A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Taohua and the young lady woke up quickly. The doctor said that Taohua was malnourished and needed to improve her diet, but the young lady was still in a very low mood. Her family kept the news secret and bribed the hospital staff again, saying that the young lady fainted and was sent to the hospital because of malnutrition.

Originally, Taohua was a servant and was going to go back to the mansion to work after she woke up. Guier thought of an idea and said to Song Xichen, "Taohua is the young lady's favorite, so let her accompany her in the hospital." In fact, Guier thought that there was not much work to do in the hospital, and if the young lady didn't eat the stewed soups sent by home, Taohua could eat them and supplement her nutrition at the same time.

Song Xichen agreed readily.

After school that day, Gui'er returned to the Song Mansion and went to the servants' dining hall to eat. Aunt Zhang made a bowl of white noodles for Gui'er, which attracted the envy of many people.

Although the Song family was a wealthy family, their servants could only eat enough to fill their stomachs. Fine rice, white flour, and delicious fish and meat were out of the question.

The most common food they ate was vegetable and grain porridge, as well as crops that were abundant at the Song Mansion Farm at the time, such as sweet potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, and various vegetables. Only during the Chinese New Year or a big banquet at the mansion, or when the host was celebrating his birthday, could they eat a bowl of rice and two slices of fat meat.

However, I also looked at the rank of the servants. Aunt Zhang and Aunt Wu naturally ate better than the average servant, while Aunt Zhou and Housekeeper Zhang could eat rice and flour every meal, but meat was rare. Gui'er and Taohua's meals were similar to Aunt Zhou's.

Guier took the noodles and found a place to sit down to eat. After just two bites, she suddenly found that there was a fried egg and meat covered by the noodles at the bottom of the bowl.

Gui'er finished her meal quietly and calmly. After washing the bowl, she went to find Zhang Ma and said, "Thank you for your care, Zhang Ma."

Aunt Zhang took the bowl with a smile, looked around to see if there was anyone around, and said softly to Gui'er, "Butler Zhang told me to give this to you quietly. What's going on?"

Gui'er felt that this might be related to the young lady's wrist-cutting incident, but she was not in a position to explain it, so she said, "I don't know either. I was originally going to ask you, but it turns out you don't know either."

Back in the young master's courtyard, Gui'er was doing her homework while thinking about what happened at the meal. Suddenly, Ah Xiang walked in and said, "Guier, the young master wants you to go to the front hall."

Gui'er put down her pen and went to the front hall. She found no one there. Butler Zhang was waiting there. Seeing her, he smiled and said, "Guier, come with me."

Gui Er quickly said to Butler Zhang, "Thank you for your care, Butler."

Butler Zhang understood immediately and said with a smile, "That's what the master meant."

Gui'er was puzzled and was taken to a study on the second floor by Butler Zhang. As soon as she entered, she only saw Song Shichang, Song Xichen, Nanny Zhou, and Butler Zhang. No one else was there.

Song Shichang smiled and said to her, "Gui'er, the young lady was saved thanks to you. You did a great job and told others not to tell anyone. I didn't even dare to tell my wife because she was too talkative."

Gui'er wanted to laugh but didn't dare, so she said, "Thank you for the compliment, Master. This is my duty."

The master said, "You and the eldest young master are talking about breaking off the engagement and ruining the reputation of the Cao family's young master. What do you think?"

Gui'er became defensive at this time. She didn't want to come up with so many ideas. What if something went wrong and the Song family pushed her out to take the blame?

She thought for a moment and said cautiously, "I heard that this young master was studying abroad. How did he suddenly appear here? We can investigate him thoroughly and see if he has done anything bad, such as visiting brothels or smoking opium."

The master seemed a little disappointed when he heard this and said, "Visiting brothels and smoking opium aren't really bad habits. Rich family sons all do this. Using this as an excuse to break off an engagement is far from satisfactory."

After hearing this, Gui'er was shocked by the tolerance of the upper class in the old society towards prostitution, gambling and drugs, and she no longer dared to come up with any particularly harmful ideas.

The master waved his hand and let Guier go back.

The next day, just as Gui'er was about to leave school to go to the police station to find Song Xichen, Tong Yujun suddenly suggested that they go shopping at the department store. Gui'er was a little hesitant, and Tong Yujun said, "Don't worry, my driver will pick me up at the department store entrance and take you back to the Song Mansion."

Gui'er felt that it was important to socialize more at school to pave the way for the future, so she ran to the principal's office to borrow a phone to call Song Xichen.

After Song Xichen heard that she was with the second daughter of the Tong family, he agreed and only asked her not to go home too late.

After hanging up the phone, a group of friends went to the mall happily.

This time they did not go to Xuhe Restaurant on the first and second floors, but went straight to the top floor of the fourth floor. It turned out that the first floor of Wing On Department Store was a sales area, and the second floor was various restaurants.

The third floor is a luxury hotel. The rooms are furnished with high-quality Western-style furniture, there are call bells in the rooms and a telephone at the front desk. There are also cars, carriages, rickshaws to pick up and drop off guests. There is also a barber shop, billiard hall, newspaper reading room, and bar.

The rooftop of the fourth floor is also an amusement park, where performances of Peking opera, shadow puppetry, and Western magic are performed, as well as movies. It also has a beautiful rooftop garden, where cocktail parties are held from time to time.

Today Tong Yujun invited them to the fourth floor to sing shadow puppetry. It was Guier's first time on the fourth floor and she felt it was very fresh. She looked around and saw a lot of people there. Some of them came up to stroll around after shopping on the first floor, some came up to digest their food after eating, and some came directly to this elegant rooftop garden to talk and make love.

Gui'er, Tong Yujun and others found a place to sit down and waited for the shadow play to begin.

Suddenly, Guier saw two people in front of her who looked very familiar. After looking carefully, she found that they were Mr. Cao and Mrs. Cao. They were holding hands like a couple.

There is nothing wrong with mother and son shopping together in the mall, but Mrs. Cao looks too young and is definitely not Mr. Cao's biological mother.

Gui'er couldn't help but keep an eye on them. Sure enough, their behavior was very intimate, and they would whisper to each other from time to time, just like a pair of close lovers.

Gui'er didn't watch the entire shadow play at all. She was just staring at Mrs. Cao and Mr. Cao. After the shadow play was over, a large number of people left and Gui'er and the others were ready to go back.

Gui'er deliberately dawdled, waiting until Mrs. Cao and Mr. Cao passed by them before she hurriedly said to her friends, "I'm fine, let's go."

Then she followed Mrs. Cao and Mr. Cao not far behind. Fortunately, she was wearing a school uniform, so the two of them did not associate her with the little maid they met that day.

After Mrs. Cao and Mr. Cao took the escalator from the fourth floor to the third floor, they did not continue walking down, but went straight to the hotel on the third floor. The front desk took a bunch of keys from the waiter, and then walked towards the room area hand in hand.

Gui'er thought this was useful information, and quickly urged Tong Yujun to send her back to the Song Mansion.

When the Tong family's driver drove Gui'er to the gate of the Song Mansion, he happened to see the master and the mistress going out. The Tong family and the Song family had business dealings, and Tong Yujun had met the master Song several times.

She politely greeted Mr. Song and said, "Hello, Uncle Song." Mr. Song nodded. Tong Yujun then ordered the car to drive away.

Guier quickly stepped forward and said, "Hello, Master, hello, Madam."

Song Shichang looked at Gui'er and said, "You've only been at school for a short time and you've already made friends with the young lady from the Tong family? She's much better than my Tingting. That girl just reads all day and has few friends."

Guier glanced at Mrs. Song and noticed that she looked unhappy. She quickly said, "How can I compare with the young lady? The young lady is destined to be rich and noble and has a kind heart. Her future is limitless."

The master and the mistress naturally smiled happily after hearing this, and Guier finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After entering the house, she didn't bother to eat, and went straight back to the eldest young master's courtyard and told Song Xichen what she saw in Yong'an Department Store.

Song Xichen perked up immediately after hearing this and said with a smile, "This current Madam Cao is indeed the consort of Mr. Cao's first wife. It is said that she used to be a dancer in Shanghai. It seems that we should really investigate her carefully."

Then a few days later, a piece of gossip spread in the city. The police went to the wrong hotel while chasing a fugitive and caught a man and a woman, only to find that they were the eldest son and stepmother of the city's wealthy Mr. Cao. Mr. Cao was furious and drove the eldest son back to Shanghai.

It is said that the stepmother was also beaten by Mr. Cao, but because she had given birth to two sons for the Cao family, he did not divorce her. However, many people said that the two little sons were the eldest son's flesh and blood. For a time, gossipers on the streets and alleys talked about it with relish, and the daughter of the Song family, who was engaged to the eldest son, immediately announced the cancellation of the engagement and published a statement in the newspaper.

During those days, there was meat hidden at the bottom of Gui'er's bowl every day. Song Tingting and Taohua also returned home after a period of treatment. The young lady was no longer depressed, but became more cheerful than before.