A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

When Gui'er returned to the Marshal's Mansion, she saw that the servants in Sha Yanxiao's courtyard were all smiling happily. She felt a little strange and asked Taohua what was wrong.

Taohua said happily, "Today is the day to pay the monthly salary. The salary of ordinary servants here is higher than that of the Song Mansion. It is two yuan a month. I have only been here for a few days and I have also been paid one yuan."

It is truly worthy of being the Marshal's Mansion, so wealthy and powerful. However, Gui'er is not a servant now, but lives here as a guest, so naturally she does not have any monthly salary. Normally, Gui'er should be more conscious and give some food expenses.

But Gui'er's own savings were only twenty or thirty yuan, and even with the small bag given by Tong Yujun, it was only thirty or forty yuan. It was obvious that even if she gave it to others, they might not be interested in it.

Besides, Gui'er wanted to live independently in the future. She wanted to buy a house and save some money, which would cost at least one or two hundred yuan. Now she was spending money with no income, and she was really anxious. She should have told Sha Yanxiao that she was working for him, but her treatment here was almost the same as that of a half-lady in the Song family, and she was too embarrassed to bring up this matter.

At this time, Sha Yanxiao came to her and gave her ten silver dollars. Gui'er quickly said, "I didn't do anything, how could I use your money?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "What can a child like you do? Just grow up peacefully. I'll give you your monthly allowance this time, but tell me how to spend it."

After hearing this, Gui'er felt inexplicably like crying. Everyone was struggling for survival, and no one cared whether she was a child or not. Although Gui'er often felt powerless because she was in this child's body, she had seen with her own eyes children of several years old who had no relatives starving to death on the streets and being loaded onto the body collection truck with forks like objects. She even thought she was lucky.

Gui'er said to Sha Yanxiao, "Thank you, Marshal. I will definitely repay you when I grow up."

Upon hearing this, Sha Yanxiao touched Gui'er's head and said, "Really? I'm really looking forward to it."

In fact, Sha Yanxiao still had some reservations. His childhood experiences made him rather suspicious, but he could not forget the small figure in the school storage room. He was not a young marshal at that time, but just a wanted and desperate bandit. His father was killed by his sworn brothers in the mountain stronghold. He pretended nothing had happened and dropped out of school in Shanghai to return to the mountain stronghold, and followed other bandits to rob and plunder, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge.

As a result, before he could take revenge, the police brought people to suppress the bandits, the stronghold was destroyed, and he became a hunted fugitive. At this time, he knew that he could not clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River. In his desperation, he thought about shooting himself in the head and ending it all.

At this time, a little girl appeared, gave him a handkerchief to bandage his wound, and showed concern for his injury. That person was Guier.

In Sha Yanxiao's eyes at that time, Gui'er was like a little angel, making him feel that he could still hold on a little longer.

Sha Yanxiao touched Gui'er's ear. "Don't meddle in your classmate's matter about her aunt. Those wealthy merchants and gentry are eager to send their young girls to my father as concubines. Aren't they just trying to use my father's power to benefit themselves? My father has many wives and concubines, all from different wealthy families. They fight with each other every day, and it's not uncommon for them to end up in a bloody fight. Don't get yourself involved."

After Sha Yanxiao's advice, Gui'er suddenly realized that although she and Tong Yujun were real friends, and Tong Yujun came to her because she was genuinely worried about her aunt, but in the final analysis, her aunt was just a pawn of the Tong family, and Tong Yujun's father asked his daughter to ask her classmates for help just to get another pawn.

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said to Gui'er, "There's going to be a banquet in the mansion in a few days. It's my father's wedding to his eighth concubine. Tomorrow I'll take you to get a dress made. You can come and attend then."

Gui'er originally didn't want to attend such a banquet, because an orphan like her with no background would easily be bullied, but she didn't want to disappoint Sha Yanxiao, so she nodded obediently and agreed.

A few days later, after school, he returned to the Marshal's residence. As he reached the gate, he suddenly noticed a trembling of heads. There were many people gathered at the gate to watch the excitement. Dali turned around and said to Gui'er, "Miss Gui'er, there are too many people at the door. It seems that they are welcoming the concubine in."

Gui'er said, "Then please pull over and wait for a while."

When she turned around, she actually saw Tong Yujun, so she quickly got out of the car, went up to greet her, and asked, "Why are you here?"

Tong Yujun said, "I'm here to see my aunt off."

At this time, a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties came over. He was wearing a black satin gown, gold-rimmed glasses, and had a slicked-back hair. He gave people a very elegant feeling.

Tong Yujun pointed at the middle-aged man and said, "This is my father."

Gui'er quickly greeted, "Hello, Uncle Tong."

This Boss Tong was no less capable than Master Song, but he seemed much more amiable. He smiled and said to Gui'er, "Mr. Wu, right? I often hear our Yujun mention you. Now that her aunt has married you into the Marshal's Mansion, she'll need your continued care in the future."

Gui'er remembered Sha Yanxiao's words and said quickly, "No, no. Miss Tong is the master of the house after she married into the Marshal's Mansion. I am just a guest living here and I still have to rely on Miss Tong's care." In saying this, she both praised the young lady of the Tong family and avoided the issue of taking care of her.

Boss Tong smiled and said, "No, no, no."

At this moment, Guier noticed a woman in her 40s standing next to Boss Peng, and a young lady of seventeen or eighteen who looked a bit like Tong Yujun. Knowing they must be Boss Tong's wife and eldest daughter, she quickly smiled and nodded, saying, "Hello, Mrs. Tong, Hello, Miss Tong."

Mrs. Tong nodded, but Miss Tong just glanced at Gui'er without saying anything.

Guier smiled awkwardly.

Neither Tong Yujun nor Boss Tong noticed it. They were concentrating on looking at the car in front of them. It was the car with the bride in it. The car had been parked at the gate for a while, and the door had not been opened to let people pass.

There was a large crowd of people gathered around the gate. Gui'er initially thought they were there to watch the fun, but after a closer look, she found that they were all dressed very elegantly, and the women they brought with them were all wearing gold and silver jewelry. They must be famous wealthy businessmen and celebrities in the city.

At this time, a small door next to the main gate opened, and a man who looked like a housekeeper came out. He walked to the side of the car and said a few words to the people inside. Boss Tong hurried over, and the housekeeper said a few words to Boss Tong again.

Then, Boss Tong opened the car door and led Miss Tong, who was wearing a white Western wedding dress, out of the car. The two of them walked in through a small door on the side. Other guests also walked in through the small door one after another.

Gui'er was hesitating whether to go in with the guests when a car suddenly drove up from behind and honked at the main gate. After just two honks, the main gate slowly opened, and the guests who had entered through the side door turned around to look. The back window of the car rolled down, and a delicate young woman poked her head out. It was Sha Lili. She asked the two guards who opened the door, "What's going on? Why are there so many people blocking the entrance?"

The guard said, "Now it's the eighth concubine's turn to enter the family."

Sha Lili rolled her eyes and said, "I thought it was a store delivering goods to our door. The traffic is so tight. Let's go." As she said that, the car drove away.

At this time, Dali also called out: "Miss Guier, let's get in the car and go back."

Gui'er hesitated for a moment, then got in the car and entered through the main gate.