A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The next day, Gui'er came to the Third Concubine's courtyard to play with Taohua. She mentioned her menstruation and Taohua smiled and said, "I started having my period half a year ago."

Guier quickly asked her how she handled it?

Taohua smiled and said, "When I was little, I saw my mother sew a cloth bag to hold wood ash as a cushion, so I followed her example."

Gui Er said, "That's so troublesome, and it's unhygienic. Are the Third Concubine and the Third Beauty both like this?"

Taohua blushed and said, "I haven't asked them about this, but I noticed that the servants also used wood ash to fill bags."

Guier introduced the sanitary belt and its usage to Taohua.

Taohua said in surprise, "There's actually something so convenient. This is great. I don't have to look for wood ash everywhere. But I use a lot of toilet paper for my period, which is very expensive."

Gui'er said, "Toilet paper isn't expensive. You can buy a piece for just a dozen coins. Besides, isn't there a toilet in the mansion?"

Taohua smiled but didn't say anything, her expression a little embarrassed.

Gui'er suddenly realized something and said, "You don't have any toilet paper in your courtyard? Or is Third Concubine still withholding your monthly allowance?"

Taohua sighed and said, "It doesn't really matter if we don't have straw paper. The servants in the courtyard all use leaves. The Third Concubine said that even though Sister Sanmei has given birth to a child, the silver the Marshal gave her and her makeup aren't enough to cover her expenses, so I have to use my monthly allowance as well."

Gui'er thought that after Sanmei gave birth to a child, the Marshal's Mansion increased the expenses for the third concubine's room, and she should not take Taohua's monthly allowance for herself. Unexpectedly, it was still the same.

She frowned and said to Taohua, "You should have told me about this earlier so we could think of a solution together."

Taohua carefully looked around to make sure there was no one around and said, "Although we are the adopted daughters of the Marshal's Mansion, we are not included in the family tree and have no name or status. They are willing to treat us half-young ladies, which is already a great favor. It's not good to make trouble with them. Besides, can't I still embroider some patterns to exchange for money? I have saved up some silver on hand."

Gui'er noticed that Taohua was wearing a small brocade cheongsam embroidered with flowers, but the style was a bit old-fashioned. She had never seen her wear it before, so she asked, "Did you buy this dress yourself?"

Taohua smiled and said, "This is something Sister Sanmei used to wear. It doesn't fit anymore, so she gave it to me. The Third Concubine actually told me that this is a low-income government office, with not much money to make. Although the young master is Marshal Zhang's blood, he doesn't know what the future will hold, so he can only live frugally. I'll keep all the money you earned from selling the embroidery pieces. If I really need to buy clothes, it's enough. But I also want to leave a way out for the future, don't you agree?"

Gui'er felt sad, nodded, and told her about her apprenticeship in a pharmacy.

Taohua was delighted to hear this and said with a smile, "That's great! You'll be a doctor in the future. Besides, practicing medicine and saving lives is a good deed. It allows you to earn a living and be respected. It's a great foundation for your life."

When Gui'er heard her say this, she couldn't help but feel happy and felt that her choice to study medicine was really a good one.

After leaving the Third Concubine's place, Gui'er returned to Sha Yanxiao's yard. As soon as she sat down, Sha Yanxiao walked in. Gui'er was very surprised. Sha Yanxiao usually stayed in the military camp during the day and was busy until night. How come he came back just after noon today?

Sha Yanxiao pulled Gui'er to sit down and asked with concern, "How are you? Does your stomach still hurt today?"

Guier said: "It's not very painful, just a dull ache and back pain. I think this is normal."

Sha Yanxiao took out a paper box from his pocket. It had a pattern on it and in the middle was written: Liu Yizhai Baifeng Pills.

Opening the box, there were two Baifeng pills sealed with white wax. Sha Yanxiao said, "I went to the pharmacy and asked, and the shopkeeper said that taking this medicine would make you feel better. However, you should wait a few days until your body is clean before taking this medicine. For now, just replenishing your Qi will be enough. I bought some ginseng and have given it to the kitchen to boil water for you to drink."

Gui'er remembered Dingxiang's words about men being unlucky when encountering such things, so she said to Sha Yanxiao, "Thank you, brother. But I heard that men shouldn't get involved in such things, saying it's unlucky."

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "Menstruation is proof of a woman's ability to bear children. Bleeding every month is detrimental to the body. If a man is disgusted by this, he should not have come out of his mother's womb and become Sun Wukong, emerging from a stone."

Gui'er was amused. She was very surprised. It was rare to find such open-minded men in this era, not to mention taking the initiative to find ways to alleviate women's pain during menstruation.

She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Yanxiao, how do you know so much? Men usually don't go out of their way to find out about girls' affairs."

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "When I was studying in Shanghai, my adoptive father gave me a limited amount of money, so I found a job as an assistant at a private clinic. Coincidentally, the doctor there was an expert in gynecology, and they hired me mainly because they needed someone with more strength to move patients. I stayed there for a summer, and besides earning money, I also learned a lot."

Gui'er didn't expect Sha Yanxiao to have such a past. She couldn't help but sigh, "Brother Yanxiao, you are so amazing. If you hadn't come back to help the Marshal, you might have become a great man in Shanghai."

Sha Yanxiao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Life isn't as easy as you think. Back then, the hospital I worked at was constantly being blackmailed by gangs, police, and foreign agents. If I was born to be a leader, why would I give up?"

This time it was Guier's turn to be stunned. That's right. In this era, being a Buddhist or lying down could mean the end of your life. Everyone is trying to save their lives, and everyone is trying desperately to climb up.

Sha Yanxiao asked Gui'er, "Are you feeling unwell anywhere else?"

Guier smiled and said, "Not really, it's just that cleaning and sanitation are really troublesome."

Sha Yanxiao frowned and said distressedly, "It's really hard for a woman to have this job. Drink more ginseng soup to take care of your body. Maybe the pain will go away."

The two were chatting when Ji Yiru came back from outside. She glanced at Gui'er and suddenly forced a smile on her face and said to him, "Hey, sister, I heard you had your period? You've become a big kid now, how great."

Gui'er was worried that Ji Yiru wouldn't say anything sarcastic, but she didn't expect that she actually cared about her. She was very surprised and quickly said, "Thank you for your concern, sister-in-law."

Ji Yiru immediately said, "How can you say that? We are a family, we should care about each other, don't you think? Yan Xiao."

Sha Yanxiao smiled and nodded.