A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After Gui'er crawled out of the hole in the wall of the woodshed, she followed her memory and quietly slipped out from the small side door through which she had entered the mansion. She was a little confused when she came to the street. She usually went to school in the car of the eldest young master Song Xichen, so she was not familiar with the surroundings.

When she walked on the street, people passing by looked at her curiously because she was only wearing a white single piece of clothing. She was a little relieved because she saw Taohua and Axiang just wore a bellyband under their clothes. She was not used to it, so she added another single piece of clothing. Otherwise, she would not be able to walk out in just a bellyband.

Gui'er felt that although she was free now, she had no way to gain a foothold in this world. Moreover, this place was full of mixed people and it was not very safe. She still had to find a place to go. After thinking about it, she thought of her school. The teachers at the school taught students to be self-reliant and said that girls could go out to work and earn money like men. If she told them about her experience, maybe they would be willing to help her, even if it was just working at school like the work-study program in her original world.

Thinking of this, Guier made up her mind. She looked around and walked towards the school based on the road conditions she usually observed when riding in a car.

Normally, it takes Guier 10 to 20 minutes to get to school by bus. Now, if she were to walk there with the body of a nine-year-old child, she didn't know how long it would take. Guier walked quickly forward, relying on her memory to confirm whether the direction of the road was correct.

When they reached a fork in the road, Gui'er couldn't quite remember which direction to go, so she stood there hesitating for a moment. Then a drunken man came out of the nearby inn. He was wearing a melon-shaped hat and a black coat, with a patch of dog-skin plaster on his forehead. He looked like a gangster. Seeing Gui'er wandering alone by the roadside, he walked up to her and said with a smile, "Little sister, what are you doing here? Can't you find your way home? Call me uncle and I'll take you home."

Guier took one look at him and knew that he was not a serious person. She ignored him and turned and ran into an intersection that looked familiar to her.

After running forward for a while, Guier looked back and breathed a sigh of relief when she confirmed that the drunk man was no longer following her. She looked up at the scenery around her and found that something was wrong. She knew that she had taken the wrong road. She was not very familiar with this area, so she could only go back to the place where she had just been and try another intersection.

Just as she turned to leave, the door of a house on the roadside opened. The person who opened the door was an old woman in her sixties. She was wearing black homespun clothes and a pair of gold earrings on her ears. She looked like an ordinary family in the local area who was doing well.

The old woman also saw Gui'er and was a little surprised. She said, "How could a little kid like you come here?"

Seeing that she looked kind, Guier said, "Auntie, I'm lost. Do you know which way is to St. Mary's Girls' School?"

The old woman said, "Oh, you are a female student. Come here and I will tell you."

Gui'er walked up to her happily when she heard that. The old woman suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm tightly and pulled her inside. Gui'er was startled and wanted to struggle, but the old woman was too strong and she couldn't get free. She used her hands to cling to the door, but the old woman couldn't pull her away either. The two were at a stalemate when suddenly a delicate voice came from the room: "Mom, what are you doing at the door?"

"Chunhua, come out and help me. I caught a female student." The old woman turned around and shouted towards the door.

Gui'er panicked. If another person came, she would definitely not be able to fight, so she suddenly let go of the wall. The old woman did not expect her to let go so suddenly, and Gui'er fell heavily into the old woman's arms due to excessive force. She took the opportunity to turn around and bit the wrist that the old woman was holding on to her hard. The old woman cried out in pain and let go of her hand. As soon as she let go, Gui'er turned around and slipped away.

The old woman chased forward for more than ten meters, but when she saw that she could not catch up, she put her hands on her hips, cursed, and went back angrily.

Gui'er ran back to the original fork in the road panting, and looked back with lingering fear. Seeing that there was indeed no one there, she stopped. If the road she just took was wrong, then there must be another one. Gui'er looked at the intersection in the other direction, but still felt unsure. This time, she didn't dare to walk in rashly. She looked around and happened to see a small triangular stone on the side of the road, which was just the right size to hide in the palm of her hand. She grabbed the stone in her palm and slowly walked towards that road.

As she was walking, a car suddenly drove past her and stopped. The back window rolled down, and a little head popped out and called out, "Are you Liu Guier?"

Gui'er turned around and saw that it was Tong Yujun. She was overjoyed and quickly walked up to her and said, "Why are you here? I was just about to go to school."

"Are you going to school? This road goes in the opposite direction. I took a leave in the afternoon and am going to school. Did you take a leave in the morning as well? Why are you dressed like this?" Tong Yujun asked curiously.

Gui'er looked down at her dirty appearance and didn't know where to start. She could only smile bitterly and said, "I have something urgent to do and need to go to school to see the teacher. Can you take me with you?"

"Okay." Tong Yujun said readily, then asked the driver to open the car door and let Guier sit in the back seat.

Guier saw the driver turned around and looked at her curiously, but she didn't care about that anymore.

They got on the bus and soon arrived at school. The bus stopped at the school gate. As soon as Gui'er got out of the bus, she attracted the attention of many classmates because she was not wearing a school uniform and was dirty. Gui'er thanked Tong Yujun and turned around and went straight to the teacher's office.

Guier came to the teacher's office and knocked on the door. Someone inside said, "Come in."

When Gui'er pushed the door open, she found Song Xichen sitting in the office, accompanied by the principal who was rarely seen.

Song Xichen breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Gui'er, but when he took a closer look at her face and body, he saw that she was dirty. He frowned again, took off his coat and put it on her, took her hand and said, "Let's go home first."

Gui'er stood still, hesitating for a moment, then looked up, met his gaze, and said, "Can I not go back?"

Song Xichen squatted down and asked, "Why?"

Gui'er chose her words carefully and said, "The eldest young master has shown me great kindness. I should serve him wholeheartedly and work like a slave to repay his kindness. But I am too young. I can't carry anything, I can't speak, I can't fight, and the masters and mistresses in the mansion dislike me. I think I can only repay him for his kindness when I grow up. I want to apply for a part-time work-study position at the school. I'm willing to do anything." Then she looked at the principal pitifully.

The principal was also a worldly-wise man. Hearing her words, he knew something was up, so he asked, "Your name is Wu Guier, right? Did something unpleasant happen at the Song residence?"

Gui'er bit her lip, lowered her head and said nothing. She wanted to save some face for Song Xichen.

Song Xichen hadn't expected Gui'er to want to leave, but on second thought, he felt it was reasonable for her to want to leave. After all, who would want to be sold to a brothel? But he couldn't bear to let her go.

The principal, watching Song Xichen's expression, knew he was unwilling to let go. Although he felt that there must be something behind the little girl's escape in such a disgraced state, he didn't want to offend the local dignitaries, so he decided to play peacemaker and said with a smile, "Classmate Gui'er, you're still too young, and there's not much work for you to do at school. Since Director Song asked you to go back with him, he will definitely take good care of you. Don't worry, right, Director Song?"

Song Xichen heard this and knew that the principal was giving him a way out. He looked at him gratefully, nodded to Gui'er and said, "I promise."

Gui'er was very hesitant. She felt that going back with Song Xichen was too risky. In a large mansion like the Song Mansion, if someone died inside, people outside might not know about it.

Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, Tong Yujun suddenly walked in and said, "Guier, have you found the teacher?"

The principal saw that it was Tong Yujun and said politely, "So it's Tong, what can I do for you?"

Tong Yujun said to the principal, "I happened to run into Wu Guier this afternoon when I was at school. She said she wanted to see you about something. Is it resolved?"

The principal smiled and said, "There's nothing unsolvable when it comes to children's problems. Isn't it solved now?" He was actually forcing Guier to submit.

Gui Er suddenly had an idea and said to Tong Yujun, "Yujun, thank goodness I took your car this afternoon, otherwise I wouldn't know where I would have gotten lost. I must come to thank you someday."

Tong Yujun said nonchalantly, "What's the big deal? It's just a side trip. Do you want to come to my house? Sure. I'll treat you to a cake made by Catherine's Restaurant. It's delicious."

Gui Er smiled and said, "Thank you very much. I'll visit you on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it." Then she turned to Song Xichen and said, "Okay, let's go back."

Song Xichen and the principal were stunned. They both sensed that this little girl was no ordinary person. Her talk of visiting Tong Yujun's home was actually to leave herself a way out. If something happened after she and Song Xichen returned home, she wouldn't be able to go back to the Tong family. Both the Tong and Song families were well-known in this city. Gui'er used Tong Yujun to protect herself. This move was truly brilliant. An ordinary servant, let alone a nine-year-old child, would probably not have thought of this.

Gui'er herself also felt that using this trick might make people feel strange, but she didn't care about that in order to save her life.

Afterwards, Song Xichen took her back to the Song Mansion. This time, the commotion was quite big and everyone in the Song Mansion knew about it. So Song Xichen took Gui'er to the front hall when he got home and met the master and the mistress. Butler Zhang also came back and was reporting to the master about his trip to Chunmanlou to shut the madam's mouth. Only then did Gui'er realize that Wu Ma wanted to sell herself to Chunmanlou.

The master took one look at Gui'er and saw how dirty she was and said, "How did you get into this state? Take her away and get washed."

Wu Ma probably felt that she had lost face in this matter, so she stood aside and said, "You are such a hot-tempered girl. Don't do this again in the future."

Gui'er was furious upon hearing this, and she took a step forward, pointed at Wu Ma's nose and said, "If I sold you to Chun Man Lou, would you run away? You evil-hearted woman, I'm the daughter of an honest family. I was in danger, but fortunately the eldest young master saved me, and yet you have repeatedly spread rumors and slandered me, and even want to throw me into the mire again. I tell you, if I really were sold to Chun Man Lou, I would definitely hang myself with a rope, transform into a fierce ghost, come back to snatch your soul, and then go to the King of Hell to complain about you, so that you will never be reborn."

Gui'er's words shocked everyone present. Wu Ma was even more shocked and frightened. She kept saying, "You...you..." but couldn't say anything for a long time.

Suddenly the master burst into laughter, clapped his hands and said, "I didn't expect such a little girl to have such a strong character. Well, no one is allowed to touch this girl in the future. Let her go to school well. I want to see what she looks like when she grows up." As he said that, he glanced at the second wife, He Xiufang. The second wife smiled and said nothing.

The eldest wife's face grew increasingly grim as she watched this, but she couldn't get angry, so she could only say impatiently, "It's just a small matter, and you've been making such a fuss for so long. I'm tired, I'm going to go back and rest first."

Gui'er finally came to her senses. This was the golden medal that the master had given her to avoid death. She quickly knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said, "Thank you, master, and thank you, madam."

After everyone had dispersed, Song Xichen took Gui'er back to his courtyard. Once inside, he squatted down, took Gui'er's hand, and said, "Don't you trust me about this? You can trust me. You can tell me anything in the future. Since I saved you then, I will always protect you in the future."

Gui'er looked him in the eye to make sure he was speaking from the heart, and then she said, "Actually, I have something to tell you right now."

Song Xichen asked gently, "What is it?"

Guier said, "I feel dizzy again." In fact, she had been enduring it, but now she had reached her limit. She felt that the scenery in front of her eyes was becoming more and more blurred, and finally she fainted.