A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After a while, all the things of the fifth and sixth concubines were placed in the yard. They had only brought a few sets of clothes and then used the things in the yard as a matter of course, so they didn't have many things of their own. Now that they were thrown into the yard, they had no choice but to run back to their own yard in a dejected manner, pulling their children while packing their things.

The servants and maids quickly cleaned the house inside and out. Dingxiang and Acheng put Guier's luggage back into her original room.

Guier came to the room and took a look. There was nothing missing, but on the cabinet doors, bedposts, and table tops, there were traces of crayon drawings or words carved with a knife, such as "I was here". It seemed that no matter what generation the children were from, the naughty things they did were always the same. Guier shook her head and sighed.

Turning around, she saw Sha Yanxiao standing at her door. He stepped forward and hugged her, saying, "Seeing how this yard has been messed up by them, you can imagine how difficult your situation was back then. I'm sorry for being inconsiderate and letting you suffer."

Gui Er smiled and said, "Fifth and Sixth Concubines, they don't dare to confront me, what do they? It's just that they are too greedy, short-sighted, and don't know how to discipline their children, so they have made the house like this."

Sha Yanxiao looked around her room and said, "The sofa on the first floor needs to be replaced. Your furniture here is all old. I'll have someone make you some new ones tomorrow."

Thinking of Wu Dafu and Wu Dahua, Gui'er said to Sha Yanxiao, "Why don't you go work for my two brothers? I heard their business isn't very good. Let's just keep it a secret."

Sha Yanxiao touched her head, nodded, and said, "I'll ask Wu Mingqiang to do it tomorrow."

The next day, Guier got up early, washed up, and came to the restaurant. Nanny and Dingxiang brought breakfast to her attentively, including milk, pan-fried dumplings, butterfly cakes, and wontons. For a moment, Guier had an illusion that she had always been in this courtyard and had never left.

Sha Yanxiao also came down. Seeing that she was in a daze, he touched her face and said, "What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Guier smiled and said, "No, I'm just happy to be back."

Mammy smiled and said, "It's not just the young lady. We're back too. We're happy."

After breakfast, Sha Yanxiao went back to the military camp. Gui'er went back to her room to do homework. Dingxiang brought in a plate of fruit and said to Gui'er with a smile, "It's better to come back to our own courtyard. You don't have to worry about other people's opinions anymore."

Gui'er was very surprised. Isn't Dingxiang the lady's person?

Dingxiang said to Guier in a mysterious tone, "I heard from the maidservant beside Madam that the eldest young master and Miss Song met last night. The Song family is the richest family in Jiangcheng. Perhaps Madam would be satisfied with this marriage."

Gui'er smiled. She felt that Sha Yanyao should look down on Song Tingting because Song Tingting was not on the same level as Shen Fengshu in terms of appearance and talent. Song Tingting was just a rich lady with an empty head and no thoughts or abilities.

Gui'er moved back to Sha Yanxiao's courtyard. Although her treatment had improved, the security measures were too in place, and she had to report to Sha Yanxiao wherever she went. She suggested that since the vacation was so long, she should go to Zhen Xiufang as an apprentice to learn some Chinese medicine. Sha Yanxiao agreed, so Gui'er started to go to Zhen Xiufang as an apprentice in a car every day as before.

In the first house, Gui'er still went to pay her respects to the lady every now and then. She noticed that after that banquet, for some reason, the Marshal no longer mentioned taking Yulan in. However, he would occasionally stay in Yulan's room for an hour or two under the pretext of visiting the lady in the first house. Everyone knew what was going on, but no one said anything.

Dingxiang said, "Miss, we finally got out of the big house, why do you keep running over there? Now everyone knows what kind of person Yulan is. If you run away so often, aren't you afraid that people will be suspicious of you?"

Gui'er sighed and said, "It's alright if you just say it here. I'm living under my second brother's care now, who would dare to say such nonsense? Besides, no matter what Mother and Big Brother did, they only lent a hand when the Fifth and Sixth Concubines were bullying me. Everyone else just watched the fun from the sidelines. We can't just move away and forget about our past friendship."

That day, Gui'er was helping to boil medicine at the Zhenxiu Workshop when Wu Dafu and Wu Dahua unexpectedly came over. When they saw Gui'er, they excitedly said, "As soon as we received the message from that brother called Qiang saying that he was going to make furniture for our sister and knew that she had returned to Jiangcheng, we hurried over to see you."

Guier smiled and said, "Taohua said, Brother Dahua, you're going to be a father. Congratulations."

Wu Dahua scratched his head sheepishly and said, "Thank you very much. We came here partly to see you and partly to pick up some pregnancy-preserving medicine for your sister-in-law. How was your time in Nanjing? Did you suffer any injustice?"

After hearing this, Guier realized that Wu Mingqiang had not told them about his experiences in Nanjing, so she smiled and said, "How could I be wronged? It's just going to and from school every day."

Wu Dafu interrupted and said, "Sister, look at me. I'm different from my second brother. I came here just to see you. You've grown taller and become more beautiful. Here, I made you a comb. Use it." As he spoke, he took out two very delicate wooden combs from his pocket. One of the comb handles was carved with exquisite peach blossoms, and the other was carved with exquisite osmanthus flowers. Gui'er guessed at once that the comb with peach blossoms must be for her to give to Taohua, so she smiled and said, "This comb is for Taohua, right?"

Wu Dafu smiled awkwardly. Wu Dahua said, "The young marshal sent someone to say that the cabinets and beds he made were for you. Why do you suddenly want to make furniture?"

Gui'er sighed and said, "I originally lived in the Second Young Master's courtyard. Later, he went to Fengcheng, and the Marshal sent his fifth and sixth concubines to live there. They each had two children, and the children were naughty and scratched and cut up the furniture. It was no longer in good shape, so the Second Young Master offered to help me build a new one."

Wu Dahua and Wu Dafu breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. Wu Dafu said, "So that's how it is. We thought the Marshal's Mansion was going to marry you off, and this is the dowry made for you. I was so scared."

Gui'er found it very funny and said, "I'm only a few years old, don't worry about it."

Wu Dafu said, "It's hard to say. Rich families always pay attention to marriage alliances and so on. I'm afraid they will marry you off to some old man for their own benefit."

Gui'er thought, even if this was true, Wu Dafu and Wu Dahua would be powerless to do anything about it, but she was very happy that they had such intentions.