A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Acheng ran after him to the door.

Gui'er called out to him, "Brother Cheng, stop chasing him, come and see Liu Jin's injuries."

Sister-in-law Aying was already there, holding Liujin and crying loudly, with blood flowing down Liujin's forehead.

Gui'er quickly asked Dingxiang to bring the medicine box, and then checked Liujin's forehead. Liujin's head had a small cut, and she quickly helped him stop the bleeding and put on a bandage.

Sister-in-law Aying said to Gui'er in a trembling voice, "Thank you so much, Miss. You are a true bodhisattva. It's a good thing you are a medical student, otherwise I wouldn't know what to do. I'll help him back to his room to rest. I'll take care of him for the next two days."

Gui'er thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, there's nothing else to do. You should take good care of Liu Jin these next two days. If there's nothing else, keep the gate tightly closed and don't open it easily. I'm afraid that other people might take the opportunity to rob us, just like this group."

Acheng said to Gui'er, "Miss, things might not be very safe in the market these days. There are usually police officers patrolling here, but there aren't any right now because of the typhoon. Why don't you wait a couple of days before going out?"

Dingxiang also said, "That's right, Miss. What if you encounter danger outside? Wouldn't that be a loss? Now that Liujin is injured, Acheng insists on staying at home to protect you. I'm worried about not having anyone to accompany you out."

Gui'er thought for a moment, sighed, and said, "Alright."

On the third and fourth day, police patrols finally resumed in their villa area. Ouyang Bao even personally led the patrol officers to their door to question them, saying that the group had robbed other houses besides theirs, injuring the servants who opened the doors and threatening the heads of the households to give them money. Because the residents here are all wealthy and powerful people, the police are taking it very seriously and are making every effort to apprehend them.

Upon hearing this, Gui'er, wondering what the situation was at the bookstore, quickly asked A-Cheng to drive her there.

When they arrived at Xinmin Bookstore, Lin Peishan was already there helping out. Half of the glass windows on the first floor were broken. Chen Zhongyu said, "Gui'er, be careful not to get scratched by the broken glass on the ground."

Lin Peishan asked, "Gui'er, why are you here too?"

Gui'er said, "After the typhoon, a group of thieves came to my house, kidnapped the servants, and stole some money. I was thinking that Mr. Chen was all alone here, and I was worried that something like that might happen to him, so I came to check on him. Is your house alright?"

Lin Peishan said, "What could possibly happen to my family? Our apartment is on the third floor, and apart from two broken windows, we're perfectly fine. But the first and second floors are in a worse state. The first floor got flooded, and everything was ruined."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhongyu immediately asked, "Your house was burgled? Are you alright?"

Gui'er shook her head and said, "They robbed some money, and one of the gatekeepers was injured. The others are okay. The police are already investigating. However, they are also refugees affected by the disaster. They said their houses were blown down by the wind, and they have nothing left. They can't even get food, so they have no choice but to take the risk."

Lin Peishan said sarcastically, "Excuse? All the houses in the slums and shantytowns have been demolished. If all the people there have become thieves, wouldn't Hong Kong be full of robbers?"

Gui'er said with a wry smile, "That's true, but in this way, many people will be displaced, and I'm afraid a considerable number of people will be homeless."

Lin Peishan said, "Our school is holding a fundraising event. My aunt told me that wealthy business people are planning a charity conference to donate money to the government to help them rebuild their houses. Let's go and participate, so we can do our part."

Gui'er nodded and went into the store to help tidy up. The situation was better than she had expected. Chen Zhongyu had moved most of the books to the second floor in advance. The remaining small number of newspapers and magazines were either rained on or blown over by the wind along with the bookshelves, so they were basically ruined. However, there were not many of them. The floor of the bookstore was covered with a layer of mud. The three of them worked together to sweep the mud out of the store with brooms and mops while it was wet.

"Editor-in-Chief Chen, how are you doing here?" someone suddenly ran in and asked.

Gui'er looked up and was surprised to see Liu Shaolin, a photographer from the newspaper. She remembered him as a sly and opportunistic man who didn't seem like someone who would care about his former boss.

"Hey, Writer Sha, what are you doing here? Did you come all this way to check on the shop? That's so thoughtful of you," Liu Shaolin said with a smile.

"Well, my classmate and I happened to be nearby and saw that Editor-in-Chief Chen's shop had suffered heavy losses. He was all alone. Fortunately, he had introduced me to a part-time job before, which earned me some money, so I helped tidy up." Gui'er made up a reason to brush it off: "Reporter Liu, what are you doing here? The streets are a mess right now, which is a good time for you to shoot news."

"Hey, to be honest, I went there to take some news photos, but I heard the slums are really chaotic right now, with robberies and murders happening everywhere. If I went in with a camera, not only would I lose the camera, but I'd probably be dead too. So I just took a few photos from a distance and left. I came here to check on the disaster situation in the bustling streets. Actually, people who can afford to buy newspapers don't really care what's happening in the slums. They're more concerned about the lives of the wealthy. Editor-in-Chief Chen, can I take a couple of pictures in your shop?" He then raised his camera and started snapping away in the shop.

Gui'er and Lin Peishan quickly turned around, afraid that he would take a picture of them. They were both quite annoyed by this glib-tongued man.

"Now that you're done filming, you should help me tidy up. Those two girls aren't strong enough to handle all the stuff in the shop." After saying that, Chen Zhongyu turned to Gui'er and Lin Peishan and said, "Thank you both for your hard work. I'll give each of you a free book as a thank you gift. You can go home now. By the way, Gui'er, the encyclopedia of Chinese herbal medicine you ordered last time has arrived. It's on the second floor. Come up and get it."

Gui'er hadn't made a decision yet, but she knew Chen Zhongyu must have something to say to her, so she followed him to the second floor.

“I told you before that I ordered a batch of medicines to be shipped to the front lines in the mainland. Now, because of the typhoon, the supplier told me that only half of the medicines will arrive, but there is no time to deliver them. I plan to send them over first. Could you please get those two boxes of medicines you mentioned at home ready as soon as possible? That way, we can have more.”

Gui'er thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll think of a way."

Afterwards, she and Lin Peishan left the bookstore. Lin Peishan said, "I'm going back to collect some clothes that I don't wear anymore, and I'll donate them later. See if you can take some too."

Gui'er was just wondering what excuse to use to transport the medicine when she heard this, she immediately said, "Okay."

When they got back, they found a large wooden box and put the two small boxes of medicine at the bottom. They also asked Dingxiang to find some clothes that she didn't usually wear and put them on top. Dingxiang looked at them and thought they were nice, but she couldn't bear to part with any of them.