A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

During the intermission, everyone got up and went outside to get some fresh air and buy some snacks. Guier suddenly discovered that Sha Yanxiao had brought Miss Rong to watch the musical.

Miss Rong saw Gui'er and greeted her enthusiastically, "Sister Gui'er, you're here too?"

Gui'er had originally thought that since Sha Yanxiao hadn't told her, perhaps he didn't want others to know he and Miss Rong were coming to the opera together. She had planned to pretend she hadn't noticed. But now that Miss Rong had already called her out, she had no choice but to go forward with a smile and say, "Yes, so Miss Rong and Brother Yanxiao are here too?"

Song Xichen saw it and came over to say hello.

Miss Rong looked at the two people who looked very similar and said with a smile, "Is this the young marshal's relative?"

Sha Yanxiao said with a forced smile, "This is my fellow villager, Chief Song from the Jiangcheng Police Station."

Song Xichen smiled politely and said, "This beautiful lady must be Miss Rong."

Sha Yanxiao rolled his eyes and said to Guier, "Go home quickly after the opera. There are a lot of bad guys out there!" Then he stared at Song Xichen.

Song Xichen pretended not to understand and said with a smile, "Young Marshal, please rest assured. I will definitely ensure Gui'er's safety."

Gui'er watched their meaningful conversation and sighed in her heart: Childish boy, it is true that men remain young until they die.

At this time, the second half began. The audience came in one after another. When they were about to reach their seats, they suddenly heard two gunshots, followed by the sound of broken glass. The audience immediately became chaotic, and Gui'er and Song Xichen were also dispersed.

Gui'er wanted to find Song Xichen, but the terrified audience swarmed towards the exit like a tide. Gui'er was knocked to the ground and then several people stepped on her. Gui'er thought that something was wrong and she had to get up quickly, otherwise she would be trampled and injured.

But she was only a ten-year-old child and did not have enough strength to shout for help, but at that time, the dance hall was filled with screams and gunshots were heard from time to time.

, Guier's cries were drowned out.

Just when she was in despair, someone suddenly helped Guier from behind, and Guier finally stood up. The scene was in chaos, with crying and screaming everywhere. The person who helped her up pulled her hand and dragged her forward. Although Guier wanted to find Song Xichen and Sha Yanxiao, she was in danger now and could not care about so much. She could only go out first.

It wasn't until she was outside the dance hall that Gui'er saw clearly that the person who had saved her was actually a woman in her early 20s. Upon closer inspection, she saw that she was wearing heavy makeup, with a hint of prostitution on her face, and her clothes were made of relatively cheap material. Gui'er didn't dare to speculate about others, so she bowed deeply and said to the woman, "Thank you, sister, for saving me."

The woman looked at Gui'er and said with a smile, "It seems you are a child from a scholarly family. You are so polite."

At this moment, several cars suddenly drove up from a distance. The woman looked and said, "Oh no! The foreign police from the concession are here. Let's run quickly, otherwise we will get into trouble."

Without saying anything, she grabbed Gui'er and ran away. After running for more than ten minutes, she stopped when they were probably quite a distance away from the dance hall.

Gui'er was dragged by her to run for her life until she was a little breathless. She felt like a kite, being pulled by someone to run with a mission, and her feet were about to float off the ground.

The woman looked back and saw that there seemed to be no police chasing them, so she breathed a sigh of relief. There happened to be a tea shop nearby, so she pulled Guier to a table in the tea shop, sat down, and ordered two sodas.

Gui'er quickly asked, "Thank you for your help along the way, may I know your name?"

The woman smiled sweetly and said, "My name is Zhao Ruyu. What's your name, little one?"

Guier smiled and said, "My name is Wu Guier."

Zhao Ruyu laughed and said, "This name is quite simple." Then he took out a handkerchief to wipe Guier's sweat.

Only then did Guier carefully examine Zhao Ruyu. She was about 21 or 22 years old, with almond eyes and willow-shaped eyebrows. Her lips were a bit thick, shaped a bit like the mouth of modern star Shu Qi, her nose was high and straight, and she was tall, over 1.7 meters tall. Her accent did not sound like a Shanghainese. Her hair was permed into long, big waves, which made her look more mature. Cheongsam was the most fashionable style in Shanghai, but the fabric was of average quality, and the hem just passed the knees, but the slit was open to the middle of the thigh. Most people's cheongsams were mid-calf, with the slit only reaching a little above the knees.

Zhao Ruyi asked, "Where is your home? How about I call a rickshaw to take you back?"

Gui'er was about to tell them the address of the Marshal's villa when she noticed that the alley they were in was full of men wearing silk jackets and top hats. There were also some men in suits, but their behavior was suspicious and they looked like they had nothing to do. She immediately became alert and said, "I can't remember it at the moment. My family and I came here to celebrate the New Year and stayed with relatives."

Zhao Ruyu said, "Oh, is that so? Then why don't you go to my house first? It's not a big deal to stay outside. My house is just in front."

Gui Er hesitated for a moment, nodded, and thought about leaving here first. She had money with her anyway, so she could find a chance to ask a rickshaw to take her back.

Zhao Ruyu took Gui'er and turned left and right, and walked a few hundred meters until they came to an alley. The houses in this alley were a little more dilapidated than the one Gui'er passed by on her way to Sanlian Bookstore, but the layout was similar. There were various shops on the first floor, and residences on the second floor. There was usually a small room in the stairwell from the first floor to the second floor where the landlord or the person who helped the landlord collect rent lived.

Zhao Ruyi walked into one of the buildings, and Gui'er followed her in. As soon as they entered, they saw a fat man in his 40s, bald and wearing a silk gown, sitting on a recliner in the stairwell. He glanced at Gui'er and asked, "Zhao Ruyi, is this your relative?"

Zhao Ruyu smiled charmingly and said, "Mr. Jin, this is my distant cousin. She came to Shanghai to stay with her relatives. Come and rest with me."

The man called Mr. Jin looked Gui'er up and down, crossed his legs and said, "Your cousin doesn't look like you."

Zhao Ruyu smiled and said, "Look at what you said. She's a cousin, not a biological sister. How could they be that similar?"

Mr. Jin reached out and touched Zhao Ruyu's waist, and said with a lewd smile: "Looks like you, coquettish."

Just as he was about to move his hand down, Zhao Ruyu cleverly dodged it, pulled Gui'er, said, "Hateful," and went upstairs.

Gui'er looked back and saw that Mr. Jin didn't get up, but continued to lie on the recliner, humming a little tune.

Zhao Ruyu opened the door of a room at the end of the corridor on the second floor and said to Guier, "Come in."

Guier said, "Excuse me," and walked into the room cautiously. She found that the room was very tidy and well-lit. There was a window facing the street. It was a one-bedroom and one-living room layout. Guier saw a bucket with a lid in a corner of the room. She looked around and found that there was indeed no bathroom or toilet in the room. This bucket was probably a toilet.

Seeing Gui'er staring at the toilet, Zhao Ruyu thought she was in a hurry, so he smiled and said, "Oh, if you're in a hurry, go ahead. The toilet is a little far from here, at the entrance of the alley. I usually use it at home. When a car passes by in the morning, I just take it down and empty it. It's already been there this morning, so it's clean. I'll go get you a glass of water."

Gui'er walked over and opened the lid of the toilet. It was indeed clean and had been rinsed. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Sister Ruyi, you don't have a faucet or a well here, where did you go to wash?"

Zhao Ruyu said, "Oh, there's a water room outside on the public balcony where you can get water. It seems you're from a well-off family and haven't lived in a shabby house like this before."

Gui'er didn't want to tell her the truth yet and said with a smile, "We do have toilets and showers in our hometown."

When Zhao Ruyi heard the word "outhouse," he thought it was a wealthy man from the countryside. He smiled and said, "This is Shanghai, where every inch of land is worth a lot of money. If we want to bathe, we have to go to a bathhouse."