A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er said with a wry smile, "Now that I'm all alone in Hong Kong, if I wear such expensive clothes out, people will think we have a lot of money, which might attract unwanted attention. It's better to donate them."

Dingxiang said, "That's not how it works. Look, this dress was made at Yunxianglou. The cheongsam is lined with black fox fur, embroidered with gold and silver threads, and has pearl buttons. A dress like this made in Hong Kong would cost more than twice as much as one made in Jiangcheng. Even if you don't wear it, it would be very valuable if we had to pawn or sell it if something happened to us."

In the end, they could only take some less expensive dresses or dresses that they could no longer wear, and finally filled the big box. Gui'er said that she had arranged with Lin Peishan to leave it at Xinmin Bookstore first, and then have Acheng transport it there to give to Chen Zhongyu.

Upon arriving at the bookstore, Gui'er said to Chen Zhongyu, "Brother Chen, the bottom part of this box is a bit more delicate. Please ask the people who come to transport it to keep an eye out for it."

Chen Zhongyu immediately understood, nodded, and said with a smile, "Gui'er is so kind and generous, I thank you on behalf of the disaster victims."

After delivering the items, Acheng said to Gui'er, "Miss, I've been working as a guard at the villa these past few days and rarely get to come out. Why don't we go to the pawnshop while we're at it?"

Guier agreed.

Upon arriving at Juzhen Pawnshop, one finds it busier than usual with people coming and going.

Chen De was busy greeting guests, while Wu Mingqiang was also directing several waiters to attend to the guests.

Gui'er was a little puzzled and asked Wu Mingqiang, "Brother Wu, why is business so good now? It seems even better than when we first opened."

Wu Mingqiang said with a smile, "It's all because of this typhoon. Many businesses have suffered heavy losses and need cash flow. They all want to pawn some items to get some money to tide them over. Many of these items are their goods, but this has exhausted us because we have to carefully check whether they have been soaked or damaged. Some people have had their homes destroyed and their houses have collapsed. They urgently need to rebuild, so they pawn their jewelry for money. These are easy to handle."

Gui'er nodded and said, "You've really gone to a lot of trouble."

Wu Mingqiang specially bought some juice for Gui'er outside: "Miss, I'm a little busy here, why don't you have some juice and sit down for a while?"

Gui'er smiled and said, "It's alright, I'm just taking a look. You guys go ahead and get busy. Brother Cheng, you go ahead and get busy too. I'll call you when we get back."

After that, she sat alone in the small room next door, watching the guests coming and going.

Sure enough, most of the customers who came to pawn their items at this time were people whose families had suffered misfortune. They either looked anxious or hesitant, looking at the items in their hands as if they were reluctant to part with them.

Gui'er felt bad and decided to finish her juice and go home.

After a while, she finished her juice and saw that Acheng was still busy, so she went to the door to see if there was a rickshaw, thinking of taking a rickshaw home.

As she was looking around, a ragged, unkempt beggar suddenly walked up to her, grabbed her hand, and said, "Miss, Miss, I've finally found you."

Gui'er was startled. She looked up and saw that the person's face was covered in dirt, making it impossible to see his features. His hair was like a bird's nest, as if he hadn't washed it in a long time. His clothes were tattered, as if he had been pulled out of the mud.

Thinking she had encountered a madman, she hurriedly tried to pull her hand back, at which point Wu Mingqiang rushed out and kicked the beggar in the chest.

"You scoundrel, you're acting like a rogue, trying to mess with us. I'll kill you!" he said, rolling up his sleeves as if to hit the beggar.

Acheng quickly came out and pulled Gui'er behind him.

"Brother Qiang, Brother Qiang, it's me! Don't you recognize me?" The beggar fell to the ground and raised his hands, shouting.

Everyone present was stunned. Wu Mingqiang stepped forward and took a closer look.

"Ah Si? It's you? What happened to you?"

Upon hearing this, Gui'er immediately came out and carefully examined him. It was indeed A-Si. In addition to being dressed in rags and having a disheveled appearance, he was also extremely thin and looked weak. That was why Gui'er hadn't recognized him earlier.

"Fourth Brother, are you alright? Come in quickly." Gui'er hurriedly reached out to help him.

"Hey, hey, miss, this is a business place. If this guy comes in like this, he'll scare away all the customers," Chen De quickly said.

Gui'er looked at it and agreed, then said to Acheng, "Brother Acheng, let's take Brother Si back to the villa."

Acheng nodded and drove the car over.

Ah Si waved his hands repeatedly when he saw the car, saying, "I'm so dirty, how can I sit in the car? I'll just make it dirty."

Gui'er said to him, "Brother Si, don't worry about these things now. Let's hurry home."

Ah Si then timidly sat down in the passenger seat.

As Ah-Cheng drove, he asked, "How did you end up in Hong Kong?"

Ah Si paused for a moment and said, "Jiangcheng and Fengcheng have both fallen. When we were breaking out, I was ordered by the young marshal to go back to the marshal's mansion to check on things. I got separated from the main force. Although I managed to escape the pursuit by disguising myself, the marshal's mansion was deserted. There were all sorts of rumors in the city. Some said that the young marshal had led his troops to retreat with the main force on the orders of the central government. Others said that the young marshal had become a bandit in the mountains. Still others said that the young marshal had led a group of troops to join the revolutionaries. I didn't know what to do, so I took my savings and went back to my hometown to look for my family. But I found that they were all gone. Most of the neighbors around here had also left, saying that they had fled. If I stayed in the area, I was afraid that the Japanese would come again. After thinking it over, I remembered that I had heard Brother Qiang mention your address in Hong Kong before, so I thought of coming to seek refuge with you, Miss."

"Then how did you end up like this?" Gui'er found it unbelievable. Ah Si was also from the underworld, highly skilled, and used to traveling all over the country. He shouldn't have fallen so low as to become a beggar.

"It's a long story. The railway had already been bombed. Even if it were repaired, the Japanese controlled the railway line and the checks were extremely strict. If they found out I had ever participated in the anti-Japanese war, I would be dead. To make my way, I bought a donkey from a villager in the countryside. But I hadn't gone far when I ran into a group led by a relative of Marshal Zhang from Fengcheng. He was now the head of the Fengcheng Maintenance Committee. Because I had gone to Fengcheng a few times with the Young Marshal, he recognized me and stole my donkey. I was also imprisoned and beaten several times. They robbed me of all my money. At first, they wanted to execute me, but later they changed my sentence to forced labor and prepared to send me to the mine. Fortunately, I had been to the mine a few times with Brother Qiang and was familiar with the terrain. When the vehicle was halfway there, I jumped out."

Gui'er and Acheng were both shocked when they heard this.