A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The lady was very angry and paced back and forth in front of Guier. After a while, she said, "You don't have to eat tonight. Go into your room and reflect on yourself." After that, she went upstairs without looking back and returned to her room.

Sha Yanyao and Song Tingting glanced at her and went upstairs one after another.

Gui'er didn't feel hungry before she was told to eat, but now that she heard that she was not allowed to eat, she felt very hungry. However, since the lady had said that she was not allowed to eat, no one would dare to go against her wishes.

Gui'er returned to the house dejectedly, took out her homework from her schoolbag and was about to do it when there was a light knock on the door.

Gui'er opened the door. It was Ah Cheng. He glanced around, took out a paper-wrapped package from his arms and said to Gui'er, "Miss, this is the steamed cake I bought outside. Have some to fill your stomach."

Guier happily took it and said to Ah Cheng, "Thank you, Brother Ah Cheng."

Ah Cheng said embarrassedly: "I am by your side. If you are wronged or go hungry, not only the young commander, but even Brother Qiang will not forgive me."

Gui Er asked curiously, "Did Wu Mingqiang come this time?"

Ah Cheng said, "He won't be here long-term. However, when he was here, he did buy two shops, which he's still running. Business is good. If you need any money, you can tell me and I'll go to the shops to get it."

After hearing this, Gui'er had an idea. Could she think about the money issue from Wu Mingqiang?

But after thinking about it, he decided to give up. Wu Mingqiang was Sha Yanxiao's confidant. There was no way he wouldn't tell Sha Yanxiao if he went to him to get the five gold bars. He should think of another way.

Ah Cheng watched Gui'er finish eating, then took the oil paper wrapping the steamed cake and left.

Just after he left, someone knocked on the door again. Gui'er opened the door and saw that it was Sha Yanyao. She was very surprised.

Sha Yanyao came in with a bowl of noodles and said to her, "I made you a bowl of egg noodles. Eat it first to fill your stomach. If you don't have enough, I'll cook more."

Gui'er had just eaten some steamed cake and was actually half full, but she didn't dare say it out loud. She smiled and said to Sha Yanyao, "Thank you, brother. I'm sorry for worrying about you today."

Sha Yanyao sighed, patted her head, and said, "You've always been sensible. Today, something like this suddenly happened. Your family is worried. Don't blame your mother."

Gui'er quickly said, "Of course not."

Sha Yanyao watched her eat and asked, "You went to Xu Wenjie's house, how was it?"

Gui Er said as she ate noodles, "We went to the area around here at first. Xu Wenjie and his friends originally lived nearby, and Sister Feng Shu thought it wouldn't take much time since it was so close, so she took me along."

"When we got there, we found out they had moved to another house. They said they had moved to Xiaguan. We asked the doorman there to take us to Xiaguan. The house was small and old, and the walls were peeling off." Gui'er tried to describe it in as much detail as possible. She felt that if she described it in a more miserable way, she would be able to arouse Sha Yanyao's sympathy.

Sha Yanyao was surprised: "Xu Wenjie's father is a high-ranking official, a powerful figure, and he has been in the government for so many years, it is impossible that he has no savings."

Gui'er said, "Xu Wenjie's mother said that after Xu Wenjie's father passed away, many uncles and aunts came out to fight for the inheritance. They couldn't win, so they had no choice but to move here. They originally had a little savings, but Xu Wenjie used it all to open the bookstore."

"When we went there yesterday, Xu Wenjie's mother said she had a few silver dollars and some loose change on hand for buying groceries, and she was willing to give them to us, but Miss Shen refused. But it's true. If all this money was taken away, how would his mother live?"

Sha Yanyao fell into deep thought. Gui'er had already finished her noodles. Sha Yanyao picked up the bowl and asked, "Are you full?"

Guier smiled and said, "I'm full. Thank you, brother."

Sha Yanyao touched her head and left with the bowl.

The next day, when Gui'er arrived at school, she came to find Gui'er before she went to look for Miss Shen. She said to Gui'er, "My wife called my house yesterday, but I wasn't there. She scolded my mother, saying that I shouldn't have taken you to a strange man's house."

Gui Er felt very sorry when she heard this and quickly said, "I'm so sorry. Your mother didn't say anything, did she? I got scolded when I got home last night too. But I also told my brother about Xu Wenjie's family's predicament. It depends on whether he's willing to help."

Miss Shen said hesitantly, "My mother definitely won't give me any money. I've got enough jewelry and savings to buy two big yellow croakers."

After hearing this, Gui'er quickly said, "Then I'll take out my savings as well."

Miss Shen didn't accept or refuse. Gui Er knew that she was just feeling bad, so she smiled and said, "It's okay, Sister Feng Shu. My second brother gave me a few sets of jewelry. At worst, I can just pawn them for money and tell him I lost them on the train."

Miss Shen looked ashamed and said, "Thank you."

When Tian Guier arrived, she quietly took out the money she got from selling Ji Yiru's things from the Kangxi Dictionary that she had made to save money. It was a heavy bag of silver dollars. She then took out several sets of her jewelry, including a gold necklace, a set of pearl necklaces, and a heart-shaped pendant necklace with a photo inside.

Gui'er thought about it and decided not to move the jewelry. There were not many of them, and if she moved them, Sha Yanxiao would definitely know. She would still alarm too many people.

She took out another Kangxi Dictionary, which was filled with the money given by Sha Yanxiao, her monthly allowance, and the pocket money Song Xichen had given her before. In total, there were two small gold bars and dozens of silver dollars.

Gui'er originally didn't want to touch the money here because Sha Yanxiao should know how much money there was, but she didn't know approximately how much there was. Suddenly too much was missing, and she was afraid that he would find out. However, if she touched the jewelry, it would probably be easier to be discovered, so she decided to touch the money first.

She took out two small gold bars and half a silver dollar and weighed them.

A large yellow croaker is ten taels. Here are two small gold bars weighing one tael each, plus a large bag of silver dollars, which should be about the same.

Gui'er wrapped the gold bars and silver dollars in a handkerchief and put them in her schoolbag, planning to take them to school and give them to Miss Shen tomorrow.

Gui'er suddenly remembered that she had a monthly allowance of two silver dollars, but it seemed she hadn't received any since arriving in Nanjing. She wondered if the Marshal had stopped giving it to her, or if his wife had withheld it and used it for her own food.

I paid for my tuition this time out of my own pocket, and I don't usually have any pocket money. If I spend this money and continue to spend my savings, it will probably be gone in no time. I still have to study in high school for three years, and I will need money to go out and be independent in the future.

Gui'er became worried when she thought of this, but she couldn't ignore Xu Wenjie, so she could only take things one step at a time.