A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

On New Year's Eve, the headquarters of the Marshal's Mansion was decorated with lights and colorful decorations, creating a festive atmosphere. The New Year's Eve dinner was very sumptuous. The Marshal smiled and said, "Today we have invited the chef from the restaurant on the second floor of Wing On Department Store to come and prepare this New Year's Eve dinner for us. Normally, this would be impossible, but this year we happened to be in the midst of the war, and the restaurant had very few people ordering New Year's Eve dinner. That's why we invited him. It can be considered a coincidence."

Director Shen smiled and said, "Lao Sha, you've always been lucky. A commander from the 19th Route Army wanted to cause trouble with you, and a fight broke out. You were originally trying to escape, but now you've had the foresight to leave Shanghai early. I heard that even the gate to your mansion in Shanghai is sealed with a brick wall. It's truly an impenetrable fortress. Unlike us, who fled in such a hurry and were in such a mess."

The four concubine's two brothers also echoed this. During the time they lived here, they had very close contacts with Director Shen. They smoked, played cards and drank tea together every day. Their relationship seemed to be even better than that with the Marshal.

Director Shen exposed the reason why the Marshal returned to Jiangcheng early, but the Marshal just smiled awkwardly and said nothing.

The New Year's Eve dinner was indeed sumptuous and everyone enjoyed it very much. After the meal, they asked someone to set up several mahjong tables in the house. Mrs. Shen, the wives of the fourth concubine's brothers, and several concubines sat down to play, saying that they wanted to stay up all night. The Marshal also played bridge with Director Shen and the fourth concubine's two brothers.

Gui'er, Sha Lili and a few other children were sitting together eating candy and listening to the radio. At that time, the radio was playing some songs, some popular songs, and some traditional songs such as Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera, which were also in line with the festival.

Suddenly, there was a crackling sound in the distance, and everyone started. After a while, they realized that it was someone else setting off firecrackers. Everyone laughed a little awkwardly. The lady said, "It's all because of the war. We thought the sound of firecrackers was gunfire."

The other wives chimed in, "Yes, yes."

Gui'er sat in the main courtyard for a while, felt bored, and quietly returned to Sha Yanxiao's courtyard.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I found that the couplets that were not there before I went to dinner were actually posted. There were also several pots of very bright and colorful chrysanthemums in the courtyard, and a plate of fragrant daffodils was placed on the table in the hall.

Guier asked, "Where did these flowers come from?"

Ding Xiang smiled and said, "The housekeeper sent it over. He said that the Second Young Master is away and you're alone in the courtyard. He was worried that you'd feel lonely, so he sent you some flowers to decorate the house. It feels a bit like the New Year."

Gui'er was very surprised and said with a smile: "Big brother is so thoughtful. Have you eaten yet?"

Dingxiang said, "We've already eaten. The kitchen even gave us some rice cakes. Miss, would you like to try some?"

Gui'er didn't want to spoil her fun, so she smiled and nodded: "Give me some to try."

Dingxiang excitedly brought over a small plate and a few other small plates of pastries.

Guier picked up a piece of rice cake and was about to eat it when the phone suddenly rang.

Thinking it was Sha Yanxiao, she hurried over and picked up the phone. Instead, she heard the voice of Zhang, the shopkeeper, saying, "Hello, is this Wu Guier? I'm He Ruizhu's mother. She asked me to tell you that she's arrived safely in Jiangcheng."

Gui'er was startled, and immediately remembered the agreement she had made with Shopkeeper Zhang: if Song Xichen returned safely, he would call her in He Ruizhu's name. She quickly said, "Really? That's great! Is everyone back safely?"

Shopkeeper Zhang said, "Yes, he asked me to tell you that he wishes you a happy new year."

Guier said excitedly, "Thank you. I wish him a happy new year, too."

After hanging up the phone, Ding Xiang asked, "Miss, do you have any good news? Why are you so happy all of a sudden?"

Guier smiled and said, "One of my classmates who was stranded in Shanghai has returned to Jiangcheng safely."

Ding Xiang said, "That's really hard to come by. There's fighting going on over there again. It's hard to escape, let alone get a ticket back."

Knowing that Song Xichen was safe, Gui'er felt relieved, but when it came to her classmates, she thought of Tong Yujun again. Because of the incident with the eighth concubine, she didn't feel comfortable contacting Tong Yujun after she tipped off the matter.

Such a big thing happened, I don’t know if she is safe.

After hesitating for a while, Gui'er still dialed Tong Yujun's home phone number in Jiangcheng, but no one answered. This made Gui'er, who was originally full of joy, even more worried. Tong Yujun was one of the friends Gui'er made after traveling here. Although her parents were just so-so, she herself was really good. Gui'er couldn't help but worry about her.

The next day, news came over the radio: "The Second and Sixth Squadrons of the Central Air Force have joined the battle, engaging Japanese aircraft over Zhenru Mountain. The 19th Route Army has also adjusted its deployment and strengthened its defenses. The battle between the two sides is extremely fierce. The Japanese have suffered successive defeats. Repeated reinforcements have been ineffective. Our victory is in sight."

It must be said that this news was very exciting. The adults who were playing mahjong and cards all said, "Great! We are about to win the battle. I didn't expect the 19th Route Army to be so good. This is really the first good news of the new year."

Director Shen and the four concubine's two brothers discussed the two commanders-in-chief of the 19th Route Army. They all vied with each other to talk about where they had met General Jiang Guangding and Cai Tingkai, and how they said they were very energetic and powerful.

Sha Lili said to Gui'er happily, "I was worried that the attack would reach here, but luckily we held on."

Guier smiled and nodded, but she knew the development of history, and now she only felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

The chef of the Marshal's Mansion went out to buy vegetables and came back to say that the atmosphere on the street was better. Some people were dancing lions and dragons and setting off firecrackers to celebrate the New Year.

Sha Lili said to Gui'er and Miss Shen, "In this case, maybe there will be a lantern festival here during the Lantern Festival. Let's go and see it then."

A few days later, news came over the radio: "Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has ordered the 88th and 87th Divisions of the Central Military Academy Training Corps to be reorganized into the Fifth Army, with Zhang Zhizhong as commander, to reinforce the 19th Route Army. Yesterday, the Japanese Kurume Mixed Brigade, attempting to cross the river secretly, was surrounded by heavy Chinese troops and attacked by suicide squads, and was completely annihilated."

A bunch of people started to study it again. Sha Lili's uncle said, "Chairman, sending more troops at this time is to speed up victory, right?"

My uncle said, "It's hard to say. If the situation is favorable, why send more troops?"

Director Shen shook his head and said, "Don't underestimate them. I heard that the Japanese had already started preparing for war a month or two ago."

After that, a bunch of people fell into worry again. Gui'er observed that the others were really worried about the war situation, but Director Shen would analyze the unfavorable factors every time others said they were about to win, as if he was confident about this war and was sure that Japan would win, but he just didn't say it directly.