A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "Why did Uncle Ji come here suddenly?"

Ji Zhongqing spread his hands and said, "I haven't been busy lately. I remembered that my niece has been away from home for a while. You know, Xiaoru is very favored in my family. The whole family misses her, so I came to see her."

Ji Yiru took Ji Zhongqing's arm and said affectionately, "Uncle still loves me."

The Marshal smiled and said, "My dear relatives, since it's a rare occasion for you to come, why don't you stay here for a few more days? Although this is a small place, it does have some nice scenery."

Ji Zhongqing smiled and said, "I'm not that interested in the scenery. I heard that your family has a few mines with quite good output. I'd like to go and see them."

As soon as these words came out, the living room suddenly fell silent. After several seconds, Sha Yanxiao said, "Uncle Ji has come from afar and hasn't eaten yet. Why don't we eat first?"

When the Marshal heard this, he quickly said, "Yes, yes, yes, let's eat first."

Ji Zhongqing chuckled and said nothing more.

It can be seen from this meal that Marshal Sha really spent a lot of money. He treated Ji Zhongqing to bear paws, wild boar meat, wild pheasant and other wild delicacies, which were not usually eaten in the mansion during the New Year.

Gui'er looked at these dishes that are very severe in modern times and could not eat them. She could only eat some ordinary vegetables, fish, meat and the like.

After the meal, Gui'er and other irrelevant people went back first, leaving only the Marshal, his wife, Sha Yanxiao, Ji Zhongqing and Ji Yiru to continue chatting in the reception room.

After Gui'er returned home, she did her homework and reviewed her lessons in her room. Sha Yanxiao didn't come back until it was almost time to go to bed.

Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Gui'er came back and sat on the sofa in the living room, drinking silently. The other servants didn't dare to say anything. She came out of the room, asked Dingxiang to prepare a pot of hangover tea, and said to Sha Yanxiao, "Brother, how did the talk go?"

Sha Yanxiao said helplessly: "Ji Zhongqing wants to take a share of our mine."

"Will father agree?"

"Of course I don't agree. We're willing to go to war with Marshal Zhang because he wants to take over our mines, right?"

"Then just reject him. He has influence in Shanghai, and we have strength here. Are we still afraid of him?"

Sha Yanxiao took a sip of the sobering tea that Dingxiang brought him and said, "It's not that simple. He was the one who sent people to kill the two Miss Zhangs. To dare to be so unscrupulous, Ji Zhongqing is a mad dog."

Gui'er said worriedly, "If we refuse, will he send someone to assassinate us?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled. "That's not the case. We were at Marshal Zhang's mansion because he took advantage of us. Marshal Zhang no longer had an army, and we held the real power. However, my father and I still hope that this matter can be settled on the table."

After that, Ji Zhongqing stayed in Jiangcheng for several days. The Sha family never compromised on the issue of the mine. Finally, the Marshal gave half of his property in Shanghai as a betrothal gift, and Ji Zhongqing compromised.

The Marshal asked about Ji Yiru's dowry, but Ji Zhongqing only gave her two opium dens in Shanghai, which he had agreed to before.

The lady was extremely dissatisfied because most of the properties in Shanghai were her dowry, and the properties earned by the Marshal in the later period were also handed over to the lady for safekeeping, which was equivalent to taking food from her.

Sha Yanxiao said that in the end the Marshal agreed to slowly buy new properties in Shanghai and return them to his wife, and only then did his wife feel a little better. As for the two opium dens that Ji Yiru brought as a dowry, Sha Yanxiao felt bad about it and wanted to give them to his wife, but Ji Yiru held on to them tightly, saying that this was the capital for her to settle down after marriage.

This made his wife very unhappy and Sha Yanxiao also lost face.

But Ji Yiru didn't care at all. She was very happy because it had been agreed that Sha Yanxiao and Sha Yanwen would get married together in a few months.

During this period, Ji Yiru didn't care about her guests and her status as an unmarried lady. She went to Wing On Department Store and Yunshang Building all day to buy clothes and jewelry. She wanted to go back to Shanghai to buy them, but Sha Yanxiao was afraid that something might happen on the way, so he persuaded her to give up.

After the wedding date was set, Ji Yiru ran to Sha Yanxiao's courtyard almost every day. She would take his arm affectionately and call him dear. This might not be a big deal in Shanghai, but it was relatively rare in this small town. Dingxiang told Guier that the servants were talking about it and said that he had opened his eyes.

Gui'er didn't know what to say. She treated everyone with courtesy every time she came. Ji Yiru asked Gui'er indirectly whether she would move out after she married Sha Yanxiao.

Gui'er knew that Ji Yiru couldn't tolerate her, but the other people in the Marshal's Mansion were not easy to get along with. She had considered the Third Concubine. Since Sanmei came back, Gui'er had also gone to the Third Concubine's place to look for peach blossoms. The Third Concubine probably smelled something. Every time she went there, she would complain to Gui'er that her courtyard was not making ends meet. She said, "Everyone is looking at me now. Although Sanmei said she is going to give birth to a child for Marshal Zhang, we don't know whether it is a boy or a girl. Plus, the Fifth Concubine has been stupid since the last time. Her two children will definitely need my care. The allowance given by the mansion is not enough. I really wish I could split every penny and use it both ways."

In fact, Gui'er knew that the fifth concubine had suffered a mental shock after the accident, and she was usually a little dazed, but the third concubine did not take special care of her. It was just that the two of them lived close to each other, and she used it as an excuse. Gui'er also visited the fifth concubine. After all, her two children were the daughters of the Marshal, and they would not lack food and clothing, but not as rich as those in other courtyards. When Sha Yanxiao heard Gui'er mention it, he would often ask his servants to send some things over.

So now Sha Yanxiao is quite popular in the mansion. People think he is fair and that even if he inherits the throne in the future, there will not be too many changes.

As for the fact that Ji Yiru couldn't tolerate Gui'er, Sha Yanxiao also felt it slightly. He said to Gui'er, "This is your home. Don't think too much about what others say. If you hear anything, you can tell me and I will handle it."

Although Gui'er was very happy that he said that, if they really got married in the future and Ji Yiru and others really couldn't accommodate her, Sha Yanxiao would probably be in a difficult position.

Originally, Gui'er wanted to discuss it with Song Xichen, but when she thought that this was a family affair of the Marshal's Mansion, and Song Xichen was an outsider and had no way of interfering, she had to give up.

As the wedding date approached, Gui'er became increasingly worried. One day, she went to play with Taohua again. Taohua whispered to Gui'er, "Guier, are you worried that your new sister-in-law won't be able to tolerate you when she comes home?"

Gui'er was stunned for a moment and said, "How do you know?"

Taohua smiled and said, "I may be a little slow, but everyone around me has said so, how could I not know?"

Gui'er thought that she had only tentatively told the third concubine that it might not be convenient for her to stay in her brother's courtyard after he got married. At that time, the third concubine kept complaining, and Gui'er didn't say anything. Others should not know about it.

Taohua said, "Although this new sister-in-law is quite generous to everyone, everyone knows that she is not easy to get along with. Especially since her uncle actually dared to ask for our family's mine as a betrothal gift."

After a pause, Taohua continued, "Actually, I've saved some money over the years, and you should have some too. If things really don't work out, we should just move out right now. At first, I thought the Third Wife would definitely treat me well, but now it seems it's all about profit."

Gui Er was stunned for a moment and said, "Is the Third Concubine treating you badly again now?"

Taohua smiled and said, "Not really, but didn't you find anywhere to go?"

Guier smiled bitterly and said, "It's actually okay now. Brother Yanxiao told me to stay here. The main reason is that we are too young now and don't know how to survive outside."

Taohua said naively, "We are rich now and have savings. We can rent a house, I can embroider, and I can also support you to continue your schooling."

Gui'er was moved and sad after hearing this. She realized that Taohua had actually had little contact with the society. Before she was sold, her family was a tenant farmer. They had to hand over all their harvest except for the part left for filling their stomachs. Every day they had to think about how to avoid starving to death. Although Song Xichen rescued her in time after she was sold, she had no shortage of food and drink either in the Song family or in the Marshal's Mansion. Moreover, she stayed at home all day, never going out of the front door or the back door. She didn't know that there were not only gangsters, swindlers, and bandits in the outside world, but also ordinary people who flatter the powerful, take advantage of others, and kick them when they are down.

Gui'er didn't know how to bring it up with Taohua, so she just said, "But after all, the Marshal's Mansion has done us a favor. If we leave rashly, people outside will think they're mistreating us, and that would be bad for their reputation."

Taohua nodded, not quite understanding what he meant.