A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

That night, just as Gui'er returned to her room, Dingxiang came in with milk. She said with horror, "Miss, today was truly terrifying. I never imagined the Madam and the Young Master could be so cruel as to kill Zhao Yingwu and the Eighth Concubine. The Eighth Concubine was pregnant."

Gui'er took out five silver dollars and handed them to Dingxiang, saying, "Today, the maid who tipped you off shouldn't be treated unfairly. Find a chance to give her the money. By the way, give her four dollars, and keep one for yourself to buy something."

Ding Xiang happily accepted the silver dollar and said, "Thank you, young lady. In our Marshal's Mansion, you and the Second Young Master are the only ones who are kind. The other masters don't treat people as human beings at all. I heard that the two maids of the former Fourth Concubine were afraid of getting into trouble and didn't want to go to the Madam to expose the Eighth Concubine and Zhao Yingwu, but they were beaten by the Fourth Concubine. So they had no choice but to go."

Gui'er was in no mood to listen to her rambling about these trivial matters. She said, "A lot has happened today. I'm a little tired. You can go down first."

After Dingxiang left, Guier reviewed what happened today and thought about reporting to Song Xichen tomorrow. She felt that if something like this was not handled properly, it would change the entire political situation in Jiangcheng and Fengcheng, so she had to be extremely cautious. However, now that she was on Sha Yanxiao's boat, she had to help him for her own sake.

She suddenly thought that with so many things happening in the past few days, Sha Yanyao must be very busy and had no time to deal with other things. Why not take this opportunity to deal with Lao Meng's matter?

So the next day, upon arriving at the hospital, she had Manager Liu send a signal to summon Song Xichen. She first told him what had happened at the Marshal's Mansion, then said, "I think since the Mansion is a bit chaotic and Sha Yanyao is tied up, we can just carry out Old Meng's plan."

Song Xichen nodded and said, "That's a good suggestion. I previously held a meeting with my colleagues in the organization to discuss your idea. They all agreed, so we decided to use your method."

Gui'er said excitedly: "Great, then what should I do?"

Song Xichen pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Gui'er. "You can have Wu Mingqiang contact the man mentioned above. He's a businessman from out of town, the kind that moves goods between the black and white worlds. Since he's new here and doesn't have his own transportation lines, he urgently needs someone to help him transport his goods. When the time comes, you can say that this person was recommended by a classmate's family and that you don't know him. This way, there's no chance of him asking you to check on him. We'll first arrange for him to transport some black market goods. Once he lets down his guard, we'll arrange for him to transport Lao Meng and his men's goods and people."

Guier took a look at the business card which read: Manager of Datong Trading Company, Zhou Tong, with a phone number written on it and a row of small print at the bottom which read: "We have a wide range of business and a wide variety of products. Please feel free to call us for inquiries."

She nodded and said, "Okay, I'll have Ah Cheng hand it over to Wu Mingqiang when we get off work."

Before leaving, Song Xichen turned around and said to Gui'er, "Guier, the Marshal's Mansion is an extremely dangerous place right now. Various forces are fighting for the family property and will not take human lives seriously. You must be careful."

Guier nodded and said, "I'll pay attention."

Song Xichen then asked Shopkeeper Liu, "I've sent over the medicine that Old Liu prescribed these past two days. Has there been any reaction?"

Shopkeeper Liu shook his head and said, "The foreign doctor prescribed Western medicine. Then the dean and I prescribed Chinese medicine. I wrote the prescriptions and the dean reviewed them. I mixed some detoxifying drugs in them. At first, the dean disagreed, thinking they were inappropriate. Later, I changed them to some milder detoxifying drugs and told him that it might be internal heat toxins. He reluctantly agreed. We have only been taking them for a few days. We haven't gone for a follow-up visit yet, but we will go today to see how effective they are."

Gui'er said nearby, "I don't think he's changed much in the past two days. He's still confused. But because the people in the first house are keeping a close eye on us, we haven't stayed around him for very long."

Song Xichen pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid someone doesn't really want him to get better."

Gui'er was stunned for a moment and said, "Brother Song, who do you think this person is?"

Song Xichen said expressionlessly, "It's hard to say. Right now, everyone in the Marshal's Mansion is busy fighting over property. It seems everyone is a suspect. Although the Marshal is extremely cruel and self-willed, he has made certain contributions to the development of Jiangcheng during the years he has been in charge. Let's do our best to save it."

When it was time to get off work, Ah Cheng came to pick up Gui'er. Gui'er handed Ah Cheng the business card Song Xichen had given her and said, "Brother Ah Cheng, this is someone my classmate introduced to me. It's said that this is a businessman they do business with, and he needs some trucks to transport some things. I know Wu Mingqiang's casino has closed down, so his income must have dropped significantly. Give him the business card and ask him to contact this boss to see if there's any business to be done."

Ah Cheng took it and looked at it, then said with a smile, "Miss, you are really dedicated to our people. This business card doesn't even mention the main business. It seems that it must be for those who are engaged in gray business."

Gui'er pretended to be confused and said, "Really? I don't know much about this. My classmate said that this merchant has just arrived and doesn't have his own car, so he needs this. If it's unreliable, forget it, so as to avoid getting into trouble."

Ah Cheng laughed heartily. "Who are we? We're well-connected in both the black and white worlds. Who in Jiangcheng and Fengcheng dares to mess with us? I'll hand this over to Wu Mingqiang later. Thank you, Miss."

Guier smiled and said, "Why are you thanking me?"

Ah Cheng said, "Miss, don't you know? The profits from Brother Qiang's business will be shared among all of us who came from the Ji family."

Gui'er suddenly realized that Wu Mingqiang was the boss of this group of former gangsters. No wonder Sha Yanxiao turned a blind eye to what Wu Mingqiang did.

When they returned to the Marshal's Mansion, Sha Yanxiao had also returned. The two of them went to the main courtyard to visit the Marshal again.

At this time, the main courtyard was very lively. All the concubines had gathered, but they only sat in the hall to chat. The fifth and sixth concubines also brought their two daughters with them. For a moment, it was like a family gathering, with a lot of chatter, but there was no sign of the Marshal.

"Where is father?" Sha Yanxiao asked.

"The Marshal is watering the flowers on the second floor. We originally said we wanted to accompany him, but he found it annoying and his conversation with us seemed irrelevant." The third concubine said with a smile.

Sha Yanxiao nodded and took Gui'er upstairs. The two looked at each other. Yesterday, Manager Zhao had already explained the location of the key and the account book. This time, they had to see if there was any chance to get the account book and the key.