A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The Marshal smiled and waved his hands. He was about to explain, but was interrupted by the Eighth Concubine beside him: "Oh, you guys, the Marshal is thinking about everyone. This is the fallback plan the Marshal left for everyone, in case we have nowhere to go after we lose the war, so we ship our things there. If we really lose the war, we can all go to Hong Kong and start over." After hearing this, everyone suddenly realized.

Gui'er felt very upset after hearing this. At that time, Hong Kong had been leased to Britain. She didn't know where her things would end up after they went there. She felt like she had worked so hard but in vain.

At the banquet, the Duanmu family could not wait to ask the Marshal to fulfill his promise. The Marshal had agreed to marry his daughter, and now, in his joy, he seemed to have forgotten the acting agreement he had made with Gui'er and happily agreed.

Gui'er heard this and almost fainted from anger.

Sha Yanxiao said again, "Chinese New Year is just a few days away. I'm not sure if there will be any conflicts with the date. I need to find a fortune teller to calculate the engagement date."

After finishing the banquet and returning to the courtyard, Sha Yanxiao said to Gui'er, "Don't worry, I will secretly bribe the fortune teller to delay for a while so that we can find an excuse to refuse."

The next day, a fortune teller was called to the Marshal's Mansion. Gui'er saw that he had a youthful face and white hair, and he looked quite realistic in his long robe. The fortune teller asked about Gui'er and Duanmu Heng's birth dates. Gui'er's birth dates were just made up, and she didn't know them herself, nor did she ask Wu Dafu, Wu Dahua and others.

The fortune teller took the two birth charts, counted them on his fingers, and then looked at the book. Then, frowning, he said, "Oh, your daughter's birth chart indicates a life of wealth and prosperity, endless blessings and luck. Everything will turn misfortune into good fortune. It's truly invaluable. But it's strange. I predicted that your daughter was born in a time of peace and prosperity. What's going on?"

Sha Yanxiao frowned and said, "We asked you to come back to calculate the date, not to tell your fortune."

The fortune teller nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, okay, let me take a look. Hmm... a good date must be after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, so that the couple can grow old together. Otherwise, it will be bad for the woman's family. If you want good luck for both families, why not set the date after the sixteenth day of the first lunar month?"

Mrs. Duanmu quickly said, "It's a new era now. Who still believes in these feudal superstitions?"

The fourth concubine said quickly: "That's not the case. It's better to believe it than not. Besides, it's almost the New Year, and it won't be a big deal during this period. If what he said is true, it will implicate us. I won't agree." After hearing this, the other concubines also said that they would wait until after the New Year to talk about it, otherwise they were afraid of getting themselves into trouble.

The Marshal was actually a superstitious person, so he agreed with her and said, "Let's get engaged after the New Year."

The Duanmu family had nothing to say, and Guier felt temporarily relieved.

As for the mine, although the Marshal verbally agreed, he kept procrastinating and did not actually hand it over to the Duanmu family. The Duanmu family had no choice but to let Duanmu Heng come to harass Gui'er every day.

Duanmu Heng kept pestering Gui'er all day, constantly asking her to help convince the Marshal to fulfill his promise as soon as possible. Gui'er was exhausted by his pestering and felt very depressed. When the young Marshal Sha Yanxiao saw Duanmu Heng pestering Gui'er like this, he became even more furious. Every time he saw Duanmu Heng, his face was dark, and he wanted to kick him out.

That day, Duanmu Heng clung to Gui'er like a piece of taffy, chattering incessantly in the garden. Gui'er suppressed her impatience and gave him a perfunctory response.

Sha Yanxiao saw this from afar, his face darkened, and he strode over and said coldly to Duanmu Heng, "Master Duanmu, Gui'er is not feeling well today and needs to rest. Please come back another day."

Although Duanmu Heng was dissatisfied, he couldn't get angry and could only say goodbye awkwardly. Looking at Duanmu Heng's departing figure, Sha Yanxiao turned to look at Gui'er and said with a distressed face: "Guier, you have suffered a lot. This Duanmu Heng is really annoying. Wait until the New Year to see how I will deal with him."

Guier smiled helplessly, "Brother, it's okay, I can handle it. It's just that Father has been entangled with the Duanmu family, which is really worrying. Didn't he say before that he would find a reason to refuse it after getting the things? Anyway, they are now on our territory, what can they do to us?"

Sha Yanxiao frowned, a trace of worry flashing in his eyes: "Yeah, I don't know what my father's intention is."

Yet, amidst this uncertainty, the New Year still arrived. On the 28th day of the lunar year, every household cleaned the house and pasted up the windows, children jumped around clutching candied melons, and vendors filled the street corners with red paper and firecrackers.

On New Year's Eve, under kerosene lamps, housewives wrapped in blue aprons made dumplings while men set up incense tables in the courtyard to pay homage to their ancestors. At midnight, firecrackers exploded like thunder, and scattered fireworks lit up the night sky, illuminating the blue tiles and white walls. On New Year's Day, the streets were filled with the aroma of cured meat. Elders in long gowns brought their grandchildren to pay New Year's greetings, while women in cheongsams wore silk flowers in their hair. Neighbors exchanged greetings of "congratulations and prosperity." In front of the City God Temple, dragon dances danced to the beat of gongs and drums, and candied haws stalls filled with laughing children. The entire town was immersed in the warm atmosphere of fireworks.

In the past two years, due to the turbulent times, fewer people went to Shanghai, which made the small city of Jiangcheng lively. Various wealthy chambers of commerce contributed money to organize activities, some performed lion dances, some performed dragon dances, and some opened porridge factories and distributed New Year candies in order to accumulate good karma and gain a good reputation. In this way, those vagrants and poor families could also share in the joy of the New Year.

The Marshal, Sha Yanxiao, and Sha Yanyao had more and more social engagements, attending one event after another. Their photos appeared in the newspapers every day. There was the Spring Festival Gala, the New Year charity sale, the military entertainment, the women's club, and so on.

For some reason, Sha Yanxiao, the Marshal, his wife, and Sha Yanyao all brought Gui'er with them to participate in charity events such as the USO and the Women's Charity Sale.

The fourth concubine was so envious that her teeth were itching. She felt that such an appearance showed that the Marshal's Mansion valued Gui'er. Gui'er also felt very strange because she had never had to attend these activities before.

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "It's nothing special, actually. We can't go out of town for the New Year, right? I was worried you'd be bored at home, so I decided to bring you out for some activities. You're an adult now, so it's okay to show your face. Otherwise, people won't recognize you and end up getting hurt."

Gui'er still didn't like to show her face, so later she simply brought Sha Lili along. The Fourth Concubine was very happy with her and dressed Sha Lili up like a doll every time. Everyone's attention was attracted by her and they asked about her. However, they lost interest after knowing that Sha Lili was already engaged.