A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The party was still going on. Gui'er saw that people from the Tong family had also arrived, so she ran to find Tong Yujun.

Tong Yujun was wearing a Suzhou embroidered Yuehua brocade cheongsam today, and also a pearl necklace. Guier noticed that she seemed unhappy, so she asked, "What's wrong?"

Tong Yujun said a little embarrassedly: "I originally thought that I could come here to meet Xi Lun, but he sent someone to spread the news that the eldest wife did not allow him to come."

Gui'er then remembered that Tong Yujun was engaged to Song Xilun, the second son of the Song family, so she comforted her, saying, "Although it's a bit regrettable that we can't see each other today because it's a holiday, you can make plans to go somewhere to play later to make up for it."

Tong Yujun said with a bitter face, "His eldest wife is very powerful. She keeps him at home all day long, saying he needs to help with the family business. She even sends a housekeeper to follow him when he goes out. The eldest wife also said that it's against the rules that the eldest son hasn't even started a family yet, but the second son is already settled. Now it's even more inappropriate to indulge in love affairs all the time."

Gui'er has stayed in the Song family for a period of time and knows the eldest wife best. Although she portrays herself as kind and virtuous, she is actually more cruel than anyone else. In the past, Gui'er thought that she was mentally twisted because she was not favored by her husband. Later, she found out that she was having an affair with the Marshal, which was amazing.

She had no choice but to comfort Tong Yujun: "Although we don't see each other often, at least we can still keep in touch through letters. Nowadays, men and women keep in touch through letters. It's very romantic."

Tong Yujun smiled after hearing this, and her mood finally improved a little.

Gui'er looked around the venue. Although Song Xilun didn't come, Song Tingting was there. It seemed that the eldest wife of the Song family only cared about her own children.

Song Tingting and Gui'er were old acquaintances, but they never said a word to each other when they met in public. Gui'er didn't know why Song Tingting did that, but she really didn't bother to pay attention to her because she had treated Taohua badly before. After leaving the Song family, Gui'er would occasionally hear news about Song Tingting in the gossip of her classmates at school. They said that it was difficult for her to get married now because several marriage proposals had failed and she had been kidnapped by bandits, and she was afraid that she would become an old maid.

Gui'er didn't think so. After all, she was only seventeen or eighteen years old, which was still a child in modern times.

Guier noticed that Song Tingting and Tong Yulan were very close. They stayed together throughout the entire charity gala, but Tong Yulan's mind was not on Song Tingting. Her eyes were all on the young men at the gala.

At this time, the party had reached its climax. The band started playing music and the adults attending the party came to the dance floor to dance.

Gui'er was busy tasting the delicious snacks at the party. The food was really good. It was said that it was prepared by a famous chef specially invited from Shanghai. There were twenty or thirty kinds of snacks alone, as well as various staple foods, meat dishes, and vegetarian dishes. There were about fifty or sixty kinds of dishes in total. Fortunately, she was wearing a modern style dress with a high waist and a large skirt today. If she had worn a cheongsam, her belly would have been visible.

She ate while watching the excitement. After Sha Yanxiao greeted several business people, for some reason, rich young ladies kept coming up to him and talking to him, and the men tactfully walked away.

Gui'er found that the most active person was Tong Yulan. She originally wanted to take Song Tingting to chat with Sha Yanxiao, but was seen by Mrs. Song, who found an excuse to take Song Tingting away. Even so, Tong Yulan did not leave, but stayed beside Sha Yanxiao and tried hard to find topics to talk about.

Tong Yujun saw Gui'er staring intently at Tong Yulan and Sha Yanxiao, so she sighed and said, "I don't know how the news about my sister's boyfriend in Shanghai got out. Since then, marriage negotiations have been difficult. Of course, my sister doesn't like the suitors from ordinary families."

Guier couldn't help but ask curiously, "Then your sister's boyfriend in Shanghai wasn't that rich."

Tong Yujun curled her lips and said, "That man's family is indeed ordinary, but my sister said he is handsome, so I don't mind."

Gui'er burst out laughing. She knew Sha Yanxiao probably looked down on Tong Yujun, so she said, "My brother's wife just died recently. I guess he's not thinking about love and marriage so soon. He still hasn't gotten over it."

Tong Yujun shook her head and said to Gui'er a little embarrassedly, "Well, I've tried to persuade my sister, but she's actually always liked the young marshal. She said he's handsome and capable. She also said that now that the young marshal's wife has just passed away, there's an opportunity. Maybe our family wasn't good enough for him in the past, but now that he's a widower, maybe I can be."

"Oh, by the way, let me tell you, it was Madam Song who leaked the news that my sister was dating a boyfriend in Shanghai."

Gui'er was very surprised. She had always thought that Mrs. Song was a hypocrite, but she had never heard of her being a nagging person. So she asked, "How did you know?"

Tong Yujun said, "My sister is friends with Song Tingting. She just complained to her about it, and she accidentally let it slip. Then we learned that Mrs. Song had told others about it while playing mahjong with those ladies. She must have felt a little resentful because my sister looked down on Young Master Song at first. Oh, if I marry Young Master Song, how will I get along with Mrs. Song in the future?"

Gui'er said: "My suggestion is that you should separate. I also stayed in the Song family for a period of time, and I was tortured a lot by Mrs. Song at that time." As she turned around, she found that Mrs. Song had disappeared from the dance floor of the party.

After searching everywhere, she just happened to catch Mrs. Song and Marshal Sha disappearing hand in hand at the roundabout of the second-floor stairs. Gui'er was secretly glad that Mrs. Sha had taken Marshal Sha to Shanghai to visit his fiancée and did not attend the banquet, otherwise it would have been a lively scene.

At around nine in the evening, Gui'er was already feeling a bit tired. Sha Yanxiao came over and asked her, "How was it? Did you have fun?"

Guier said sweetly, "Yeah, it's good. The food is delicious."

Tong Yulan suddenly appeared out of nowhere and said, "Young Marshal, why did you leave? We were still discussing when you would take me to shoot guns."

Sha Yanxiao smiled perfunctorily and said, "Miss Tong is a good person. There will always be opportunities in the future."

He turned to Gui'er and said, "Are you tired? Why don't we go back?" I don't know if he said this to get rid of Tong Yulan, but Gui'er happened to be full and satisfied, so she agreed.

Coming out of the Paramount, the moon was high in the sky. The streets and alleys, which were usually dark at night, seemed to be equipped with silver street lights. Many children were wandering around with small lanterns in their hands. Some families set up incense tables at the door, on which were placed moon cakes, flowers, various delicious dishes and wine, and were worshiping the moon.

Some ragged children stood far away, staring at the snacks, wine and delicious food on the table.

Some families feel sorry for them and give them some loose candies after they have finished worshipping; others are afraid that they might come forward to snatch the candies, so they put their hands together but stare at them from the side, always on guard against them coming forward to snatch the candies.