A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

As soon as they entered the house, Taohua came to greet them. Shopkeepers Zhang and Liu were also there. Song Xichen said, "I've already asked my men to notify your two brothers to take their families back home first. We don't know what the situation is at the Marshal's Mansion right now. The Marshal is the chief commander of Jiangcheng. If anything happens to him, even if the entire city isn't under martial law, they will definitely set up checkpoints at all the exits. It's best not to risk leaving the city. Let's observe first."

Gui'er thought it made sense, and she said with shame, "I'm sorry for causing trouble for Shopkeepers Zhang and Liu. Brother Xichen, if you hid us here and we were discovered, we'd probably be in trouble too."

Song Xichen smiled and said, "Don't think too much. This is what we should do."

Shopkeeper Zhang also hurried over and said to Gui'er, "Don't worry, we've put up a sign outside saying we're going back to our hometown to celebrate the Lantern Festival, so we have a legitimate reason. We can still go back when the time comes."

Gui'er felt a little relieved. She thought about the whole thing and felt that there should be no mistakes in her operation.

Song Xichen said to Gui'er and the others, "It's getting late now, so let's call it a day. You all should get some rest. I've left two of my men on the first floor to help keep an eye on things. If you need anything, you can ask them to run errands. I'll wait until tomorrow morning to observe as a patrol officer and see if there's anything we can say."

Taohua said timidly, "Song, Master Song, I really thank you this time. I didn't expect that Gui'er and I had been away from the Song family for so long, and you were still willing to help me. I don't know how to repay you."

Song Xichen smiled, glanced at Gui'er, and said, "You're welcome, go to bed early." Then he turned and walked out.

Shopkeeper Zhang said to Gui'er and Taohua, "You two must be exhausted after running around so long. Go and rest early. I'm staying in the shop, so I packed some clothes and brought them here. If you need a change of clothes, you can wear mine first; they might be a little big."

Guier smiled and said, "No need. I just changed my clothes before coming out. But I am a little tired. Let's go and rest for a while."

As he said that, he wanted to take Taohua to find a room to rest.

Suddenly I heard footsteps and turned around to see Song Xichen coming back. I was wondering, but I found that he was walking in with his hands raised high and an expressionless face.

Gui'er's heart skipped a beat and she reached for her gun, only to remember that she had given the pocket pistol to Taohua.

Shopkeeper Liu also sensed something was wrong and quickly reached into his pocket to pull out a gun.

"Don't move." A familiar voice came from the corner of his mouth. Sha Yanxiao walked in while pointing a gun at Song Xichen.

Dali led a group of soldiers out from behind Sha Yanxiao and surrounded the entire living room. They searched every room upstairs and downstairs, then returned, stood at attention, saluted, and reported, "Young Marshal, everyone in the room is here."

"Take away his gun." Sha Yanxiao pointed at Manager Liu.

Sha Yanxiao brought about a dozen or twenty soldiers, all armed with live ammunition. Manager Liu's small pistol was of no use, so he had to hand it over obediently.

Gui'er widened her eyes. She didn't expect to be found so quickly. Taohua hid behind her, trembling all over.

She thought about it and realized that she couldn't win the fight now, so she had to play the emotional card.

Gui'er fell to her knees with a plop, then crawled to Sha Yanxiao's feet and hugged his thighs, crying, "Brother, I know I was wrong, but I have no choice. Father wanted to use force on Taohua, and you know how miserable the Seventh Concubine was. I couldn't let her follow in her footsteps. In desperation, I had to hit him on the head with the ashtray. I didn't mean to hurt him. Wuuuuuuu."

Sha Yanxiao helped her up, and Gui'er took the opportunity to hug his waist, still crying: "Wuwuwu, if the government wants to hold me responsible, wuwuwu, just take me back. Don't take Taohua back with you, and don't implicate the people here, okay? They were all implicated because they helped me, wuwuwu."

Taohua also knelt down and started crying.

Sha Yanxiao stroked Gui'er's head, sighed, and said, "Why can't you just wait for me to come back? Don't you trust me?"

Gui Er raised her red, tear-stained face and breathlessly said, "Of course I trust you, but I'm afraid I won't be able to wait for you to come back. That former Eighth Concubine was shot by Father for saying something wrong. Sob."

Sha Yanxiao hugged her with a bit of heartache and said, "It's okay, it's okay, I'm back now, right? Don't cry, you're almost crying yourself to death."

Gui'er heard Sha Yanxiao's soft tone and thought he might be able to get away with it, so she stopped crying, but tears still fell. She asked cautiously, "Is my father seriously injured? Is he angry with me?"

Sha Yanxiao took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears while saying, "You knocked him unconscious. Luckily, Butler Zhao found him in time and sent him to a hospital with a foreign doctor. He was diagnosed with a mild concussion, but they told everyone he fell on his own."

Gui'er heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. If that was the case, then neither she nor Taohua would be held responsible. She raised her head and looked at Sha Yanxiao with tears in her eyes: "So what should we do now?"

Sha Yanxiao turned to Shopkeepers Zhang and Liu and said, "Our two little girls are causing you trouble. This is our family matter, so let us handle it ourselves."

Shopkeeper Zhang and Shopkeeper Liu looked at each other. Shopkeeper Liu said, "Young Marshal, I know we are indeed meddling in this matter, but Gui'er is also a child we have watched grow up, and we don't want anything to happen to her."

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "You two can rest assured. I will never let her suffer any injustice. Please go back first. I just don't want anyone outside to know about this matter."

Shopkeeper Liu quickly said, "Young Marshal, don't worry. We're not the kind of people who would meddle in other people's business." He glanced at Song Xichen, who nodded slightly. Shopkeeper Liu then said, "Then we'll be leaving first." He then took Shopkeeper Zhang's hand, took two steps outside, and turned back to Sha Yanxiao, "Um, my gun..."

Gui'er's heart suddenly rose to her throat, and she secretly groaned in her heart. A gun could be sold for hundreds of silver dollars on the black market. Manager Liu might not be willing to part with it. However, it was too abnormal for him, a drugstore owner who had almost gone bankrupt, to have such a gun. But she had no choice but to remind Manager Liu here.

Sure enough, Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "I never thought that Manager Liu would carry a gun with him. Is he worried about the security in Jiangcheng?"

Shopkeeper Liu finally realized what was happening. He was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Hey! Isn't it true that once bitten by a snake, one becomes afraid of ropes for ten years? Ever since I went to Nanjing and was arrested for no reason and had my leg broken, I've been haunted. Business is good this year, so I have some surplus, but I have to go out to buy medicine soon, so I thought about getting a gun. If I encounter something like that again, I can take it out and wave it around. Maybe I can calm the situation down."