A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

When the banquet was almost over, Gui'er finished chatting with Song Xichen and Xu Wenjie and ate a little more.

While eating, I heard someone whispering, "Are those two Marshal Sha's favorite daughters? I heard one was born to the fourth concubine, and the other seems to be an adopted daughter. But they are both young and beautiful, and I heard one of them is a very good student. Look how popular she is, and how she speaks so gracefully to government officials and wealthy businessmen. She is worthy of being a daughter of the Marshal's mansion."

Gui'er was stunned for a moment. The people she was talking to were all old acquaintances, so of course she could chat and laugh happily. But when she looked up, she saw Song Tingting standing in a corner, looking at her coldly. Gui'er felt that the older she got, the more she looked like Mrs. Song. Seeing her eyes made her a little scared.

As usual, Gui'er slipped away quietly when the banquet was nearing its end. As soon as she returned to her room and opened the window, she heard someone talking. Gui'er was startled and thought there was someone in the room. After listening carefully, she found that the sound came from under the window.

Gui'er lived in a room on the side of the third floor. Downstairs was a small, secluded pavilion in a corner of the garden. Not many people usually went there, so the servants were a bit lazy and didn't trim the plants much. As a result, the flowers and plants grew very lush and were half a person's height.

"You idiot, you still remember me, why don't you go look for your goddaughter?"

"Stop nagging. She's pregnant. Besides, Director Wang is always by her side. I don't want to offend Director Wang. Hurry up."

Gui'er felt that the voices were very familiar. Wasn't that the voices of Mrs. Song and Marshal Sha?

She wanted to peek out the window, but was afraid they would find her, so she quickly walked to the head of the bed, turned on the bedside lamp, and then turned off the lights in the room.

There were sounds of humming and laughing coming from outside the window. Gui'er knew what they were doing without having to think about it. She didn't expect that two prominent people over fifty years old would do such a thing in the garden. Gui'er was a little glad that she didn't go to the window to see, otherwise she would have to go wash her eyes now.

After the banquet, the fourth concubine and her two children went back to live with their uncle as usual, while the Marshal, Sha Yanxiao and Sha Yanyao went out for social events every day.

Seeing that the situation in Shanghai was not peaceful, Gui'er didn't want to go far away, so she asked Acheng to see if there were any bookstores near her home.

After looking around, Acheng came back and said that he found a relatively busy street two blocks east of the villa. There were many shops on both sides of the street, including a bookstore which was quite large and had all kinds of books.

Gui'er was very happy. She told Sha Yanxiao and asked Acheng to call a rickshaw to go to the bookstore to take a look.

This street is a commercial street in this area. Because it is not in the downtown area, there are relatively few foreigners, most of them are Chinese. The atmosphere is a bit like what it was like before 128. Guier was very happy. She looked around in the bookstore for a long time, chose a book "Collection of Southern and Northern Dialects" by Lu Xun, and bought some comic books and foreign fairy tales.

Coming out of the bookstore, Ah Cheng said, "I'll go get a rickshaw."

Guier smiled and said, "Not yet. Look how lively this street is. There are no foreigners around. I'll walk around here first. Hey, there are snacks over there."

So I walked along, watching the fun. When I passed a stall selling spring rolls and rice cakes, the owner suddenly called out, "Miss Guier?"

Guier looked over and saw that the proprietress was in her 30s, with a little messy hair and haggard eyes. She was wearing thin homespun clothes and had a child on her back with a sling. The child was playing with a rattle in his hand while the proprietress was greeting customers.

Gui'er thought she had misheard. The proprietress smiled and called out again, "Is that Miss Gui'er?"

Guier asked uncertainly, "Are you calling me?"

The proprietress smiled and said, "You don't recognize me? I'm Zhao Ruyu. Back then, you were still a little kid and stayed at my house for a while. Later, your two brothers took you away."

Gui'er was shocked. It turned out to be Zhao Ruyu, the person who had taken her in during the chaos. But how could she become like this in just a few years?

She said in surprise: "You are Sister Ruyi, I almost didn't recognize you, where is Brother Zhuzi?"

Zhao Ruyu said enthusiastically, "Hey, don't stand there. There's a stool here. Come in and sit down."

Guier looked at her stall and saw that it was located in a small corner on the street. There was just enough space for a stove and a few short wooden tables. The wooden table also had two small benches for ordinary people passing by to have breakfast and rest.

Gui'er walked in and sat down at a table. Zhao Ruyu enthusiastically brought her a bowl of soy milk, some spring rolls and rice cakes, and then asked Ah Cheng to sit at another table and also brought him a cup of soy milk and spring rolls.

Acheng glanced at Guier, and Guier nodded. Acheng understood and started eating.

There were no customers at the stall at this time, so Zhao Ruyu wiped his hands, walked over to the small stool opposite Gui'er's table, sat down, and said to Gui'er with a smile, "Children grow up so fast. I haven't seen you for a few years, and you've grown into a big girl."

Guier took one look at Zhao Ruyi's attire and her haggard expression and knew she wasn't doing well. However, she didn't want to stir up her sorrow, so she asked, "Why did Sister Ruyi change her career and open a small stall?"

Zhao Ruyu sighed and said, "During the 128 Incident, our family wasn't affected. We thought we were lucky, but then, for some reason, a lot of foreigners came. The concessions, the International Settlement, also had a lot of red-headed Indians and foreign police. You know Zhuzi is a man who works for his boss. One time, his boss asked him to transport a batch of opium, but he was unlucky. The foreign police discovered him and wanted to arrest him, so he and his brothers fled. When he returned, the boss wanted to hold him responsible. If the opium couldn't be recovered, Zhuzi would pay with his life."

"There was no other way, so Zhuzi went to the police station to try to smooth things over. He happened to run into the foreign opium patrolman who was coming back from outside. He recognized him and wanted to arrest him. Zhuzi ran out. The foreign patrolman thought he was resisting arrest, so he chased him out and shot him twice in the head. He died in the street. At that time, my child was only a month old."

"The elders in my family went to find the boss and asked them to give him some compensation. But the boss said his goods were lost and he suffered a huge loss, and it was Zhuzi who caused it. He insisted on leaving my eldest son to pay off the debt. I finally got out of it after much persuasion. You know, I was a dancer before because Zhuzi was there. Because he was a gangster, no one bullied me. Now that he's gone, my job is getting harder and harder, so I just changed my career."