A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er asked Dingxiang again, "Now that the eldest wife is back, their courtyard should be quite lively, right?"

Ding Xiang said, "That's right. The servants there now look down on everyone with their noses. But luckily, I worked with them in Nanjing for a few years, so we have a special relationship. I can still talk to them."

Gui'er took the opportunity to ask, "Master, the two wives should be much more harmonious now that you're back, right?" In fact, she wanted to know whether Sha Yanyao was behind Jin Bao's words to bring Zhao Yingwu together.

Ding Xiang curled her lips and said, "They say they're harmonious, but actually they don't talk at all. But I heard that the eldest young master still stays in the main house, and Miss Jinbao just lives with her son in a side room that's a little further away. It must be a special arrangement by the eldest young mistress. And I heard from the servants there that as soon as the eldest young mistress goes out, Miss Jinbao immediately goes to the eldest young master to act like a spoiled child."

"Is that so? But my eldest brother must be quite busy too, right? He probably doesn't spend much time at home."

"Yes, I heard that after the young master came back this time, he went to the main courtyard very frequently. It seemed that he wanted our commander-in-chief to give him some money."

"Give him some money? He should have made a lot of money by now, right? I see Jinbao's clothes are not cheap."

"Miss, do you think everyone is like you? Money is such a good thing, the more the better. Not to mention that it's your father's money, you're entitled to a share. If you don't grab it first, are you going to let it all fall into the hands of others?"

Guier smiled and said, "That's right."

Two days later, Gui'er had a day off, and Sha Yanxiao originally wanted to take her to the park.

Gui Er said, "I want to ask Jin Bao to go shopping with me, and find out what the eldest wife's attitude is towards Zhao Yingwu. We can go there next time."

Sha Yanxiao heard this and said helplessly, "It's all Zhao Yingwu's fault. I finally have a free day. Okay, come back tonight and I'll take you out for a walk. There's something interesting to see."

Gui'er was also curious when she heard it, and said excitedly, "Okay."

Afterwards, she went to ask Jinbao out, and Jinbao readily agreed. She smiled and said, "It just so happens that I want to go to your classmate's place to buy some more silk scarves. Last time I bought French perfume from her, your brother said it smelled good."

The two of them arrived at He Ruizhu's foreign company. The clerk saw them from a distance, smiled and nodded, and came forward to greet them, saying, "What do you two need?"

Gui'er asked curiously, "Where is your shopkeeper?"

The waiter was hesitant, and Jinbao was unhappy. He said from the side: "What? He's a regular customer, so you don't want to entertain him anymore, right?"

"How could that be? We haven't even welcomed you yet. Aqiang, you should go and do something else first." He Ruizhu came down from upstairs with a smile on her face.

She was wearing a peacock blue dress that made her look elegant and graceful. She also wore an exquisite little hat with a net hanging down, covering half of her face.

"Hey, boss lady, this set of yours is really nice. Do you have more?" Jinbao said in surprise.

He Ruizhu smiled and said, "Yes, there is a lotus root pink set. Madam, it suits you perfectly. You have fair skin, and I have yellow skin, so I chose this set. Would you like me to give it to you to try?"

Of course Jinbao agreed, so He Ruizhu asked the waiter to bring the dress and arranged for Jinbao to try it on in the fitting room.

At this time, Gui Er stood beside He Rui Zhu and saw He Rui Zhu clearly. There was actually a bruise at the corner of her eye, which was covered by the netting under her hat.

Gui'er was shocked and quickly grabbed her hand and asked, "What's wrong with your eyes? Did someone hit you?"

He Ruizhu covered her eyes with her hands in embarrassment, and said with a forced smile: "Well... you saw my ugly appearance."

"what's up?"

"My husband had originally agreed to a divorce, and even the compensation amount had been agreed upon. For some reason, he discovered that the child his mistress had conceived wasn't his, but someone else's. He became unhappy and wanted to come back and reconcile. My family, of course, disagreed, so he started making a scene and even got physical. My father tried to intervene, but he was injured. Fortunately, the other shop assistants were there at the time and helped to stop him."

"What should we do now? Should we call the police?" Gui'er said this subconsciously, but then she thought, I wonder if the patrolmen of this era would intervene in family matters like wife beating.

"You mean to report it to the police, right? I did. All the neighbors and colleagues knew that he was my father's eldest disciple. They all scolded him for not repaying his kindness and doing such a thing to betray his teacher and ancestors. But it seems that there is no imperial law that stipulates that beating one's wife will be punished. So we took him to the town office and signed the divorce documents, and then sent him away. My father still felt sorry for him and was afraid that he would starve to death without any money, so he gave him 50 yuan. I finally got the divorce. But many relatives and friends said that he had a bad character. They were afraid that he would be penniless now and would go all out to retaliate against our family, so I have been extra careful these past few days."

Gui'er sighed and said, "That's fine, but you do need to be careful. What was your ex-husband's name?"

"His name is Xing Zhicai. Why are you asking this?"

"No, I know some friends who are patrolmen. Tell them to keep an eye out."

"Oh, yes, I remember when you first came to school. You were initially raised in the Song family. The eldest son of the Song family seemed to be the director of the police station. Thank you so much, Guier." He Ruizhu said gratefully.

At this time, Jin Bao came out wearing her lotus-pink dress, which was indeed very luxurious. She turned around and asked Gui Er, "How is it? Is everything okay?"

Not to mention, even though she has given birth to two children, her figure has not changed at all. Maybe it’s because she gave birth to children when she was a teenager, so now you can’t tell at all that she is already a mother of two children.

Guier smiled and said, "Very good."

He Ruizhu also quickly complimented: "Madam, when you put it on, you look like a rich lady."

Jinbao loved hearing this, so she bought it right away. She picked out a few more lipsticks, and after paying, she excitedly pulled Guier over and said, "Let's go to the rooftop of Wing On Department Store to watch the circus. I saw in the newspaper that there's a circus performing there these days."

He Ruizhu very attentively saw the two of them to the door, and then said enthusiastically: "Have a good time, come back for a cup of tea next time when you have time."

After leaving the foreign company, Jinbao said to Guier, "It's really not easy for the boss lady. She was beaten like that, but she still came out to receive customers."

Gui'er said in surprise, "So you saw it too."