A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Just as Gui'er hid herself, she heard two figures sneaking in through the crack in the wall.

Judging from the voices, it should be a man and a woman. The man was complaining: "Why do we have to walk in a place like this? It's too difficult to walk."

The woman said, "Stop nagging me and leave quickly. If you go too late, you might get scolded by the Fourth Concubine."

The man continued, "This place is so dirty, the grass is so tall, is it really the handsome mansion? Ouch, it cut my face right through."

The woman then said, "How come you, a grown man, act like a woman?"

The man said: "You don't know, but I use this face to make a living. It's worth a lot of money."

The woman agreed: "That's right, otherwise the Fourth Concubine wouldn't have asked you to overthrow the Eighth Concubine."

Hearing this, Guier became a little curious and looked up.

The two people had walked a distance away, and only their backs could not be seen. One was an old woman in her 40s, and the other one looked like a young man with a tall and straight figure from the back.

When Gui'er saw that they had gone far away and could no longer be seen, she came out from the bushes, stepped over the crack in the wall and slipped out of the general's mansion.

Carefully walking down the steep slope and passing through the dense mixed woods, the village was in front of them. Guier was overjoyed and quickened her pace.

When she was about to walk out of the woods, she suddenly saw a few people walking towards the woods. Guier quickly hid. Fortunately, she was small and could hide completely by finding a bush to crawl into.

She hid in the bushes and looked out through the gaps in the plants. She only saw two men walking slowly towards her from a distance. They were wearing black satin gowns, a bit like the outfit of the Shanghai Green Gang in the movies. The bandit Long Ye before was also dressed like this, so Guier guessed that they were probably not good people and quickly held her breath.

After a while, two men came up to Gui'er. They were still chatting as they walked. One of them said, "Last time, big brother finally managed to get Wang Wu into the wedding procession to shoot the Marshal, but he failed. What a pity."

Another said, "You don't want to live anymore? Say it here."

The person who started talking said, "In the wilderness, only a ghost can hear you. You are too stingy, hahahaha."

"Little nagging, hurry up and deliver these opium to the Third Young Master. Once we get inside, we need to find a place to change clothes first, otherwise we'll be exposed."

The two men walked forward while muttering to each other.

Gui'er didn't dare to breathe until the people were out of sight and out of hearing, then she dared to come out of the bushes.

She recalled the conversation between the two people just now and thought to herself: "It seems that the last time the assassination of the Marshal was arranged, it was planned by an insider. I just don't know who this big brother is. But this time these two people are trying to deliver opium to the third young master Sha Yanwen. It seems that it must be related to the fourth concubine."

The more Gui'er thought about it, the more scared she became. She decided to keep her distance from Sha Lili for the time being.

While thinking, she walked out of the mixed woods. Because she had just been lying on the ground and then in the bushes, Guier was now a little dirty all over. She was a little glad that she had chosen a dark cheongsam to wear today, so it didn't look so obvious, just a little old and dirty.

She saw a stream by the roadside and quickly ran over to wash her face, then walked into the village.

At first, Guier was worried that she would run into bad people, but when she entered the village, she found that the village was located on a major transportation route and was more prosperous than ordinary rural areas. There were several inns and teahouses, and many traveling merchants stopped here to rest, or they thought the hotels in the city were too expensive and simply stayed here.

There are rickshaws and horse-drawn carts, each of which can seat three or four people, though the horses struggle to move, making them slow. Rickshaws are comfortable, fast, and more expensive, and are mostly used by businessmen. Carts are slower, and are used by ordinary people who want to save money, including farmers heading to the market and poor, ragged people who have to walk into town.

Gui'er thought that she would have to rush back in time, so she gritted her teeth and hired a rickshaw, urging the driver to go faster.

It took the driver about an hour to reach the city gate. Seeing more and more people coming, Gui'er finally let down her guard a little.

She started chatting with the driver, lying that her mother had some embroidery patterns that she wanted to sell to a tailor shop, and asked him if he knew where they would be bought.

The rickshaw driver immediately said, "Miss, you've come to the right person. Yunshanglou, you know? It's the best tailor shop in town. They only make clothes for the rich and powerful. If you take your embroidery patterns there, they'll fetch a high price. I'll take you there right away."

Yunshang Lou Guier knew it very well. Sha Yanxiao had ordered several sets of clothes for her there, and the shopkeeper and the clerks could recognize her.

Gui'er quickly said, "That won't work."

The rickshaw driver was stunned and said, "But that place is the most famous and offers the highest price."

Guier was afraid of attracting his attention, so she smiled and said, "Okay, I got it. I'll go do something else first, and then I'll go over by myself. You just drop me off here." Then she got out of the car and gave him the money.

After sending the driver away, Guier turned and walked under the arcade. Only then did she realize that she was not familiar with this city at all. The place she went to most often was Wing On Department Store, where she was picked up and dropped off by car. Now she had to find a tailor shop that accepted embroidery samples, and she really didn't know where to start.

Guier looked at the surrounding terrain and found that this place was actually quite close to Wing On Department Store, which means it was also quite close to her school and Song Xichen's police station.

She suddenly had an idea and decided to go to the police station to ask Song Xichen for help. Song Xichen was an open-minded person and would definitely be willing to help.

Having made up her mind, Guier walked forward while getting familiar with the route. Only then did she notice that there seemed to be fewer homeless people on the street, but many more people who were looking around and acting suspiciously. Passing by an alley, she saw several suspicious-looking people gathered together. One of them took something out of his pocket and showed it to the others. The others stuffed money into his hands, and then that person took those who had paid away.

Gui'er couldn't help but feel scared and took two steps forward at a time.

When she arrived at the police station, everyone inside was surprised and greeted her, saying, "Little girl, I haven't seen you here for a long time. Why don't you come over after school and wait for the young master to go together?"

Gui'er didn't know where to begin, so she just smiled and asked, "Is the young master here?"

Upon learning that Song Xichen was there, he went straight to Song Xichen's office.

Song Xichen was surprised to see Gui'er coming over. When he learned that Gui'er wanted him to help find a tailor shop that would accept embroidery pieces, Song Xichen frowned and said, "Didn't the Marshal's Mansion lend you money? Did they lack food and clothing?"

Gui'er quickly said, "That's not the case. Taohua likes embroidery and wants to make it her career in the future."

Song Xichen finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So that's how it is. It's a good thing to want to be self-reliant since childhood. Okay, leave your things here and I'll help you find them. I'll give you the money after I sell them."

Gui'er was very happy, but then she thought about how Sha Yanxiao seemed very unhappy when Song Xichen came to see her last time, so she said, "Thank you very much, young master. However, the rules in the Marshal's Mansion are very strict, so I'm afraid it's not appropriate for me to have much contact with you. When the time comes, you should find a way to tell me which store will accept it, and I will find a way to deliver it myself."

Song Xichen was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "I understand."