tear off the label of being sold to a brothel as long as she stayed in the Song Mansion, but there was nothing she could do as the world outside was probably more difficult than the Song family's. She was very grateful that Song Xichen defended her in this way.

"Then why don't you let her go back to her own home? If she comes to be a servant at such a young age, I'm afraid she won't be able to do anything." Miss Zhou said. She seemed to care a lot about Gui'er staying in the Song Mansion.

"What do you think?" Miss Zhou spoke to Song Xichen, but her eyes were on Guier.

Gui'er didn't want to pay any attention to her, so she kept a calm face, like a servant who was embarrassed to speak out while the master was speaking. Song Xichen said, "Her hometown has been unable to afford food due to the poor harvest, so they sold her. She would starve to death if she returned. My family doesn't need a single bite of food."

Upon hearing this, Miss Zhou quickly said, "Master Song is so kind, and this child is also a poor person. Come, little girl, I have a flower for you." Then she rummaged through her bag for a long time and took out a flower made of velvet.

Gui'er took a look and thought it was quite delicate. However, Miss Zhou herself didn't wear such a delicate flower in her hair, yet she gave it to someone else, which seemed a bit strange. So Gui'er said calmly, "Thank you, Miss Zhou. The servants of the Song Mansion cannot accept gifts from outsiders casually."

Miss Zhou looked a little embarrassed, but Song Xichen smiled and said, "Yes, that's the rule in our family. Thank you."

Soon Miss Zhou said goodbye. Song Xichen asked a maid to take her back to the front hall, then he lay down on the sofa exhausted. Gui'er went to clean up the teacup. Song Xichen asked, "Why did you say that just now?"

Gui'er said truthfully, "I see that Miss Zhou is wearing the same shoes as our maid, and she wears an ordinary cloth flower on her head. This velvet flower seems to be something she has carefully kept, so I don't think I can accept it."

Song Xichen reached out and touched her head and said, "It's amazing that you're so observant at such a young age."

At this time, the maid who had gone to see Miss Zhou off came back and said to Gui'er, "The lady wants you to come over."

Gui'er had a bad feeling, but she couldn't ask Song Xichen to go with her, so she looked back at Song Xichen and agreed, "Okay, I'll go right away."

Then he turned around and said to Song Xichen, "Master, I'll go to the Madam first."

Song Xichen closed his eyes and nodded. Seeing him like this, Gui'er didn't seem to care, so she had to go anyway.

When they arrived at the front hall, the three ladies were all there, as well as the mother and daughter of the Zhou family. Looking carefully, Miss Zhou's eyes were a little red, as if she had just cried. Gui'er thought to herself: She was crying just after coming out of the eldest young master's yard. If she hadn't filed a complaint, she would have been doomed.

Sure enough, Guier cautiously walked up to the eldest wife and said, "Madam, what do you want to talk to me about?"

The eldest wife said with a stern face, "Miss Zhou said you didn't accept her gift, saying that our servants don't have such a custom. Is that true?"

Gui'er had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "It's true."

The eldest wife's expression changed and she said sternly, "When did we have such a rule here? Did you make it?"

Gui'er naturally couldn't say that she didn't dare to ask for it because she saw that Miss Zhou didn't have many good things on her, so she could only say, "Guier doesn't dare."

Mrs. Zhou also spoke up: "So it was this little girl's own thoughts. I thought the Song family looked down on our things, haha."

Just as the eldest wife was about to say something, the master came down from the second floor. The three wives stood up at the same time. Mrs. Zhou and Miss Zhou also stood up quickly. The eldest wife asked, "Master, if you go out at this time, will you come back for dinner in the evening?"

The master glanced at everyone present and said as he put on his hat, "I'm going to discuss some business and won't be back tonight. What are you doing?"

The eldest wife said nonchalantly, "Oh, it's just that this little girl is ignorant and offended a guest. Madam Zhou will drag her out and slap her thirty times. If she does it again, she will not be allowed to stay in my Song family."

Nanny Zhou turned around and waved outside the house, and a servant came in. Gui'er looked closely and saw that it was the one called Ah Hu. She thought to herself, "This big and strong man, if he slaps me in the face, will I still be alive?" So she quickly knelt down and moved in front of the master on her knees.

She cried and said, "Master, please spare me. I didn't mean to do that. I saw that the shoes Miss Zhou was wearing were the same as mine, and the flowers were neatly placed in her bag. They must be treasured items. I, a servant, dare not ask for such precious things from the master without permission. That's why I said that. I didn't mean to look down on Miss Zhou."

For a moment, everyone was stunned. After a few seconds, the Third Madam suddenly reacted, rushed forward, and slapped Gui'er twice in the face, cursing, "You little bitch, how dare you talk nonsense? Do you want to die?"

Gui'er felt dizzy and fell to the ground. Although she tried hard to support herself with her hands, she could not get up.

"Okay, Mrs. Zhou and Miss Zhou, I'm really sorry. I was rude and will make it up to you in the future. Please go back first as you have something to do at home today. Nanny Zhou will prepare a generous gift and send it back to the Zhou Mansion with Mrs. Zhou and Miss Zhou." It was the master's voice.

When the Zhou mother and daughter saw that the matter had become serious, they did not dare to say anything more and followed Nanny Zhou obediently.

Gui'er felt a salty taste in her mouth, and knew that the skin in her mouth must be broken, which showed how strong the Third Madam was. She also felt her forehead was wet, and she was afraid that the Third Madam's nails had just scratched an old wound and cracked it. She struggled for a long time and finally sat up shakily.

Master Song Shichang looked back at the little girl sitting on the ground. Seeing that she was in a trance, he knew that she was beaten badly. He sighed and called other servants over to help her apply some medicine and prepared to send her back to the eldest young master's courtyard.

As soon as he reached the door, he ran into the eldest young master coming over. The eldest young master felt that Gui'er had been gone for so long and had not returned yet, so he came over because he felt something was wrong. However, before he reached the door, he saw Gui'er being dragged out of the front hall by two old maids. There were two big slap marks on her face, and she looked a little unconscious.

He couldn't help but get furious. He rushed forward, hugged Gui'er in his arms, and rushed into the front hall and said, "Who on earth beat my people like this? He's just a child."

The three wives sitting on the sofa were silent. The eldest and third wives felt a little guilty, while the second wife was a little calm and composed. She watched the fun and said, "Hey, third sister, you are just a child. You can teach her slowly. Why use such a heavy hand?"

Seeing the eldest young master's murderous look, the third wife Chunhong was a little frightened and stammered, "This little girl is dishonest and has offended the guests..." Then, perhaps feeling that her excuse was too far-fetched, she said coquettishly to the master, "Master, I am the dignified third wife. It is impossible for me to punish even a servant."

The master said with an impatient look, "Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? Don't let your impoverished relatives get close to my son in the future."

Although Gui'er felt dizzy at this time, she heard everyone's words carefully. She finally knew what was going on. It turned out that the mother and daughter of the Zhou family were relatives of the third wife, and they wanted to match Miss Zhou with Song Xichen. Miss Zhou probably wanted to please Song Xichen's personal maid, so she came up with the idea of giving expensive velvet flowers. Unexpectedly, Gui'er refused to accept it. Miss Zhou was a narrow-minded person, so she went back with a lot of grievances and complained to the ladies.

Guier's consciousness gradually faded, and she just felt so tired. She really wanted to go home, back to the world where her parents and family were.