A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Sha Yanyao glanced at Song Tingting and said, "Speak less."

Song Tingting crossed her legs, snorted, and said, "That's right."

The lady turned around and said to her coldly, "Don't think you can get away with not paying. We'll arrest us and torture us. I don't think you can handle it. Her second brother doesn't have much money. He has a mine, and your family also has a mine. Your family only makes money, while his brother has to pay for the military. Don't think I don't know. If your family doesn't pay, you and your sister will die. Don't you still have a second brother? Then all the family property will belong to your second brother, and your second mother will be happy."

When Song Tingting heard this, she stood up angrily and glared at her wife. She didn't say a word for a long time. She turned around and went upstairs angrily, stepping on the stairs hard, making a loud noise.

Gui'er asked cautiously, "Why are you discussing raising money again? Didn't you just give Director Zhou a batch of gold and silver jewelry?"

Sha Yanyao sighed and said, "Director Zhou denied it, saying that the action team leader never gave it back to him. But when we went to find the action team leader, he said that the item was stolen and couldn't be taken out of the evidence room. I guess he embezzled it."

This is too dark.

The lady suddenly grabbed Gui'er's hand and said, "Aren't you very close to Fengshu? She's your teacher now. I heard Fengshu is dating a guy named Xu Wenjie, who works for Director Zhou. Can you use him to plead with Director Zhou? If this goes on, we're going to be desperate. This place is a bottomless pit."

Gui'er was very reluctant because Xu Wenjie was her comrade, and she didn't want to involve her comrade in the struggle between warlords and bureaucratic forces.

Besides, it’s not that the Marshal’s Mansion doesn’t have money, it’s just that they are unwilling to give it. She thinks this matter can be resolved sooner or later. As for how it will be resolved, she doesn’t care. She only cares about when Manager Liu and Song Xichen can be released.

So he said to his wife, "Sister Fengshu, I went to see her that day. She did help me and took me to Sister Yulan's house. But after I escaped and returned to school, she kept her distance from me. I took the initiative to look for her once, and she said that Mrs. Shen scolded her and told her not to get involved in this matter anymore, fearing that she would get involved. After all, they are just ordinary people now."

The lady sighed and said, "Her mother is my sworn sister. Now that we're in trouble, she's keeping her distance. She used to be very close to us."

Guier smiled helplessly. The lady seemed to have forgotten that after their children divorced, the two families had no relationship and no longer visited each other.

The next day, Wu Mingqiang suddenly came to the door and brought a lot of daily necessities, including grains, oils, rice, flour, delicacies from land and sea, snacks, biscuits, chocolates, and fine silk. If you didn't know, you would think he was preparing for the New Year.

Sha Yanyao and his wife were bewildered. Gui'er didn't know what was going on, so she asked him, "Brother Wu, what's going on?"

Wu Mingqiang smiled and said, "Second Young Master, I heard that our Nanjing mansion was raided. I'm sure a lot of things must have been lost, so they asked our men to prepare some and send them over."

The lady said with a look of relief, "Oh, it's rare that he's so thoughtful. He's really thoughtful. But did he say anything about that?"

Wu Mingqiang glanced around and said with a smile, "Second Young Master said Director Zhou's request is reasonable. We should try our best to cooperate."

When the lady heard this, she said excitedly, "Who will pay for it?"

Wu Mingqiang glanced around again and said with a smile, "Second Young Master said that we should try our best to raise money no matter how much it is."

Before the lady could say anything, Sha Yanyao smiled and said, "Second brother, you are right. Come with me to the study and I will give you two silver coins."

Wu Mingqiang stood up, bowed, and said with a smile, "Thank you, young master."

Then the two of them got up and walked towards the study. Gui'er suddenly realized that Wu Mingqiang was afraid that someone had been bribed, so he didn't dare to tell the truth. That was why Sha Yanyao asked him to go to the study. She hurriedly followed him to the study.

After entering the study, Sha Yanyao stood by the door and glanced behind Gui'er to confirm that no one had closed the door. He then said to Wu Mingqiang, "What did my second brother say?"

Wu Mingqiang said, "The second son investigated Director Zhou and discovered that he often used various excuses to extort money from wealthy but powerless people in Nanjing. Some had even lost their families, while others had lost all their wealth and finally escaped with a lucky escape. The second son said that he could give the eldest son another 100 gold bars, but he was afraid that this would be a bottomless pit. Even if 900 gold bars were handed over, he would continue to demand money under various pretexts."

After hearing this, Sha Yanyao lowered his head and remained silent.

Wu Mingqiang continued, "Also, we recently discovered that Director Zhou had secretly sent people to investigate our two mines in Jiangcheng. If we continue to indulge him, he might treat our mines as his own treasure trove. The Second Young Master has already discussed this with the Marshal, and the Marshal means that he can no longer pay him. However, the Second Young Master is very afraid that he will harm you, so he specifically ordered me to secretly protect the Sha Mansion. Later, he will send a few more thugs from Jiangcheng, all of whom are former thugs of the Ji family."

Sha Yanyao asked him, "So my father won't care about anything anymore?"

Wu Mingqiang hesitated for a moment and said, "The Marshal was actually very angry. He said that Zhou was going too far and must have set a trap. So there was absolutely no room for compromise. He said that if the negotiations failed, Zhou would be killed."

Gui'er was stunned for a moment, but secretly delighted. Wasn't this exactly Chen Zhongyu's original plan? However, the underground party members were not good at assassinations, and Director Zhou and his men were professionals, so they were definitely well-guarded and difficult to carry out. If they could use Sha Fu's help to resolve the situation, that would be a good idea.

Sha Yanyao wasn't too surprised. He just laughed and said, "This is exactly what father has always done. But I'm short on manpower here, and this isn't our territory. If he were in Jiangcheng, he would have disappeared long ago."

Wu Mingqiang shook his head and said, "Master, this won't do. If this person disappears in Jiangcheng, we will definitely be held responsible. It's better to do it in Nanjing."

Sha Yanyao smiled and said, "Of course I know, but I don't have the manpower here, and I'm under strict surveillance, so I can't move at all."

Wu Mingqiang smiled and said, "So the Second Young Master has sent more people over, about 8 to 10 people, to be at the Eldest Young Master's disposal."

Sha Yanyao paused for a moment, then nodded. He glanced back at Gui'er, came over to touch her hair, and said, "Guier, are you scared? My family comes from a bandit background, and we've done a lot of things like this. We were already high-ranking officials, and we thought we couldn't do these things anymore, but now there's nothing we can do. The Zhous are going too far."