A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Finally, Director Shen stayed for more than an hour until he was a little more sober and no longer needed help, so he went back.

Gui'er was very worried that Song Xichen had not finished his business yet, and she tossed and turned all night.

The next morning, Sha Lili came over early. Without saying a word, she dragged Gui'er with her and headed straight to St. John's University, saying, "I'm going to take down Xu Wenjie this time."

Gui'er said, "So you like him so much that you don't mind that his father is gone."

Sha Lili was a little confused and asked Gui'er, "Where is his father?"

Guier knew Sha Lili didn't know Xu Wenjie's father had passed away, so she told her what Director Shen had said about the Xu family's situation when they came to dinner. Sha Lili immediately became depressed and said to Guier, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Gui Er smiled and said, "You didn't ask me. I thought your uncles are all officials and should be well-informed."

Sha Lili said, "My mother, my brother, and my uncle went to Haining these past two days to propose marriage to my brother."

Gui'er suddenly realized that it was no wonder that the Fourth Concubine could not attend when a distinguished guest like Director Shen came.

Gui'er said quickly, "Congratulations, Third Brother! Which girl did you get engaged to?"

Sha Lili curled her lips and said, "Don't mention it. They are just a merchant family. I heard that they have opened several textile factories and wineries."

Gui'er said, "They're a nice family, too. Why don't you look so happy?"

Sha Lili frowned and said, "In this day and age, having money without power is useless. You'll still be exploited by those high-ranking officials. Power naturally brings wealth, but my brother is a hopeless case. The young lady from that family is a good match for him. They also have a cousin who is the head of the family. They say that the cousin's family is the head of the family. The elders are trying to match me up with her cousin."

"Then you don't like her cousin?"

"My cousin is not here. He went to Hong Kong to attend university. I was going to meet him this time, but he wrote back saying that he advocates Western love and wants to find love on his own. Ugh! I don't even like him."

After hearing this, Gui'er finally understood that Sha Lili was trying to chase Xu Wenjie just to compete with him. She asked, "Now that you know the Xu family's situation, will you still go after Xu Wenjie?"

Sha Lili pouted and said, "Can't I just go find Miss Shen? He's got his eyes on the top of his head. If it weren't for his father, who would respect him?"

Gui'er burst out laughing. It turned out that Sha Lili could also feel that Xu Wenjie looked down on her.

The two of them took a bus to St. John's University. As soon as they entered the school gate, they ran into Miss Shen. Miss Shen looked at them in surprise and smiled and said, "Why are you two here?"

Sha Lili ran over and hugged Miss Shen's arm affectionately and said, "Don't mention it. I went to Haining with my mother to visit an elder. I just got home early this morning. I haven't seen Miss Shen for a few days and I missed her so much."

Gui'er smiled but said nothing. Sha Lili was really good at acting. She made it seem like the real thing.

Miss Shen smiled and said, "So that's how it is. No wonder I didn't see you at dinner yesterday. Come on, come with me to the troupe."

So she took the two of them to the troupe's classroom, pushed open the door and walked in. Everyone was surrounding Xu Wenjie. When they saw them coming, one of the classmates said, "Xu Wenjie is leaving."

The three of them were very surprised. Guier looked at Xu Wenjie. He hadn't seen him for a few days and looked much more haggard. He seemed to be a little more sad.

Miss Shen quickly asked him, "Are you going back to Nanjing? When will you be back?"

Xu Wenjie smiled sadly and said, "I don't know. I might have to stay with my mother in Nanjing for a while, or I might go back to my hometown. My mother isn't in a good mood right now."

At this time, a female classmate said, "Will it take you a long time to come back?"

Xu Wenjie smiled and said nothing. Then the teacher came over and called Xu Wenjie away.

As soon as Xu Wenjie left, the students began to chatter. Some said, "The teacher must have persuaded him to stay. They said he had a bright future and could teach at the school in the future."

Another classmate said, "I'm afraid it's very difficult. I heard his father passed away, and the family property was seized by his uncles. His mother is in poor health, so I'm afraid there's no money left to support his studies."

Gui'er and Sha Lili looked at each other without saying anything, but Miss Shen looked very sad.

After a while, Xu Wenjie and the teacher came back with a camera in his hand. He smiled and said to the students, "I've been with you all for so long. Before I leave, I want to take a photo with you all."

The students were very enthusiastic about this. Gui'er and Sha Lili were a little embarrassed, unsure whether they should take a photo together. Xu Wenjie smiled and said to them, "You guys should come over and take a photo too. I'm also very happy to meet two interesting girls."

Gui'er felt that after Xu Wenqiang had suffered such a big change, he seemed to have become much more mature and calm.

So Gui'er and Sha Lili took a group photo with the rest of their troupe. Afterward, Xu Wenjie said to Miss Shen, "Shen Fengshu, I have something I want to tell you before we go. Can we go out and find a place to eat? It's almost noon, so I'll treat you to a final lunch."

Miss Shen looked at Gui'er and Sha Lili hesitantly. They both smiled and said, "It's okay. You guys go ahead. We're going home soon. We'll come visit Miss Shen next time."

Then the two said goodbye.

After leaving school, Sha Lili walked dejectedly towards the car. Gui'er thought that Sha Yanxiao had been at home the past two days, making it inconvenient to call Song Xichen. She wanted to take this opportunity to ask Song Xichen about the progress of the map. So she said to Sha Lili, "Why don't we go to Xianshi Company for a look?"

Sha Lili pouted and said, "I'm not in the mood."

Guier took her hand and said, "It's because I'm not in the mood that I want to go shopping." Then she asked the driver to drive to Sincere Department Store without saying anything.

After shopping at Xinshi Department Store, Guier said she was hungry and wanted to go to Dahuchun to buy some shengjian (fried dumplings). She asked Sha Lili to wait for her in the car. Although Sha Lili looked unhappy, she still did as she was told.

Gui'er tried her best to act natural and walked into Dahuchun. As soon as she entered, she saw Song Xichen sitting there reading a newspaper. He was also very surprised to see Gui'er.

Gui Er quickly said to the shopkeeper, "Pack two dozen fresh meat dumplings and pack them separately."

The shopkeeper responded and said, "Okay, miss, please sit down for a moment. It will be ready soon."

Gui'er looked around and didn't see any familiar faces, so she came over and sat down in front of Song Xichen. She said happily, "Brother Xichen, what a coincidence! You just happened to come over?"

Song Xichen smiled and said, "This is our family's property. Even if I hang out here all day, it won't seem out of place. Besides, I'm only staying at home because my mother forces me to go on blind dates everywhere."

Guier smiled and teased, "Brother, it's time for you to start a family too."

Song Xichen smiled and said, "It's so hard to find someone who shares the same ideals as me. If Xiao Gui'er were an adult, I could ask my mother to go to the Marshal's Mansion to propose marriage."

Gui'er's face turned red all of a sudden. For the first time, she felt that it would be better if she could travel back in time and still be the original 26-year-old. After all, Song Xichen was indeed a handsome man with a positive outlook on life, and he had chosen the right path.

But this was impossible after all. Gui Er sorted out her thoughts and asked Song Xichen, "How are things going?"

Song Xichen said, "Our people went in with cameras and took pictures of the map. Now we have forged it based on the original map. We are just waiting for an opportunity to replace the original map."

Gui'er asked, "Director Shen slaughtered our comrades, are we just going to let it go like this?" She liked interacting with Miss Shen and thought that she should be unaware of the incident, but every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt has its creditor. It was really hard to accept that Director Shen could take human life so lightly and yet not be punished.

Song Xichen soothed him, "We will definitely settle this account, but our forces in Shanghai are currently insufficient. Clearly eliminating Director Shen would be too conspicuous. We cannot act rashly at the cost of sacrificing a comrade."