A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

When the lady took Gui'er to propose marriage, everyone in the Song Mansion stood at the door to welcome them. Gui'er glanced at Song Xichen, and he smiled at her.

Gui'er didn't see any tension or solemnity on his face, and felt a little relieved.

After many years, Gui'er returned to the Song residence again and was filled with emotion. She had escaped from here in such a miserable way, but she didn't expect to come back so gloriously today.

Gui'er saw that Wu Ma, who had always made things difficult for her, and her daughter Xiaolian were also among the welcoming crowd. Xiaolian's hair had been combed into a woman's bun, so she must have gotten married. Her wish to become Song Xichen's concubine was ultimately dashed.

There was also the third concubine Chunhong who often sowed discord in front of Mrs. Song. Gui'er glanced at them and they were so scared that they quickly lowered their heads, wishing they could become invisible. Gui'er smiled and shook her head. She really didn't want to bother with these villains anymore.

The second wife and her son Song Xi stood at the edge, looking as if they had nothing to do with the matter. Gui'er nodded to Song Xilun. In fact, Gui'er really wanted to ask him how Tong Yujun was doing. After all, he was Tong Yujun's fiancé, but thinking about the occasion, she decided not to.

Although it was the lady who came to propose marriage, she didn't say much during the whole process. It was the matchmaker and Mr. and Mrs. Song who talked. The matchmaker only spoke nicely, saying how well-matched the two families were, how outstanding the eldest young master was, and how gentle and virtuous the young lady was.

When the lady heard people talking about how outstanding the eldest young master was, she would nod and smile, but when she talked about the young lady, she would glance at Song Tingting with her eyes sideways, scaring Song Tingting so much that she lowered her head and dared not speak.

Guier could feel that Song Tingting's life would not be easy in the future.

Later, when Mr. and Mrs. Song invited the lady to visit the garden, Gui'er finally found an opportunity to talk to Song Xilun. Gui'er asked Song Xilun, "Is Tong Yujun okay now?"

Song Xilun smiled and said, "She's doing well now. She's attending secondary school in Hong Kong. She keeps urging me to visit her. Actually, I've been there once or twice because my father moved some of his businesses and factories to Hong Kong, and I went there for a while. He moved his businesses from Shanghai to Hong Kong because he felt it was more peaceful. This is a photo of her now."

As Song Xilun spoke, he took out a photo from his pocket and handed it to Guier. It was a full-length photo of Tong Yujun standing in a villa garden. Tong Yujun had grown a lot taller. She was wearing a well-fitting cheongsam, pearl earrings, and a pair of light-colored leather shoes. She looked like a beautiful young woman.

Gui Er said to Song Xi Lun in surprise, "I didn't expect Tong Yujun to have changed so much."

Song Xilun smiled and said, "She is studying English very hard now, hoping to help her father expand his business overseas in the future."

Gui'er was filled with emotion and was about to say something when Song Xichen came over. Song Xilun smiled and said, "You guys chat." Then he left tactfully.

Song Xichen glanced around. Everyone else's attention was focused on the Marshal's wife and the matchmaker. He then asked Gui'er softly, "What's going on?"

Gui'er knew he was talking about Sha Yanyao discovering he was a revolutionary. She glanced nervously around before whispering, "That day, Sha Yanyao told me there were rumors that you were a revolutionary. I told Shopkeepers Liu and Zhang about this, and they felt you were at risk of being exposed, so they evacuated immediately. He said he would meet you at the next contact point. Did you meet?"

Song Xichen nodded and said, "We've already met. Is there anything else unusual happening with Sha Yanyao?"

Gui'er said, "Sha Yanyao went to Shanghai on a business trip these past two days, so I can't find out anything from here."

Song Xichen pondered for a moment and said, "I've been observing the area for the past two days and haven't noticed anything unusual. No one's following or spying on me. I don't know what this is, but be careful. If something does happen, don't admit anything. Just insist that you're an apprentice at the Zhenxiu Workshop. Got it?"

Guier nodded.

When they returned to the Marshal's Mansion that day, Gui'er was about to return to Sha Yanxiao's courtyard when his wife stopped her and said to her seriously, "Guier, come here."

Gui Er was a little frightened when she saw Madam's serious expression. She walked over puzzled and asked, "What's wrong, Mother?"

The lady said, "Tell me honestly, what's going on between you and the two brothers from the Song family? I saw you whispering with them at the Song family today. It's really outrageous."

Gui'er breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Mother, you misunderstood. It's a long story. Before my second brother brought me back to the Marshal's Mansion, I was helped by Director Song. I stayed at the Song family for a while, living in Director Song's courtyard. He even took me to school. The Second Young Master Song, because he was close to the eldest young master, often came over to chat, so we became acquaintances. This time, I went over to see an old friend again, so naturally I wanted to express my gratitude."

After hearing this, the lady's expression improved a little and she said, "Then why don't you talk to Miss Song?"

Gui Er smiled and said, "I know Miss Song, but we're not very close. She lives in a separate courtyard from the two young masters of the Song family. We see each other from time to time, but we don't interact much."

The lady nodded in satisfaction and said, "So, their family is quite well-behaved."

After that, it was time for the marriage match and fortune telling, and Guier naturally didn’t need to get involved in these.

Then came the gift exchange. Since both parties were prominent families, the Marshal's Mansion prepared 32 loads of gifts, mainly including the dragon and phoenix marriage certificate, gift invitations, a pair of geese, two jars of wine, ten pieces of silk and satin, lint and cotton, miscellaneous single yarns and other clothes for all seasons, shoes, socks, gold and silver jewelry, two precious koi fish, specially made dragon and phoenix wedding cakes, wedding fruits (there were more than a dozen kinds of wedding fruits alone), as well as rouge-dyed eggs, duck eggs, and tea.

At the betrothal ceremony, Guier heard someone whisper, "Why isn't there a list of gifts? Is this all they have?"

The fourth concubine, who was watching the fun from the side, said angrily: "We gave them an entire mine, and you still think it's not enough. We might even have to reduce our monthly salary in the future."

"Don't we have a mine at home?"

"I don't know, but it's not in my hands..."

After a few days, the wedding date was set. Gui'er was taken around everywhere by her wife at this time and was too tired to move. She really couldn't understand why her son was getting married without her taking Sha Yanyao with him to run around.

After complaining to Sha Yanxiao, he smiled and said, "If you're free, go if you want to. If you don't want to go, just hide. Madam, it's embarrassing. The Marshal is using work as an excuse to stay out of it. But everyone knows he doesn't take his son's marriage seriously at all. He's just been hanging out with that Yulan all day. Now even people outside know about it."