A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After hanging up the phone, Gui'er felt depressed. Wu Mingqiang came over and said, "Miss, you've finished your call. Let's go."

Gui'er was a little puzzled that Sha Yanxiao was not angry about Wu Mingqiang's behavior. Given his personality, he would not allow others to interfere in his affairs like this.

But the battle is fierce now, and he may not be able to take care of it.

Gui'er thought for a moment and said to Wu Mingqiang, "Since we are all out, let's go for a walk around. By the way, I heard from the fourth concubine that Sha Lili came here with her husband. I have their address in Hong Kong. See if it is close to here. If it is, we can go and visit them." As she said that, she took out the address written to her by the fourth concubine.

Wu Mingqiang took one look and smiled, saying, "It's not far from here, just a few blocks away. I didn't expect Miss Lily's husband's family to be such traditional merchants. They must have bought a whole building there, with shops on the ground floor and residences upstairs. It's quite lively."

Gui'er thought that she was unfamiliar with the place and that one more relative would mean another way to get along. She said happily, "Let's go there quickly. Oh, and let's see if there are any dim sum shops on the way. We need to buy some souvenirs."

So, the two of them got in the car again and drove slowly on the road, while searching for shops on the roadside. Guier found that Hong Kong was really a very diverse place. There were young men from wealthy families wearing sportswear with a style close to modern ones, there were also ladies wearing cheongsams, businessmen in silk gowns, and ordinary people wearing homespun coats. There were also some poor people in rags on the roadside. All these people of different identities appeared in one scene, which made her feel a little magical.

The car continued to drive forward, and she saw people wearing green uniforms and large bamboo hats. Wu Mingqiang pointed at them and said, "Miss, these are Hong Kong police officers, known as the 'Big Head Green Coats.' They're really no different from gangsters. They're just the gang bosses, and the gangs have to hand over a portion of the protection money they collect to them."

Guier took a look and found that some of these policemen had Indian faces and were wrapped in white cloths. She remembered that Hong Kong was a colony, so there were quite a lot of foreign policemen.

At this time, the car stopped in front of a shop with a sign that read "Zui Xiang Lou". Wu Mingqiang said to Gui'er, "Miss, how about we buy some snacks here as souvenirs?"

Gui'er nodded, got out of the car and came to the shop. There were many kinds of dim sum in the shop. She had just arrived in Hong Kong and was not familiar with them, so she told the boss that she was going to visit relatives and asked him to choose some for her according to local customs. The boss saw that they came in a small car and Wu Mingqiang was wearing a suit and tie, so he knew that they were from a wealthy family, so he chose the most expensive ones. Gui'er didn't say anything. She knew that Sha Yanxiao had always been on good terms with the fourth concubine, and they only relied on money to maintain the relationship. So, as the daughter of the fourth concubine, Sha Lili was probably of the same bloodline as her mother. If she bought cheap things, she might not be happy.

They got in the car and went straight to the place on the address. It was indeed very close, just two streets away, and it was a shop with an arcade. On the door of the first floor hung a gold-painted sign with "Yongsheng Foreign Company" written on it. When Gui'er and Wu Mingqiang walked in, the waiter came forward to greet them warmly. Gui'er took a look inside the store and found that the items were quite rich, with a wide variety of food and clothes.

She smiled and said to the waiter, "I'm your Madam Sha's sister. I'm in Hong Kong now, and I've come to visit her. Is she here?"

The shopkeeper next to him stepped forward, looked at Gui'er, and said with a smile, "May I ask your name?"

Guier smiled and said, "I am your Madam Sha's younger sister, Sha Guier."

The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then said very enthusiastically: "So it's your aunt's family. Please wait a moment, I'll ask the waiter to go up and see if the mistress is here. She likes to go out shopping and watch movies on weekdays." Then he winked at the waiter, who nodded and turned to walk into the inner room. The inner room was probably the stairs to the upper floor. The shopkeeper enthusiastically moved a stool and asked Gui'er to sit down and said: "Please sit down." He smiled and nodded at Wu Mingqiang, but did not ask him to sit down, perhaps because he saw that he was a follower.

After about 5 minutes, I heard the crisp sound of high heels tapping on the stairs: "Gui'er, Gui'er, oh, my dear sister, you are finally here. I heard that you were coming a long time ago. I was looking forward to it so much. I hope you can have a companion when you come."

Sha Lili came down from upstairs, her voice rising as she spoke. Smiling, she pulled aside the curtains of the inner room and walked out. As soon as she stepped forward, she took Gui'er's hand and asked with concern, "Are you okay on the way here? We all heard and probably guessed that you might have encountered the bombing of Guangzhou on the way. I was so worried."

Gui'er sighed and talked about what she saw on the way upstairs. She talked about what she saw when Guangzhou was bombed. Everyone around gathered around to listen and sighed.

Sha Lili was even more surprised. She held her chest with one hand and said, "Oh, my God, it's a good thing I came quickly, otherwise even if I didn't get killed, I would be scared to death. Now it's good. Hong Kong is British territory. The Japanese should not dare to come. Otherwise, you and I are both blessed people. We just happened to come here at this time. Let me tell you... By the way, let's go upstairs and talk." Then she took Gui'er's hand and went upstairs.

Arriving on the second floor, Guier discovered the living and dining rooms. The decor was similar to Shanghai, with patterned tiles, green walls, and a few framed pictures. Guier looked at the photos inside, even one from Sha Lili's wedding, with herself in the group photo. She couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity and said with a smile, "You've really made this place feel like your own home."

Sha Lili asked the servant to pour tea while smiling and said, "This place is small and noisy, but it's not bad in today's situation. My husband's father is regretting not coming with us. His family back home is afraid they'll be affected by the war, so they're trying every possible way to come here. The thought of the whole family all squeezing together is annoying. So my husband has gone to Causeway Bay to look at houses, planning to buy a bigger one to accommodate them. I finally had two days of comfort, and when the whole family comes to live here, I'll be busy."

Guier took out the snacks she had bought and said to Sha Lili, "I just arrived too and am not familiar with this place. I just went to school this morning to complete the enrollment procedures. I bought some snacks for you on the way here. Don't mind if you think they are bad."