A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er has been very depressed since she heard what Wu Ma said, and she has been in no spirit all day. Song Xichen was still puzzled and asked her about it.

But Gui'er couldn't tell Song Xichen that she wanted to leave the Song Mansion, and now was not the right time, so she had to cover it up vaguely.

Early this Sunday morning, Song Xichen said to Gui'er, "You don't have to go to school today. I'll take you to the department store. We can have some cake then."

Gui'er was very happy to hear this. After all, the food for the servants here was really bad. She also noticed that Song Xichen was trying to cheer her up. Although he was also a master, he was at least a little better than others.

Before I could become independent, being a maid under him was safer than wandering around outside.

Song Xichen brought Gui'er to Wing On Department Store. This time, they opened the door and went straight to the top floor. Gui'er was in charge of the billboard at the door. The theater here specially invited the famous Peking Opera actor Zhou Heming from Shanghai to perform "The Banquet at Hongmen".

Guier saw that there were many rich ladies and wives in the theater, while in the past there were more men.

As the troupe's drum beats sounded and the actors came on stage, there was a commotion among the women in the audience. Gui'er found it a little funny. It turned out that female fans were always crazy no matter what era.

However, the actor who played the counselor Zhang Liang was quite handsome, and most of the girls in the audience came for him. Some even took the necklace from their necks and threw it onto the stage, which really shocked Guier.

Gui'er just remembered that she had heard of this thing called "supporting an actor" before, but now that she herself was in such a social environment, she suddenly felt it was so ironic.

There are groups of homeless people on both sides of the main road outside the department store. They are hungry and poorly clothed, but they are living a life of luxury inside the mall.

At this time, Song Xichen asked Gui'er: "Do you like watching it?"

Gui Er quickly said, "Thank you, Young Master, for bringing me here. I think it's very lively, but I don't quite understand it. It's quite interesting."

Song Xichen whispered in Gui'er's ear some knowledge about Peking Opera: "This is called a dragon robe, this is called a rich and noble robe, and this is called a cape..."

Gui'er was very surprised that he knew so much. She always thought that Song Xichen was a workaholic and that only idle young men like Song Xilun would like to study these things.

After singing for a while, Zhou Heming left the stage and was replaced by an old actor. The audience immediately became lively with people eating melon seeds and chatting. Everyone was a little absent-minded about the singing on the stage.

Gui'er's attention was also diverted. She thought the lively scene in the audience was more interesting, so she turned her head and looked around.

Suddenly she saw a familiar figure, Sha Yanxiao.

He was not wearing a military uniform today, so Guier had not noticed him before. It was not until he turned around just now that Guier, who was sitting five or six rows behind him, noticed him.

Gui Er quickly poked Song Xichen, who was concentrating on watching the show, and said, "The young marshal is in front of us."

Song Xichen followed the direction Gui'er pointed and saw Sha Yanxiao, with several female companions sitting next to him.

Song Xichen's face looked unhappy, and he said to Gui'er, "Ignore him."

Then he concentrated on listening to the opera.

Gui'er was not in the mood to watch the show. She was really curious whether Sha Yanxiao was a bandit. If so, why didn't Song Xichen pursue him?

Guier glanced at the female companion beside her again. She was wearing the most gorgeous and fashionable cheongsam, a pearl necklace, gold earrings, and an emerald bracelet. She looked like a wealthy woman, probably a member of the Marshal's family. There was nothing special about her.

Bored, Gui'er suddenly noticed that there was a young girl sitting two rows above them. Unlike the others, she was wearing a wide-sleeved phoenix top, a style that is no longer popular. But apart from the style of the clothes, Gui'er felt that she had a sense of familiarity.

At this time, the play was over and the audience was dismissed. People rushed to the theater door. At this time, the girl stood up and turned around. Guier finally saw clearly that she was Qiuju, the top lady on the flower boat that Guier and Taohua had been on before.

And she didn't come alone. Gui'er recognized the person with her. It was the pawnshop owner Liang who got drunk and acted like a rogue at the banquet that day and asked Gui'er and A Xiang to help him so that he could take advantage of her.

Gui'er was very surprised to see the two of them together. She knew that with the brothel madam's character, it was unlikely that she would let her go free.

Seeing that most people had left, Song Xichen pulled Gui'er along and said, "Let's go upstairs to eat."

Just then, Boss Liang saw Song Xichen and called out, "Director Song, are you here to watch the show too?"

Song Xichen turned around and saw Boss Song, and said politely, "Hello, Boss Liang."

Boss Liang walked quickly up to them, his eyes fixed on Gui'er, and said, "Isn't this the little maid from the mansion the other day? Turns out she's the young master's woman. No wonder she's so pretty."

Gui'er looked at Boss Liang's broad face, thick lips, onion nose, triangular eyes, and the bumpy face. When she got closer to him, she could smell a mixture of liquor and wind oil on him, which was nauseating.

Song Xichen looked at the way Boss Liang looked at Gui'er and felt very unhappy. He said, "Goodbye." Then he turned around and was about to leave.

"Gui'er, are you Gui'er?" Qiuju came up. She saw Song Xichen and Gui'er from a distance. Looking at Song Xichen's handsome appearance and his luxurious and fashionable clothes, she couldn't hide the envy in her eyes.

To be honest, Gui'er was not very willing to pay attention to Qiuju. It was she who suggested that the brothel owner give her to the bandit Long Ye.

Boss Liang looked at Qiuju and Guier's expressions and said, "You two know each other, are you old friends?"

Qiuju said vaguely: "They are my former sisters."

Boss Liang had a look of sudden enlightenment on his face. He winked at Song Xichen and said with a smile, "So that's how it is. Director Song also has such a hobby. We are kindred spirits. I was saying that the girls on the flower boats are really pretty. Chun Man Lou and Chang San Tangzi don't have any new stuff these days. Look at this Qiu Ju I bought from the flower boat. It's not as fancy as yours, but it's still pretty good."

After hearing what they said, passers-by turned around to look at them. Gui'er really wanted to slap Boss Liang's fat face a few times, but when she thought about the day when Boss Liang took advantage of them and Song Xichen didn't say anything, she would definitely suffer if she acted on impulse at this time.

She took a deep breath, lowered her head and said nothing, and secretly pulled her hand out of Song Xichen's palm.

Song Xichen glanced at Gui'er, pulled her hand back, and said to Boss Liang with a stern expression, "Guier didn't sell himself. He was later rescued by me, so I am responsible for taking care of him now."

Boss Liang heard the other party's displeasure and quickly said with a smile: "Oh, I see." He wanted to say something else to make amends.

Song Xichen had already taken Gui'er away.

Arriving at the restaurant on the second floor, Song Xichen took Gui'er to sit down when a waiter brought up a cream cake. It was particularly exquisite. The main body of the cake was green, with a circle of flowers on the top, and the edges were decorated with animal biscuits of different colors and shapes. A lollipop was inserted in the center, and colorful ribbons hung down from all sides. The whole shape looked like a carousel.

Guier had never seen a cake of this shape in her own world. She was so shocked that she even forgot to be angry.

Song Xichen said doubtfully, "I didn't order this kind of cake."

The waiter who brought the food was a little confused and said quickly, "Sorry, let me check again." As he said that, he was about to reach out to take the cake.

Guier looked at such a beautiful cake and felt a little reluctant to give it away.

Song Xichen glanced at Gui'er, then stopped the waiter and said, "How about I buy this cake? I'll pay double the price. Please tell that customer."

The waiter was a little embarrassed.

"No need to say, I made it specifically for the little girl."

Gui'er and Song Xichen turned around and saw that it was Sha Yanxiao.

At this time, he didn't have any girls with him, but there were two people in plain clothes about 1 meter away from him, with one hand in his pocket. They were probably guards.

Sha Yanxiao walked up and waved for the waiter to leave. Then he sat down and said with a smile, "I made this for little Gui'er. Do you like it?"

Gui'er didn't know what to say for a moment. She also didn't know what Sha Yanxiao was up to, so she didn't say anything and turned to look at Song Xichen.

Song Xichen appeared calm, but Gui'er could tell he was in a very bad mood. He smiled and asked, "I wonder why the young marshal suddenly gave such a generous gift to my maid?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "Needless to say? Of course it's to repay a favor."

Seeing that Song Xichen's expression was getting worse, Gui'er quickly said, "As a servant, I am not qualified to accept such a generous gift from the young commander."

Song Xichen turned to look at Gui'er, then glanced at the cake, and said to Sha Yanxiao with a smile, "Thank you very much, Young Marshal."

Gui'er thought she had misheard, but Song Xichen smiled, touched her head and said, "You like it, right? Then eat it." Then he called the waiter to bring a knife to cut the cake, and then ordered a few snacks.

He also invited Sha Yanxiao to eat together, and Sha Yanxiao readily agreed.

Gui'er felt that the development of things was quite magical and she was really confused.