A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The lady took the amulet, nodded comfortingly, and said nothing more.

That afternoon, Sha Yanyao returned to the Sha Mansion as usual after get off work. Gui'er wanted to find out what happened, but she didn't dare to speak. It seemed that no one else in the mansion knew about it.

The next day, Gui'er went to school as if nothing had happened. In fact, she was reviewing yesterday's actions in her mind. Yesterday, the action failed because Director Zhou's driver suggested a temporary change of route. However, Sha Yanyao appeared there, which meant that he said he was going to work, but in fact he followed them all the way. Gui'er felt that Sha Yanyao's behavior was more dangerous, so she decided to have a talk with Sha Yanyao.

As she was thinking about this, Zhou Huifang quietly poked her and said, "Yesterday, a classmate saw you accompanying my uncle to the Shansi Temple to burn incense. Is that true? Did my uncle force you to do that?"

Gui'er immediately realized that it was because she was wearing a school uniform yesterday. She originally wanted to remind Director Zhou to consider his student identity, but she was recognized by other students from the same school.

She said calmly, "It's not because of your uncle's pressure. Yesterday, a little girl who was staying at my house accepted your uncle's invitation to go to the temple fair. I also know that your uncle has a bad reputation, and I was concerned about him, so I offered to go with them. With one more person, it would be better even if someone saw us."

When Zhou Huifang heard this, she felt a little ashamed and her face turned red. She said, "I'm sorry."

Gui'er also felt that her words would embarrass Zhou Huifang, so she quickly said, "What does this have to do with you? But your uncle didn't do anything. We went to the temple fair normally and then went back. Maybe your uncle isn't as bad as the rumors say."

Although Guier knew that Director Zhou was an out-and-out bad guy, Zhou Huifang was a good girl. She really didn't want to hurt Zhou Huifang because of this matter. Anyway, Director Zhou's affairs would be over after a while, so it would be better to let Zhou Huifang, a simple-minded little girl, have a normal image of her uncle in her heart.

When she got home from school, Sha Yanyao was already there, sitting in the living room reading a newspaper. The living room was crowded with people, so Gui'er went back to her room. Dingxiang brought her some milk, and she asked Dingxiang, "Did anyone from our family get stopped when they went out to buy groceries today?"

Ding Xiang said happily, "No, not only that, but the young master wasn't stopped when he left for work this morning. Everyone said it was all thanks to you and Miss Jinbao yesterday. They also said you and Miss Jinbao are much more capable than Miss Yulan. You didn't even have to sleep with them. You could just go burn incense and pray and get things done."

Guier glanced at her and Dingxiang quickly shut up.

Gui'er said, "Director Zhou is a married man, and he has several concubines. Besides, Jinbao and I are still in school, so he still wants to save face. But if he continues like this, I'm afraid it won't be a long-term solution. Don't talk about this with others in the future. It's not good."

Ding Xiang nodded cautiously and said, "I understand."

After finishing her milk, Gui'er walked out of the room, hoping to see if she had a chance to talk to Sha Yanyao alone. But then she saw Song Tingting happily getting dressed and heading out of the hallway. Curiously, she asked, "Sister-in-law, where are you going? Can you go out so late at night? Won't that cost money?"

Song Tingting was in high spirits, changing her usual sarcastic and harsh tone. She smiled and said, "Thanks to you and Jinbao, no one stopped us all day today. I haven't gone out to play mahjong or watch a movie for a long time. Didn't I make an appointment with some friends? Let's go." Then she turned around and walked away slowly.

After Gui'er saw Song Tingting leave, she went to their room. Sha Yanyao was sitting in the room. Seeing Gui'er standing at the door, he put down the newspaper in his hand and asked her with a smile: "Sister Gui'er, is there something wrong?"

After thinking for a while, Guier said, "I want to borrow two books from my brother."

Sha Yanyao stood up and said cheerfully, "Okay, let's go to the study."

As soon as they came to the study and closed the door, Gui'er asked, "Was that you yesterday, big brother?"

Sha Yanyao nodded.

Although Gui'er had known about this for a long time, she still felt a lingering fear. She said, "Brother, this is too risky. Does anyone else in the family know? If Director Zhou sees you, he will definitely arrest you directly."

Sha Yanyao sighed softly and said, "I don't want to either, but I'm out of resources. Wu Mingqiang has been arrested, and it's very likely that he has spies monitoring us in Jiangcheng. It's impossible for them to send anyone else. I originally thought that if we paid them, they might let us go, but now it seems that's not the case. Father was right. If we pay him, he will just treat our family as his gold mine and drain us out. So we have to get rid of him."

Sha Yanyao walked up to Gui'er and put his hands on her shoulders. He squatted down and said to her, "Guier, this isn't just a problem for our family. Director Zhou has set his sights on our family. We must work together to get rid of him."

Gui'er nodded. This was her purpose anyway. Judging from yesterday's situation, Sha Yanyao might be more suitable. After all, compared to Xu Wenjie and the others, Sha Yanyao's father was a bandit. She must have seen him committing murder and robbery when she was a child.

She said, "This time, Director Zhou and we went to the temple fair and we had a good time together. I think he will continue to ask us out in the future. When that happens, I will inform you as soon as possible. But you have to be extra careful and don't let him find out."

Sha Yanyao nodded and said with a smile, "I have my own way."

The next day, Sha Yanyao started limping again. He said, "It's the area where I injured myself recently. It's always sore and I can't use my strength." Everyone was shocked, especially his wife and Song Tingting. His wife rushed him to the hospital, while Song Tingting cried out in despair, "You were said to be cured, how come he's limping again? I shouldn't have believed Mother's lies about you being cured."

Gui'er watched coldly from the side. She felt that his lameness came at the perfect time. Sure enough, when no one was paying attention, Sha Yanyao winked at her.

Gui'er immediately realized that he was indeed pretending and felt relieved.

In order to let Director Zhou know about this matter, Guier even pretended to be worried and talked to Zhou Huifang about Sha Yanyao's leg at school.

He said worriedly, "Ever since something happened in my family, I always feel like bad things are coming to my door one after another. I really don't know what will happen next."

Zhou Huifang consoled him, saying, "Actually, your family's problems are mainly caused by my uncle. I'm so sorry."