A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Zhao Ergou raised his head, bit his lip, and said, "You can definitely resolve the misunderstanding, but there is absolutely no way for me to survive. I will die anyway."

Guier smiled and said, "Don't worry, I can still make the decision on this. Just tell me who you are and I can save your life." After saying that, she glanced at Sha Yanxiao.

Sha Yanxiao looked at her with a smile in his eyes and nodded.

Gui'er said to the man happily, "See what I said was right? Now you can rest assured. Tell us who it is."

Zhao Ergou could tell from the looks the others gave Sha Yanxiao that he was the boss here. He swallowed hard and said hesitantly, "Actually, I haven't met the real culprit either. It's a guy called Scarface in the casino. He said someone wants someone to do this, and I still owe them a gambling debt, right? If I do it, the debt will be settled."

After he finished speaking, he timidly glanced at the people present and said, "I've told you everything I know. Can you let me go now? You were the ones who said you would spare my life."

Wu Mingqiang smiled and said, "Of course, but the premise is that you have to tell the truth. Where can I find this scarred face? You didn't just randomly create someone so that we can go around looking for him, did you?"

Zhao Ergou was anxious and said, "How could I just send someone here? Scarface is quite famous. He's the one who keeps the casinos in the area under control. The casinos are right behind Chun Man Lou."

Dali said to Sha Yanxiao, "Boss, I remember now. There is such a person."

Sha Yanxiao nodded, turned around and pulled Gui'er out. Zhao Ergou got anxious and said, "You clearly said that if I told you, you would let me go."

Guier stopped, after all, she had promised the other person.

Sha Yanxiao glanced at her and nodded to Wu Mingqiang. Wu Mingqiang winked at his two men, and they stepped forward to untie the rope for Zhao Ergou.

Zhao Ergou breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know how long he had been kneeling there. His hands and feet were already numb. He had no choice but to support himself with his hands and try to stand up.

Suddenly Wu Mingqiang stepped forward and stepped on the fingers of Zhao Ergou that were supporting the ground. Zhao Ergou screamed "Ah!" and Wu Mingqiang stepped on him hard with his foot. Zhao Ergou wanted to push Wu Mingqiang away in pain, but Wu Mingqiang's subordinate who was standing next to him hit him in the face with his knee. He fell backwards and only then did Wu Mingqiang release his foot.

Gui'er believes that the public security in modern society is very good, and she has been a good girl since she was a child. This was the first time she saw someone being violently hurt so directly, and she was so scared that she stood there in a daze.

Sha Yanxiao frowned, covered Gui'er's eyes, pulled her out, and said to Wu Mingqiang, "Hey, that's enough."

Wu Mingqiang and the others finally stopped. Zhao Ergou collapsed to the ground in pain, not daring to groan loudly. Wu Mingqiang grinned at him and said, "Miss, I'm so generous. I'll spare your life. Don't listen to others and hurt others in the future. I won't be so easy to talk to next time. Do you understand?"

Zhao Ergou covered his hand and sat up trembling. The hand that was stepped on must have been seriously injured, but he still nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice.

Wu Mingqiang kicked him on the back and said, "Get lost."

When Zhao Ergou heard this, he ignored the pain and quickly stood up trembling, bent his waist, took two quick steps, stopped, turned around, bowed repeatedly to the people in the room, and then walked out the door backwards. When he reached the gate, he felt it should be safe enough, so he suddenly took a quick step and ran away.

Sha Yanxiao shook his head at Wu Mingqiang and said, "Your gangster ways haven't changed at all."

Wu Mingqiang said with a playful smile: "Young Marshal, you don't understand. This kind of trick is only effective against these ruffians."

Sha Yanxiao smiled, but remained noncommittal. He said to him, "Go check on that scarred man, but don't alarm him. Perhaps you can check the people behind those casinos he's looking after, and you'll probably know who it is."

Wu Mingqiang nodded, turned around and called to his two men, "Let's go."

Guier asked, "Were these two brothers once under my sister-in-law's command?"

The two men paused and said with a smile, "Miss, you have a good memory. We originally chose to return to Shanghai, and later asked us to help look after the house. But the property in Shanghai has been cleared out, right? There's not much to do there, and it's really chaotic over there, with prices soaring. So we decided to bring our families over here. Working under the Young Marshal at least gives us some stability. Ordinary people are like that; they go wherever they can make a living."

Gui'er smiled and nodded, and then the few of them left.

Sha Yanxiao pulled Gui'er out. Dali was still in the house nagging and complaining about Wu Mingqiang and his two men, saying that they had made the house dirty. He took a broom and went in to clean it.

Gui'er couldn't help but quietly ask Sha Yanxiao: "Where is Dali's father?"

Sha Yanxiao said, "Didn't a natural disaster cause a poor harvest a few years ago? I think it was the year you were sold. His father was sick and hungry and didn't make it. His stepmother somehow found out he was in Qingfeng Village and risked running up the mountain to inform him. Although he was resentful, he still took the money and went down the mountain to handle his father's funeral. He also gave his stepmother two silver dollars. However, with an orphan and a widow, they had no one to rely on, so they couldn't hold on. Later, they took their youngest son and left with a passing merchant."

Gui'er was also moved after hearing this. Ordinary people in the old times were really vulnerable in the face of disasters.

Within a few days, Wu Mingqiang found out that the owners of the several casinos that Scarface was protecting were all surnamed Wu, a distant relative of a housekeeper under his wife. Although the relationship was a bit complicated, the big boss behind these casinos was undoubtedly the eldest wife.

Sha Yanxiao's face was very solemn when he heard the news. Gui'er asked Wu Mingqiang, "Can you find out whether it was the Madam or the Eldest Young Master who ordered this?"

Wu Mingqiang said in embarrassment, "It took us a lot of effort to find out just this relationship. To truly find out who gave the order, I'm afraid we'll have to investigate from within the Marshal's Mansion."

Gui'er thought about it and asked Sha Yanxiao, "Brother, what are you going to do?"

Sha Yanxiao frowned and thought for a while without saying a word. Then he sighed and said to everyone, "You guys go down first. I'll think about it."

Gui'er also stood up and wanted to leave so that he could be alone, but Sha Yanxiao held her hand, so she had to sit down again.

Sha Yanxiao said nothing. He took Gui'er's hand and played with it in his palm. Seeing that he was at a loss, Gui'er said to him, "Brother, why don't we take a look first? If father is still so partial recently, we can think of a solution."