A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er was so frightened when she saw the two of them that she hid in the corner and didn't dare to breathe.

The two looked around and made sure that no one was there and left.

Gui'er secretly watched them walk away before she dared to come out and hurriedly rode her bicycle back.

Back in the courtyard, Gui'er was a little scared and sat there in a daze. Sha Yanxiao waved his hand in front of her eyes and said, "What's the matter? You came back from your trip feeling shattered."

Gui'er didn't dare tell Sha Yanxiao about this this time. She knew that if this matter got out, the woman would be the one to suffer no matter what.

Maybe it was the evening breeze, or maybe something was on her mind. She didn't sleep well tonight, so the next day Gui'er felt dizzy. Sha Yanxiao saw that she was listless early in the morning, so he reached out and touched her forehead and said, "I was wondering why you've been listless since last night. You have a fever. I'll call and ask for leave for you today. Rest at home."

Gui'er touched her forehead with her hand and seemed to have a low fever, but she still wanted to go to school, so she said, "It shouldn't be a big deal. I'll take some medicine and then go."

Sha Yanxiao suddenly glared at her and said, "Don't be so willful. Lie down obediently. I'll go get a doctor right away."

Then Juxiang pulled her back to the room without saying anything, and laid her down with her hands clasped together, saying, "Buddha bless you, young lady, and keep you safe and sound, and eliminate all disasters and difficulties."

Gui'er laughed and said, "You guys are exaggerating."

Juxiang said to Guier solemnly, "Miss, please don't take it lightly. My youngest brother died of a fever when he was about your age. Ugh, bah, bah, look at my mouth. The bad ones don't work, but the good ones do. The bad ones don't work, but the good ones do."

Gui'er then remembered that this was not the modern era, and there were no fever-reducing or cold medicines. It seemed that she should just take care of herself and recover from her illness first. She asked Juxiang to get a wet towel to apply to her forehead and wrists for physical cooling.

After a while, the doctor Sha Yanxiao found arrived. After taking Guier's pulse, he wrote out a prescription. Sha Yanxiao immediately ordered people to get the medicine and boil it.

Seeing that there was no way Gui'er could go to school today, she decided to just sleep in bed.

Just as she was lying there in a daze, she suddenly heard a commotion in the living room outside, followed by the sound of dense footsteps. Gui'er felt something was unusual and sat up quickly. Just as she sat down, the door of the room was pushed open, and the Marshal walked in with his wife and a group of concubines.

The Marshal asked with concern: "Why did you suddenly have a fever? Are you feeling better now?"

Gui'er didn't expect such a big fuss, and quickly said, "It's just a low-grade fever. I've already seen a doctor."

The Marshal nodded, and his wife said, "I'll have someone bring some ice over later so you can feel more comfortable."

Guier smiled and said, "Thank you, mother."

At this time, the fourth concubine suddenly said, "Guier, I think you should go out less at night to avoid seeing things you shouldn't see. Your illness is caused by fear."

The Marshal frowned and said, "What's going on?"

Gui'er's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that she was seen by someone in the Fourth Concubine's room when she was riding her bike out last night? But she still said, "After dinner last night, I rode my bike outside to digest the food. Maybe I got caught in the cool breeze."

The fourth concubine laughed and said, "What? It was just a pair of wild mandarin ducks having a secret meeting over there on the rockery, and they scared the children. Coincidentally, I was sending Meixiang to the kitchen to get something, and she saw it too."

The Marshal frowned and asked Gui'er with a bad look on his face: "Is it true?"

Seeing that she could no longer hide the truth, Gui'er said, "When I was riding my bike back, I did hear voices talking near the rockery. I was startled. At first I thought it was a ghost, but later I found out that there were two people. It was just too dark and I couldn't see clearly. I didn't dare to stay, so I hurried back." After saying this, Gui'er glanced at those people and found that the Eighth Concubine was not there.

At this time, Sha Yanxiao came in with a bowl of medicine. He was surprised to find so many people there. He just called Dashuai, "Father." Then he brought the medicine to Guier's bedside and asked her to drink it.

The Marshal watched Gui'er finish the medicine, then said to his wife with a gloomy face, "The servants in this mansion are too unruly. They only do shameful things. They need to be disciplined. Find out who is responsible and kick him out of the mansion."

The lady hadn't had time to speak.

The fourth concubine said, "No need to check, Meixiang has seen it all. I will ask her to come in and report."

The Marshal said, "Why would a servant report back? Just beat him up and kick him out."

The fourth concubine said sarcastically, "He is not an ordinary person. He must report back to the Marshal."

Sha Yanxiao frowned and said, "The little girl just took medicine and needs to rest. Let's go to the living room."

The Marshal glanced at Gui'er and said, "You should have a good rest." Then he turned and left. The large group of people followed him to the hall.

Guier felt sweaty and cold, not because of a fever, but because she realized that the situation might be very serious. However, she was at a loss as to what to do. She quietly wrapped herself in the quilt, slipped out of the room, hid in the corner of the second floor, and peeked at the hall downstairs through the gap in the handrail.

After a while, the maid named Meixiang came in. Guier clearly saw that she walked softly and seemed very scared.

The fourth concubine said to her, "Meixiang, what did you see last night? Tell it all to the Marshal."

Meixiang seemed very hesitant, and Guier could see her shoulders trembling from a distance.

The Marshal frowned and said, "What's going on? Tell me."

Meixiang fell to her knees, sobbing, "Last night, my wife asked me to go to the kitchen to get some egg custard. When I got near the rockery, I saw the Eighth Concubine and a man walking inside. A little while later, Miss Gui'er rode by the rockery, stopped, looked around, picked up a stone and threw it into the water, scaring the two away. Then, Gui'er got on her bike and rode away."

Guier finally understood that Meixiang had arrived earlier than her and had been hiding aside and watching the whole process.

The Marshal's face turned pale, and he said to the servants beside him, "Go and call the Eighth Concubine over, and also the man, and find him out."

The fourth concubine said eagerly, "I knew this was not a simple matter, so as soon as Meixiang told me, I had the man arrested."

The Marshal nodded and said, "Bring the man here."

Everyone in the room could sense the seriousness of the situation and dared not breathe.

The eighth concubine and the man arrived almost at the same time. They looked at each other and immediately knew what was going on. They both looked terrified.

The eighth concubine was now very pregnant. After she came in, the lady said, "Give the eighth concubine a seat." The servants brought a stool for her to sit on.

The man was pushed to the ground and had to kneel there.

The Marshal asked with a dark face: "What's going on between you two?"

Neither of them said anything. After a long moment, the man muttered, "I was engaged to my eighth concubine before, but things fell on hard times... I didn't want to run into her here, so I just caught up on the past."

The Marshal asked, "How did you get into the Marshal's Mansion?"

The man remained silent, so the Fourth Wife interrupted, saying, "Marshal, you forgot. After Eighth Sister got married, you said you needed more help from outside, so you recruited a group. Unexpectedly, this guy was among them. It really is fate. Speaking of which, Eighth Sister got pregnant right after he arrived. Isn't that a coincidence? Haha."

This was so pointed that the Eighth Concubine quickly said, "The Marshal is not like that. I had no idea he was among that group of people. He only recently came to me and asked me to help him, but I refused."

The fourth concubine said sarcastically, "Since you've already rejected me, why did you hide behind the rockery to meet me secretly?"

Both of their faces turned pale in an instant.

After a few seconds, the man trembled and said, "Marshal, we really didn't do anything dirty. You can ask Miss Gui'er. I know she saw us..."

Before he finished speaking, Sha Yanxiao stepped forward and kicked the man in the heart, kicking him one or two meters away. The female relatives were frightened and screamed.

Sha Yanxiao cursed, "A healthy child has been frightened by you, a pervert, and now she's fallen ill. And you still dare to come and mess with her?"

The man covered his chest in pain and was unable to speak.

The Marshal walked up to the Eighth Concubine, lifted her chin, and asked, "Is there anything?"

The eighth concubine was so frightened that she couldn't make a sound and could only shake her head desperately.

The fourth concubine sneered and said, "Marshal, if you ask me that, who would admit to having an affair? If there really wasn't any affair, why did you keep it a secret? And what a coincidence, she got pregnant the moment the man came. How long has she been married to the Marshal? The seventh sister has been married here for two years, and she's still pregnant."

The Marshal's face turned pale and he clenched his fists. The Eighth Concubine, seeing the situation was not good, quickly stood up and said to the Marshal, "Marshal, she is slandering me." Turning to the Fourth Concubine, she said, "Why did you frame me so viciously?"

The fourth concubine said nonchalantly, "Why would I frame you? I have a son and a daughter. What's there about you that I should frame? I just don't want the Marshal to be taken advantage of for nothing and have a son who turns out to be someone else's."

What else does the Eighth Concubine have to say...

The Marshal raised his palm, which was as big as a palm-leaf fan, and slapped the eighth concubine hard on the face.

The eighth concubine was caught off guard. She seemed to fly out, turned around, and fell to the ground. She was in so much pain that she couldn't get up for a long time.

Suddenly, the third concubine, who had been silent all this time, said in a trembling voice, "She, she's bleeding."

Gui'er followed everyone's gaze and saw a small pool of red liquid on the carpet where the Eighth Concubine had fallen.

At this time, the Eighth Concubine was sweating profusely and trembling, but she couldn't get up. She supported herself on the ground with one hand and protected her stomach with the other, saying, "It hurts, it hurts so much."

The lady stepped forward, took a look, and said calmly, "Master, I'm afraid she's going into premature labor."

Sha Yanxiao said, "Then hurry up and send him to the hospital and ask a foreign doctor to take a look."

The Marshal's face turned grim as he said, "What's there to see in a bastard?"

Sha Yanxiao frowned and said, "Then don't stay with me. I have a sick child here. It's unlucky." Then he turned around and called Zhang, the housekeeper, "Drive a car and take him to the hospital."

Then he pointed at the man and said, "Get this man out."

The Marshal suddenly pulled out a gun, pointed it at the man's head and said, "How dare you cheat on me." Then he was about to pull the trigger.

The concubines in the room were so frightened that they screamed.

Sha Yanxiao quickly stopped him and said, "Hey, hey, don't dirty my place. How can I live here after someone died?"

The Marshal then lowered his hand. Sha Yanxiao took the opportunity to tell his men, "Come here, beat this man up and throw him out."

After that, Sha Yanxiao said to the Marshal, "Father, calm down. We have a meeting with Marshal Feng from Shanghai this afternoon. Business is more important."

The Marshal was still angry, but he nodded, patted Sha Yanxiao on the shoulder and walked out. His wife also stood up and said to Sha Yanxiao, "Take good care of Guier. If you need anything, send someone to get it from me." Then she left as well, and the group of concubines followed her.