A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After Song Xichen came back in the evening, Guier quickly took out the egg custard that Zhang Ma had sent over, heated it up and served it to Song Xichen.

Song Xichen was very surprised and said with a smile: "I've already eaten outside. You're still awake so late. Do you have something to tell me?"

Gui'er had no choice but to tell him about Taohua being transferred to the kitchen. Song Xichen sighed and said, "My sister is just too soft-hearted and likes to listen to other people's instructions. So, are you going to let me go and plead with Tingting now?"

Gui'er said quickly, "Of course not. I think it would be good for the young lady to have someone older around her who can give her advice. Sister Xiaolian is indeed a good choice, but Sister Xiaolian doesn't seem to like Taohua very much. If she goes back to the young lady like this, I'm afraid they won't get along. I remember that after Sister Axiang left, no one took her place. It would be better to let Taohua come over. She's quite capable."

Song Xichen thought for a moment and said, "That's not a problem, but Taohua is like a half-second lady in my sister's place, and her treatment is too high. I don't have such a salary here. She gets the same salary as Ah Xiang."

Gui'er was stunned for a moment. She had not considered these things, but now Taohua had been transferred to the kitchen, and her treatment would definitely not be comparable to the past. In this way, Axiang's treatment might be higher, so she agreed on behalf of Taohua.

Song Xichen said, "Okay then. I'll go tell Madam Zhou."

The next day, when Gui'er went to the servants' dining hall to eat, she saw Taohua standing in the kitchen, looking dejected, helping to pick vegetables. Gui'er hurried over to comfort her and told her the news, which made Taohua feel a little happier.

When Guier returned from school that afternoon, Taohua had already moved to the eldest young master's courtyard. Guier hurried to Ah Xiang's room to see her. She was wearing the same coarse cloth clothes and trousers as an ordinary servant, with only a small bundle. Inside the bundle was the coarse cloth dress with flowers that the madam had bought her on the day she left the flower boat. Guier asked curiously, "Do you have so few things?"

Taohua smiled bitterly and said, "Sister Xiaolian said that I am now a lowly servant and I am no longer worthy of wearing the fine clothes I used to wear."

After a pause, Taohua pretended to be relaxed and said, "It's okay. I put my wages in a purse hanging around my neck, so I took it out as well. Sister Xiaolian stopped me from taking the other things."

Gui'er didn't know what to say for a moment. Taohua saw this and comforted her, "Actually, it's all good now. Before, the young lady was so nice to me that I often felt uneasy. The servants around me were also quite distant towards me. Now that I've been transferred here, I've heard that the young master's rule is very strict. I can work here with peace of mind. Plus, with the money I saved before, I'm doing better than the average servant."

Only then did Guier realize that Taohua was not having a good time with the young lady.

So he quickly called the servants in the courtyard to introduce Taohua to everyone, and said with a smile: "Taohua is new here, so it is inevitable that she doesn't understand some things. Please bear with me."

The other servants all smiled and said, "Sure, sure."

Gui'er also felt a sense of crisis because of the Taohua incident. Now, like Taohua, she made a purse, put all her wages in the purse, hung it around her neck, and carried it with her wherever she went.

In addition, Gui'er now pays more attention to building good relationships with the servants in the eldest young master's courtyard. Sometimes after school, she buys some roasted sweet potato candied haws from the snack stand at the school gate and secretly brings them back to share with everyone. It only costs a few copper coins. In fact, most servants can afford this price, but they are usually reluctant to buy it. Gui'er buys some and shares it with everyone every now and then. By the way, she also chats and laughs with everyone, and talks about gossip in the mansion, so that she can get a lot of inside information.

After school that day, Song Xichen returned to the Song residence and had dinner. He said to Gui'er, "Starting tomorrow, I'm going on a business trip for a few days. Dagang is coming with me. There's no one at home to take you to school, so you can take a rickshaw. Here are 10 yuan. Take it."

Gui Er felt a little uneasy and asked, "Master, will you be gone for a long time?"

Song Xichen said somewhat helplessly, "Father asked me to accompany him to inspect the estate down below. It will take a few days at the fastest and half a month at the slowest."

As if noticing Gui'er's uneasiness, Song Xichen stroked her head and said with a smile, "I'll give you enough money to cover your expenses for a while. During this time, you should control your temper. If there's anything you need, please be patient and I'll take care of it when I come back."

Gui'er had no choice but to nod.

The next morning, Song Xichen and the master set out. The three wives, the young lady, the second young master, housekeeper Zhang, Nanny Zhou, Nanny Wu, and Gui'er all went to see them off. Song Xichen knelt down, touched Gui'er's face, and said to her, "Study hard."

Gui'er smiled and nodded, and Song Xichen turned around and got into the car with the master and set off.

After seeing Song Xichen off, Guier also prepared to go to school.

Suddenly, the eldest wife said, "Wait a minute, I have to deal with this source of trouble while my son is away." Then she winked at Wu Ma.

Wu Ma waved her hand, and several servants rushed out from the hidden place in the corner. They pushed Gui'er to the ground, tied her up with a rope, and blocked her mouth.

Things happened too fast, and Gui'er couldn't react for a while. She struggled for a few times and fell into a deep sleep.

The eldest wife said, "There's another little demon in Xichen Courtyard. Let's deal with it together."

After a while, Taohua was also tied up and gagged, and was dragged out and thrown next to Guier.

Except for Wu Ma and the Third Madam, everyone present was shocked. Second Young Master Song Xilun was the first to speak: "Mother, what are you doing? You know how much my eldest brother cherishes Gui'er. If he knew about this, he would make a scene."

The eldest wife glanced at him with disdain and said, "It's all because of these two evildoers. Ever since they came to our Song Mansion, we've been plagued by so many problems. Nothing's going well. I think it's them. There's a brick kiln owned by my mother's family in Dongzhuang, just outside the city. They've been having trouble producing bricks lately. We asked the most famous fortune teller in the area to tell our fortune, and he said a living sacrifice is necessary, preferably a boy or a girl. I didn't have the heart to do it, but these two evildoers actually targeted our family. After all, I was the one who saved their lives in the first place, so let's just consider it as giving them back to us."

Gui'er thought she had misheard for a moment, but Taohua struggled violently and finally spat out the cloth in her mouth, crying out heartbreakingly, "Miss, help me, Miss."

Song Tingting couldn't bear it anymore and said to the eldest wife, "Mother, this is too cruel. If you don't like it, just send them away."

The eldest wife said sternly, "Shut up! Don't you think about who I'm doing this for? Your two marriage proposals have failed. Do you know what people are saying about you now?"

The lady lowered her head and said nothing more.

Seeing that the young lady was of no help, Taohua struggled to her knees, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed frantically, saying, "Madam, madam, I know I was wrong. Please spare our lives. We can work like slaves for you, but only spare our lives."

At this time, Butler Zhang also spoke up, "Madam, this is a life after all. You should be more cautious. Taohua is fine, but Gui'er goes to school every day and knows some of her classmates. If she suddenly disappears, her classmates will try to track her down. They are all wealthy people in the city, and I'm afraid it won't be so easy to deal with her."

This made perfect sense, and the wife hesitated. The third wife smiled and said, "That's easy. We can tell everyone that they were taken home by their own family. Anyway, her brother came over and made a scene, and the neighbors all saw it."

The wife perked up when she heard this and said, "Yes, yes, that's what we'll do. Listen, they were taken back by their own families."

At this time, Wu Ma also stepped forward and said to the wife, "In that case, I think it would be best for them to go out through the small door next to the kitchen, so that there will be less noise."

The eldest wife nodded.

Wu Ma called the servants over and carried the two of them to the kitchen. Taohua struggled desperately, and Guier dodged left and right. The two servants were a little overwhelmed. Wu Ma turned to the other servants present and said, "Are you all blind? Come and help."

In the end, few people were willing to stand up. After all, human life was at stake. Some people couldn't bear it, and some people were afraid that the young master would hold them accountable later.

The gatekeeper of the eldest young master's courtyard said, "Let me do it."

Then he came over, carried Guier on his back and walked towards the kitchen. Guier felt his hands helping her loosen the rope that tied her hands, so she stopped struggling.

When they passed by the kitchen, Aunt Zhang saw them and came out in shock, saying, "Hey, what's going on?"

The servants only said, "The eldest lady said that these two people are not behaving properly and want to send them away."

After hearing this, Aunt Zhang said, "Oh, so that's how it is. You must be carrying a lot of heavy things. Please wait a moment while I open the door." Then she walked in front and helped open the door.

Several servants carried the two out through the side door. When Gui'er was leaving, Aunt Zhang came up to help hold her up, and when no one was paying attention, she stuffed a small knife into Gui'er's hand.

The knife was very sharp and cut Guier's hand directly. Guier didn't care about anything else and quickly pushed the knife into her sleeve to hide it.