A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After all the personnel and supplies were in place, the Marshal said to the military vehicle in front: "Let's go."

So the convoy started and drove out of the Marshal's Mansion in a mighty manner.

The convoy drove slowly down the mountain, circling the Marshal's Mansion built on the mountain. They did not take the road that Guier usually took to go to school or to the prosperous area, but went deep into the mountains.

Gui'er looked out the window curiously, trying hard to identify the place. Soon she found that the place where the convoy came to was the small village where she had walked out of the broken hole in the wall of the Marshal's Mansion and passed by. There were many vehicles and vendors going to the market.

Passersby and people in shops saw this huge convoy and stopped to watch. The military vehicles leading the way were moving forward slowly. When the trucks saw the military vehicles, they quickly pulled over to let them pass first.

After driving a bit further, Guier saw a dilapidated city gate ahead. Soldiers were stationed at the gate and on the gate tower. The soldiers guarding the inner side of the gate immediately stood at attention and saluted when they saw the convoy approaching. After the convoy passed the gate, Guier saw that there were actually fortifications built outside the gate, and several machine guns were mounted. The soldiers outside the gate also stood at attention and saluted when they saw the convoy approaching. Guier thought to herself, "This official is quite powerful, but isn't this a bit too ostentatious?"

After leaving the city gate, there were fewer and fewer pedestrians and vehicles on the road, and the convoy began to speed up. The road conditions were not very good, because it was not a paved road or a gravel road, but a yellow mud road. The road was relatively flat, so the car was not very bumpy, but the dust was too heavy. Even though Gui'er and their car was only in second place, the yellow dust and sand kicked up by the car in front still blew in their faces.

They quickly closed the car windows, but this made it a little stuffy. After driving for a while, Guier began to feel carsick. She didn't want to make a fool of herself, so she had to endure it desperately, closing her eyes and leaning her head back, pretending to be asleep.

Just as Gui'er's stomach was churning and she was about to hold it back, there was a sudden "bang" from somewhere. The convoy stopped immediately. Before the dust kicked up by the vehicles had even settled, Sha Yanxiao turned to Gui'er and said, "Get down."

Before Gui'er recovered from her motion sickness, Sha Lili pulled Gui'er and crouched down in the back seat, trying to curl herself up into a small ball. Sha Yanxiao and Dali both took out their pistols. Gui'er couldn't see outside at this time, but she could hear the sound of soldiers jumping out of the car and the sound of soldiers loading their rifles, and she immediately became nervous.

After a long while of silence, Guier couldn't help but stretch her head to see what was happening outside. As soon as she popped her head out, Sha Yanxiao reached out and pushed her back. He said, "Don't get up."

Then he and Dali opened the car door and went out to communicate with the adjutant who was leading the search.

After a while, there was more noise and Shalili couldn't help it. She stretched her neck and looked up at what was happening outside the car window. Guier followed suit and found that several soldiers had pulled out a little boy of seven or eight years old from a dense bush on the side of the road. The boy's clothes were full of patches and it was hard to tell whether they were gray or other colors. There were a few sheep beside him. They must have come here to graze the sheep.

Sha Yanxiao walked up to him and asked a few questions. Gui'er couldn't hear clearly because he was too far away. Then he suddenly raised his hand and slapped the boy a few times. Gui'er was startled because Sha Yanxiao was not usually such a violent person.

After slapping him, Sha Yanxiao walked to the car window of the Marshal behind them and said something, probably reporting to the Marshal. Guier quickly leaned over the rear window to look, and saw the Marshal said a few words impatiently. Before Sha Yanxiao could say anything else, the Marshal's car window had already rolled up. Sha Yanxiao had no choice but to nod to his adjutant, then turned around and went back to the car to sit down.

Gui'er quickly asked, "Brother Yanxiao, what's going on?"

Sha Yanxiao said with a grim expression, "There was a shepherd boy who complained about the dust raised by our convoy, so he lit a firecracker and threw it at the roof of my father's car. I suggested giving him a few slaps, but my father disagreed..."

Gui'er didn't understand what the Marshal disagreed with. At this time, the soldiers in the military vehicle in front of them had slowly returned to their positions, and several soldiers from the military vehicle behind them escorted the boy to the bushes where they had just found him.

Sha Yanxiao said, "Don't look at it."

As soon as she finished speaking, Guier saw a soldier raise his gun and shoot the boy in the head, and the boy fell to the ground.

After firing the shots, the soldiers quickly returned to the car, and the convoy slowly started to move off again.

Gui'er stared in shock at the boy's body, which slowly turned into a small gray dot and disappeared from sight...

"Gui'er, Gui'er." Sha Yanxiao asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

Gui'er finally came to her senses. She found herself in a cold sweat. Looking at Sha Yanxiao's concerned eyes, she swallowed hard before saying, "I feel a little carsick."

Sha Yanxiao took out a canteen and handed it to her, saying, "Have a drink."

Guier took it and took a sip, feeling a little better. She screwed the lid on the kettle and returned it to Sha Yanxiao, then closed her eyes and collapsed in her seat.

The convoy drove forward for a while and suddenly stopped again. Gui'er's nerves immediately became tense again. Sha Yanxiao turned to Sha Lili and Gui'er and said, "Stop and rest for a while."

Guier looked out the window. Many people had gotten out, and guards lined up on both sides of the road. The Marshal, unzipping his trousers, headed for the brush by the roadside. It turned out he needed to relieve himself, but the other men took the opportunity to join in. Some of the maids were also shy, moving in pairs or three to squat in the deeper grass to relieve themselves. Only the wives and daughters, mindful of their status, got out of the car and walked around briefly; no one went to relieve themselves.

After that, the convoy never stopped and drove forward at full speed. Slowly, Guier looked at the scenery on both sides and finally understood that the road was either lined with cliffs or very steep slopes. The top of the mountain was a place where a group of people could be ambushed. It was indeed a terrain that was very vulnerable to ambushes. Guier saw that the soldiers in the military vehicles in front were all nervous, facing outwards and paying close attention to the movements on both sides of the road.

We walked in this tense atmosphere for more than an hour, the terrain gradually became flat, and we finally saw a village ahead.

Before arriving at Duan Village, the convoy stopped again. Sha Yanxiao got out of the car and walked to the back to say a few words to the Marshal. Then he returned to the car and waved to the military vehicle in front, and then started again.

Gui'er asked curiously, "Brother Yanxiao, what happened?"

Sha Yanxiao said, "Father said we shouldn't stop to eat, so let's go straight to the train station. I have some biscuits here, you two can eat them if you're hungry."

Gui'er was carsick and Sha Lili looked down on the cookies, so neither of them ate any.

Finally, they reached the city gate. The adjutant in the military vehicle in front got off, holding a piece of official document and handed it to a man who looked like an officer among the soldiers guarding the city. The officer saluted with a smile, then said a few words to the adjutant. The adjutant walked back with an embarrassed look on his face.

He walked to Sha Yanxiao's car window and said to him, "Young Marshal, this is Commander Zhang's adjutant. He said Commander Zhang has brought the second young lady to the city gate and asked us to take her away together."

Gui'er suddenly remembered what Song Xichen had said, that the second young lady who had married Marshal Zhang had gone crazy and would be sent back soon.

It turned out that this was Marshal Zhang's territory. He didn't even want to give his daughter away, but just took advantage of the Marshal passing through to stuff his daughter back to him.

Sha Yanxiao's brows were furrowed so much that they could kill two flies. He had no choice but to get out of the car and go with his adjutant to report the situation to the Marshal.

Gui'er quickly leaned against the rear window to watch the show. Sure enough, the Marshal was furious, waving his hands excitedly. Judging from his mouth shape, he seemed to have cursed Marshal Zhang's ancestors. However, after cursing, he still panted and said a few words to Sha Yanxiao. Only then did Sha Yanxiao and his adjutant turn around and leave timidly.

As soon as Gui'er turned back, she found that several guards were escorting two maids and supporting a young lady in cheongsam walking towards her from the city gate. The young lady had a dull look in her eyes, messy hair, and unsteady steps, as if she would fall down at any time. Gui'er could no longer recognize that she was the second young lady of the Marshal's Mansion.

Sha Yanxiao asked her two maids to go to the first military vehicle and stay with the other servants, and arranged for the second young lady to stay in their car. Sha Lili was so scared that she waved her hands and said, "No, no, I don't want to be with a madman."

Sha Yanxiao said unhappily, "If you don't want to, then why don't you just stay in the military vehicle?"

Guier quickly said to Sha Lili, "Lily, I'll just sit in the middle to separate you two, you don't have to be afraid." Then she didn't say anything else.

Sha Yanxiao helped her to the back seat. Gui'er smiled at her and said, "Second sister, are you okay? My name is Gui'er, and I'm the Marshal's new adopted daughter. We met when you got married, remember?"

The second young lady still had no expression or reaction. Gui'er helped her tidy up her hair, let her lean back in the seat to make herself more comfortable, and then she didn't do anything else.