A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The two were chatting when suddenly a man walked up to them and said to Sha Lili with a smile, "Are you Miss Sha?"

Sha Lili and Gui'er were both stunned for a moment. They looked at the man, who was probably in his 30s, with a slicked-back hair and a straight suit. He looked like a gentleman, with a gold Rolex on his hand and a piece of gold pocket watch chain sticking out of the watch pocket of his suit. It was obvious that he was a wealthy man.

Gui'er was always very cautious. Seeing this man with slicked-back hair and powdered face, she simply played dead and said nothing. Sha Lili smiled at him and said, "Yes."

The man smiled and said, "I heard that Marshal Sha's daughters are all extremely beautiful. Seeing you today, it's true. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tang Yaozu, and my family is in the tea business."

Sha Lili said with a smile, "Oh, it's Mr. Tang. You're too kind. Mr. Tang is young and promising. He has carried forward the family business. We have heard a lot about him and we really admire him!"

Tang Yaozu glanced at Gui'er and said with a smile, "This young lady doesn't seem to like talking much."

Sha Lili covered her mouth, chuckled, and said, "Don't be offended, Mr. Tang. She has always been an introvert and has a very reserved personality."

Tang Yaozu quickly said, "Miss, you're joking. She's just a bit reserved. I don't even know your names yet."

Sha Lili said with a smile: "My name is Sha Lili, and her name is Sha Guier."

Gui'er's heart skipped a beat. When she first enrolled, her last name was Sha on the student register. Now Sha Lili said her last name was Sha too. Could it be that her last name had been changed without her knowing? However, with outsiders present, she could only suppress her doubts for the time being.

Tang Yaozu continued to chatter away, "It's a real honor to meet you two Miss Sha. I hope I'll have the chance to meet you two again in the future. There are quite a few good Western restaurants in Shanghai. I'll take you two to try them sometime."

Sha Lili said politely, "Thank you very much, Mr. Tang."

Tang Yaozu was about to say something when a man suddenly came over and said hello to him, "Mr. Tang, you're here! We were looking for you. Come on over and have a drink."

Tang Yaozu then said to Sally and Gui'er with a look of regret, "Excuse me, both of you."

As soon as he walked away, Gui'er said to Sha Lili, "Why are you still interacting with him? He obviously has bad intentions. He looks to be in his 30s, and he actually comes here to flirt with a teenage girl."

Sha Lili sneered, "Do you know who he is? He's the new head of the Tang family, a major tea merchant. He's very capable, and has managed to sell their tea abroad. It's very popular in England and France. His family must be very wealthy, perhaps even richer than ours."

"So what? I see he's got a ring on his finger. He's already married."

"Nerd, do you know what networking is? Do you think you'll marry every man you see? Make friends with wealthy families, and maybe you'll find a way to make money."

Gui'er didn't say anything. She felt that even in modern times, rich people were as smart as crystal monkeys. They made their fortunes quietly, not to mention the Republic of China period. How could they easily take others with them?

However, Sha Lili turned around and went to find the fourth concubine, pointing at the man, and then the fourth concubine went to find her brothers. Guier was still thinking that the fourth concubine's two brothers were from government departments, and they should be quite arrogant and would not like to deal with businessmen.

In the blink of an eye, the four concubine's two brothers actually took the initiative to run over to greet Tang Yaozu, and they were arm in arm as if they had known each other for more than ten years, which made Guier stunned.

At this time, the Song family also arrived. Mr. Song brought his wife, Song Xichen, and Song Xilun. Song Tingting hurried over happily, and the Marshal also came forward to speak to them politely. After greeting them, they each dispersed to entertain the guests. Guier stood aside, watching coldly, and noticed that the Marshal and his wife exchanged glances several times. It turned out that these two people were still in love even after they were over fifty years old.

Song Xilun came over to greet Guier and said, "Yujun mentioned you in her letter to me, saying that she missed you very much and that she was very happy during her time in Jiangcheng and often dreamed of her classmates."

Gui'er was very happy and asked quickly: "How is she now? Is she doing well?"

Song Xilun said, "Her father's concubine's younger brother died young, so Tong Yulan started working in the family business to help her father. Yujun is still in school and will probably work in the family business in the future, too. However, her father married another concubine, hoping to have a son."

Gui'er was very happy for Tong Yujun, because if her father had no son, the family business would belong to her and her sister in the future.

Song Xilun lowered her head and chuckled softly, saying, "Maybe in a few years I will go to Hong Kong to marry her. My family has also transferred some of its businesses to Hong Kong. Now I occasionally go there on business trips. If you have anything you want to bring over, I can help you bring it."

Gui'er thought that the Yuhua tea she bought in Nanjing seemed quite delicious, so she asked Song Xilun to wait for a moment. She immediately ran to her room to get it and said, "This is a kind of tea I really like to drink in Nanjing. It's called Yuhua tea. You probably don't get it anywhere else. Next time you are on a business trip, bring it over for her to try."

Song Xilun took it and said, "Thank you."

Guier asked, "How's the situation in Hong Kong? It's under British rule. Is the security there good? Can factories and other things be run?"

Song Xilun sighed and said, "It's a colony after all, so foreigners have a relatively high social status. They also have factories and relatively small industries, such as clothing. Hong Kong mainly acts as a middleman. My family runs a trading company there that imports foreign goods to the mainland, and then ships mainland tea, silk, etc. to Europe and America. Hong Kong has a lot of foreigners and immigrants from various provinces in the mainland. The gangs are quite powerful, and there are also triads. There are prostitution, gambling, and drugs. Every time I go to Hong Kong, I have to build good relationships with Chinese detectives and give gifts to smooth things over."

Gui Er said, "If I ever get the chance, I'll definitely go to Hong Kong. I'm afraid the customs there are very different from those in the mainland." She felt that Song Xilun was a very capable person, but he was usually more low-key because of his humble family status. Tong Yujun should be happy with him.

Afterwards, Song Xichen and Xu Wenjie also came to chat with Guier separately. Although they could not talk about anything related to intelligence, they were able to exchange opinions on the current social situation in Shanghai. Moreover, as comrades, they could have a calm chat in public, which was already very precious.