A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After reading the letter, Gui'er suddenly felt that her face was a little wet. When she touched it, she realized that she had been crying all over her face without realizing it.

She was crying tears of joy, for Sha Yanxiao was still alive, and for Song Xichen and Sha Yanxiao to have become comrades and fight side by side. Her heart was filled with relief and hope.

Gui'er read the letter over and over again, wide awake, until dawn broke before she finally succumbed to sleep.

The next day, as Gui'er was getting ready for school, Wu Mingqiang suddenly suggested, "I'd like to use the car today. How about I drive you to school, Miss? Once you get there, I'll drive off to do my own thing. Is that alright, Miss?"

Gui'er didn't think much of it and casually said, "Of course."

On the way, she asked about the pawnshop's revenue during this period. After reading Sha Yanxiao's letter, she felt that their current situation was actually quite difficult, and they must be short of supplies. She was already thinking about how to convert the gold bars, silver ingots, or other silver notes, passbooks, etc. in the underground secret room into material goods and transport them to Jiangcheng.

Wu Mingqiang said with a smile, "Business at the pawnshop has been relatively stable recently because we offered some good discounts to our customers before. During the typhoon, we also compensated for any damaged items at the original price. We built a good reputation from the start, so now quite a few people trust us and we have a lot of regular customers."

"Oh, is that so? That's great."

Gui'er thought to herself that now that the shop's business had stabilized and should be able to support the family in the villa, she should start thinking about how to transfer the treasure to the organization so they could buy supplies. But how could she ensure that all the supplies went to Song Xichen and Sha Yanxiao? Although it was all to support the war effort, Gui'er still had a little selfish desire to ensure that the benefits went directly to Jiangcheng.

“Miss, have you encountered something good lately? Or have you met someone? You seem to be both happy and sad,” Wu Mingqiang suddenly said.

"No, no," Gui'er said somewhat guiltily. "With the recent typhoon disaster and the fall of Nanjing, it's probably because I'm too sentimental."

“These are all huge matters. We are just ordinary people, and we can’t interfere in national affairs. Miss, please relax and just focus on living your life well,” Wu Mingqiang said as he drove.

“I was worried that the young lady had met some shady characters. There are so many con artists these days. Just a couple of days ago, one of our regular customers brought in his family heirloom, a jade incense burner, to pawn. Although he set a time limit, I doubt he'll be able to redeem it. His precious daughter was cheated out of most of her life savings. It's pitiful that he's so old and has to pawn his possessions to make ends meet. Apparently, after the young lady discovered she'd been cheated, she went crazy, crying and laughing all the time. The old man was at his wit's end. He tried to find her a match, but no one wanted her. Eventually, he betrothed her to one of his own employees, and only then did her condition stabilize.”

"Oh, that's so pitiful." Gui'er felt very sorry for her, but then she thought to herself, "Why does this sound like it's directed at me?"

She smiled and said, "Brother Wu, you can rest assured. I'm not the kind of person who values ​​love. Back when I was in the Marshal's Mansion, I don't know how many times they wanted to marry me off to someone. Every time, I fought back. I don't want to get married at all. I want to be a woman of the new era."

Wu Mingqiang paused for a moment, then chuckled awkwardly, "Miss, don't take it to heart. I heard from Acheng that your classmate is pursuing Mr. Chen. It's really laughable. How could a young lady do such a thing? I'm just worried that you might be influenced by bad company and end up associating with those dubious young men. That would be too dangerous."

"How my classmate pursues her love is none of my business, and Brother Chen isn't the kind of spoiled brat. We don't need to meddle in other people's affairs." Gui'er didn't like Wu Mingqiang talking about her classmate like that, and she felt that Lin Peishan was actually braver and more open-minded than herself. She only knew what was right because she had the perspective of a time traveler, while Lin Peishan was a truly brave woman of this era.

“Yes, Miss is right. I was too talkative and shouldn’t have gossiped about your classmates. However, Miss is different from them. She has parents and family, while you are all alone. And now, the young master’s fate is unknown. At a time like this, if a slick young man who knows the inside story tries to get close to you, Miss, you must be careful.” Wu Mingqiang, who is not usually so verbose, brought it up repeatedly today.

Gui'er knew that Wu Mingqiang meant well, and although she felt disgusted, she could only sigh and say, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I haven't told my classmates about my family situation."

Wu Mingqiang seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "That's good. But speaking of which, it would be nice if your classmate could marry Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen is also single here and runs his own shop. If he could get help from the woman's parents, his social status would definitely rise to a higher level, unlike now when he can only be a small bookstore owner."

Gui'er neither agreed nor disagreed, saying, "That depends on their choice." Then she got off the bus.

When Gui'er arrived at school, she ran into Lin Peishan, who excitedly told her that the date for the demonstration had been set.

It's set for next Monday. She even asked Gui'er to help make banners and slogans.

Gui'er asked curiously, "Do you already know the person who organized the demonstration?"

"Yes, aren't they Xu Jing and Meng Haoliang from our school? They're teachers from another department, but they're active in student movements, and the students love them. But you usually have to do part-time jobs, so you're always in a rush and might not have noticed. How about it? Do you want to come with me to help out?"

Gui'er was about to agree, but then she remembered that Chen Zhongyu had told her not to get too involved and that he would arrange for her to participate as a reporter to avoid trouble. So she decided that it was not appropriate for her to help. Instead, she said, "I will participate in the march, but I recently took on a part-time job at a newspaper. They know that we are going to march and demonstrate, and they have asked me to do follow-up reporting. I will participate as a reporter."

"Really? There will be newspaper reports? That's great! That will amplify their influence. I don't believe they can silence public opinion."

Afterwards, Chen Zhongyu indeed introduced Gui'er to a part-time job at a newspaper, which was to report on this incident. The newspaper was still the Xingbao, and this time, the person who gave her the part-time job was actually Editor-in-Chief Zhao.