A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Zhou Huifang and her mother were a little embarrassed when they heard this, and said with a smile: "My uncle's wife passed away two years ago, and he recently remarried Teacher Zhang, so I call her aunt."

After chatting for a while, Guier said goodbye and went home.

The next day, Gui'er and Zhou Huifang were discussing Teacher Zhang Yunchu at school again. Gui'er took the opportunity to say, "Teacher Zhang, you used to be so gentle and kind. Why do you look so haggard lately? Is your health not good?"

Zhou Huifang smiled and said, "Is this your occupational disease? When you see someone feeling unwell, you want to help them. But this time, you probably won't be able to help them. She's worried about it."

Gui'er became interested when she heard this: "Heart disease? What kind of heart disease?"

Zhou Huifang looked around. They were now chatting under a grape trellis in the middle of the campus. There were few classmates around, so she said with relief, "Although my uncle is a founding member of the Military Commission, he's actually not a very good person. He's autocratic. My parents are just small clerks, and we lived well in a rented house. Ever since he went to work in the government, he's insisted that all my uncles and aunts live together in his courtyard. Everything has to be done according to his wishes. If anyone disagrees, he'll use spy methods to oppress them, even resorting to various forms of imprisonment to achieve his goals. He works in a secret service agency, and we dare not speak out. He also wants me to work in the secret service agency when I grow up. Actually, our family doesn't have enough belongings now, and we want to move out."

Gui'er didn't expect that Director Zhou was such an abominable person that even his family disliked him. However, she still smiled tentatively and said, "That may be because Director Zhou is a patriarch with feudal ideas, so he is more conservative." In fact, what she wanted to know most was how Director Zhou wanted to harm the Marshal's Mansion.

Zhou Huifang said, "He's my uncle, and he's been taking good care of my family, so I shouldn't say anything bad about him. But he's already married two wives, both of whom died tragically. Not to mention his concubine, who he murdered. I'm really afraid that Teacher Zhang will follow in their footsteps."

Gui'er said, "Maybe you're overthinking it. Your uncle is a high-ranking government official."

Zhou Huifang said, "He is indeed a high-ranking official, but he is a high-ranking official of the secret service. Do you understand? The last time so many of us were arrested, including that Boss Xu, it was all the work of their agency."

Gui'er already knew this, but she still pretended to be shocked and said, "Oh my God! Really? But what does this have to do with Teacher Zhang?"

Zhou Huifang lowered her voice and said to Gui'er, "Before, as soon as my two aunts married into our family, my uncle would do everything he could to get them to pay. They asked for money for food and clothes. If they didn't have money, he would lock them up and let them starve. He got married in his hometown and had a daughter. Because he wanted to marry a rich wife, he forced his original wife to become a concubine because officials in the government couldn't take concubines. He also made the concubine claim to be a servant of the family. Think about it, who can be happy with such a life? Later, one of my aunts committed suicide, and then I married another one. This one was quite rebellious. He even joined forces with the original wife who became a concubine and tried to escape together. In the end, they both fell off a cliff and died for no apparent reason."

After hearing this, Gui'er found it unbelievable. If Director Zhou was such a bad person, why would Zhou Huifang and her family still be willing to live with him?

Zhou Huifang said, "We didn't want to do that either, but we were afraid and resentful of him. There was really nothing we could do. You said my mother was suffering from excessive worry and liver qi stagnation, which was probably also due to the influence of my uncle's affairs."

After hearing this, Gui'er quickly comforted Zhou Huifang, saying, "Don't think too much. You are relatives after all. At least he won't do anything to you."

Zhou Huifang sighed and said, "My family and the rest of his uncles' families are disgusted by what he did. We can only kindly comfort Teacher Zhang. The last time you went over and had the cupping done and left, not long after, my uncle came back. When he learned you'd been there, he angrily said that your family would soon be ruined by him, so you better be careful."

Gui'er perked up, having finally gotten some valuable information. She quickly asked, "Is there something else going on? Did our family offend Director Zhou in some way? If so, we should go and apologize, find out what happened, and Director Zhou should apologize as well."

Zhou Huifang smiled wryly and said, "We don't know too much about the inside story, but we do know that if he sets his mind to targeting someone, that person will definitely not be well."

Gui'er could only smile and say, "I see. However, my mother really wants to make friends with Director Zhou. If you have the chance, please put in a few good words for me. It's better to resolve a feud than to create one."

Zhou Huifang just smiled and shook her head, saying, "My uncle always said that your family members are definitely not kind, but I think you're a good person. You're an adopted daughter, and you've also been oppressed. I'm telling you this in the hope that you can find a chance to escape and not be buried with them."

Gui'er was shocked. Could it be that Director Zhou really wanted to kill Sha Fu?

As a result, when I returned to Sha Mansion after school that day, I saw Director Zhou sitting in the living room of Sha Mansion, with his legs crossed and chatting with Sha Yanyao. His wife and Sha Yanyao were both smiling and agreeing with Director Zhou.

Not long after Gui'er returned, Director Zhou left. She wanted to eavesdrop but couldn't. After Director Zhou left, Sha Yanyao and his wife both had bitter faces. Gui'er pretended not to notice and returned to the room, then asked Dingxiang, "What's going on?"

Ding Xiang said, "That Director Zhou is actually here to blackmail us. He wants the young master to hand over the gold belonging to Boss Tang, or else he'll be in trouble."

Gui'er quickly asked, "What did Big Brother say?"

"The young master kept trying to smile and said his family didn't have that much money, but Director Zhou didn't believe him. In the end, the conversation ended on bad terms."

Gui'er didn't expect that Director Zhou would do what he said and really take action, but he asked for money directly, which really surprised Gui'er. After all, the Sha family is a big shot and has confidence. How could he extort money from them just by threatening them?

The next day, Gui'er went to school as usual. Suddenly, Miss Shen asked other classmates to notify her to go to the office. Gui'er felt a little strange. Usually, if they wanted to make an appointment to go shopping or eat, Miss Shen would come to her directly to talk.

However, Gui Er still came to Miss Shen's office and asked her with a smile: "Sister Feng Shu, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"Come on."

"what?"

"Xu Wenjie told me to tell you to hurry up and go back to Jiangcheng. Go directly from school to the train station and take a bus back."