A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er was so shocked that she didn't know how to describe it. She quickly lowered her head and pretended to eat, and never dared to look at the Marshal or Mrs. Song again.

At this time, Taohua, who was sitting next to her, came over and whispered, "I embroidered some more patterns. When you go to school tomorrow, please help me exchange them for money."

Guier agreed casually and said, "Okay, I'll get it from you later."

Taohua said, "No need, I brought everything." Then she handed a package over from under the table. Guier quickly took it and hid it in her sleeve. Fortunately, the people at the same table were all children who were eating by themselves.

Gui'er was a little surprised as to why Taohua was so anxious, but since there were so many people around, it was inconvenient to ask, so she had to stop for the time being.

After the banquet, they returned to the courtyard and everyone else left. Gui'er stammered to Sha Yanxiao that she saw the Marshal being intimate with a woman in the garden. Because she didn't know what Sha Yanxiao thought about this matter, she didn't even dare to mention that the woman was the content of the conversation between Mrs. Song and them.

Sha Yanxiao listened, looking unsurprised, and said, "Really? Maybe you want to marry your ninth concubine."

Indeed, besides the deceased second concubine, there were still seven wives and concubines in the Marshal's mansion. Even so, I heard that the Marshal didn't visit them every night, but was out drinking and having fun. So Sha Yanxiao must have been quite used to the Marshal's romantic affairs.

Seeing Sha Yanxiao's reaction, Gui'er didn't know whether to continue talking to him. She was afraid that Sha Yanxiao would know the truth, overreact, and make a big fuss. Both parties had families and were well-known people in the city, especially Mrs. Song. Given her past behavior, she was afraid that she would skin Gui'er alive.

After thinking about it all night without any result, Guier finally fell into a deep sleep.

The next day before school, Gui'er told Sha Yanxiao that she wanted to exchange the embroidery piece Taohua had given her for money. Sha Yanxiao nodded and told Dali, "Then you can pick her up from that place when the time comes."

Gui'er quickly said, "It's a small alley and it's hard for cars to get in. Why don't you wait for me at Wing On Department Store half an hour after school? It's quite close there."

Sha Yanxiao nodded and said, "That's fine, but you have to be careful when you're alone."

Guier said, "Okay."

After school, Guier went straight to the "Zhen Xiufang" and gave the peach blossom embroidery piece to the shopkeeper Zhang. The shopkeeper Zhang looked at it and praised it: "Your sister is really a good and clever girl. She embroidered so many pieces so quickly. Others can only embroider half of her amount. In the future, you must bring all your embroidery pieces to me to sell."

Guier took the money she handed over and agreed happily.

Coming out of the "Zhen Xiu Fang," Gui'er saw that it was still early, so she strolled slowly down the alley. Inside the alley, a snack bar had a stove at the door, frying sugar rings. Gui'er had never eaten sugar rings before, so when she asked the price, she was told she was only paying a penny for each. She told the owner, "I want five, freshly fried."

The boss said, "Okay," and threw five in to fry.

Gui'er was looking around boredly while waiting when she suddenly saw a man and a woman coming out of a doorway further down the alley. The doorway was much more luxurious than the doors of other shops and houses in the alley, and there were two small drum stones placed at the doorway.

The two people were dressed very decently. The woman wore an exquisite veiled hat with the black veil hanging down to cover half of her face. The man wore a black gown and black pants, with a dark maroon stand-up collar and double-brim silk jacket on the outside. He also wore a wide-brimmed hat with the brim pulled down low to cover his eyes.

Gui'er felt that the woman looked very familiar, but she was too far away to see her face clearly.

At this time, the two turned around and walked towards Guier's side towards the alley entrance. Guier finally saw the woman's face clearly. It was Mrs. Song. She was frightened and quickly hid inside the snack bar. The owner of the snack bar saw her panic and said with a smile: "What's wrong? Were you discovered by your elders that you ran out to buy snacks secretly? Do you still want these five candy rings?" He looked in the direction of Mrs. Song, probably thinking that Mrs. Song was Guier's elder.

Guier quickly took out a few copper coins and put them on the table and said, "Boss, I'll give you the money first. Please don't tell anyone."

As soon as she finished speaking, Mrs. Song and the man walked past the snack bar. Guier hid under the table and looked out secretly. At this time, she finally saw the man's profile. It was Marshal Sha.

Gui'er quickly retracted her head. After a long while, she thought they had gone far away, so she dared to come out.

She arrived at the entrance of the snack bar, looked around and saw that the two men were gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and pointed to the door they had just come out of and asked, "Boss, where is that house?"

The boss stuck his head out to take a look and said, "Oh, isn't that the back door of the Yuelai Inn? Before the Yong'an Hotel, the Yuelai Inn was the largest inn in our city. It's a bit down now, but the boss knows how to run a business. He specifically befriends some high-ranking officials and dignitaries. They're more concerned about privacy, so he lets them in through the back door." He looked at Gui'er with a gossipy look on his face and said, "Was that someone from your family just now?"

Gui'er quickly said, "No, she's just a friend of my parents." Then she picked up the fried candy rings and left.

She arrived at the entrance of Wing On Department Store and saw Dali had already parked his car. She opened the door and got in. She gave Dali two candy rings. Dali smiled innocently and said, "I haven't had this in a long time."

Gui'er suddenly thought that Dali had been following Sha Yanxiao since he was a bandit, and he might know some inside information.

They started chatting casually with each other, and Guier asked, "Brother Dali, you have been following Brother Yanxiao for many years, right?"

Dali nodded and said proudly, "Isn't it? We can say that we grew up together."

Gui'er was immediately interested: "Hey, how did you get up the mountain?"

Dali sighed and said, "When I was five years old, my mother fell ill. We had no money to treat her illness, so we could only ask the abbot of the City God Temple to boil some incense ash in water. As a result, the more she ate, the sicker she became, and she died soon after. My father said that he had no money to remarry anyway, so he would just raise me. But not long after, a mother and son who had fled from other places came to our doorstep begging for food. My father kindly gave them something to eat. The woman was very touched and said she was willing to stay and live with my father. Later, they had another son. My father was a tenant farmer. He had to pay rent for the harvest from the fields he planted. The family could not support so many people, so the woman persuaded my father to sell me. This way, the family would not only have enough food to eat, but also some savings. My father considered it over and agreed. He told me that this was also a way for me to survive, otherwise we would all starve to death together."

At this point, he chuckled. Gui'er suddenly felt a little guilty and said, "I'm sorry, Dali brother, I won't mention your sad past."

Dali smiled at her and said, "It's okay. It happened many years ago. My father originally brought me to the county town, intending to sell me to a wealthy family. Look, those kids in the corner over there, see? Some have grass stuck behind their ears, and some have it stuck on their heads."

Guier turned her head and looked out the window. She saw a small group of ragged people standing at the entrance of an alley opposite Wing On Department Store. They were one or two adults guarding a few children. The children had a long weed on their heads. Occasionally, a few passers-by would stop to watch, but would soon leave.

Those children were skinny and their appearance was barely discernible. Their faces were covered in dirt and their clothes were of no color and had holes all over them. The adults had numb expressions and would only show an inquiring look when someone stopped in front of the children to see if the other party was willing to buy. The children's eyes were clear and they probably knew what fate they were going to face, but they still looked calm.