A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The school was in class that day when there was suddenly a commotion outside, and then a ticking sound was heard. It happened that the get out of class was over, and as soon as the teacher walked out of the classroom, the students rushed to the balcony on the second floor.

It turned out that an army was passing by the school gate. The leading few people were riding tall horses, and the soldiers behind them were armed with live ammunition, walking majestically through the street. Guier felt vaguely uneasy, but the classmates around her found it very fresh, because in this city, everyone either rode rickshaws or cars, and some could ride bicycles, but few people rode horses.

But Guier felt that it was not a good thing to have armed troops walking on the streets for no reason, especially when the world was in chaos.

That day, classmates and even teachers were talking about the appearance of this army. Guier felt that something was wrong.

As soon as school was over, he rushed to the police station, wanting to ask Song Xichen if he knew what was going on.

When they arrived at the police station, Dagang told her that the young master had gone to a meeting and asked her to take a bus back by herself. Guier had no choice but to return to the Song Mansion first.

After returning to the mansion, Gui'er went to the servants' dining hall to eat and heard everyone talking about the army that entered the city today.

"Have you heard? An army came to the city today. They said they would be stationed here. I wonder if there will be a war."

"You're talking nonsense! I heard that those were Marshal Sha's men. They won a battle and are returning to the capital."

"You're talking nonsense! How did you know that? You chop wood in the yard every day. Could it be that the wood in the yard told you?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

"You'd better not laugh at me yet. Our eldest wife knows everything, right? Captain Duan, who works under the Marshal, is her cousin from her mother's side. When I was chopping wood this morning, they sent someone to inform us that they would be visiting our house in a couple of days. The master and mistress are going to hold a banquet to welcome him, and it seems they are bringing an important person with them."

"You're such a good fellow, Zhang San! It turns out you were chopping wood in the backyard when you heard someone from the eldest wife's cousin's house come to tell her the truth. Why didn't you just tell me earlier? Why are you still trying to be mysterious?"

"So, the mansion will hold a big banquet in a couple of days. I didn't expect that the eldest wife has such a relative. It will be prestigious for us to do things in the Song Mansion."

"That's because the master and the second wife were classmates and had the best relationship. But the first wife wouldn't let the master go to the second wife's room more than a few times a month, and the master didn't dare to say anything. After all, he had a powerful family back home."

"Yeah yeah."

Everyone agreed, and Guier also knew the extraordinary inside story.

Just as everyone was about to continue their discussion, Nanny Zhou walked in and said, "Do you still want to work in the Song Mansion? How dare you gossip about your master here? Hurry up and finish your meal and get back to work."

Everyone immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

Nanny Zhou turned to Gui'er and said, "Guier, the eldest young master is back. Bring him some snacks and some wine to his room."

Guier quickly agreed, quickly finished the remaining few bites in her bowl, asked Zhang Ma for some side dishes and wine, and hurried back to the yard.

Returning to the eldest young master's courtyard, as soon as he entered the hall, he found Song Xichen leaning tiredly on the sofa with his eyes closed. Gui'er put the wine and food on the table and said to Song Xichen, "Young master, your wine and food are here."

Song Xichen then opened his eyes and saw Gui'er. He smiled slightly, walked to the dining table and sat down. Gui'er was serving him beside him.

Song Xichen picked up his wine glass and took a sip. Seeing Gui'er standing beside him, he gestured for her to sit down. He pushed a plate of spring rolls in front of her and said, "Eat."

Gui'er was not polite either, after all, her food was not very good.

While eating spring rolls, Gui'er talked about the team of soldiers she saw at school today, and mentioned that she heard them say in the cafeteria that the eldest wife's cousin was coming to visit. Song Xichen was not too surprised, but just ate the side dishes and drank wine gloomily, as if something was bothering him. Gui'er felt strange.

Sure enough, what she heard in the cafeteria was true. That day, Gui'er was about to take a bus to school with Song Xichen when she was suddenly stopped by the eldest lady.

She said to Song Xichen, "Xichen, your uncle is coming again today. Didn't you know? Why are you still going to work?"

Song Xichen said angrily, "Mother, I'm a government employee. Who would stop working just because a relative came to visit?"

When the eldest wife heard this, she was speechless. She turned around and saw Gui'er standing next to Song Xichen, and said, "Then leave your maid here. I can use her."

Song Xichen said, "How can you use a little girl like her? What do you want her to move?"

The eldest wife said angrily: "Your uncle is coming to our house for a banquet today. Besides your uncle, there are other people here. I am short of manpower. She has a relatively straight head and a clean face. She can help me run errands and go in and out. It is also considered face."

Song Xichen frowned and said, "No, she has to go to school."

The eldest wife immediately became furious and said, "As a servant, her most important job is to serve her master well. Why should she go to school? You don't want to help the family all day long, and you can't even use your own servants?"

At this time, the master also came over and said, "There are many people here today, and we are short of staff in the mansion. Gui'er should stay."

Seeing that his grandfather also said so, Song Xichen had no choice but to nod at Guier and turn away.

Gui'er had no choice but to stay.

The eldest wife took one look at Gui'er's clothes and said, "Go change out of your school uniform."

Gui'er hurriedly changed into clothes like the other servants. Unexpectedly, she was spotted by the eldest wife as soon as she returned to the hall. She stopped her and said, "Don't you have anything nicer to wear? Why are you dressed so shabbily?"

Guier said cautiously, "I do have other clothes..."

The eldest wife said, "Go, change it quickly."

Gui'er had no choice but to go back and change her clothes. Song Xichen had bought her two cheongsams when he was shopping in the mall before: a green satin long skirt with dark patterns and a silver-white pearl short skirt. Gui'er hesitated for a moment and finally chose the silver-white pearl short skirt which was slightly less eye-catching.

After changing her clothes and returning to the hall, she ran into Taohua. When she asked, she found out that Taohua had also been called over to help. She saw that Taohua was wearing an apple green soft satin cheongsam and a pair of light yellow round-soled slippers. She thought to herself: Didn't you say before that we servants are not allowed to wear such good clothes?

I quietly reminded Taohua: Why are you wearing this outfit again? Be careful or you might get scolded.

Taohua smiled mischievously and said, "It's okay. My wife told me to dress nicely because I have guests to greet."

Then, for the entire day, the two children were ordered around by the mothers in charge, such as Wu Ma and Zhou Ma, to pass messages and get things, and they ran around without stopping for a moment.

When they arrived, it was almost evening, and the eldest wife asked the two of them to stand at the gate to welcome guests. She also sent two good-looking servants. The four of them stood on both sides of the gate. Butler Zhang stood in the middle of the gate to greet the guests. Male guests would be led in by the servants, and female guests would be led in by the two of them.

Gui'er and Taohua were already pretty and lovely, especially Taohua, whose clothes were even more gorgeous, making her look even more outstanding. Many wealthy wives praised her when they saw her: "Oh, Mrs. Song, where did you buy these? These two little girls are so unique."

The eldest wife smiled from ear to ear and said, "How could we buy these? We rescued them last time when our Xichen was fighting bandits. They were almost in trouble, but they stayed to serve us out of gratitude. One of them even had her family come over and didn't want to go back, saying they wanted to repay us. Later, didn't her family plant two acres of land? They also brought over a sack of sweet potatoes, but we didn't eat them, so we made porridge with them and gave it to the refugees. The sweet potatoes in the porridge last time were from their family."

After hearing this, the rich ladies couldn't help but praise the Song family. Gui'er then realized that Mrs. Song's intention was to use her to promote the Song family.