A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The next morning, Sha Yanyao acted as if nothing had happened. He ate breakfast and went to work. His wife also ate a bowl of porridge early in the morning and went to chant sutras.

Jin Bao finished his breakfast, and then when Sha Yanyao and his wife left, he asked Gui'er with concern: "How was the eldest young lady's condition yesterday? I wanted to ask last night, and then I saw you all came back, and sent a maid over, so she must be stable."

Gui'er found her to be quite tactful. She expressed her concern while also making sense of the situation. Without further investigation, she smiled and said, "Yes, I just need to stay for a few days to observe."

After that, they both went to work and school.

After arriving at school and putting down her things, she immediately went to the teacher's office to look for Miss Shen. Because she was in a hurry, she didn't think much about it. When she arrived at the office, she found that there were still many teachers in it and it was not yet time for class.

She had no choice but to stammer, "Teacher Shen, I went to the bookstore to look for the book you mentioned last time, but I couldn't find it. Can you tell me which bookstore you bought it from? Was it Xu's Bookstore?"

When Miss Shen heard about Xu's Bookstore, she immediately understood and said with a smile, "Yes, you can just go buy it after school. I also printed some materials in the printing room, so you can go and get them for me."

When Gui'er heard this, she wondered if he was telling her that Xu Wenjie was in the printing room, so she quickly said, "Okay." Then she turned around and went to the printing room.

Sure enough, Xu Wenjie was inside. Gui'er was quite surprised and greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Xu, why are you at school on weekdays?"

He turned around and saw Gui'er, smiling, "I'm now coming to school semi-openly. After Director Zhou left, Director Tian took over, and anyone he recruited, or anyone even remotely related to him, was marginalized. I'm now just a clerk. There's not much official work to do, and I don't have access to any confidential information. Even my salary has been cut, so I've decided to openly apply for a job as a school worker. This will make my work easier, and I can also earn some extra money."

Gui'er was a little worried and said, "Is this okay? I feel like Director Tian is not someone you can easily mess with."

Xu Wenjie smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not the only one like this. The people in the action team are in even worse shape. The action team leader is out all day earning extra money now. If I continue to be as timid as before, it will only make me look suspicious. Besides, I really need money. I plan to propose to your sister Feng Shu's mother later. As you know, Mrs. Shen is a person who cares about face. We'll have to hold a wedding banquet and other things, which will cost a lot of money."

After hearing this, Gui'er said happily: "You are finally getting married? Congratulations." Then she thought of Song Tingting and Sha Yanyao. They were afraid that their current situation would not be better. It was really a changing world.

Xu Wenjie said, "You came to see me, is there something wrong?"

Gui'er quickly said, "Yes, that's what happened. I asked Wu Mingqiang to invite Shopkeeper Zhang over, and I also found someone to pretend to be Shopkeeper Liu's brother, hoping to use some connections to rescue Shopkeeper Liu. But after Sha Yanyao contacted Director Tian, he said he was demanding 80 gold bars. I really didn't know where to get that much gold, so I wanted to see what the organization thought."

Xu Wenjie was shocked when he heard this: "It's so expensive! Director Tian acts like he's devoted to his country and his people, just like Director Zhou." He frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "I can't make up my mind. I'll report this to my superiors later."

Gui Er also knew that Xu Wenjie would not be able to take out so many gold bars, and he would definitely have to ask for permission from his superiors. So he said, "Okay." Then, he said, "Sister Feng Shu asked me to come over and get the information she printed."

Xu Wenjie smiled and said, "It's just a cover-up." Then he handed her a stack of test papers.

When she turned around and was about to reach the door, Xu Wenjie stopped her again and said, "There's something I need to tell you. I saw Sha Yanyao appear in our office. I wonder if Director Tian is going to take him over?"

Gui Er was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that Sha Yanyao knew that she had called Zhang over, so she said, "No wonder he knew I had called Zhang over, but didn't know I had someone impersonate Liu's brother. Is he really going to be a spy?"

Xu Wenjie said, "That's hard to say. However, if he wants power, Director Tian's office is indeed much better than the administrative department. After all, it has direct access to the top. But you should be more careful when talking to Sha Yanyao in the future, and don't let him catch anything."

Guier nodded and said, "I understand." Then she took the information and left.

After learning that Sha Yanyao might become a spy, Gui'er felt a little complicated. In her mind, Sha Yanyao was an extremely complicated person, but he was still tolerable to her. She was very disgusted with spies, and Sha Yanyao had also suffered greatly from them. She did not expect Sha Yanyao to become a spy. In the future, the two of them might become enemies fighting to the death.

Back in the classroom, Gui'er was preparing for class when Zhou Huifang suddenly said to her, "I heard our teacher is getting married. Did you know?"

Gui'er didn't react immediately and said, "Who is it?"

Zhou Huifang said, "It's our teacher Shen. She's such a close friend of yours, how could she not tell you?"

Gui'er was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening. She smiled and said, "Hasn't she always had a boyfriend? That's normal. It's the former bookstore owner. Didn't he originally work for your uncle?"

Zhou Huifang nodded and said, "Yes, but after my uncle passed away, I heard that the new director left all those people aside. I guess they don't have much future. Also, after my uncle passed away, I heard that several of his former capable subordinates had to take over more work to make money. Maybe they will be fired at any time."

Gui'er then remembered that Zhou Huifang had once liked Xu Wenjie. Thinking she was sad, she said, "He's about the same age as Teacher Shen, much older than us. It's normal for them to be together. If they find someone too young, they might not even be compatible."

Zhou Huifang glanced at Gui'er and said, "That's right. I used to think he was quite nice, but now he seems to be just an ordinary man. You know what? He's now broke and has come to our school to work as a janitor. At first it was part-time, but recently he's only been here half a day. If he gets fired, he might be here all day. Our janitors' wages are very low, only two silver dollars a month. What can you do with that?"