A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Summer vacation came in a blink of an eye. Tong Yujun's family went to Shanghai, and the eighth concubine also left with her parents' home.

There was no large-scale visit to the Marshal's Mansion this summer vacation. Gui'er heard that Fengcheng's campaign to ban casinos and opium dens was reaching a white-hot stage. Marshal Sha had learned the lesson of almost having his home robbed during the New Year holiday in Shanghai, and he did not plan to go to Shanghai for summer vacation this year.

However, the fourth concubine's brother was promoted again, and since the fourth concubine did not go during the Chinese New Year, the fourth concubine was specially allowed to take her two children to Shanghai for vacation. Sha Lili told Guier that the Marshal also specially prepared a bunch of gifts for them to take and distribute to their uncles and aunts. The intention to win people's hearts was really obvious.

Moreover, the Fourth Concubine's brothers were frequently promoted, and the Fourth Concubine was gaining more and more favor in front of the Marshal. Now the Fourth Concubine's favor had surpassed the Eighth Concubine. Every time Gui'er saw the Eighth Concubine, she had a blank expression and looked unhappy. Dingxiang told Gui'er: "I heard that the Eighth Concubine felt that her child was lost because of the Fourth Concubine. The Marshal forgave her so quickly. The Eighth Concubine was very resentful and sometimes contradicted the Marshal. So this time she said she wanted to go to Shanghai to study, and the Marshal did not stop her."

Gui'er sighed. She had always known that the Fourth Concubine was a ruthless person. Anyone who dared to stand in her way would be killed. However, he was also good friends with Sha Yanxiao, so she still had to keep her distance. Moreover, Sha Lili was kind to her. Before leaving for Shanghai, she said to Gui'er, "It's a pity that you can't go to Shanghai this time. I'll bring you some souvenirs when the time comes."

Gui'er felt that it was no big deal if she couldn't go to Shanghai. She remembered that Song Xichen said that she could ask Manager Zhang to teach her medicine, so she simply told Sha Yanxiao. However, she knew that Sha Yanxiao had never liked Song Xichen, so she didn't mention his name. She just said that she often went to Zhen Xiufang to deliver embroidery pieces, and found out that Manager Zhang was from a family of traditional Chinese medicine, so she wanted to take advantage of the summer vacation to study with her.

Sha Yanxiao looked at Gui'er and said, "You're still so young, why are you so anxious to learn?"

Gui Er smiled and said, "Many of my classmates have already made plans. He Ruizhu said she wants to be like her father and work as an accountant. Tong Yujun is already engaged and will be a wife in the future. I don't think it's good for me to sit around doing nothing all day."

Sha Yanxiao was amused by her adult-like remarks and said, "So you want to study medicine now, so you plan to be a doctor in the future? Not a wife? If you were a wife, you could play all day long."

"Being a doctor is great, you can save the dying and heal the wounded. To be a wife, you need to have a good family background, otherwise you will end up like Miss Zhang Si, who is very sad. I am just the adopted daughter of the Marshal's Mansion, not a proper lady, so I am afraid I cannot be a wife."

Sha Yanxiao was silent for a moment, then said, "You have me. I won't let you suffer any injustice."

Gui'er nodded and said with a smile, "I know my brother will definitely protect me, but if I can learn one more thing, I think it would be good too."

Seeing how determined she was, Sha Yanxiao said, "Then give me two days to think about it."

Gui'er knew that Sha Yanxiao might not just think about it for two days, but was going to send someone to investigate Manager Zhang's background, so she took the opportunity to go shopping at Wing On Department Store and borrowed a phone from the Wing On Hotel on the third floor to call Song Xichen and tell him about this matter.

Song Xichen smiled and said, "I understand. It's okay. Don't worry."

Two days later, Sha Yanxiao took the initiative to say to Gui'er, "Since you want to study medicine so much, then go ahead. You'll just need a lot of transportation to get there."

Gui'er was very happy that she finally had the opportunity to learn a skill that would help her.

The next day, Dali drove her to the entrance of the alley where Zhenxiufang was located. Guier walked in by herself and Manager Zhang opened the door for her. After entering, she found that Song Xichen was there too.

Gui'er said happily, "Brother Xichen, why are you here too?"

Song Xichen smiled and said, "I knew you were coming today, and I haven't seen you for a long time, so I came to see you."

Gui'er hadn't seen him for a while, and was very happy to pull him over and talk to him nonstop, telling him about Sha Yanxiao's help to the Ji family in Shanghai to deal with Ji Zhongqing's funeral and collect real estate, as well as Fengcheng's rectification of casinos and opium dens.

Song Xichen smiled and said, "I didn't expect the young marshal to be so good at governing the local area. This can be considered a meritorious deed."

Guier nodded and said, "Brother Yanxiao is a good man who is dedicated to serving the people."

Song Xichen talked to her for a while, told her to study hard under Manager Zhang, and then left.

Shopkeeper Zhang took her from the back door of Zhenxiufang to the inner hall of a drugstore. It turned out that the first floor of the building was divided into two shops, each of which had a shop in an adjacent alley, and there was a secret door connecting them.

Shopkeeper Zhang said to Gui'er, "This shop is owned by my father's apprentice and my boss. If I have nothing to do, I'll come here to help out. I can think of it as looking after both shops. He'll be in charge of welcoming guests, and I'll be in charge of the rest. You just need to follow me."

Then he called his husband over and introduced him to Guier, "This is the young lady from the Marshal's Mansion. She wants to come and study medicine with us."

Then he said to Gui'er, "This is my head of the family. His surname is Liu."

Seeing the man, who was of medium build, with a ruddy complexion and bright eyes, Guier quickly said, "Hello, Doctor Liu. Please give me your guidance."

The man quickly said, "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. We are just a small pharmacy, not a famous doctor. You can just call me the shopkeeper."

Gui'er quickly changed her words and said, "Shopkeeper Liu."

Shopkeeper Liu smiled and said to Shopkeeper Zhang, "What a clever kid this is."

After that, Guier came to help Manager Zhang in the back every day, helping to boil medicine, mortar medicine, and pick medicine. In his spare time, Manager Zhang would teach her.

Gui'er studied very hard. After a long time, the shop owners of other shops in that alley recognized Gui'er. They knew that she was the apprentice of Shopkeeper Zhang and that she was a lady from a wealthy family. However, they did not know that she came from the Marshal's Mansion because Gui'er specifically asked Shopkeeper Zhang not to tell anyone to avoid any complications.

When Shopkeeper Zhang learned that Gui'er had memorized the Tangtou Song, he was very surprised. He also asked about the efficacy and pharmacology of the medicine in the Tangtou Ge. Sha Yanyao had explained these to Gui'er, so Gui'er could recite them. Shopkeeper Zhang was very surprised and said, "So you have learned it before."

Gui'er then told Zhang about how Sha Yanyao taught him the Tangtou Song. When Zhang heard this, his smiling face suddenly froze.

Gui'er also noticed something was wrong and asked cautiously, "Manager Zhang, did I learn this wrong?"

Shopkeeper Zhang was stunned for a moment before he recovered and said quickly, "No, you've learned very well. I just didn't expect the eldest son of the Marshal's Mansion to be so proficient in medicine."

Guier smiled and said, "Yeah, I didn't expect that either. But he should know quite a lot. He knows some of the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting."

Shopkeeper Zhang smiled and said nothing.