A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Soon the school was on vacation. In order to attend Director Wang's son's full moon banquet and wait for Sha Yanyao's work unit to be on vacation, Gui'er did not return to Jiangcheng right away.

Since she didn't have to go to school, Gui'er was allowed to wander around a bit. Every day, she either went to Xu Wenjie's bookstore or to Miss Shen's house. Ever since Miss Tian gave Gui'er a pair of watches at the wedding banquet, the relationship between the two families seemed to have eased a bit. Mrs. Shen would occasionally ask how Madam was doing. Gui'er would tell Madam, and Madam would ask Gui'er to check in. After a few visits, Madam finally went over with Gui'er, bringing a box of donkey-hide gelatin, saying it was for Miss Shen's health so that she could have a grandson soon. The relationship between the two families had finally eased a bit.

After Sha Yanyao found out, he was quite happy and said, "This is good too. They are an orphan and a widow, so having a man come into their home will help them take care of themselves."

Miss Tian also echoed the sentiment. Her virtue and generosity won her the favor of the whole family. Now everyone regarded her as the eldest lady of the Sha family and only hoped that she would marry into the family soon.

Finally, the day of Director Wang's baby's full moon banquet arrived. Director Wang's house was decorated with lights and his wife brought the whole family to the event. In fact, as a stepmother, she did a very good job this time. In Yulan's house, just one or two days after the baby was born, she brought milk, eggs and other things and took Guier to visit her.

This time, she brought out all the gold, silver, and jewelry she had specially crafted for Yulan, opened them, and presented them to her in front of all her relatives and friends. She also hung a longevity lock around the baby's neck. The entire room of friends and family praised the baby, saying that the madam was practically their own child. Director Wang was also delighted, shaking Sha Yanyao's hand and exchanging greetings in a brotherly manner.

It was obvious that Director Wang valued this young son very much. In front of the mansion, red silk hung from the door beam, and firecracker debris covered the ground in red.

Guests arrived one after another, including colleagues from the government and prominent families. Even Director Tian came to celebrate with his family.

Inside the banquet hall, carved beams and painted rafters filled the mahogany tables and chairs with delicacies. On the long table, steaming moon-shaped noodles rose, symbolizing the child's long life. Director Wang, dressed in a long gown and a mandarin jacket, beamed with joy as he greeted the guests. Yulan, dressed in an exquisite qipao and adorned with the jewelry her wife had recently gifted her, looked beaming with happiness. A wet nurse stood beside her, cradling the child. Guests occasionally came to check on the child, and she handled them with ease, the demeanor of a hostess.

The ceremony began with the invited barber skillfully shaving the baby's hair, leaving only a tuft on the crown to symbolize protection. Director Wang's wife also emerged and tremblingly placed a golden lock on the great-grandson's head, muttering, "May my great-grandson live a long life, be prosperous and healthy, and have many children."

Guier heard someone nearby say, "This is Director Wang's grandmother. She rarely comes out. It seems their family has only one son for generations. As long as they give birth to a boy, they don't care if it's a cat or a dog. Not to mention that Director Wang's mother is gone now. Now, this Mrs. Wang has truly become the head of the family."

Director Wang's eldest daughter went to the same school as Gui'er, but they usually had no contact. She stood far away and watched all this with a complicated expression. Gui'er actually felt quite sympathetic towards her, but didn't know what to say.

Amid the guests' cheers, Director Wang raised his glass to express his gratitude. The guests stood up one after another, making the scene even more lively.

Although Gui'er is from the bride's family, she is relatively marginal and deliberately keeps a low profile, putting herself in an inconspicuous position so that she can observe a lot of gossip about the people around her. She noticed that there were always whispers in the crowd, and her eyes would fall on Yulan from time to time.

"I heard that she was a prostitute before, but she was able to get into the house."

"Director Wang is truly incredible, leaving behind his three daughters and marrying someone new."

"What do you know? No matter what, we have to continue the family line. I heard that this girl was saved by the old lady of the Sha Mansion. She is also a miserable person, not the kind of fickle person. If you ask me, this Sha Mansion is worthy of being a wealthy family with integrity. Look at Miss Tian, who was open and had so many romantic affairs in the past, and they can accept it, right?"

Gui'er's heart skipped a beat when she heard this. She pretended to look away, but secretly glanced at the person who said this.

He was a man about 40 years old, wearing a well-cut navy blue silk gown. His face was greasy, with some sagging flesh on his face and drooping eyelids. Although he was fat, he did not look healthy. The two small eyeballs in his triangular eyes were wandering around the female guests at the banquet all night. Needless to say, he was a pervert.

After that, Guier paid special attention to their conversation, but after listening for a whole night, the group did not bring the topic back to Miss Tian.

Gui'er wasn't particularly concerned about Sha Yanyao, but she was always curious. She quietly approached Yulan, teased the baby, and then whispered to her, "Sister Yulan, who is that man in the navy blue gown sitting over there?"

Yulan poked her head out, took a look, and said, "Oh, that guy. He used to work with your brother-in-law. I think he's now a middling director in some Nanjing Officer Corps. He wanted to curry favor with your brother-in-law, so we didn't want to invite him, but he insisted on coming. He didn't bother you, did he? He's a very bad guy. He hangs out in brothels all day. He has no money, but he wants to take advantage of people. Even the prostitutes don't want to pay attention to him."

Gui'er took another look and whispered in Yulan's ear, "He didn't harass me, but I just heard him gossiping about Miss Tian to others. You know Miss Tian is already engaged to my eldest brother, so if anything bad gets spread, it will be troublesome."

Yulan heard this and said, "Really? There's such a thing. I'll talk to your brother-in-law and ask him to stop spouting nonsense."

Gui'er felt a little relieved.

After attending Yulan's son's full moon banquet, the family waited for Sha Yanyao's vacation and then returned to Jiangcheng.

That day, Gui Er had just returned to the Sha Mansion after a stroll from Miss Shen's house when her mistress said to her, "A classmate just called and said she wants to invite you to her engagement party. What classmate are you? Isn't this just another expense?"

Guier knew it was Zhou Huifang the moment she heard it. Her engagement party with Mr. Han should be in the next few days. She quickly said, "She's the niece of the former Director Zhou. We were quite close friends at school."

When the wife heard this, she said angrily, "You're crazy. You don't know how much harm they've done to us, and you're still giving them money."

Guier said cautiously, "Her family is not on the same side as Director Zhou. Her father is actually working with my eldest brother on that committee now."