A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

When Gui'er returned to Sha Yanxiao's yard, she saw Sha Yanxiao resting with his eyes closed.

Guier walked over quietly and sat next to him.

Sha Yanxiao sensed her breath, opened his eyes tiredly and said, "Where have you been? I've been busy these past two days and haven't had time to take care of you."

Gui'er looked around and saw no one else. She whispered in Sha Yanxiao's ear, "Brother, I just went to see Father again. I found a chance to quietly feel his pulse, and it felt relatively calm, not like a dangerous or life-threatening condition. I asked the doctor, and he said he's in good health and will recover within a few months. But Father's condition seems very serious. I suspect he's not that serious and is just pretending to be."

Sha Yanxiao was stunned for a moment after hearing this. He widened his eyes and asked Gui'er, "Are you serious?"

Although Gui'er had been studying medicine with Shopkeeper Liu, she only listened from the side when dealing with critically ill patients. Shopkeeper Liu would occasionally ask her to feel the patient's pulse and then explain things to her, so she wasn't entirely sure what to do. She said uncertainly, "I secretly took the Marshal's pulse according to what Shopkeeper Liu taught me. I also observed that while the doctor was treating him, he was secretly looking at me. As soon as I looked up, he looked away. This at least shows that he has independent consciousness."

Sha Yanxiao rolled his eyes, touched Gui'er's head, stood up and walked out. Gui'er knew that he was going to the main courtyard, so she hurriedly followed him.

They returned to the main courtyard. The doctor had left, but the concubines had come. There were the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh concubines, all with their children. The Marshal's bedroom suddenly became noisy. Under normal circumstances, these women would not dare to make such a noise, but now, the Marshal could not speak or move, so they didn't care. They said caring words and discussed noisily, which sounded more like gossip.

The fourth concubine stepped forward to observe the Marshal's condition, then sighed, shook her head, and forced out two tears. She said, "Marshal, please get well soon. Our children's weddings are still waiting for you to preside over them."

Sha Yanwen and Sha Lili also stepped forward and greeted the Marshal politely. Guier was a little impressed by the Fourth Concubine. Both she and her children did a very good job. Even if the Marshal was pretending now, there was no fault to be found in her.

The fifth and sixth concubines were a little agitated. They were holding their heads high and anxiously questioning the nurses who stayed behind to take care of him: "How did you take care of the Marshal? Why is he still like this after two days? There's no improvement at all. You must be lazy and not doing your best, right?"

The nurse quietly defended, "The Marshal suffered a stroke and will not recover quickly. We need to observe him slowly and then treat him accordingly."

"Tsk, don't think I don't know your hospital's tricks. You just want to delay the patients so that you can keep making money from us. You're mistaken. We are the Marshal's Mansion. If the Marshal doesn't get better, we will drag you out and shoot you." The fifth and sixth concubines. It was rare for them to be so majestic. However, they probably didn't see that the Marshal frowned slightly.

Sha Yanxiao and Gui'er stood at the door and did not go forward, but saw everything.

"Cough, cough." Sha Yanxiao coughed when he saw that the nurse was frightened.

The fifth and sixth concubines turned around and saw Sha Yanxiao, and were stunned. Their expressions immediately changed, and they pulled their children timidly and hid aside.

Sha Yanxiao walked up to the nurse and politely asked, "Thank you for your hard work. How is my father today? Has he taken his medicine?"

The nurse smiled and said, "Marshal, his condition is stable. He just took some medicine."

Sha Yanxiao nodded, turned around and walked to the Marshal's bedside, and asked him softly, "Father, how do you feel today?"

The Marshal's eyes were dull and his face expressionless. He opened his mouth and drool began to flow out.

"Oh, it's so dirty, why don't you wipe it quickly." The fifth concubine pushed the nurse.

The nurse wiped the saliva with a handkerchief and said, "The patient's current condition is normal."

Guier saw that the Marshal's eyes turned around quietly, as if he was looking for someone.

She guessed in her mind for a moment, then tried to ask the Fourth Concubine: "Why don't I see the Third Concubine?"

The fourth concubine smiled and said, "Oh. Perhaps he is still in the courtyard and hasn't come over yet."

"Fourth sister, please stop covering for her. I heard that she went back to her parents' home. Who knows if she took the opportunity to discuss marriage with Adjutant Pang's family. Now that the Marshal is in this state, no one cares anyway. I also want to go out in a few days, but I have to wait until the monthly salary comes. Otherwise, what will I spend it on?" The Sixth Concubine said carelessly.

The fifth concubine also smiled and said, "That's right, my brother from my mother's family. He's getting married in the next two days, so I have to go back to my mother's family too."

The Marshal's pale face flushed with anger after hearing these bland words. He never expected that his fifth and sixth concubines, who usually acted like quails and carefully catered to him, would act like this when he was seriously ill.

Gui'er saw all of this and became more certain of her own thoughts.

The Seventh Concubine had been standing far away, silent the whole time. She then stepped forward and said to the Marshal, "Marshal, if you want to get better, get better soon. Otherwise, lying like this all the time is not a good idea. If you feel uncomfortable, leaving early is also a good idea."

"Seventh sister, how can you talk like that? The Marshal will be angry if he hears it."

The fifth and sixth concubines started chattering, but they weren't indignant, just joking and watching the fun.

When Gui'er saw the Marshal's hand, she suddenly clenched her fist, and then unclenched it. It was only a matter of one or two seconds. If Gui'er hadn't known that the Marshal might be pretending to be sick, she might have thought she was seeing things.

After the concubines paid their respects, they dispersed. Sha Yanxiao also came out with Gui'er.

Back in his courtyard, Sha Yanxiao brought Gui'er to the study. When they were alone, Sha Yanxiao said, "Guier, I also studied medicine. From my observation, Father wasn't completely faking it, but it's indeed as you said. It's not as serious as we imagined, but I hope you can keep this a secret. This includes Shopkeepers Liu and Zhang, Taohua, your biological brother, Song Xichen, and so on."

Gui'er felt a little guilty. She really planned to find an opportunity to talk to Manager Liu about this matter. After all, it concerned the stability of Jiangcheng and Fengcheng.