A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The day of departure for Shanghai soon arrived. Early in the morning, Sha Yanxiao took Gui'er to the door of the Marshal's Mansion and met them. They found that although there were many people this time, there were still three cars. The Marshal's Mansion dispatched a bus, and those who could not get on the car all got on the bus. Then there were two large trucks, one for luggage and servants, and the other for guards.

The only ones who could ride comfortably in a car were the Marshal, his wife, Sha Yanyao and Sha Yanxiao, Guier and the fourth concubine, Sha Lili, and Sha Yanwen. Even the new ninth concubine, who was so favored, had to take the bus.

Qiuju was not very happy about it. She kept getting closer to Dashuai and wanted to act coquettishly and ride in the car. Dashuai just smiled and ignored her. In the end, she got on the bus with a reluctant look on her face.

Just like last time, Sha Yanxiao was also responsible for the security leadership along the way. He looked at the group of women in front of him chattering and was too lazy to say anything. He asked Guier to get in the car and he leaned against the door and chatted with her with a smile.

Gui'er thought it was a good opportunity to bring up the Shen family matter, but just as she was about to open her mouth, the bus started commotion again. The adjutant came over with an embarrassed look on his face and said, "Young Marshal, please go over and take a look. The Ninth Concubine got on the bus too late, so there's only room in the back. She said she gets carsick and she absolutely refuses to sit in the back."

Sha Yanxiao frowned and walked over with an impatient look on his face. Gui'er followed him out of curiosity.

It turned out that the other concubines went up early to reserve seats as soon as they saw they were going to take the bus. The third concubine relied on her seniority and said that there were many people in her courtyard, so she occupied the first two rows. The fifth and sixth concubines also hurriedly took their daughters to occupy a row each. Although the seventh concubine was favored, she had been married to the Marshal for many years and had no children, so she had no confidence and had to sit in the fifth row reluctantly. Logically, the ninth concubine Qiuju was also alone, so she could sit in the same row with the seventh concubine.

But she probably felt that she had just entered the mansion and was in great favor, so she was very unhappy and insisted that the third concubine sit in the first row to leave a place for her.

The third concubine had her own reasons for insisting on occupying two rows of seats. She wanted herself and the three beauties to sit in the same row, while Taohua and the three beauties' son would sit behind them. So she would definitely not agree to the ninth concubine's request.

Seeing Sha Yanxiao approaching, the Ninth Concubine immediately stood up and said in a delicate voice, "Second Master, look at this? I stayed with the Marshal until dawn last night and I'm very tired. It's so bumpy sitting in the back seat."

The Third Concubine also smiled and said to Sha Yanxiao: "Yanxiao, it's not that Third Concubine is not considering the overall situation, it's just that your nephew is still young, and he is Marshal Zhang's only child, so we can't afford to lose him."

Gui'er stood behind Sha Yanxiao and glanced inside. Taohua was holding a baby, huddled in the second row, watching everything with a little panic.

The ninth concubine said nonchalantly, "A little baby doesn't take up any seat, so what if I sit there?" After saying that, she glanced at Taohua, who was so scared that she quickly lowered her head.

Guier saw that the Third Concubine obviously wanted Taohua to help her take care of the children along the way. If the Ninth Concubine was also sitting here, it would be hard to say what would happen along the way. If she accidentally let something slip and revealed what happened on the flower boat, it would also be troublesome.

Gui'er pulled Sha Yanxiao's sleeve and said to him, "Brother, there's still an empty seat in our car. It's been boring on the way here. Why don't you let Taohua sit with us? There'll be someone to chat with me, okay?"

Sha Yanxiao turned around, touched her head gently, and said, "Of course."

The third concubine said quickly: "Hey, who will take care of the child?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "Just let the nanny come and take care of him. Taohua has never taken care of a child before, and I'm a little worried about her bringing my nephew along all the way. Don't you agree, Third Aunt?"

After hearing this, the Third Concubine could only smile and say, "That would be great."

This time it was the ninth concubine who was unhappy: "How can that be? I don't want to sit in the same row with the servants."

When Gui'er heard this, she took the opportunity to say, "Don't worry, Ninth Concubine, although she is a nanny, she is of clean background and was selected by many people in the Marshal's Mansion. If she were a member of any social class, she would not be able to enter our Mansion at all. Don't worry." She said this to warn Ninth Concubine Qiuju to hide her background.

When the Third Concubine heard this, she thought Gui'er was flattering her and quickly agreed, "Yes, yes, the Marshal really likes his grandson."

After hearing this, the Ninth Concubine was stunned for a moment, then sat down awkwardly and said nothing more.

Gui'er pulled Taohua back to the sedan. Taohua was still worried that the Ninth Concubine would be angry, so she asked cautiously, "Is this really okay?"

Gui'er glanced over and saw Sha Yanxiao was still on the bus. Then she said, "It's okay. This is a good opportunity to teach Aunt Jiu a lesson. Tell her to stop talking nonsense. Seeing how complacent she is now, she might let something slip at any moment."

Afterwards, Sha Yanxiao transferred the young master's nanny from the big car and finally arranged for the departure.

This time the journey was much smoother. The road was paved with gravel. Although it was dusty, it was very flat.

They soon arrived at Fengcheng. This time, there was no tension like the last time. All the sentries were treated with great respect. The soldiers stood up and saluted in unison. Guier took a look and found that the equipment of those soldiers seemed to have increased, especially in some important sentries outside the city. Before, apart from machine guns, they only had mortars, but now there were one or two wheeled howitzers.

Gui'er quickly asked Sha Yanxiao, "Brother, why do I feel like you have more weapons and equipment?"

Sha Yanxiao turned around from the passenger seat and said proudly, "Yes, that was all bought with the money confiscated from casinos and opium dens. Father was originally going to use it to build a guesthouse, but after much persuasion, he finally agreed not to build it and to use it for more weapons and equipment."

Gui'er actually doesn't remember much about the history of the Republic of China, so she doesn't know whether such equipment is considered advanced in that era, but using money to buy equipment is much more serious than using it to build a palace for enjoyment.

At this time, the convoy slowly drove into Fengcheng. It had been a while since the last time she had been to Fengcheng. Guier looked at the streets of Fengcheng curiously. It was still as dilapidated, but there were fewer signs of opium dens and gambling dens. There were still vagrants on the streets, but there were fewer idle people sneaking around and looking around. Occasionally, you could see one or two newly opened shops, including department stores, clothing stores or teahouses. The decoration was of a relatively new contemporary style. It seemed that Fengcheng was gradually getting better under the rule of the Sha family, or more accurately, under the rule of Sha Yanxiao.