A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After serving lunch, Gui'er thought that Song Xichen was not at home again. She had worked all morning and should be able to rest in the afternoon. However, as soon as she returned to the eldest young master's garden, Wu Ma called her to clean the windows, wash the curtains, and trim the branches in the yard.

Wu Ma even said that after these things were done, she would teach her to sew the soles of the young master's shoes. At this time, Gui'er felt something was wrong. It seemed that all the work in the yard was done by a nine-year-old girl. What was Wu Ma doing herself? Perhaps she wanted to take advantage of her position as the young master's wet nurse to bully the child. Thinking of this, she decided to think of a countermeasure.

Guier said sweetly to Wu Ma, "Wu Ma, after we've served the eldest young master his meal, isn't it our turn to eat too?"

Wu Ma said impatiently, "You only know how to eat. Come with me."

Then he took her and the two of them came to Zhang Ma's place. Zhang Ma was the mother who was in charge of the kitchen. Next to the kitchen was a dining room specially used by servants. Inside was an empty room with several square tables and long benches.

When Aunt Zhang saw Aunt Wu and Gui'er coming over, she greeted them very politely and told them to just go in and sit and wait. At this time, the room was full of servants who came to eat. There were both men and women, all relatively young, many of whom Gui'er had never seen before. But it was obvious that everyone knew Aunt Wu and was very, very polite. Some even quickly stood up and gave her a seat.

At this time, Aunt Zhang personally brought the food over and delivered it to the table they had prepared. Guier took a look and saw that there were vegetables, a dish of fried pork slices with tofu, which contained a few pieces of tofu and two slices of meat, and a fish soup with a small piece of fish in it. Although it did not look as good as what the master ate, Guier took a look at the servants around her and saw that they all had only a bowl of vegetables, so she knew that Aunt Wu was being treated preferentially.

So the two of them sat down to eat, and at this time a dark and strong man about 30 years old came in. He was wearing an old yellowed jacket, a bit like a modern vest, and a pair of straw sandals on his feet. It was obvious that he did manual labor.

As he walked past Wu Ma and Gui'er, he glanced at Gui'er and asked Wu Ma, "Wu Ma, is this the girl the young master rescued from the bandits? She's quite pretty."

Wu Ma sneered and said, "Not only was she rescued from the bandits, she was also rescued from the flower boat. She was almost beaten to death, look." As she spoke, she reached out and lifted Gui'er's bangs, revealing the big scar. The people around leaned over to look, making a commotion.

Although Gui'er looks like a nine-year-old child, she is actually an adult woman. She felt that Wu Ma seemed to be doing this on purpose to belittle Gui'er, so she quickly pulled back her bangs with her hands.

However, the people around still looked over curiously and talked in a low voice. The man just now looked up and down at Guier curiously, and stretched out his hand to lift Guier's bangs again. Guier hit his hand with chopsticks and glared at him angrily. In fact, Guier was not sure at the moment, but she wanted to express her wishes but could not do it too obviously, so she had to do this.

The man was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "You look so young, but you have such a fierce temper."

When Wu Ma heard him say that, she smiled and said, "Do you like her? If you do, give me a few taels of silver as matchmaking money in two years, and I'll help you talk to the young master and promise her to be your wife."

The man was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "If Aunt Wu is willing to do this, there's no need to wait two years. I'll treat you to a drink right now." He thought for a moment and said, "She wasn't already deflowered when she was rescued from the boat, was she?"

Wu Ma glanced at Gui'er and said, "That's not the case. I heard she fell to the ground and got so badly hurt because she was so young and hadn't even had her period yet. The madam probably wouldn't let her work out there."

Gui'er hadn't expected them to decide someone else's fate while chatting and laughing. She felt embarrassed and disgusted. She was about to retort, but then she thought, "I can't win here alone now. Don't we still have two years?" She could come up with a plan after she had a better understanding of the situation.

But the man seemed very satisfied. He smiled and said to Guier, "Okay, it's settled. Hey, did you hear that? You will be my wife in two years. Come on, eat some weight." As he said that, he picked up two pieces of meat from his bowl and put them into Guier's bowl.

Gui'er ignored him and ate her meal quickly, as if she couldn't hear the other people's whispers. The man asked Wu Ma in confusion, "Why doesn't she react at all?"

Wu Ma said, "Ah, it's true. The injury on your head is too severe, and sometimes your reactions are slow. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been so lucky. With your figure and your pretty face, you should at least be a maidservant to our young master."

The man was more and more satisfied. He clasped his fists towards Wu Ma and said, "Then I'll leave my Ah Hu's lifelong affairs to you, Wu Ma." Before leaving, he kept looking back at Gui'er. People around him laughed at him, "Ah Hu has decided on his wife so soon. He can't bear to part with his concubine."

By this time, Gui'er had also finished her meal. She washed Wu Ma's bowls and plates and brought them back to Zhang Ma. Zhang Ma took the bowls and plates and looked around. Seeing no one was around, she said to her, "Don't be sad, child. Serve the young master well. When the time is right, let him make the decision for you. He is very kind. If you really don't want to marry Ah Hu, he won't make it difficult for you. You were right to remain silent just now. If you offend Wu Ma in public, she will definitely find fault with you given her personality."

Guier could see that Aunt Zhang was indeed a kind-hearted person, and that she was thinking about her from the bottom of her heart, so she said sincerely, "Aunt Zhang, I understand. Thank you very much."

Then she returned to the eldest young master's yard and did as Wu Ma had instructed, cleaning the windows and washing the curtains. Wu Ma nodded with satisfaction, then walked away. In a blink of an eye, no one knew where she went. Only then did Gui'er breathe a sigh of relief. Before, under Wu Ma's surveillance, she had not observed her surroundings carefully.

She remembered that the room the young master had told her to stay in was the small room next to his study, so she walked in. There was a bed, a table, a stool, and a cabinet. There was a window in the room that looked into the yard.

Standing in this room, Gui'er felt like she had turned back into Huo Xinxin. In her previous world, the small room in her hometown was probably arranged like this. She wondered how her parents were doing now? What was her current situation? Thinking of this, she suddenly felt like crying. She had been in this world for so long and had always tried hard to survive without giving up, but it was really too tiring.

She looked around to make sure there was no one around, then sat down at the table, looking out the window, her chin supported by her hand, letting the tears slowly flow from her eyes without wiping them away. At this moment, she wanted to indulge her emotions, to have a quiet and good cry.

It didn't matter that she cried. Tears flowed down her face like pearls from a broken string. She missed her family, her friends, everything in the past. She didn't know if she would ever have the chance to go back. But she didn't want to die, didn't want to be humiliated in this world, didn't want to be manipulated and ravaged like an ant. She had to live tenaciously. She had to carve out a place for herself in this chaotic and complicated world.