A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

When Dali went to pick up Guier that day, he gave her a brown paper bag. Guier was curious about what was in it. When she opened it, she found that it was a photo taken when she went to the park that day. Although it was in black and white, it was taken very beautifully. It was exactly the same as the old photos she had seen in books before she traveled through time.

Gui'er was so happy that she took the photos and went to the Zhenxiufang. Song Xichen happened to be there. He picked up a photo of Gui'er and said with a smile, "This one is really well taken. Can you give it to me?"

Gui Er hesitated for a moment and said, "Sure, Brother Xichen, please give me a photo as a souvenir."

Song Xichen smiled and said, "Okay, let's find an opportunity and take a photo together."

Shopkeeper Zhang smiled and said, "Why would we need to look for an opportunity? The third shop across the alley from us is a photo studio. I'll ask the owner to come over. He'll definitely be interested in doing business so close to us."

He called the owner of the photo studio over, and the four of them took a group photo. Song Xichen and Gui'er took a photo together, and Zhang and Liu also took a photo. After looking at the photo, the owner smiled and asked Zhang, "Your little apprentice is really photogenic. When the photo is developed, can I put it in the window to attract customers?"

Song Xichen quickly said, "I'm sorry, boss, it's not very convenient. The child is not grown up yet, and I don't want so many people to see it. You've worked hard." Then he took out a silver dollar and stuffed it into the boss's hand.

The boss was a businessman and very understanding. He smiled and said, "You're right. Thank you very much, boss."

When they returned to the Marshal's Mansion that day, Sha Yanxiao was very happy to see the photos and kept saying that they were great. Guier remembered that she had a heart-shaped pendant necklace that could hold photos, so she quickly asked Sha Yanxiao to cut the photo of the two of them into a heart shape and put it in.

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "These are too big. If you want to put them in here, you have to take the negatives to the photo studio and ask them to develop a smaller one. Hmm? I remember you had a solo photo, why isn't it in here?"

The photo had already been given to Song Xichen. Gui'er said guiltily, "Oh, I think that photo was quite good. I wanted to give it to my classmate as a souvenir, so I pulled it out. I forgot it at the Zhenxiufang. Since I have to develop the negatives anyway, why not help me get this one developed as well?"

Sha Yanxiao nodded and gave Dali the negatives of Guier's solo photo and the photo of the two of them that he thought was nice to have redeveloped.

The two were just chatting and laughing after looking at the photos, discussing where they would go next time and take photos, when the housekeeper from Marshal Sha's compound suddenly came over and said to Sha Yanxiao, "Second Young Master, the Marshal wants to see you."

Sha Yanxiao hurriedly followed the housekeeper, leaving Gui'er confused.

That night, when Sha Yanxiao still hadn't returned by bedtime, Dingxiang said to Guier, "Miss, why don't you just get some rest first? I'll find out what's going on for you."

Gui'er guessed that Dingxiang was trying to pry into this matter in her name, so she quickly said, "No need. Father must be looking for my second brother for official business. I'm just worried that he'll stay up too late and it'll affect his rest. I'll go to bed first."

Then he made a pot of soothing rose tea and said to Dali, "Brother Dali, when Brother Yanxiao comes back, tell him that I'm going to sleep first and let him have a cup of soothing tea before going to sleep."

The next day on the way to school, Sha Yanxiao said to Guier, "Miss Shen and Big Brother are probably getting married soon."

Gui Er was shocked and said, "Didn't you suspect Director Shen of colluding with the Japanese before? Why did you get married all of a sudden? Aren't you afraid that his affair will be exposed and it will implicate us?"

Sha Yanxiao frowned and said, "Director Shen returned to Shanghai after attending the banquet the other day and called my father to tell him about this. I don't know why it suddenly became like this. My father called me in yesterday to discuss countermeasures."

Guier asked, "So what's the result? What are you going to do?"

Sha Yanxiao said, "The people Wu Mingqiang sent to monitor Director Shen said he hadn't yet reached a deal with the Japanese, perhaps because they couldn't agree on a price. My father said there's no engagement date yet. We'll see what happens when we go to Shanghai for vacation after the Lunar New Year. With the current turmoil, most government officials have connections with foreign countries. My father feels we can't give up on Director Shen so easily."

Gui Er said anxiously, "That's not the problem. Director Shen is selling out national interests. Even if we don't marry him, we have to stop him."

Sha Yanxiao patted Gui'er's head and said, "When we first learned that Director Shen wanted to sell the inland city map, we had a plan to send someone to assassinate him so that we wouldn't be implicated. But now that he hasn't sold it, my father is reluctant to give up this marriage. After all, our family doesn't have many connections in the central government."

Gui'er understood that Marshal Sha had only considered his own interests from beginning to end, and Sha Yanxiao did not dare to disobey him. She thought about it and decided to find a way out herself.

When she arrived at school, Guier immediately ran to the principal's office and made an excuse that she wanted to call her brother. Of course, the principal agreed.

So she called the office phone number of Song Xichen's police station, picked up the phone and said to Song Xichen, "Brother, after school tonight, I want you to take me to eat cream cake. Can you wait for me at the usual place?"

Song Xichen immediately guessed that Gui'er wanted to meet him at the Zhenxiufang, so he said, "Okay, I'll wait for you there."

Gui'er immediately hung up the phone. The principal didn't get suspicious and said with a smile, "Gui'er and Shaoshuai have a really good relationship."

After school, Gui'er came to Zhenxiufang, and sure enough, Song Xichen was already waiting there, and he even brought over a cream cake.

Gui Er was a little embarrassed and said, "I just wanted to use this as an excuse to ask you out."

Song Xichen smiled and said, "It's okay. I haven't eaten cake with you for a long time. What's the matter that made you look for me so urgently?"

Gui'er nodded, "This matter is of great importance." Then she said to Zhang, "Is there anyone outside who might suddenly show up at this time?"

Song Xichen realized that this was no small matter, so he said to Shopkeeper Zhang, "Hang up a temporary out-of-office sign outside the Zhenxiu Workshop, and then go watch over at the pharmacy."

Shopkeeper Zhang nodded and did as he was told.

Only then did Gui'er feel relieved to tell Song Xichen about Director Shen.

Song Xichen frowned after hearing this and asked, "When did you find out about this? Are you sure he hasn't handed the map over to the Japanese yet?"

Gui'er said, "Brother Yanxiao has a man named Wu Mingqiang under his command. He used to be a thug for the Ji family. He's very familiar with Shanghai and has a lot of skills. He sent someone to infiltrate the Shen family and learned that Director Shen went out to meet with the Japanese, and he also sent people to follow him. He should be able to confirm that there has been no transaction. I originally thought that Marshal Sha would be afraid of being implicated and would find a way to stop it, but I didn't expect him to only consider his own interests. I think we should find a way to prevent this."

Song Xichen nodded and said, "Have you come up with any solution yet?"

Gui'er thought for a moment and said, "I have two options. One is through Miss Shen. I've met her before. She's a simple-minded, progressive young woman with a patriotic spirit. However, there's a risk. She probably doesn't know what Director Shen has done. If she knew she was facing her own father, I wonder if she would change her mind at the last minute."

Song Xichen thought for a moment and said, "There are indeed too many variables in this regard, and it's hard to grasp. What's another way?"

Gui'er said, "We can find someone to forge some fake maps to replace them, but we'd have to go through Wu Mingqiang. I'm not sure about his position yet. He's usually a very manipulative person, and since he got promoted and gained Sha Yanxiao's trust, he's been living lavishly. I'm afraid it would be difficult to buy him off with just a small amount of money."

Song Xichen thought for a moment and said, "What you're talking about is of great importance. I'm going to report it to the higher-ups for further study."

Gui'er knew that this was a necessary procedure, so she nodded and said, "Okay, but we have to do it quickly. We never know when Director Shen might change his mind." In fact, she also had selfish motives. If Marshal Sha and Director Shen got married, and Director Shen became a traitor, Gui'er, as a member of the Marshal's Mansion, would become his relative and half a traitor, which Gui'er could not accept.