A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Wu Mingqiang drove Guier to the door of the address Dong Yujun had given her.

Guier got out of the car and looked up at the iron gate with intricate carvings. The gilded patterns shone dimly in the sunlight. Two white marble lions squatted on both sides, with hydrangeas under their claws and majestic eyes. The doorposts were covered with bougainvillea, and the purple petals hung down like a waterfall.

Peering through the gate, the main building boasts a blend of Eastern and Western styles, with red brick walls and a peaked attic. Glazed tiles form delicate curves at the eaves, and several floor-to-ceiling windows inlaid with stained glass reflect the neatly trimmed holly hedges in the courtyard. The garage door is hidden behind the greenery, and the outline of a black sedan is faintly visible. A gilded plaque hangs above the door lintel, inscribed with the characters "Song Residence."

A middle-aged man came out of the guard booth next to the gate and asked politely, "Miss, who are you looking for?"

Gui'er quickly said, "Excuse me, is this Mr. Song Xilun's residence? I'm here to see his wife, Tong Yujun. I'm a classmate of Mrs. Song's, and my last name is Sha."

The doorman, not daring to be indifferent, quickly said with a smile, "Miss Sha, right? Please wait a moment. I'll report to the mistress right away."

After a while, Song Xilun and Tong Yujun came out together. Song Xilun greeted them warmly and said, "We only learned you were coming two days ago. We were told you should be here, but my brother doesn't even know your address in Hong Kong, so we can't come visit you. Yujun is worried, afraid you might have met with an accident on the way."

Gui'er felt very warmed when she heard this and said with a smile, "I just arrived not long ago too and just settled in yesterday, so I came to see you."

Seeing how enthusiastic Song Xilun and Tong Yujun were, Wu Mingqiang felt relieved and said to her, "Miss, you can stay here as a guest. Ah Cheng and I will be out for a while and will come back to pick you up when it's about time."

Gui'er nodded, and Wu Mingqiang drove away.

Tong Yujun stepped forward, took Gui'er's hand enthusiastically, and said, "Stop standing there, come in and sit down."

Gui'er followed the couple into the villa. As expected, people often miss home. The decoration here was very similar to Tong Yujun's villa in Jiangcheng. Gui'er smiled and said, "I think the decoration here looks familiar. Mr. Song is really thoughtful."

Tong Yujun blushed a little and said with a smile: "It's been so long, and you still remember what our family used to look like in Jiangcheng."

"That's right. Every time I've been to your house, I always feel that your house is very warm and makes people feel relaxed and comfortable."

Tong Yujun sighed softly and said, "Come to think of it, the happiest childhood of my life was spent in Jiangcheng. I still miss it terribly."

Song Xilun said from the side, "There's no need to be so sad. Aren't you meeting again now? Gui'er, was your journey here okay? I heard Guangzhou was bombed and suffered heavy losses."

Gui'er told them what she had seen and heard. Song Xilun and Tong Yujun were very surprised. Even the servants standing around them were shocked and frightened, and even whispered to each other.

This one said, "My second uncle is still in Guangzhou. I don't know how he is doing now."

The other one said, "My cousin said a while ago that he wanted to go back to visit his family, but now I don't dare to let him go."

Song Xilun glanced at them and said, "You guys go down first."

After the servants left, he personally poured tea for Gui'er and said, "Hong Kong is close to Guangzhou. I originally had a branch office there and was planning to go there soon, but my brother called me at the last minute and told me that you had to come over so I could meet you first, so I stayed here. I guess I dodged a disaster."

"Brother Xichen, do you have anything to tell me?" Gui'er asked curiously.

"He has a letter. He must have sent it before you left, so it arrived before you. He asked me to pass it on to you. If you want to find him in the future, you can go through us."

"That's great." Gui'er was worrying about how to contact Song Xichen.

"Look how happy you are. However, my father recently talked about his old friends in Jiangcheng. He said that the situation in Jiangcheng is not good. A lot of inexplicable people have sneaked in. They are suspected to be spies, or possibly traitors. They came here as the vanguard of the second devils. But the situation is not good now. Everyone is panicked and dare not speak out. Those who can leave have left. I guess the new commander-in-chief is in a very difficult situation too."

Gui'er suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Sha Yanxiao had no time to care about Wu Mingqiang's affairs. He was really too busy to take care of himself. She sighed worriedly and didn't know what to say for a moment.

However, Gui Er remembered that she was a guest and shouldn't be too loud, so she cheered up and said to Tong Yujun, "How are Uncle Tong and your sister doing now?"

"It's not good. Although our family left home early, there are too many ruffians and gangsters here. My father has always been careful to deal with them. But later, he ran into a group of swindlers pretending to be Chinese inspectors from Hong Kong. They came to the door to extort money. At that time, my father didn't suspect anything and just gave it to them. Later, the amount became larger and larger. After asking someone to investigate, he realized that he had been cheated. He reported the case, but it turned out that after chasing away the wolf, a big tiger came. The police extorted no less than the swindlers, and they had a legitimate reason to do so. There was no place to complain, so my father has been discouraged in recent years and has not paid much attention to the family business. Anyway, he just does it this way to make enough money to eat and drink. My younger brother is still young, so my sister and brother-in-law are temporarily helping my father with work."

Gui'er was very sad to hear this. Wu Mingqiang had also mentioned that the situation here was complicated, but she didn't expect it to be so chaotic. It seemed that she had to cheer up.

Song Xilun went to the upstairs study and brought out a letter from Song Xichen to Guier. He said, "My eldest brother specifically told me to hand it to you personally. He also said that the contents of this letter can only be read by you. He also told you not to let anyone else know after you finish reading it. I think he must have something private to tell you. You can read it when you get home."

Guier took the letter and thanked him repeatedly.

Tong Yujun smiled ambiguously and asked, "Come to think of it, when we were in school, my elder brother was particularly caring towards Gui'er. Could this be a love letter?"

Gui'er quickly said, "No, I guess Brother Song must want to tell me some things to pay attention to here. After all, I don't have any relatives here, and he is a worried person."

Tong Yujun smiled and said, "I'm just kidding, but Gui'er, you really need to think about this. We're not pushing you, after all, you're old enough. If you were in Jiangcheng now, I wouldn't say anything more, because you have the Marshal's Mansion to help you. But you're in Hong Kong, and you don't have any relatives. If you're interested in a young talent, you can ask Xilun to be the middleman. He knows a lot of people."