A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The next morning, Sha Yanxiao followed the Marshal out for a social event.

The concubines at home were playing mahjong, and Gui'er was thinking about what reason she could use to go to the contact point Song Xichen mentioned so that she could tell him her current address.

While wandering around the first floor hall, suddenly, the lady and the eldest young master came down from upstairs. Gui'er couldn't hide, so she had to bite the bullet and go up to greet them: "Mother, big brother, where are you going so early?"

The lady smiled and nodded: "Gui'er, since it's a rare occasion for you to come to Shanghai, why not hang out with your friends and relax for a while."

Guier said obediently, "Okay, mother."

Sha Yanyao smiled and nodded, opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing, and went out with his wife.

Gui Er suddenly thought that they were going to visit the Shen family. She ran out quickly, but saw that the lady and the eldest young master had already gotten into the car and left.

Gui Er felt a little frustrated at having wasted an opportunity to visit the Shen family, but there was nothing she could do. She turned around and went back into the house. However, she ran into a servant who came out and smiled at her. "Miss, is there anything I can do for you?"

Seeing that this servant must have worked for Ji Yiru before, Gui'er said, "You look familiar to me. Did you work for my sister-in-law before?"

The servant smiled and said, "Young Master, you have a good memory. That time, the young master asked us to choose. Since my parents were still in Shanghai, I chose to take the five yuan and return home. But when I got back to Shanghai, I couldn't find a suitable job, so I had to carry heavy bags at Shiliupu Wharf. It was only when Brother Qiang interceded with the second young master that I was recruited here to help look after the villa, so that I can have a stable meal. My name is Ah Si, and you can tell me if you have anything."

Gui'er nodded and said, "Is the housekeeper here also from the former Ji family?"

Ah Si said, "Are you talking about Uncle Zhou? Yes, we were all from the Ji family before. Now that the old boss is failing, who can we follow? At least we can have something to eat. But you and the young master are good people, we know that. To be honest, things are better now than when we were in the Ji family. The wages are lower, but at least there is no fighting. My mother has already asked someone to help me find a partner."

After hearing this, Gui'er smiled and nodded, saying, "That's a good thing." Then she walked back and went into the house. She could see that Ah Si was a talkative person, but she was not in the mood to care about other people's affairs. She had to take care of her business first.

After much deliberation, Gui'er went to Sha Yanxiao's study and called Tong Yujun. She had originally wanted to invite her to go shopping at Sincere Department Store, but her family said she had gone out. Gui'er guessed she might have gone to meet Song Xilun, so she had to give up.

Now Guier had no excuse to run out. If she went out alone, people would inevitably say that a little girl was running out all day and had just received a bunch of gifts yesterday.

After walking around the study several times without being able to come up with a solution, Guier had to give up temporarily. She ran to the first floor and asked the housekeeper Zhou Bo for a newspaper. She started reading it in the pavilion in the yard.

Suddenly, I heard the crackling sound of mahjong. I looked up and saw that the third, fifth, sixth and seventh concubines were setting up tables on the large terrace on the second floor and playing the game of Sifangcheng. The three beauties were sitting on the lounge chairs beside them, leisurely drinking tea and eating snacks. The little master was sleeping in the crib next to them, and the nanny was gently patting him to sleep. Taohua was sitting on a small stool next to her, bending down to embroider the little master's hat.

It really looked like the scenes of wealthy families in the Republic of China depicted in the calendars she had seen before, but Guier was not interested at all. She looked at the various advertisements, gossip, and announcements published in the newspaper and felt bored.

It was not until lunch time that the lady and the eldest young master came back, and both of them looked unhappy.

At dinner time, Dashuai and Sha Yanxiao also returned. Guier hurried to greet them. Sha Yanxiao touched Guier's head and said, "It must be boring at home."

Gui'er said, "I'm fine. I'm reading the newspaper. Brother, did you have a good day?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled bitterly and said, "That's it." It seemed that things were not going well.

Back in the room, Sha Yanxiao plopped down on the sofa, sighed, and said to Gui'er, "When the war broke out in the north, all the forces were mobilized. Now, those with a little bit of reputation don't want to marry gunmen anymore. Those in finance, quartermasters, logistics, and auditing are the ones who are popular. They say that if you marry a gunman, you will become a widow at any time."

It seems that even the daughter of a wealthy family is very realistic. Gui'er didn't know how to comfort Sha Yanxiao for a moment, so she could only say, "It's okay, brother, take your time."

Then Gui'er said to Sha Yanxiao, "Since the war in the north is getting intense, is there any risk in Director Shen's marriage to our family?"

Sha Yanxiao was silent for a moment and said, "I think Mother will go and find out about this. Didn't she bring my eldest brother there today?"

Guier said, "Yeah, that's right, but I don't think they seem very happy to see them back."

After hearing what Gui'er said, Sha Yanxiao became interested instead. He smiled and said, "Is it true? Then I have to go and find out." Then he got up and went to find the Marshal.

This helped Gui'er, and she eagerly waited for Sha Yanxiao to come back to see how things were going.

Sha Yanxiao finally came back when it was almost time to go to bed. Gui'er had been dawdling in her room getting ready for bed while waiting for Sha Yanxiao. When she heard a noise from the next room, she hurried out.

Sha Yanxiao saw her come out and said with a smile, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?" Then he turned around and told Ding Xiang, "Go get the young lady a glass of milk."

After Ding Xiang left, he said, "Director Shen has a huge appetite. He wants our family's real estate and shops in Shanghai, and he also wants to get his hands on the mines in Jiangcheng. Mother doesn't dare to make a decision on her own, so she came back to discuss it with Father."

Gui Er was surprised, but after thinking about it, it seemed reasonable. Director Shen was willing to sell out the country for personal gain, so wouldn't he take advantage of his own daughter's marriage to reap some benefits?

She asked Sha Yanxiao, "What does father mean? Does he agree?"

Sha Yanxiao said with a wry smile, "When has father ever done anything that would have lost money? Whether it was marrying Ji Yiru or Miss Zhang, our family has always made money."

Gui Er was stunned for a moment: "Miss Zhang Si doesn't have much dowry, how can our family make money by marrying her?"

Sha Yanxiao tapped Gui'er's nose and said, "Silly girl, back when we weren't sure Sanmei could give birth to a son, we married Miss Zhang to consolidate our control over Fengcheng. If anything happened to Marshal Zhang and he had no children, Fengcheng could be used as Miss Zhang's dowry. So, what do you think, is it a good deal?"

Gui Er was curious and asked Sha Yanxiao, "What does Director Shen plan to give as a dowry?"

Sha Yanxiao paused and said, "That's not what they said, but it's rumored that Director Shen is an antique enthusiast and has collected quite a few fine items. If he's willing to use those antiques as a dowry, my father would probably agree. It's just that he never mentioned it."