A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Sha Yanxiao understood what Mrs. Shen meant and cleverly avoided the subject, saying with a smile, "Mrs. Shen, the house deeds and land deeds are all in Nanjing. That Japanese man, Mitsui, is out of reach, so we had to give them up first. We are still trying to recover the other property, but we don't know what the outcome will be. My father said that it might be in vain. But of course we will get the land deeds back first."

After hearing this, Mrs. Shen didn't dare to ask any more questions, so she could only say, "Then I'll have to trouble the Marshal's Mansion. The Marshal is really a man of great righteousness, and it's no wonder that Old Shen considers him her best friend." In fact, these were just polite words.

After that, they sat there and chatted for a while. The Shen family was naturally very enthusiastic. Sha Yanxiao also asked them to take care of Guier, and the Shen family agreed immediately.

After leaving the Shen family, Gui'er asked curiously, "Second brother, what happened to the treasure?"

Sha Yanxiao said, "Gui'er, you don't know, Mitsui is really difficult to deal with. Father found an American businessman to negotiate with him, and after a lot of twists and turns, Mitsui finally relented. But how to get those things back is another problem. Because the amount is huge, father and I are worried that something might happen along the way."

Gui'er was very happy to hear this and said, "That's great! We finally got some national treasures back from the Japanese. You guys are really amazing!"

Sha Yanxiao looked at Gui'er's happy expression and started laughing too.

The next day was Sunday, and Sha Yanxiao deliberately delayed his return to Jiangcheng for a day and took Guier to travel around Nanjing.

Gui'er was very happy. She had been in Nanjing for so long but had never had enough fun. She usually had to be cautious when living with her eldest family, but she didn't have to be so careful when she was with Sha Yanxiao. She felt that she had a little bit of a family feeling with Sha Yanxiao.

After Sha Yanxiao returned, the Sha family wanted to arrange to move. Madam and Sha Yanyao took the house deed and led the whole family to look at the house.

It was a three-story villa with a large courtyard. From a distance, it seemed to blend Chinese and Western architectural styles, combining elegance and practicality. Red walls and black tiles were paired with arched doors and windows, and carved columns and geometric lines complemented each other perfectly.

But when I entered, I found that there were actually tenants living there. There were several families living on one floor. However, because Director Shen had passed away for more than a year, those people had not paid the rent. Some of them even built sheds in the yard and occupied land without permission. The corridor was filled with all kinds of sundries, and the whole courtyard looked like it had 72 tenants.

When the tenants saw the Sha family coming with the land deeds, they all hesitated.

The lady was very angry and loudly asked those people for the rent. As a result, the tenants all said that Director Shen had asked someone else to collect the rent from them before.

Sha Yanyao said with a sullen face, "Director Shen has been dead for a long time. This house belongs to me now. I don't care who you paid rent to before. You must move out within a few days and restore the damaged items to their original state. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."

Gui'er took a look and found that Director Shen was very selective about the tenants when renting out the house. They were all small employees, dancers, and even teachers from Gui'er's school.

The teacher also recognized Gui'er and approached her, saying, "Guier, how did your family get this house? We've been paying the rent, and the contract hasn't expired yet."

Gui'er knew immediately that it must be the middleman commissioned by Director Shen who, seeing Director Shen's death, had lost the rent. She whispered to the teacher, "Teacher, you must have been scammed by the middleman. The original owner of this house has been dead for a long time. My eldest brother obtained this house through legal means. You should go to the middleman and tell the other tenants to stop making trouble, because my eldest brother works for the Revolutionary Committee."

When the teacher heard this, his expression changed. He nodded unnaturally, turned around, and quietly walked into his room without getting involved in the argument with others, Sha Yanyao, and his wife.

Seeing that these tenants from lower-class backgrounds were having a hard time, Gui'er walked over to Sha Yanyao and whispered, "Brother, why don't you check which middleman Director Shen hired to rent the house? Mrs. and Miss Shen don't even know this house exists, so they definitely haven't collected any rent in the past two years. We can then ask the middleman to return the rent and get another payout."

Sha Yanyao glanced at Gui'er, thought for a moment, and then smiled and said to the angry tenants, "I understand. But since you have paid the rent to that person, please show us the evidence."

Some tenants immediately went back to their rooms to get the receipts, but some were evasive and secretive. It was obvious that the middleman was negligent in management, and some people moved in secretly and did not pay rent at all.

Sha Yanyao got the middleman's phone number, address, and name from the bill, and then left with his whole family.

Back at the Sha Mansion, the wife said dejectedly, "We finally managed to get a house, but it still caused so much trouble. I saw how those people had made the house look so shabby. It's really outrageous. And Old Shen is no exception. He actually created such a mess for us. He deserves to die."

Miss Tian smiled and comforted her, "Don't worry, mother. These are minor issues. Have you forgotten where Yan Yao and my uncle work? It'll only take a few minutes to deal with them. My sister's idea is better. Find that middleman and get back the rental income we've earned over the past two years. It will be another source of income."

The lady's face looked a little better after hearing this. Sure enough, a few days later, she heard that the problem had been solved and the middleman had been caught. He was forced to return the rent he had collected before. Those tenants who had moved in without paying rent were also asked to pay the rent again. If they were unwilling, they would find any reason to arrest them. After all, this was the strength of the secret service. Within a few days, all the tenants were scared and moved out. Some tenants moved out overnight before their contracts expired.

Sha Yanyao used the rent he recovered and arranged for people to repair the house. However, it was said that the cost was not that much, and he still made a profit. Madam and Miss Tian were very satisfied, and Guier's monthly allowance was restored.

Gui'er told Miss Shen about this matter and said that if she took over Director Shen, if other properties encountered similar problems, she could ask Sha Yanyao to resolve them.

Miss Shen smiled and said, "Actually, the property Madam has chosen is the most valuable and largest of my father's properties. The others are small suites and small storefronts. This problem doesn't exist. Wenjie and I have already sorted them out. I have set aside several storefronts as venues for our underground activities, which has alleviated our financial constraints to a certain extent."

After hearing this, Gui Er felt very ashamed and said awkwardly, "It's all because my family took the property your father left you."

Miss Shen smiled and shook her head, saying, "Gui'er, this has nothing to do with you. Besides, don't you think you are not a family with them?"