A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Miss Shen and her parents left the day after the engagement party.

When Gui'er came home from school that day, she saw a mourning tent being set up in the open space inside the house. Needless to say, they were definitely preparing for Ji Yiru's funeral. Gui'er noticed that the mourning tent was quite a distance away from Sha Yanxiao's yard, unlike the Fourth Concubine's previous arrangement for the funeral of Fourth Miss Zhang, which was set up directly in the yard. So, out of curiosity, she asked Dali, "Brother Dali, why is this mourning tent so far away from our yard?"

Dali smiled and said, "The young master was afraid that you would be frightened, so he specially arranged for you to stay so far away, saying that this way it would not disturb your rest."

Gui'er didn't expect Sha Yanxiao to think so carefully.

Back in the courtyard, Gui'er quickly found a plain cheongsam to change into before entering the hall. Sha Yanxiao glanced at her and said in surprise, "Why did you suddenly change into such plain clothes today? You're a child, you should wear something bright and lively."

Guier smiled bitterly and said, "Brother, you are confused. There is a funeral at home, how can you wear brightly colored clothes?"

Sha Yanxiao finally understood and said with a smile, "It's okay, they just need to prepare first. Father said it's unlucky to hold a funeral right after the engagement banquet, so we have to wait a few days. You should change your clothes."

Gui'er was too lazy to change, but since he said so, she ran upstairs and changed into a moonlight white cheongsam, then sat in the hall to do her homework while Sha Yanxiao read the newspaper beside her.

Suddenly, Dali came in and reported, "Master, Wu Mingqiang wants to see you."

Sha Yanxiao said calmly: "Let him in."

Gui'er was very confused. As the deputy captain of the security team, Wu Mingqiang was not qualified to report to Sha Yanxiao, so why would he come to him?

After a while, Wu Mingqiang walked in. Compared with the last time she met him, his skin had become bronze, as if he was often exposed to the sun. He was wearing a long gown, but one could still clearly see his muscular body underneath the clothes. He looked like a completely mature man, completely different from the handsome and gentle boy when Gui'er first met him.

As soon as he walked into the hall and saw Gui'er there, he was obviously stunned for a moment. Gui'er smiled and nodded at him, saying, "Little Brother Wu, long time no see. I almost didn't recognize you."

Wu Mingqiang blushed when he heard this, and said shyly, "Miss, you've grown up a bit."

Gui'er couldn't tell whether this was a compliment or not, and didn't take it to heart. She smiled and said, "Of course I am, but I still can't catch up with you. Back then you were only two heads taller than me, but now you're almost as tall as Brother Yanxiao. It shows that the food out there is pretty good."

Knowing that Sha Yanxiao had called someone over to discuss business, Gui'er tactfully stood up and said, "You guys chat slowly, I'm going back to my room to do my homework."

When Dingxiang came to call her downstairs for dinner at dinner time, Wu Mingqiang just came out of the study with a stack of brown envelopes in his hand.

Wu Mingqiang saw Gui'er and stopped again. He said to her, "Miss, are you feeling well lately?"

Gui'er was a little confused by his question: "I don't have anything to do on a daily basis, so how can I be unhappy?"

After hearing this, Wu Mingqiang smiled, as if he didn't know what to say, but he still stood there without moving.

At this time, Sha Yanxiao and Dali also came out of the study. Seeing Wu Mingqiang still standing there, Dali asked, "What's wrong?"

Sha Yanxiao glanced at Wu Mingqiang and said with a smile, "Your former master has passed away. Do you want to go and pay your respects?"

Wu Mingqiang was stunned for a moment and said, "No need. I just came here temporarily to make up the numbers. There is no master-servant relationship between her and him." Then he turned his head to gesture to Gui'er, bowed to Sha Yanxiao, and turned to leave. Sha Yanxiao looked at his back, frowned slightly, and said nothing. He turned to Gui'er and said, "Let's go downstairs to eat."

Gui'er asked curiously, "Brother, what is he doing here?"

Sha Yanxiao walked up to Gui'er, leaned over, and whispered in her ear, "I asked him to be in charge of supervising the mine we took back from the Tong family."

Gui Er was surprised that Sha Yanxiao trusted him so much and asked curiously, "Brother Yanxiao, why do you suddenly trust Wu Mingqiang so much?"

Sha Yanxiao and Dali exchanged a glance. Dali looked around and confirmed that no one was around. He smiled mysteriously and said to Guier, "He was the one who caused Ji Yiru's car accident."

Gui'er was shocked: "Why? Why did he hit my sister-in-law? No, we were also in the car at that time. Wasn't he afraid of hitting us?" She was extremely shocked and confused now.

Sha Yanxiao touched her head and said, "When I first found out, I was as surprised as you. I arrested him and tortured him severely. But what he said was reasonable. Ji Yiru almost killed him, so he had a grudge against her. He also deliberately avoided us and didn't hurt anyone else. I was thinking that the brothers I brought down from the mountains have all been incorporated into the army, and many people know each other. This Wu Mingqiang came directly from the village to join the security team. Others don't know his relationship with me, so I can use him to manage the mine for me. If he is caught in the act one day, it won't be traced back to me."

It turned out that in order to avoid conflicts after the Marshal found out that he had taken back the mine, Sha Yanxiao found Wu Mingqiang. If he was not discovered, he would manage the mine for him, but if he was discovered, he would be the scapegoat.

Gui'er was in a complicated mood. She received so much information at once that her head felt buzzing.