A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The next day, the Marshal finally showed up. During dinner, he came to the main room to have a meal with his wife for the first time. His wife was very happy and asked the kitchen to prepare many delicious side dishes.

During the meal, the Marshal smiled and said to Gui'er, "I've heard everything about Nanjing. This old man Wang, when he was a clerk in Shanghai, I already made a fortune. Now, he's become a high-ranking official and is trying to take advantage of our family. Gui'er is really good, worthy of being my Tiger Girl. If it were you, you should have shot his driver to death to put an end to his arrogance."

Gui'er was about to speak when his wife interrupted, "Tell her everything. Even though the driver was abominable, he was Director Wang's driver after all. Killing him right in front of him would be too disrespectful. This is a serious matter, so we should handle it with caution."

The Marshal nodded and said, "What you said makes sense." Then he changed the subject and said to his wife, "I heard that you adopted a daughter. Is she the one?" As he spoke, he pointed at Yulan with his mouth.

When Yulan heard her name mentioned, she quickly stood up and bowed to the Marshal. She said delicately, "Yulan pays her respects to my adoptive father. I've heard from my mother that he defended our country and made great military achievements. He's a great hero. Today he looks so majestic and powerful. No wonder my two brothers are so handsome. It turns out they take after my adoptive father."

Gui'er felt something was amiss and looked over. The lady also frowned, but the Marshal seemed quite pleased. He laughed heartily and said to the lady, "The girl you've adopted this time is quite talkative. I like her. Hahahahaha."

Seeing that the Marshal was happy, the lady had no choice but to smile along.

After dinner, the Marshal went to his wife's room for a gathering. Guier quickly slipped out and ran to the third concubine. The third concubine and the third beauty were very enthusiastic to see Guier. Originally, Guier wanted to exchange a few words and then go to Taohua Room to chat with her.

Then the third concubine came up to her with a gossipy look on her face and said, "I heard that the Madam found a prostitute to adopt as her daughter. Is that true?"

Gui'er was in a dilemma. No matter how she explained it, she would offend others. So she had to speak cautiously, "My mother said that Sister Yulan found out her family was going to sell her to a brothel. My mother took pity on her and bought her back. And because she liked her intelligence, she adopted her as her daughter."

The Third Concubine covered her mouth with her hands and laughed. "Gui'er is such a cautious person! The servants who came back from over there have spread the word that Madam has made her responsible for entertaining high-ranking government officials at home. What's the difference between her and the socialites in nightclubs or the mistresses in brothels?"

Gui'er was a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say. Sanmei quickly said to her, "Guier, come and look for Taohua. She's in the room. Go quickly."

Gui Er then slipped away as if she had been granted amnesty. She came to Tao Hua's room, where she was embroidering flowers. She was very surprised to see her and asked, "Why did you come back so suddenly?"

Guier smiled and said, "School is on vacation. Actually, the main reason is that my eldest brother and his wife are getting divorced, and my mother is anxious to come back and find a husband for him, so I just came back with her to visit you. Are you all right?"

Taohua looked towards the door and said, "Some time ago, when the third concubine took the three beauties back to her parents' home, I went out to look for Brother Dafu."

Gui'er hadn't heard from them in a while, so she asked, "Are they okay? How are Brother Dahua and Miss Zhang getting along?"

Taohua said, "It's good. Miss Zhang is pregnant and is almost three months along."

Gui'er was very surprised and happy for them, so she asked, "How's their business going now? If they want to add more people, the expenses will be huge."

Taohua said a little embarrassedly: "I thought so too, but I asked, and their business is average, mainly because their location is not very good, and their master and mistress told old customers everywhere that they were ungrateful or something, so the old customers don't interact much with them. Only the neighbors will ask them to make some small things to earn some food. Brother Dahua will also take the small things he made and sell them along the street, such as katydid cages. Miss Zhang's two mothers said that they have enough money to spend. I thought that if a man always asks his wife's parents to pay, he will definitely not be able to hold his head up at home, so I gave the ten silver dollars you gave me before you left to the two brothers as a nutrition fee for my sister-in-law and money for giving birth. You won’t blame me, right?"

Guier smiled and said, "How could that be? You're absolutely right. You should support him and save him two grown men from spending the money of his wife's family. That's not right."

Taohua finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this and smiled, "After my second brother came back, he told us that you were very brave over there and that you punched two big holes in the face of the man who had harassed my sister-in-law. Father even praised you. I knew someone like you would be able to live well anywhere."

Gui'er sighed and said, "No, I was forced to do that. My eldest brother and his wife got divorced. My wife would do anything to get my eldest brother a government official. I was just trying to protect myself."

Taohua took out a stack of embroidery patterns and said, "I've embroidered so much while you were away. Please take them and exchange them for some money for me in the next few days."

Guier readily agreed.

After that, the lady was almost never at home all day. She went to various activities and card games frequently, which was unusual for her. Her main purpose was to find a partner for Sha Yanyao. Sometimes when she came back at night, she would discuss with Guier at the dinner table, saying which rich girl she saw today, and then she would criticize her, saying that she had a bad figure and was too skinny, or that she was too fat and looked like a pig's head.

This gave Gui'er a chance to go out. She first came to the Zhenxiufang. Shopkeeper Zhang was very surprised to see her. He came up to hug her and said, "Good girl, why did you come back so suddenly?"

Guier smiled and said, "Because school is on vacation, the lady brought me back. She wants to find a partner for the young master. The previous one is divorced."

Shopkeeper Zhang felt a bit like gossiping when she heard this, but business was more important. She said to Gui'er, "I'll call Director Song over right away."

Song Xichen came over quickly, took Gui'er's hand affectionately and said, "Long time no see, little Gui'er, how are you?"

When Gui'er heard this name, her nose felt sore for some reason, and she poured out all the frustration and grievances she had suffered in Nanjing.

Song Xichen frowned and said, "I can't believe Brother Yan Yao would tolerate such means to get promoted. He used to look down on people like that."

Gui'er talked about Sha Yanyao's divorce, and later talked about Miss Shen's teaching at the school and the group of students in the school who liked communist ideas.

Song Xichen said, "Although the students are relatively simple, most of them have lofty ideological awareness. I heard that there are a few of our people in that school."

After hearing what he said, Gui'er felt that it was only a matter of time before Miss Shen joined the revolution.