A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er tried her best to persuade Taohua, and finally calmed her down and let her go back.

Duanmu Heng hadn't come to see her these past few days. I don't know if it was because of the time when he was caught visiting a brothel, and he was certain that the Marshal would marry Gui'er to him, so he had given up. Sometimes when Gui'er was returning from helping at Zhenxiufang, or on the way to Zhenxiufang, she would pass by Xiuchuntang, and the two would even meet at the door.

But after a few seconds of awkwardness, Duanmu Heng greeted Gui'er very naturally, still as polite as ever, and said with a smile: "I came here with a few friends to eat, recite poems and write couplets. I originally wanted to bring you along, but you definitely wouldn't like to come to a place like this, so forget it."

Gui'er also smiled and said, "I see. Then you guys have fun."

Duanmu Heng said happily: "Miss Gui'er is worthy of being from the Marshal's Mansion. She has a noble demeanor and is not as sharp and stingy as those from small families."

Guier smiled and left without saying anything else. She could now understand what an arranged marriage was like. There was no emotion involved at all.

When I returned to the Marshal's Mansion that day, I heard the steward say, "The young master went to Fengcheng. He said he would be back today, but it would be late. Let the young lady eat first."

Gui'er nodded, and the servants set the table. After Gui'er had a quick meal, she sat in the living room reading the newspaper while waiting for Sha Yanxiao to come back.

"Seventh Concubine, why are you here?" It was the voice of the person in charge of the courtyard.

Gui'er turned around and saw the Seventh Concubine walking in gracefully. She was very surprised. Neither she nor Sha Yanxiao had much interaction with the Seventh Concubine. Why would she suddenly come to visit?

"How come Seventh Aunt has time to come here? Please come in and sit down. Go and make tea for Seventh Aunt." Gui'er still entertained her politely.

The Seventh Concubine looked a little strange. She had a smile on her face, but she seemed a little flustered and hurried when she walked in. Then, as soon as she sat down, she said, "Guier, your brother is not here?"

"Oh, brother, he went to Fengcheng, but I heard that he came back and forth on the same day, so he should be back soon." Gui'er thought she came to find Sha Yanxiao and was a little puzzled. Could it be that she wanted Sha Yanxiao to do something?

The Marshal is a very suspicious person. The women in the Marshal's Mansion are very taboo about having private contact with the men in the mansion. Even when the Fourth Concubine wants to find Sha Yanxiao for something, she asks Gui'er or Sha Lili to hint at it through their usual interactions, like chatting about family matters. This time, the Seventh Concubine suddenly came to visit, could it be that there is something urgent?

The Seventh Concubine was not usually good at socializing, and she was not good at putting on airs. She sat there with an uneasy look on her face. Gui Er thought for a moment and said to the servants, "You guys go away first. I'll chat with the Seventh Concubine about family matters."

As soon as the servants left, the Seventh Concubine suddenly said hurriedly: "Taohua, Taohua has been called to the Marshal's place."

"Ah?" Gui'er didn't react for a moment.

"I said Taohua went to the Marshal." The seventh concubine said it again anxiously.

"Oh, is there something that Third Concubine wants to tell Father?"

"No, Taohua went there alone. When the Marshal wanted me, he asked me to go to his room and then forced me to submit. There was an old maid in the Third Concubine's courtyard who used to take good care of me. She had heard that the Marshal and the Third Concubine had asked for Taohua, so she told me. I watched you two grow up, and I couldn't bear to see my tragedy happen to you two again. But now that the Young Marshal is not here, what should I do?"

Now Gui'er finally understood. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She stood up quickly, smiled, and said loudly to the Seventh Concubine: "It turned out that it was the Eighth Concubine who asked you to come over. Please tell her that I will be back soon." Then she whispered: "You go back first, I will handle it." Then she called the servants and asked them to send the Seventh Concubine back to the courtyard.

The Seventh Concubine was willing to take the risk and tell me the secret, which was already very righteous. I can't let her be implicated anymore.

The seventh concubine opened her mouth but said nothing. She sighed and left.

Guier turned and ran to her room, took out her pocket pistol, checked that the bullet was loaded, and then hid it in her sleeve.

After going downstairs, I walked out. Dingxiang came over and said, "Miss, where are you going?"

Gui Er smiled and said, "I'm going to go visit the Eighth Concubine. You can stay in the courtyard."

Then he hurried to the main house. As soon as he entered the main courtyard, the steward came out to greet him and said with a smile, "Miss Gui'er, do you want to see the Marshal? He is busy now and said he doesn't want to see anyone."

Gui'er was anxious inside, but she kept a smile on her face and said, "That's strange. He asked someone to call me over, saying he had something urgent to talk to me about. He also said he had called Taohua. I thought if he was looking for us sisters alone, it must be something important. Which room is he in?"

The steward wanted to stop him, but after hearing this, he seemed a little confused and said hesitantly, "The Marshal is in the study."

Gui'er smiled and said, "Okay, I got it." Then she turned around and walked slowly towards the study.

The main room is a little different today than usual. The Marshal likes to be able to find someone at any time if anything happens. Usually, there is a servant here and a boy there standing on standby, but today it is quiet and there is no one.

Gui'er knew something was wrong, so she quickened her pace. When she reached the study door, she heard a faint sound coming from inside. She didn't care about anything else and reached out to push the door.

The door of the study was not locked. Two people were seen rolling on the ground. Taohua was pinned underneath. Dashuai held her wrists on the ground with one hand and unbuckled his belt with the other hand. Taohua's clothes had been torn, revealing her white breasts.

Gui'er felt her brain was congested. She rushed forward, picked up the ashtray on the study table, and clamped the Marshal's head hard from behind.

When the first blow was made, the Marshal stopped, turned his head, and had a ferocious expression on his face.

Gui'er became even more frightened and hit him twice more. Finally, the Marshal tilted his head and fell on Taohua.

Guier quickly put down the ashtray and ran over to pull Taohua out from under the Marshal.

Her underwear was also torn. The thick material of her coat was not torn, but the buttons were torn off and her autumn pants were taken off. Her underwear was still on. There were several bright red scratches on her chest, slap marks on her face, and the corners of her mouth were broken. She was trembling and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Gui'er felt very distressed and quickly helped her put on her clothes. She turned around to look at the Marshal and found that he had just fainted. But it was hard to say. The ashtray was made of porcelain, a large cloisonné square, ten centimeters long and wide. It was difficult to estimate what kind of damage it would cause.