A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After the banquet, the masters went back to their rooms to rest, and the servants who had been busy all day came to the dining hall one after another to have dinner. Guier estimated the time and it must be after 10:00 in the evening.

But everyone was very happy because Aunt Zhang took out the leftovers from the guests and gave them to everyone to eat.

Of course, there will be no whole pots of untouched chicken, such as chicken elbows, and I will ask the owners tomorrow whether they still want to eat them.

Only half of the fish was eaten, and there was a little bit of braised pork left. Aunt Zhang cleverly made a big hodgepodge, adding some onions, garlic and seasonings and cooking it all together. The taste was not bad. Guier heard other people talking about it. Even during the Chinese New Year, her family could not eat such good food.

At this time, Ah Xiang walked in, and a male servant who looked to be in his 30s teased her, "Ah Xiang, did you feel comfortable with the service provided by Mr. Liang from the pawnshop just now? I saw his hand touching your buttock for a long time." After that, all the male servants in the dining hall burst into laughter.

Ah Xiang's face flushed red, and she said nothing. Gui Er glared at the man and said, "We're all servants. When something happens, not only do you not step forward to help, but you're also here making sarcastic remarks. If you think that's enjoyable, then just let your own woman come over and let someone touch her. Pah."

Ah Xiang looked at Gui Er with gratitude. Gui Er pulled Ah Xiang to sit next to her and said to her, "Sister Ah Xiang, don't worry about them. Let's eat our own food."

At this time, Aunt Wu came in from outside, glanced at everyone and said to Gui'er, "Guier, don't take advantage of the eldest young master's favor and act lawless. We in the Song Mansion abide by the rules."

Gui'er said nothing and pretended not to hear.

Wu Ma was a little unhappy when she saw that she had hit a snag, but she couldn't do anything about Gui'er, so she turned around and said, "You young girls are just too precious. Our lives belong to our masters. What's the big deal if we let guests touch us a few times?"

Gui'er remembered Wu Ma's disgusting behavior of pushing her and Ah Xiang to the customer just now. She couldn't bear it any longer and said with a smile, "Wu Ma is right, but I'm still young after all. Things like this should be handled by an older person. I think your daughter, Sister Xiaolian, is quite good. Why not let her do it next time?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the servants' dining hall fell silent and everyone turned around to see Wu Ma's reaction.

Wu Ma's face turned pale and she walked straight up to Gui'er and wanted to raise her hand to hit her.

"Hey, hey, hey, how long are you going to eat? It's already late. If you don't go to bed, I still want to sleep. I still have to work tomorrow. Hurry up and finish eating and go back to rest." Aunt Zhang suddenly appeared.

Aunt Zhang stepped forward, took Aunt Wu's hand, and said, "Aunt Wu, you've come at the right time. There are still two glasses of good wine left at the banquet. I saved them for you. Let's go have a couple of drinks."

Wu Ma stared at Gui'er fiercely, but Gui'er confronted her without fear.

Aunt Zhang smiled and said, "Don't bother with a little kid like that. It's not worth it. Come, come, let's go." Then she pulled Aunt Wu away forcefully.

Seeing that there was nothing interesting to watch and that they had almost finished their food, the others went back to their rooms one after another to rest.

Gui'er and Axiang also returned to the eldest young master's courtyard.

Seeing that Ah Xiang still looked unhappy, Gui Er said, "Sister Ah Xiang, don't pay attention to what Wu Ma said. Just treat her as a fart. She has no control over our courtyard anyway."

Ah Xiang said with a sad face, "Tonight it was Aunt Zhang who smoothed things over for you and gave Aunt Wu a way out. Otherwise, I don't know how this would have ended. You should be more careful in the future. But you have the protection of the young master, so she won't dare to do anything to you."

Guier agreed absentmindedly and went into the house.

The light in Song Xichen's bedroom was off, probably he had gone to bed. Gui'er had wanted to tell him about Sha Yanxiao, but had to give up.

Back in her room, Guier tossed and turned in bed.

She had been molested twice today, and not only had she not received justice, she had also been blamed and reprimanded. She felt so aggrieved and panicked that she didn't know if Song Xichen would stand up for her if she told him.

I kept thinking about what happened today and was sulking, and ended up not sleeping much the whole night.

The next day, when I came home from school, as soon as I walked into the servants' dining hall, I heard someone making a fuss and shouting, "Lai Er, you rascal, you actually got this good luck, you have to buy us a drink when the time comes."

Gui'er was puzzled and curiously asked the people around her, "Is there something good going on?"

Someone told her, "Don't you know yet? Wu Ma plans to go back to the master and marry Ah Xiang to Lai Er."

Gui'er quickly asked, "Which one is Lai Er?"

The person next to her pointed out to her that it was the man in his 30s who teased Ah Xiang last night.

It was late at night, and the servants' dining hall was dimly lit by candles. Gui'er hadn't seen his appearance clearly, but now she could see that he was a big, strong man, obviously someone who did rough labor. The most noticeable thing was that one of his eyes was normal, while the other was tilted inward, which is commonly known as cross-eyed. He also had several obvious alopecia on his forehead.

Girls really don't like this kind of appearance, and Gui'er doesn't think Ah Xiang will like him.

Ah Xiang just sat in a corner eating quietly, her face calm and expressionless. Gui Er sat down beside her and whispered to her, "Sister Ah Xiang, don't worry. I'll go back tonight and talk to the eldest young master and ask him to tell Aunt Wu not to mess around with other couples."

After dinner, Guier washed the dishes. When she returned them to Zhang Ma, Zhang Ma pulled Guier aside and said, "Do you want to go and plead for Ah Xiang?"

Seeing that she had guessed correctly, Gui'er didn't hide it and said, "These two people are really not a good match, don't you think?"

Aunt Zhang sighed and said, "I advise you not to meddle in other people's business. This Lai Er is a servant born in the family. The master will definitely give him a maid. When the child is born, it will still be a servant of the Song family."

Gui Er didn't expect there was such a secret. She thought for a moment and said, "That's not right. Lai Er is more than ten years older than Sister Xiang. Even if the mansion wants to find someone, they should find someone around his age."

Aunt Zhang sighed and said, "You don't know, when the old lady was around, she was very harsh on the maids. The old master was also very romantic. He once took on four or five maids a year. The old lady made up her mind and sold all the young maids. It wasn't until a few years ago when the old master and the old lady passed away that the master and his wife bought a new batch of maids from outside. So now there are no maids in the house who are about the same age as Lai Er and Ah Hu."

At this point, Zhang Ma carefully glanced around and found that no one noticed the two of them, then she said, "Wu Ma is the wet nurse of the young masters and young ladies. She also made a lot of money from this matter. Those servants who want to find wives will give her benefits."

Gui'er was a little confused: "She must have been doing this for more than a day or two, right? Don't the master and the mistress know?"

Aunt Zhang said helplessly, "I've probably heard a little about it, but the masters need someone to step up and do this. Is she ugly? And I know Ah Xiang better than you do. She came from the kitchen, after all. She's clumsy and ugly, so even if she's not worthy of Lai Er, what difference would it make if she were any other servant?"

Gui'er was speechless, but she still decided to talk to Song Xichen, just in case there was room for maneuver.

Returning to the young master's courtyard, Gui'er discovered that Song Xichen was not there. The other servants in the courtyard said, "The young master took Dagang out for a drink."

Gui'er had no choice but to comfort Ah Xiang and told her to wait until the eldest young master came back and tell him.

Ah Xiang smiled at Gui'er with a bit of sadness and said, "Thank you very much, Gui'er. You are the only good person in the whole mansion. You will definitely find a good husband in the future and you will never have to worry about food and clothing."

Gui'er thought what she said was strange, but considering that she had never been to school and that she might be trying to express gratitude, she didn't pay much attention to it.

Song Xichen came back very late that day, and Gui'er had already gone to bed.

The next morning, Gui'er was planning to tell Song Xichen about A Xiang on the way to school.

Suddenly, Dagang walked in with a nervous look on his face and said to Song Xichen, "A maid hanged herself in the room. I think her name was Ah Xiang."

Guier was shocked and turned around and ran out to see if it was true.

Song Xichen hugged her and said, "You are still young, don't go to places like that. Stay here, I will take care of it."

After saying that, he pushed her into his room, locked the door from the outside, and then walked out.

Gui'er was extremely anxious. She didn't expect Ah Xiang to commit suicide suddenly.

She ran to the window of her room that was close to the yard and looked down. Not long after, several elderly servants came from outside the yard, pushing a wheelbarrow. From a remote corner of the yard, they pulled out a roll of something that looked like a torn straw mat, put it on the wheelbarrow and took it away.

Guier stared intently until she saw a pair of feet wearing black cotton shoes sticking out from one end of the straw mat. Only then was she sure that it was Ah Xiang.

She couldn't believe that such a vibrant life was gone so suddenly.

At this time, Song Xichen opened the door of Gui'er's room and saw her standing by the window. Knowing that she had seen it, he walked in, touched her face and said, "Are you scared? It's over now. Let's go to school."

Gui'er was a little bit unbelievable. A life was dealt with so casually. She said, "Shouldn't we call the police?"

Song Xichen patted her head gently and said, "Are you stupid? I'm a police officer, and there's no suspicion of death. She died by hanging."

Gui'er was shocked by this world again. A good person was just like a chicken or a dog. Death was just death. It was commonplace.

Song Xichen noticed that something was wrong with her and kept holding her hand.

When they reached the courtyard, the servants from the eldest young master's compound came out one by one. They were silent, as if waiting for something. Gui'er knew they were waiting for an explanation. Song Xichen said loudly to everyone, "Ah Xiang is having a hard time, and there's nothing we can do about it. Go pack up her things and notify her family to come and claim them. Also, Dagang, prepare 50 yuan in cash for her family's funeral arrangements."

Dagang said, "Okay."

Guier saw that the other servants all had expressions of approval on their faces. After all, their monthly salary was only one dollar, and after deducting expenses, there was not much left.

An older male servant smiled and said to Song Xichen, "Young Master is truly kind. Now Ah Xiang's four brothers can all find wives. When his sisters get married, they might even get some dowries."

Others echoed.