A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After returning to the Marshal's Mansion, Gui'er thought about it and decided to talk to Sha Yanxiao. She didn't think that the gangster named Zhao Ergou would dare to kill the son of the local chief executive. Song Xichen was an upright person and was unlikely to use some abnormal means, but this matter involved her own life, so she didn't care about that.

So, after Sha Yanxiao returned and finished his meal, the two of them sat in the living room listening to the radio as usual. Gui'er did his homework while Sha Yanxiao read the newspaper. Seeing that the servants had all left, Gui'er sat down next to him and said, "Brother, I have something to tell you. Don't be angry if you hear it. This situation we've encountered is so strange, so I asked Brother Xichen to help me investigate. He found a man named Zhao Ergou, a gambler. He happened to be sitting right above where our flowerpot fell when the incident happened. He's also been spending lavishly lately, which is completely different from his usual self, so he's a strong suspect."

Sha Yanxiao looked at Gui'er in surprise and asked, "I didn't expect a clever little guy like you would actually act on your own. So what's going on now? Did Song Xichen arrest him? Did he find out anything from the interrogation?"

Gui'er shook her head and said, "Brother Xichen said that man refused to confess, and the waiter who originally testified against him suddenly changed his testimony, saying that he might have misremembered it. If that's the case, there's no evidence to prove he did it, so I'm afraid he's been released."

Sha Yanxiao snorted and sneered, "Song Xichen claims to be a gentleman, but in reality, he has accomplished nothing. But this information is enough. Leave the rest to me."

Gui'er quickly grabbed him and said, "Brother, I don't want anyone to die in this matter. After all, nothing happened to us."

Sha Yanxiao patted his head and said, "Don't worry, I just want to know who is behind this."

This is exactly what Guier wants to know.

Two days later, after school, Dali said, "This Zhao Ergou is really good at running! We finally caught him after a lot of effort. Do you want to go and take a look?"

When Gui'er heard this, she didn't even bother to go to Zhenxiufang anymore and quickly said, "Yes, yes, I want to go and see." In fact, besides being curious, she was more afraid that Sha Yanxiao had killed someone.

Dali smiled, stepped on the accelerator and drove out of the city. They arrived at a small village beside a road a few kilometers outside the city. There were only about a dozen or twenty households in it. The car drove all the way to the entrance of the village. There was a small gravel road into the village. Dali took Guier out of the car and walked into the village.

As Gui'er walked, she discovered that this was actually an abandoned village. Although the houses in the village were still in good order, no one lived there anymore. In such an era, an empty village seemed a bit creepy, so she asked Dali, "Brother Dali, why is there no one in this village?"

Dali said, "Why is there no one here? I'm from this village, but because it's outside the city, it used to be frequently harassed by bandits. Sometimes, when I wanted to report a crime to the police, the thieves would have already fled by the time the patrol arrived. When I was a child, I lived here. Whenever a crime occurred, the patrol was reluctant to come. They always demanded tea and travel expenses. Over time, it became known that this was a place where no one cared, and the bandits became even more rampant. People had no choice but to abandon the village and move elsewhere, leaving only one or two poor, elderly families here. In the past few years, they've all died of old age, and it's become an empty village."

Guier asked curiously, "Where did your family move to? In the county town? I've known you for so long and I've never been to your house."

Dali smiled naively, patted Guier's head for the first time, and said, "I'm the only one in my family now. After the young master became the young marshal, he gave my brothers some money to settle down. I also bought a small house in our city, but without a wife, it's just a place to live, not a home."

Gui'er suddenly had an idea: "What do you think of Dingxiang? You two are a good match in age."

Dali's eyes widened and he said, "She's my wife's, are you crazy?"

Gui'er said nonchalantly, "I don't think she's a bad person. If she's Madam's, then marrying you would be like bringing her over to our side. That's called a counter-espionage scheme."

Dali waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no, no, you girl, you have a good brain, but don't use it on me. Dingxiang is good, but once I marry her, it will definitely attract the attention of the lady, and I don't mind living a long life."

Gui'er looked at his somewhat exaggerated expression of fear and couldn't help but find it a little funny, but she had to let it go.

As they walked, they came to an inconspicuous small courtyard in the village. Dali took out the key from the crack in the wall next to the door and opened the door. Guier was surprised to realize that this was his home.

The two walked into the yard. Gui'er looked around curiously. There was really nothing special about it. There were green bricks and green tiles, and it was quite clean. It must have been cleaned and tidied by someone who came back from time to time.

Guier remembered that Dali had said before that he was sold after his father married a stepmother, and he later escaped and met the leader of Qingfeng Village at that time, so he became a bandit. Now there is no one at home, and it is probably because they are no longer alive for various reasons. Guier felt that it was someone else's sad story and it was not easy to ask, so she did not ask any more questions.

The two walked through the yard and into the house. Sha Yanxiao and Wu Mingqiang were both there. Wu Mingqiang was a little surprised to see Gui'er coming over and said, "Miss, why are you here? I'm afraid it's not appropriate for the occasion later."

Sha Yanxiao said: "It's okay, this matter is related to her, she has the right to come and see."

As he said this, he waved to Gui'er, stood up and walked towards a main room next to him. Gui'er followed him and when they reached the door of the main room, they saw a man kneeling on the ground with his hands tied. It must be Zhao Ergou. He was wearing a silk jacket and combing his hair with hair oil, but his hair was very messy. His face and nose were bleeding, and there were bruises at the corners of his eyes. It was obvious that he had been beaten.

There were two people guarding him. Gui'er thought they looked very familiar, as if they were Ji Yiru's subordinates in the past. She thought they were probably under Wu Mingqiang's command now.

Sha Yanxiao said to the two men, "Haven't you decided yet?"

The two men shook their heads, and one of them kicked Zhao Ergou in the stomach. He vomited with a loud bang. Dali frowned and cursed the one who kicked him, saying, "What the hell did you do? You made my house dirty."

Sha Yanxiao said to Zhao Ergou, "I know you're just being ordered around. If you don't tell me, I'll put all the blame on you. Do you think it's worth it?"

Zhao Ergou raised his head, and at this time Gui'er saw his face clearly. He was not ugly. Not only was he not ugly, he was even quite good-looking. His face was fair and clean, and it was actually square. However, in this era, it was impossible for an ordinary man to have such fair skin because he had to work. It could only be said that this person was really lazy and seldom got sun exposure, so he took very good care of himself.

But it is said that such a person cannot withstand torture. This person did not say a word in response to Sha Yanxiao's words. The look in Guier's eyes when she looked at him was not the kind of resolute and unyielding look, but rather as if she was very scared.

Gui'er thought for a moment, then walked forward and said to him, "We're sorry, big brother. We don't mean to cause you any trouble. We know you were forced into this, and we don't hold grudges. We just want to know who did it. Even if you don't tell us, we have a rough guess. Don't worry, we're not trying to kill him or seek revenge. Did he tell you that if he told anyone, it would be bad for you? It doesn't matter. We just believe that it's better to resolve a feud than to create one. We want to know who did it so we can apologize and clear up this misunderstanding."