A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er said hesitantly, "Is this okay? Who will come forward? It's impossible for you to come forward."

Xu Wenjie said, "We can only find someone to impersonate Manager Liu's family member. It has to be a man. I'll figure out a way."

Gui Er shook her head and said, "No, I'll figure out a solution. I'll ask Wu Mingqiang to find someone to impersonate him. Even if something happens, I can just say I rescued Manager Liu because I was worried that if he stayed incarcerated, it would affect me. Besides, Manager Liu has been incarcerated for so long. If they could find anything, they would have found it long ago. We should be fine."

Xu Wenjie nodded and said, "Okay, but you have to be careful. Otherwise, if you get caught, I don't think the people in the Sha Mansion will let you go."

The next day, when Gui'er went to school, she asked Ah Cheng, "Brother Ah Cheng, Brother Xiao Wu, have you returned to Jiangcheng?"

Ah Cheng said: "Not yet. The young marshal left him here to take care of the young lady. The situation is not stable yet, and he dare not leave for fear that something might happen."

Gui Er thought that was a good idea, so she said to Ah Cheng, "Look, have we been out these past two days? Has anyone been following or monitoring our family?"

Ah Cheng was a little surprised and said, "They've already withdrawn a day or two after Director Zhou passed away. Why are you asking this all of a sudden, Miss?"

Gui'er said worriedly, "They only released Little Wu. I heard that Master Song could be released if he was paid, but they won't release Shopkeeper Liu. You know Shopkeeper Liu is my master. If they don't release him, I'll always be suspected. And Big Brother doesn't plan to intervene, so I'm very worried."

Ah Cheng said: "What are you going to do, Miss?"

Gui'er said, "I'm a little out of ideas. Can you ask Brother Wu to come over tomorrow to discuss this with me? But we can't meet at home. We can either meet on the way to school or on the way home from school. It would be best if we could meet on the way to school."

Ah Cheng said, "I understand."

The next morning, as usual, a rickshaw was called to pick up Guier for school, but after Guier got on the rickshaw at the gate of the courtyard and walked a few hundred meters forward and could no longer see the Sha Mansion, the rickshaw was asked to get off and the rickshaw was sent away.

At this time, a car parked on the side of the road drove over, and Ah Cheng said, "Miss, please get in."

Guier looked up and saw that it was Wu Mingqiang sitting in the driver's seat.

She hurriedly got into the car, Acheng took the driver's seat and drove, while Wu Mingqiang sat in the back seat.

He said, "Miss, I heard you were looking for me?"

Gui'er nodded and said, "Everyone else might be able to release it, but Manager Liu and his men don't plan to. This involves me, and I'm afraid they'll use this as an excuse to cause trouble again. Can you think of a solution?"

Wu Mingqiang frowned and said, "I don't know why Director Tian is so active in suppressing the Communists this time. I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with him."

Gui'er had no choice but to tell Xu Wenjie the information she had heard. "I heard them say that Director Tian will be sent to Shanghai later to closely monitor the Japanese movements, so his focus will probably not be here. Do you think there will be an opportunity to take advantage of this?"

Wu Mingqiang remained silent.

Gui'er said anxiously, "I heard that as long as the prisoners there aren't the focus of attention, they can be released through certain means, such as medical parole, by bribing the small-time leaders inside. Although Director Tian thinks Manager Liu is suspicious, he hasn't found anything after investigating for so long, so he probably has nothing to say."

Wu Mingqiang lowered his head and smiled. "To be honest, Miss, from the perspective of a smart person, Manager Liu is indeed a suspect. It's just that Director Zhou wanted to implicate us at the beginning, so they didn't investigate further and missed the opportunity. In addition, the other two Communists at the printing point were also killed, so they couldn't investigate further."

Guier smiled and said, "Little Wu, Brother Cheng, the Japanese have already established themselves in Shanghai. They are full of ambition and will definitely attack the inland. Father and Second Brother are doing their utmost in Jiangcheng to increase armaments and build fortifications, while people like Director Zhou and Director Tian are busy catching some communist bandits in the back, making a big fuss about this, and extorting innocent people. Don't you think it's absurd?"

"I've been with Manager Liu for so long, I know him very well. He's at least a good man, at least someone who poses no threat to the country, and at least someone who wouldn't extort money from others. He's much better than Director Zhou or Director Tian. I don't care if he's a good person or not. Rescuing him won't affect us or the country. But if we keep him locked up there, if those people ever want to extort money from our family again, he'll be a pretext. I can't let them have this handle forever."

Wu Mingqiang saw Gui'er so excited for the first time. He was stunned for a moment and then quickly said, "Miss, don't be angry. I will do it. You saved my life. Is there anything I can't do for you? Even if it means going through fire and water, I will do it for you."

Gui'er calmed herself down and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you two. I also know that this is risky. You two must be very careful when handling it and don't let anyone catch you."

Wu Mingqiang said, "Thank you for your concern, Miss. I think the method you just mentioned is feasible, but it would be difficult for us to intervene."

Gui'er smiled and said, "I think so too. Can we find someone from Jiangcheng to come over and pretend to be Manager Liu's family member?"

Ah Cheng interrupted and said, "Why look for someone to impersonate him? Wouldn't it be better to ask his own brothers and uncles to come over? There would be no consequences if they investigate."

Gui'er knew that the identities of Manager Liu and Manager Zhang were most likely fabricated. The children and old people in the countryside should have been real, but they were no longer alive. If Wu Mingqiang were to look for their relatives, he would most likely discover their true identities.

So he said, "It's a pity. Shopkeeper Liu is the only son in the family. He and Shopkeeper Zhang only have one son. He was originally raised in his hometown in the countryside, but he died of illness a while ago. It seems that the old man in his hometown also passed away not long after. Now Shopkeeper Zhang is left alone in Jiangcheng."

Wu Mingqiang and Ah Cheng were also quite moved by what they heard. They said, "I never thought that the two shopkeepers, who usually seemed to be kind and honest, would be so unfortunate. No wonder you, young lady, felt so much pity for them."

Gui'er thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you find a man in Jiangcheng who can take charge and have him pretend to be a relative of Manager Liu, and then bring Manager Zhang along. That way it will be more credible. It's not that we don't want to find Manager Liu's relatives, but Manager Liu's family really has no one left."

Wu Mingqiang listened, nodded and said, "Miss, you are thoughtful. I understand."

By this time, the car had arrived near the school. Gui'er was afraid that her classmates would find it strange if they saw her suddenly changing her car to go to school today, so she got off the car there and walked over directly.