A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Early this morning, Gui'er finished her breakfast and came to the gate to wait for the bus to go to school with Song Xichen.

Dagang drove the car over. Guier opened the back door and was about to climb in when she was suddenly pulled down by someone. Guier was shocked. The servants standing at the door thought that the bandits had come again. One of them went to the inner room to report, and two others rushed out with sticks and brooms and started to hit the man.

Song Xichen jumped down from the passenger seat in one leap, ran over in two steps, kicked the man away, and hugged Guier in his arms.

The man suddenly shouted: "Gui'er, Gui'er, I am your brother, I am your brother."

Song Xichen was stunned and asked Gui'er, "Is he really your brother?"

Gui'er looked at this person. He was of medium build, no more than eighteen or nineteen years old. His features bore some resemblance to her own. However, Gui'er had no memories of her time before the time travel, so she didn't dare to make any hasty judgments. She said to Song Xichen in a daze, "I suffered a severe head injury before, and I don't remember anything from before. Besides, my family couldn't possibly know that I came to the Song family."

At this moment, five or six people suddenly rushed out of the mansion, holding sticks and pinning the man to the ground. The man shouted to Gui'er, "Guier, Gui'er, I'm your brother, I'm your brother." He also screamed heartbreakingly, "Everyone, come and see! The Song family is kidnapping and trafficking innocent girls. This is against the will of heaven."

The servants who were holding him captive looked at each other in bewilderment, not daring to take any further action.

Steward Zhang came out of the mansion and said to the crowd, "Bring him in for questioning first."

So everyone took the man to the yard.

Steward Zhang pointed at him and asked Gui'er, "Guier, is this man really your brother?"

Gui Er was also unsure, so she said loudly, "To answer Housekeeper Zhang, I don't know. I had a serious head injury before, and I have forgotten everything before. But my family probably doesn't know that I came to the Song Mansion."

Steward Zhang thought for a moment and said to a servant, "Go, call Taohua over."

Gui'er understood as soon as she heard it. He wanted Taohua to identify this person.

Soon Taohua arrived at the garden. When she saw the man, she shouted in surprise, "Brother Dahua, why is it you?"

Butler Zhang asked Taohua, "So this man is really Gui'er's biological brother?"

Taohua nodded and said, "Yes, he is the second child in the Wu family. His name is Wu Dahua, and he is also known as Brother Wu."

Taohua said as she hurried forward and helped Wu Dahua up. After hearing her words, everyone stopped holding him back.

At this time, the master and the three wives also came out. The master asked with a sullen face, "What's going on?"

Wu Ma, who was standing by, quickly replied, "Master, this is a trivial matter. Gui'er's brother is here looking for his relatives, but the way he yelled outside just now was heard by the neighbors. Those who didn't know would think we had kidnapped someone else's daughter. Why don't you release Gui'er right away and let her go home with her brother?"

One day, Wu Dahua hurried over to pull Guier. Guier instinctively wanted to shrink, but was pulled away by Song Xichen first.

Song Xichen said to Wu Dahua, "Just say you are her biological brother. It was your family that sold her to the brothel, and she nearly died. Now that I have rescued her from the wolf's den, I cannot let her fall into the tiger's den again."

Seeing this, Wu Dahua suddenly knelt and kowtowed to Song Xichen, saying, "Thank you, Boss Song, for saving me. Gui'er was secretly sold by my father and brother, and I didn't know about it. Later, they regretted their actions and told me where she was. I ran to that shameful place and begged for several days, spending all my money, before I was told that Boss Song might have saved her, so I came all the way here to find her."

Song Xichen said sternly, "Don't try to quibble. If you really investigated thoroughly, why did you come to my doorstep and accuse me of trafficking young girls? Aren't you just trying to be a scoundrel?"

Wu Dahua quickly said, "I didn't mean to cause trouble at the door at first. I was just afraid that my sister would be kidnapped again. Now that my parents and brothers have fled from other places and have started farming again, I want to bring my sister home and raise her well."

Upon hearing this, Gui'er quickly spoke up, "Even if you're my brother, the reason you were able to escape and return alive was because you sold me. You relied on the money to survive. Now you want to bring me home, aren't you trying to sell me again?"

Wu Dahua didn't expect Gui'er, who had been well-behaved since childhood, to say such a thing. He was so surprised that his mouth couldn't close. After a long pause, he whispered, "Father and eldest brother were indeed wrong in the past, but they regret it now. Your family is worried about you being alone at such a young age. You should come back with me."

Wu Ma also fanned the flames and said to the master, "Master, don't you think there has been a lot of trouble since Gui'er came to our house?"

Gui'er immediately said, "You're talking nonsense! Didn't you cause half of what happened when I came to your house?"

Wu Ma was speechless for a moment, pointing at Gui Er,

"You, you..." He couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Gui Er quickly knelt down and said to the master: "Master and Madam, the Song family saved my life. I am willing to stay here and serve the eldest young master to repay his kindness."

In fact, she had weighed it all in her mind. Instead of returning to a completely unfamiliar and unreliable family that had sold her to a brothel, it would be better to stay in the Song Mansion. She could get paid and go to school. As long as she was careful, she would be safe at least until she came of age.

When I become an adult, I will probably have saved some money. Then I can find a female clerk or a female department store salesperson. It will be better than helping with farm work every day in the countryside. When I get old enough to get married, I will probably sell my money to buy a dowry.

Song Shichang was very happy to hear her words and said, "I didn't expect that a little girl like you would be so grateful. But what about your brother?"

Gui'er turned to look at Wu Dahua and asked, "Second brother, I remember we only have two acres of thin land. Is the disaster completely over now? Will the harvest be good if we start farming again?"

Wu Dahua was stunned for a moment, and after a moment he said hesitantly in a low voice, "The land has just been planted, and we don't know what the harvest will be."

Gui'er pressed on, "If that's the case, then if I go back I'll have another mouth to feed, and food won't be even tighter. You've spent all your money by now, right?"

Wu Dahua suddenly understood what Gui'er meant. He looked at her and said firmly, "Guier, even if I have to do hard labor or beg for food, I will never sell you out again."

Gui Er thought it would be best to get rid of this trouble quickly, so she opened her schoolbag and secretly took out a silver dollar from the book where she hid her silver. She handed it to Wu Dahua and said, "The Song family is a wealthy and kind-hearted family. This is the salary they gave me. Take this dollar home and buy some food on the way."

Wu Dahua took the dollar in amazement, was stunned for a moment, and said happily: "Brother was worried that you were not eating enough and wearing warm clothes outside. It turns out that you are living a good life."

After he said that, Gui'er felt a little regretful that she had taken too much. If she had known earlier, she would have just given him a few dozen copper coins.

Gui'er said to Wu Dahua, "You've been away for so long, your family must be worried. Go back quickly. When you leave, go to the front door and kowtow to the master and his wife. This will make amends for me and for your recklessness just now."

Wu Dahua carefully put the dollar in his pocket, happily agreed, and walked out while looking back and saying, "Okay, okay."

Then he walked out of the gate, knelt down outside the gate, kowtowed three times, and said loudly: "Thank you very much, Master, thank you very much, Madam. The Song family is so kind to save my sister. My sister is in your care."

Gui'er secretly glanced at the master and the mistress. Song Shichang was a man who cared a lot about his reputation. He was quite satisfied when Wu Dahua called out to him at the door.

Guier noticed that Butler Zhang also nodded at her with satisfaction.

Song Xichen seemed relieved. He took Gui'er's hand and said, "It's okay. Hurry up and get in the car and go to school, otherwise you'll be late."