A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

"So you don't know where Second Brother and Eldest Brother are now?" Gui'er asked A-Si.

“I know the eldest young master. He was transferred to another place before the war started. The young marshal said in private that it was Shanghai. If I knew where our young marshal was, I wouldn’t have come here. I would have gone directly to join him.”

When the car returned to the villa, Dingxiang and Sister-in-law Aying came out to greet them. They screamed in fright when they saw A-Si get out of the car.

"What are you yelling about? Look closely, this is Ah Si. Hurry up and get some water to wash the car." Ah Cheng said irritably.

Gui'er said to Sister-in-law Ying, "Sister-in-law Ying, this is A-Si, my second brother's subordinate back in our hometown. Why don't you take him to wash up and change his clothes?"

Ah Ying's wife then timidly muttered, "Why does he look like this? I thought another thief had come," as she led him to the servants' bathroom.

Ah Cheng found another set of clothes for Ah Si to change into.

After changing his clothes, Ah Si walked up to Gui'er somewhat embarrassedly, bowed, and said, "Miss, I frightened you just now."

Gui'er noticed that even after taking a bath and changing his clothes, he was still very thin. He used to be about the same size as A-Cheng, but now that he was dressed, he looked like a skeleton swaying inside his clothes. His cheeks were sunken in. Gui'er knew that he must have suffered a lot on his journey.

She quickly said to Dingxiang and Sister-in-law Aying, "Go to the kitchen and get some porridge and side dishes for Brother Si to have something to eat."

Dingxiang said to A-Si, "A-Si, come here, let's go to the kitchen and get something to eat."

After they left, Acheng asked Gui'er, "Miss, what do you plan to do with A-Si?"

"What should we do? Of course, we should keep him. He's come all this way to join us, and he was once my brother's subordinate. I've seen how much hardship he's endured on his journey; how can we turn him away?"

Ah Cheng nodded, seemingly relieved, but then sighed and said, "Miss is right. We're all brothers, but we're also in a tight financial situation right now. I've looked at the pawnshop's books, and there haven't been any particularly valuable deals yet. So we'll just have to wait and see. Some pawnbrokers have to wait several years to break even. But with the current unstable situation, we don't know what tomorrow will bring, so it's going to be tough."

Gui'er breathed a sigh of relief and said, "How about this, Liu Jin is still recuperating, so let Fourth Brother temporarily take his place. I'll go back to the newspaper office later to see if I can continue writing articles; it shouldn't be a problem." Gui'er knew her confidence actually came from the treasure in the secret room, but she wanted to use that treasure to fight the Japanese, so she'd earn as much as she could.

In the evening, Wu Mingqiang returned from the pawnshop and saw Ah Si's appearance. He sighed and said, "Actually, I sent people to find out about the situation in Jiangcheng a long time ago, but the Second Young Master is missing. It is said that the people from the Marshal's Mansion have scattered and fled. Most of the people who came with Miss Ji when she married into the family have died in battle. I couldn't bear to tell Miss Ji."

Gui'er felt very sad after hearing this.

She said to Wu Mingqiang, "Brother Wu, let Ah Si temporarily replace Liu Jin as the doorman. Let Liu Jin go to the pawnshop as an apprentice after he recovers from his injury."

Wu Mingqiang hesitated for a moment, then said somewhat hesitantly, "Miss, to be honest, our shop is a small one, we don't need that many people at all. You left Ah Gang here earlier, so we already had too many people. I was thinking, why don't we open an underground casino?"

"No." Gui'er didn't hesitate for a moment. She had a premonition that if she severed ties with the Marshal's Mansion and Sha Yanxiao didn't keep these former gangsters under her control, they would be out of her control. Sure enough, they came.

“I know you definitely won’t agree,” Wu Mingqiang sighed. “But we are in a time of chaos, and all industries are in decline. Only casinos, brothels, loan sharks, and opium dens are the most profitable.”

“Brother Wu, we can still make a living, why do those immoral things? What you’re talking about may make money quickly, but we’re outsiders. Hong Kong is a mixed bag, and once you’re in the underworld, it’s hard to turn things around. You’ll be fighting and killing all day long, and you won’t even know how you died.”

Seeing that Wu Mingqiang still seemed somewhat unwilling, she added, "Brother Cheng is now engaged to Dingxiang by my brother, and they will soon be getting married. Brother Si traveled thousands of miles, even begging, to find me, without going astray. Isn't that because he was tired of the life of fighting and killing he used to live?"

Wu Mingqiang glanced at Acheng and Asi, and they both lowered their heads.

"Alright, I understand that Miss is a respectable young lady from a respectable family. How could she possibly be willing to do such a despicable business? I just want Miss to be able to return to her former wealthy life."

"My life is great right now. With you all looking after me, no one bullies me. When I become a doctor and open a clinic, some of you can work at the pawnshop, and some of you can work as assistants at the clinic. Life will be even better then." Gui'er actually knew that even after she graduated, she was still far from being able to practice medicine, but she was afraid that Wu Mingqiang would be out of her control, so she could only make empty promises for now.

Ah Cheng and Ah Si were very excited when they heard this, and said repeatedly, "Miss is so farsighted. We are so lucky to have followed you. We don't have to worry about making a living outside."

Wu Mingqiang then stopped saying anything more.

Gui'er found a time to ask A-Si privately, "What was the situation like in Jiangcheng when you left? What about Chief Song of the police station, the eldest son of the Song family? What about my former masters, Manager Zhang and Manager Liu, whom you also know? How are they doing these days?"

Ah Si tried hard to recall: "During our last period, we went to Fengcheng to meet the enemy. Later, we fought and retreated. When we returned to Jiangcheng, the city was in chaos. Nine out of ten shops on the street were empty. The young marshal sent us to risk our lives to bring people from the marshal's mansion to safety, only to find that the mansion was empty. Later, we finally found an old woman in the mansion who had nowhere to go. She said that before the madam passed away, young mistress Tian had returned to Nanjing. After she passed away, young mistress Jinbao also disappeared. The concubines from the other rooms also moved away."

"Mother has passed away?" Gui'er was shocked. Although she had heard that her mother was ill, she did not expect her to pass away so soon.

"Yes, it is said that the Seventh Concubine sent her to the hospital and she was treated for a while, but at that time there were rumors everywhere that the Japanese were going to invade, and most of the doctors and nurses in the hospital had left. It is said that the young mistress of Tian did not care much at the time and went back to her parents' home. The young mistress of Jinbao went to the hospital to accompany her for a few days, and did not leave until the madam passed away."