A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Not long after Gui'er and a group of friends returned to the park, the teacher called everyone to gather. Gui'er wanted to look back, but she didn't dare, so she had to return to school with a heavy heart.

After they finished counting the number of people at school, they could leave. Gui'er quickly ran to the police station. As soon as she entered Song Xichen's office, she said breathlessly, "I saw that person."

Song Xichen didn't understand what she said for a moment. Seeing her running in energetically, he asked her with a smile, "Did you have fun today?"

Gui'er didn't bother to answer and eagerly took Song Xichen's hand and said, "I saw the injured person. He looked a lot like you."

Song Xichen reacted and immediately asked, "Where is it?"

Guier said, "On the flower boat docked at the restaurant next to the park." Then she recounted how she saw the man.

Song Xichen happily pinched Gui'er's face and immediately called everyone to a meeting. Before leaving, he said to Gui'er, "I can't go back with you today. Dagang will take you home."

Gui'er was sent back to the Song Mansion by Dagang. Everyone in the mansion was surprised that she was the only one back today. Gui'er said nothing and quietly returned to her room. She found a book and put the remaining money in it. Then she cleaned the room and did housework as usual.

Song Xichen had not returned until six o'clock in the evening. Gui'er was a little worried. She walked out of the yard and saw Ah Xiang chatting and laughing with two other maids in the servant's room of the gatehouse, so she went in.

Although Gui'er did not live with the servants in the eldest young master's courtyard, they got along well with each other. Moreover, Gui'er was the youngest among them. When they saw Gui'er come in, they took the initiative to ask her to sit down and took out their collection of snacks such as melon seeds and peanuts for her to eat.

Gui'er said, "The eldest young master hasn't come back yet so late tonight. Why doesn't anyone in the mansion seem to react at all?"

Ah Xiang looked at her in surprise and smiled, "You've only been here a short time, so you don't know what's going on in the mansion. Our eldest young master loves to spend his days drinking and partying outside, sometimes not coming home for months at a time, so he doesn't need any help in his courtyard."

Gui'er was very surprised when she heard this. Ever since she became Song Xichen's personal maid, she felt that this young master was no different from a modern office worker, going out early and coming back late, going to and from work all the time. She really didn't know he was so ridiculous before.

Ah Xiang didn't notice Gui Er's unusual behavior. She continued chatting with the other servants. Ah Xiang said, "I'm going to send my wages back home this month. We have a lot of expenses at home."

Guier asked curiously, "How much do you make a month?"

Ah Xiang didn't hide anything and said, "Different people here get paid differently. The lowest servants like us only get one yuan a month. People like Zhang Ma and Wu Ma probably get three yuan a month. Personal maids like you and Taohua usually get five yuan. Ma Zhou is the eldest wife's personal maid and is now the housekeeper. She gets eight yuan a month. As for Housekeeper Zhang, since he's the head butler, he gets ten yuan a month."

Guier thought of the stylish and professional salespeople at the department store, who worked in such a high-end place, and said, "I saw the tellers at Wing On the other day. They must be paid quite well."

As soon as the servants heard about Wing On Department Store, they immediately became excited and started discussing the decoration there, the goods sold there, and the restaurants on the second floor. Finally, a male servant who worked as a doorman proudly said that he had a relative who worked as a teller at the counter on the first floor, earning three silver dollars a month.

The other servant laughed and said, "That's not much. I thought the wages were very high."

The servant at the beginning glanced at him and said, "If you have the ability, then try to find a higher job. In this world, it's good enough to have something to eat." The others also echoed.

Guier then realized that it was very difficult to make money in the world these days, and the gap between the rich and the poor was huge. Thinking of the homeless people she saw lying on the roadside today, it was really like the rich are living in poverty while the poor are freezing to death on the road. But she could no longer care about so many things. She had to save herself first.

By the evening, when everyone had turned off the lights and gone to sleep, Song Xichen still hadn't returned. Gui'er felt embarrassed to stay in the servant's room any longer, so she returned to her room and sat on the sofa in the main hall for a while. She decided to go to bed first.

Just as she was about to go back to the house, she heard the garden gate creak. Gui'er thought it was Song Xichen coming back, so she hurried out. As a result, she ran into Dagang coming in. Gui'er hurriedly asked, "Brother Dagang, where is the young master?"

Dagang turned around and saw her, and said in surprise, "You haven't slept yet?"

Gui'er asked anxiously, "Why didn't I see the young master come back with you?"

Dagang hesitated for a moment and finally told her the truth: "The young master is injured and is now in the hospital. I came back to get him some clean clothes."

When Gui'er heard this, she quickly said, "I'll prepare it." Then she ran into Song Xichen's bedroom and skillfully took out two sets of his usual clothes and packed them up.

He took it out and handed it to Dagang, asking, "Can I go to the hospital with you?"

Dagang was stunned for a moment and said, "You'd better stay home. The young master's injury is not serious and he will be back tomorrow."

Gui'er had no choice but to watch Dagang leave, tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep.

In the morning, she still got up on time, had breakfast, and then prepared to go to school. Since Song Xichen was not there today, there was no one to take her to school.

Guier thought about it and decided to take out the money she had hidden and take a rickshaw to school. She took out the loose change from her book, hurriedly ate breakfast, changed into her school uniform, and ran to the main gate, preparing to go out from the main gate to find a rickshaw.

Just as he reached the main gate, he saw Song Xilun coming out. Seeing her standing by the roadside looking around, he greeted her and said, "Aren't you Gui'er from Big Brother's room? What are you doing here, peeking around?"

Gui'er turned around and saw that it was Song Xilun. The second young master of the Song family did not have the deep facial features like the eldest young master, but he had a noble face and two dimples, which made him very approachable. He was usually very kind to the servants in the mansion, so he was very popular in the mansion.

Gui Er quickly said, "The eldest young master is not going to work at the police station today, so I have to go to school by myself."

Song Xilun smiled and said, "So that's how it is. Then I'll take you there today."

Guier thought about it and happily agreed because she could save some money this way.

As soon as she arrived at school, Guier discovered that everyone in the school was talking about the shootout between police and criminals that took place last night. Tong Yujun even pulled Guier aside and asked, "Did you know about the shootout last night?"

Gui Er was confused and said, "What gunfight? I don't understand."

Tong Yujun said, "It's spread throughout the city. They say there was a fight between the police and the people from Qingfeng Village yesterday. They arrested a lot of bandits, but the bandit leader, Yu Jiaolong, escaped. The police chief was also injured and is now in the hospital."