A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

At the banquet, the Marshal took Director Wang's hand and said warmly, "Brother Wang, we met when we were little. Now it's been so many years since we last met. Why don't you stay at my house for a few days and catch up with us?"

Director Wang was overjoyed when he heard this. He patted the Marshal on the shoulder and said, "Brother Sha, that's exactly what I was thinking. Hahahaha."

When the banquet was almost over, most of the guests had already started to leave, and Guier quietly returned to her room.

Not long after she sat down, Sha Yanxiao came over and said to her, "Pack up and move back to our courtyard."

Gui Er was stunned for a moment and said, "Why should I move back? Aren't the fifth and sixth concubines living there?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled, touched his head and said, "Are you still afraid of them? Just say it was me who said it."

Gui'er thought that was a good idea, since she didn't want to stay here anyway, so she quickly called Dingxiang and Acheng and asked them to pack their luggage and move back to Sha Yanxiao's yard.

Dingxiang was quite happy to hear that they were moving away, but when she heard that they were moving back to Sha Yanxiao's compound, she said to Guier, "Moving back to live with those two women? How can that be possible?"

Sha Yanxiao just walked in and asked her, "Why not?"

Ding Xiang was startled and quickly lowered her head to say to Sha Yanxiao, "Master, you don't know how many unpleasant things the fifth and sixth concubines said to the young lady before we moved out. It was so disgusting."

Sha Yanxiao's face darkened when he heard this. He said, "Just move back. If anything happens, just say it was arranged by me."

Ah Cheng and Ding Xiang started to move Gui'er's luggage downstairs. After Gui'er and Sha Yanxiao checked to see if they had left anything behind, they also prepared to leave. Just as they were about to leave the courtyard, Sha Yanyao walked in. Seeing Gui'er, he stepped forward, touched her head, and said, "Now that your sister-in-law is no longer here, it's good for you to move back. Come visit me more often when you have time."

During the time Gui'er had lived in the big house, to be fair, Sha Yanyao had been quite nice to her, so she smiled and said, "Okay, thank you for taking care of me during this time, big brother."

Sha Yanxiao nodded to Sha Yanyao and took Gui'er away.

Before she had gone far, she saw the Marshal and Director Wang walking into the courtyard of the main house arm in arm. Gui'er also heard the Marshal say in a gruff voice, "Brother Wang, please don't be put off by my humble abode. Your room is on the second floor, on the same floor as Yulan. You're the elder, so if you need anything, just go to her."

When Gui'er heard this, she immediately understood. No wonder they were so anxious for her to move out. It turned out that they wanted to arrange for Director Wang and Yulan to live next door.

Gui'er glanced at Sha Yanxiao, who said, "Well, you've grown up now, and you should be able to see through some things. But this wasn't my idea. These bad ideas were all from Madam. I didn't realize how she, who is usually so compassionate, could come up with such a ridiculous and despicable method. But it did try to please Director Wang."

When Sha Yanxiao returned to the yard, he found that it was deserted. The various colorful flowers and plants that were originally planted there had died because no one watered or cared for them. Some flower beds were overgrown with weeds, while others were bare.

The two went upstairs. Gui'er had someone seal the door of Sha Yanxiao's room before she left. Now it was open and everything inside was moved out. Not only the desk lamp, table, and chairs were left, but also some empty cabinets and beds. Even the bedding on the bed was gone.

Someone was also living in Gui'er's room. It was the fifth concubine's eldest daughter. When she saw Gui'er, she felt a little guilty and timidly called out, "Sister Gui'er."

Sha Yanxiao was a little stunned as he looked at the empty room, his face becoming darker and darker.

When the fifth and sixth concubines saw Sha Yanxiao coming, they hurried out to greet him. They looked at each other guiltily, but smiled and said, "Yanxiao, why are you here?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "I've recently returned to Jiangcheng, and my sister also came back from Nanjing, so I just decided to move back home."

The Fifth Concubine stammered upon hearing this, "Move, move back home. That might not be very convenient. After all, we are your stepmothers. If we live together, people will gossip."

Sha Yanxiao nodded and said, "You are right, so please move out."

The Sixth Concubine was furious when she heard this and said, "How can this be possible? We were asked by the Marshal to move in, and we haven't lived in that house for over six months. Now the walls are peeling and the tiles are broken. How can we live here?"

Sha Yanxiao snorted and said with a smile, "Don't worry, the person in charge will find someone to take care of it."

The fifth and sixth concubines looked at each other, smiled and said, "Then let's wait until they finish packing, then we can move out."

Sha Yanxiao took Gui'er and walked slowly into the living room. The sofa in the living room looked much older and had several marks made with crayons on it.

He glanced at her with disdain, walked to a slightly cleaner place, sat down, looked at the Fifth Concubine with a half-smile and said, "You mean to let me sleep on the street until you finish cleaning up your room and then come back to live with me?"

The Sixth Concubine smiled and said, "How could that be? Don't you have a place to live in the barracks?"

"Then where does our young lady live?" Dingxiang interrupted.

The fifth and sixth concubines immediately scolded: "The master is speaking, how can you have the right to speak? Get out of the way."

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "She's right. There are guests staying in the main house, so it's no longer convenient for my sister to live there. You should move out immediately. If you don't have any help, I can lend you some."

As he said this, he clapped his hands, and more than a dozen people came in from outside. Gui'er took a look and found that they were the manager and servants who used to work in this courtyard.

The steward stepped forward and said to Sha Yanxiao, "Master, we packed up and returned right away after receiving your instructions."

Sha Yanxiao nodded and said, "The Fifth and Sixth Concubines are short of manpower here, so help them move their things."

The manager waved to the other servants and everyone got to work.

Without caring whether the fifth and sixth concubines and their children had packed up, they moved their things from their rooms into the yard.

Suddenly, there was chaos and confusion. The fifth and sixth concubines didn't dare say anything to Sha Yanxiao. They could only run back and forth and stare at the servants. One would say, "Hey, don't touch my box." The next, another would shout, "These things of mine are very expensive. Don't touch them. I'll do it myself."

The maids also found many of Ji Yiru's clothes in the wardrobes of the fifth and sixth concubines. A nanny who had been in charge of tidying Sha Yanxiao's room brought them to Sha Yanxiao and said, "Master, these are the clothes that belonged to the young mistress in the past. What do you think we should do with them?"

Sha Yanxiao took a quick glance, and Guier also stepped forward to take a look. It was indeed Ji Yiru's clothes that had not been dealt with before. The fifth and sixth concubines were standing by, looking embarrassed and wanting to dig a hole to crawl into.

Sha Yanxiao said, "The person has been gone for so long, why keep it? Just burn it."