A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Song Xichen and the mysterious man came to the door of Zhenxiufang. Song Xichen turned around and looked around. Guier quickly hid in a snack shop and was not discovered.

Afterwards, Song Xichen knocked on the door of Zhenxiufang and walked in first. The mysterious man looked around and also walked in.

Gui'er originally wanted to deliver an embroidery piece, but now seeing the current situation, it seems inconvenient, so she decided to wait in the snack bar first.

The owner saw Gui'er standing in the shop and called her: "Little sister, what would you like to eat? Would you like a bowl of sesame paste? It's delicious."

Guier smiled and said, "Okay, then have a bowl."

Soon, the shop owner brought up a bowl of steaming black sesame paste, and Guier sat in the shop and ate it slowly.

Only after they had finished most of the sesame paste did Song Xichen and the mysterious man come out of Zhenxiufang. After coming out, the two did not walk together this time, but left the alley one after the other, as if they were two unrelated people.

Gui'er was curious. As the mysterious man passed by the snack bar, she took a look at him and found him quite ordinary: tall and thin, with almond-shaped eyes and thin lips. He wasn't particularly ugly, nor was he particularly good-looking. In a crowd, he'd be hard to miss. But there was something a little scary about his eyes. He noticed Gui'er was looking at him and turned to look at her with the look of a beast looking at its prey. The moment their eyes met, Gui'er shuddered and quickly lowered her head, pretending to eat sesame paste.

Fortunately, Gui'er was just a child, so he didn't care and walked straight past.

After Song Xichen and the mysterious man walked away, she finished the bowl of sesame paste, paid the bill and came out to look around. She couldn't see them anymore, so she came to the door of Zhenxiufang and knocked.

The one who opened the door was the shopkeeper Zhang. Seeing her expression, Gui'er was a little wary, but she relaxed when she saw it was Gui'er.

Gui Er pretended not to know anything and said to Shopkeeper Zhang with a smile, "Shopkeeper Zhang, I'm here to deliver embroidery pieces again."

The shopkeeper warmly invited Gui'er into the house, accepted the embroidery pieces Gui'er brought and exchanged them for silver.

Gui'er asked, "Shopkeeper Zhang, has Brother Xichen come to change the dressings these past two days? Is his hand fully healed?"

Shopkeeper Zhang smiled and said, "Miss Gui'er, you're really worried about Director Song. Don't worry, his hand is completely healed now."

Gui'er felt a little relieved. Although she was full of curiosity about Song Xichen and the mysterious man, seeing that they acted so secretively, perhaps they didn't want others to know, she controlled her curiosity and went back without asking.

Back at the Marshal's residence, Gui'er went to Sha Yanyao's courtyard to do her homework, but found that Sha Yanyao was not there. The steward said that he had gone to Marshal Sha's place. The lady said to Gui'er, "Your elder brother has been busy these days and I'm afraid he won't have time to help you with your homework. You should go back to your own courtyard and do it."

Guier said obediently, "Okay, mother," and went back.

But what could Sha Yanyao, with a body like that, do? Gui'er was completely baffled.

Back in the yard, Sha Yanxiao and Ji Yiru were not there, so Guier started doing homework in the hall. She didn't have to accompany Marshal Sha for dinner today. Ji Yiru hadn't come back by dinner time, and she didn't know how long she would play outside. The manager asked Guier what time she would eat?

Gui'er said, "Of course, we'll wait until Brother Yanxiao comes back before eating."

The steward quickly said, "The Second Young Master has instructed that he will probably be dining with the Marshal today, so the young lady doesn't have to wait."

Gui'er was very surprised. Usually, whenever Sha Yanxiao was in Jiangcheng, no matter how busy he was, he would come back to have dinner with Gui'er. Today was not the day to have dinner with the Marshal, but Sha Yanxiao and Sha Yanyao both went to accompany the Marshal.

This made Gui'er feel a little strange, but she pretended nothing happened and said with a smile: "Okay, let's eat now."

Soon the servants brought the food over. Ding Xiang smiled and said, "The young marshal even asked the kitchen to make you shrimp and egg custard."

After dinner, Gui'er did some homework and previewed the content she was going to learn. When it was time to go to bed, Sha Yanxiao had not come back yet. Gui'er waited for a while, but Ji Yiru came back first.

Hearing that Sha Yanxiao hadn't returned yet, Ji Yiru also felt something was wrong and asked Gui'er, "What happened?"

Gui'er said truthfully, "I heard that my brother is at my father's place. He must be busy with official business."

Ji Yiru said suspiciously, "Where does so much official business come from?" and then went back to her room.

Gui'er waited for a while before Sha Yanxiao came back. Seeing Gui'er waiting for him, he smiled, touched her head and said, "I've been busy with work lately, so you don't have to wait for me. Go to bed first."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Yiru came out of the bedroom on the second floor. She put her hands on her hips, looked down through the fence, and chuckled and said, "What a picture of deep brotherly love. You can only lie to little girls. You are busy with work, who would believe you?"

Sha Yanxiao frowned and said impatiently, "You're making trouble again, aren't you?"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Gui'er quickly tried to calm them down, saying, "Brother and sister-in-law, it's getting late now. Why don't you go to bed early?"

Sha Yanxiao nodded to Gui'er and said, "You should go to bed too."

Guier nodded obediently and went back to her room to rest.

As soon as I lay down on the bed, I heard Ji Yiru's sharp voice coming from the corridor.

"What business? I think you three are out having a good time, aren't you?"

"Don't talk nonsense, do you think everyone is like you?"

"You, you dare to spit bloody words at me?"

Then there was the sound of smashing things again. Guier knew that it must be Ji Yiru and Sha Yanxiao who had started quarreling again. She was too lazy to care. She closed her eyes, treated the noise as white noise, and slowly fell asleep.

In the next few days, Gui'er did her homework in her own yard. She didn't have to worry about Ji Yiru finding fault with her, because Ji Yiru also went out early and came back late. Gui'er felt that Ji Yiru had given up now. Whether she still liked Sha Yanxiao or not, Gui'er didn't know, but everyone in the mansion knew that the couple had grown tired of each other less than a year after their marriage.

After finishing her homework and doing some preview that day, Sha Yanxiao had not come back yet. Gui'er was bored and read the newspaper. Suddenly, she was attracted by an announcement.

The main title is the big word "Reward", and the subtitle is: Wanted Bandits.

It was the first time that Guier saw such content in the newspaper, and she was immediately attracted.

It only said: The central government recently reported that members of a gang have passed through our city. The number of members is uncertain. These criminals are extremely dangerous. If anyone knows their whereabouts, please report it directly to the police station or city hall. They will receive a generous reward. Anyone who shelters or hides them, or knows about the crime but fails to report it, will be guilty of the same crime as the gang.

The article was followed by a portrait, but it was a detailed portrait. The person in the portrait wore a long gown and a top hat, had almond-shaped eyes, thin lips, and an extremely ordinary appearance.