A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

"I can talk to Fengshu about this and ask her to talk to my mother-in-law. Now that my father-in-law is gone, there's a man in the family who can take over. She has no reason to refuse. But I'm worried about something else."

"What is it?"

"I've been in Nanjing these days, and Director Wang has been completely indifferent to me. I've also asked around, and others say he likes women. Many of his subordinates, who have asked him for favors, have given their wives and daughters to Director Wang for his attention."

"Ah? How did it happen?" The lady's voice was filled with surprise. "We are important officials after all. If we do something like this, how will your father survive in Jiangcheng? He will be ridiculed."

"I know, and I don't plan to do that, but can you think of other ways?"

"In fact, Director Wang is the same. He likes to go to Yihongyuan, isn't it?" the lady complained.

"I heard that he has special tastes and some quirks that ordinary people don't have."

"How about this? I'll go to the nearby brothels and see if I can find some useful girls. Then I'll bring them back and tell everyone that she's my goddaughter and use her for this job." This was the lady's voice.

As Gui'er listened, she felt her hands and feet go cold, and she tiptoed away.

She walked to the first floor and saw that the servants were in high spirits because there were several servants' rooms here, and since Mrs. Shen had not moved in, it would no longer be so crowded.

After sitting for a while, feeling bored, Gui'er returned to her room upstairs. She thought for a moment, took out the hidden weapon pen, checked it, and test-fired it. There was no problem, so she decided to carry the hidden weapon pen with her every day in the future, just in case. She originally wanted to bring a pocket pistol, but considering that Director Wang was a government official, if something really went wrong, she might go to jail, and Sha Yanxiao and Song Xichen might not be able to help. If she used the pen, she could just say that she did it herself, as a joke, and accidentally hurt him.

Although the lady said she wanted to go to the brothel to find a prostitute to pretend to be her adopted daughter and offer her to Director Wang, we still have to be prepared for any eventuality.

Because the Madam and Sha Yanyao wanted Mrs. Shen to help them establish connections, they politely invited her over for a family dinner. The Madam didn't try to be mean this time, but spoke kindly about family matters, saying, "It wasn't easy for Yanyao to come to Nanjing, but if he can gain a foothold in Nanjing, he'll definitely stay here and buy a house to settle down here. Wouldn't that make it convenient for Fengshu to return to her parents' home in the future? When they have children in the future, we can take turns looking after them. How wonderful that would be."

Mrs. Shen was moved by what they said. She sighed and said, "Of course that's good."

The wife said, "Director Wang, we may not be able to invite him if we go and invite a lot of people he knows, but if we can get together, maybe he'll be willing to come and get together. Sister, didn't Old Shen know a lot of people in that circle when he was here? Go talk to the wives you know and ask them to influence him."

Mrs. Shen sighed and said, "Now that Old Shen is gone, many people don't remember the old times anymore. But never mind, I'll go ask them. This is all for my daughter."

The lady smiled and said, "Of course, aren't we all doing this for our children?"

Two days later, the lady suddenly brought home a young woman, about seventeen or eighteen years old. She said her family was going to sell her to a brothel, but the lady came across her and took pity on her, so she rescued her and adopted her as her goddaughter. She also said to everyone, "She will be Gui'er's sister from now on. Let's call her Yulan."

The woman was wearing a silk cheongsam with wide sleeves and a round collar. Although she had no jewelry on, her ears were pierced and she was wearing makeup. Gui'er thought she looked a bit like Qiuju, a prostitute who had been around for a long time, and not at all like a daughter who had just been sold from an honest family.

She smiled at everyone she saw, especially when she saw Sha Yanyao, her eyes lit up. Without waiting for his wife to explain, she slowly walked up to him, bowed deeply and said, "Hello, brother. I am here to pay my respects."

Sha Yanyao probably knew the inside story and said calmly, "We're family, so there's no need for formalities."

Mrs. Shen and Miss Shen were both a little confused about the situation. Mrs. Shen said, "I didn't expect you to be so compassionate. You used to be so busy chanting Buddha's name and never did anything practical."

The lady arranged for Yulan to live next to Guier on the third floor. Not long after, Yulan came to visit. Guier didn't want to get involved in this matter, so she behaved politely and called her Sister Yulan.

Yulan was very pleased. Perhaps because Gui'er was young and looked honest, she did not take her seriously and even opened her closet unscrupulously to see what clothes she had.

When she saw that Guier was wearing either a custom-made gorgeous cheongsam or an imported dress, her eyes lit up and she said, "I heard that you are also an adopted daughter. Is this family so generous to adopted daughters?"

Seeing her frivolous behavior, Gui'er was more convinced of her own thoughts. She had been debating whether to save her, but now she had completely made up her mind to stay out of the matter. She smiled and said, "Yes, my family treats me very well."

Yulan said enviously, "That's great, but it's a pity it doesn't fit me, otherwise I would borrow it from you." As she said that, she wanted to look for other things.

Dingxiang quickly said, "Miss Yulan, Miss Gui'er, you are young, these were bought by the adults. If you want them, you must go and tell the Madam and the Young Master."

After hearing this, Yulan thought it made sense, so she said goodbye in a hurry and left. The next day, the lady really took her out and bought a few cheongsams.

Miss Shen was a little puzzled by what was happening, so she found Gui'er and said, "We've been in Nanjing for so long, and I haven't taken you out for a walk. Let me take you out for a walk today."

Gui'er was naturally happy. The two of them went shopping near Confucius Temple. Gui'er found that this place was no worse than Shanghai. After all, it was the capital. However, she realized that this was Nanjing and there would be a catastrophe in a few years. The people she saw on the street now might not be around by then. She felt sad about the current prosperity.

When they were tired from shopping, they went to a restaurant to eat and ordered the famous duck blood vermicelli soup, crab roe dried shredded vegetables, and fermented glutinous rice soup.

Miss Shen asked Guier, "My mother-in-law suddenly brought a girl home and said she wanted to be my goddaughter. Do you know what happened?"

Gui'er hesitated whether to tell her or not, but with Miss Shen's personality, she would definitely argue with Sha Yanyao, and in this way, her eavesdropping would be exposed. But if she didn't tell her everything, she was afraid that Miss Shen would not be on guard at that time. After thinking about it, she decided to tell only half of it.

She said to Miss Shen, "I don't know why my mother suddenly adopted a goddaughter, but I think this woman is no ordinary woman. Sister-in-law, think about it, if she really was a girl who was just sold into a brothel and then rescued, how could she be so yearning for beautiful clothes and gold and silver jewelry? And she's not shy at all."

Miss Shen thought for a moment, nodded, and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that at your young age, you can see things so clearly. What do you think?"

Gui'er said, "I think this girl has probably been in the entertainment industry for a long time and has probably fallen into depravity. Our teacher once said that some people advise dancers to change their ways, but they think ordinary jobs don't cover their expenses. I think she is probably that type, but I don't understand why her mother chose someone like this as her daughter."