A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

"Thank you so much, you've gone to so much trouble. How is my older brother now? Is he alright? Do you have any news about him?" Gui'er quickly inquired about Sha Yanyao's recent situation. She had just heard him say that his title was deputy director, so it seemed that he had been promoted.

"The struggle in Shanghai is very intense right now, and the situation is very dangerous. Several of our brothers have sacrificed their lives. But Deputy Director Sha told you not to worry about him, saying that he is doing well."

"Does my older brother know that our mother has passed away?"

"What? The old lady passed away? And what was the cause?" Du Jianbang asked in surprise.

“I heard it from people from my hometown. They said he died of illness. At the time, the city was in chaos because the Japanese were about to attack. My second brother went to the front line in Fengcheng, and his wife returned to Nanjing. Miss Jinbao had no power or influence. In the end, my father’s seventh concubine took him to the hospital, but after a period of treatment, he still couldn’t be saved. The funeral was very simple. When you tell my eldest brother, please be sure to be tactful so as not to upset him.”

Du Jianguo hesitated for a moment, then smiled helplessly and said, "Although I am currently stationed in Hong Kong, my external identity is that of a student. Because Deputy Director Sha did me a favor before, he asked me to convey that my private contact with you is actually against discipline. Please don't tell anyone, Miss. I'm afraid I can't convey these things to Deputy Director Sha, because our telegrams need to be reviewed by our superiors."

"Oh, I see. Well, never mind then, I'll think about it when the opportunity arises... Could you please just tell him to be careful?"

Du Jianbang hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "I will try my best to convey this to him. I have given you the letter, and I will take my leave now."

“Uh, Mr. Du,” Gui’er called out to him, “Thank you so much for delivering the message for my brother. You must be careful here too. It seems some students were arrested during the last protest. Some people say that someone bribed the police to monitor the students… If you need my help to cover for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Gui'er actually wanted to test which side Du Jianbang was targeting while he was lurking in Hong Kong. If he was also against the Japanese, she wouldn't mind helping him out. But if he was targeting the revolutionaries, then she had to be careful.

Du Jianguo was visibly taken aback, then said with some emotion, "No wonder Miss is so highly regarded by Deputy Director Sha; she truly is righteous and awe-inspiring. However, our mission is far too dangerous. Actually, our superiors deciphered Japanese intelligence, saying they intend to declare war on Britain and the United States. Hong Kong is a British colony, and Japan's practice is to send spies before invading. So they also sent us here to prepare in advance. We have people in the student, business, and arts circles. I was sent here because of my baby face. I'm doing well here. Miss, take care." Then he turned and left.

Gui'er breathed a sigh of relief; at least for now, this person was not an enemy.

However, I still need to inform Chen Zhongyu about this matter.

After school, Lin Peishan asked Gui'er, "Are you going to the bookstore today?"

Gui'er was about to speak.

Lin Peishan then added, "By the way, did you know? Brother Chen has a wide network of connections; he even knows Professors Xu Jing and Meng Haoran from our school."

Gui'er was stunned and said, "How did you know? I've never seen those two people in his shop."

Lin Peishan said with a smile, "Didn't you just go out with that Du Jianbang? I was worried something might happen, so I thought I'd follow them to see what was going on. I just happened to see these two professors walking past in the corridor. Professor Xu Jing was even saying that he was going to Xinmin Bookstore to discuss something with the manager after get off work. They sounded like they knew each other very well."

Gui'er had a very bad feeling. The two of them were being too high-profile. She remembered Chen Zhongyu's instructions not to get too close to Xu Jing and Meng Haoliang, so she said, "I won't go today. Du, who was just here, actually delivered a letter to my older brother. I've been busy with class and haven't had time to read it yet."

Lin Peishan smiled and said, "How long does it take to read a letter? I'll wait for you."

Gui'er hesitated deliberately for a moment and said, "Actually, my elder brother is in the occupied area of ​​Shanghai. He went there to do business, but he got caught up in the Battle of Shanghai and was trapped there. Now that he has written to me, I am afraid that it is bad news. So I have not had the courage to read it. I want to go home and read it slowly."

Lin Peishan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly reassured her, "It's alright, go home and check. You can call me if anything happens."

Gui'er smiled and said, "I know, then please tell Brother Chen for me." She wanted to use Lin Peishan to tell Chen Zhongyu about Du Jianbang.

Lin Peishan nodded, not noticing anything amiss, and Gui'er secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After leaving the school gate, the two went their separate ways.

Gui'er got into Acheng's car and asked, "Brother Acheng, how did the pawnshop inventory go today? Do the accounts match up?"

Acheng sneered and said, "The accounts and inventory match, but didn't you mention the jade incense burner to me before, Miss? I told Brother Qiang about it, and he said that since Miss cares so much about this jade incense burner, he could go to that old man and borrow it to take a look. If Miss likes it, we could buy it. But when we went to him, he said he hadn't redeemed it. Although he really wanted to redeem it, he was having a hard time raising the funds and was hesitating whether to borrow money to redeem it or discuss with us about just pawning it."

Gui'er frowned and said, "What's going on? Could someone be tampering with things?"

"Brother Qiang led us back to the pawnshop to question them. In no time, A-Gang admitted that he had secretly sold the jade incense burner at a high price because he saw that the customer could not redeem it. He was thinking of finding the old man in a couple of days and getting some money to make up for it."

Gui'er thought to herself that she hadn't been wrong, there was indeed a problem. However, she felt that A-Gang was just a scapegoat. How could a shop assistant like him have the connections to get customers to pay high prices for things? The biggest suspect was Chen De.

She asked, "So, how does Brother Angkor plan to handle this matter?"

Ah Cheng sighed and said, "After pressing them repeatedly, we found out that the buyer of this jade incense burner was actually Ouyang Bao, and he bought it at 90% below the market price. We can't afford to offend Ouyang Bao, Miss, so after Brother Qiang forced Ah Gang to return all the money from the sale, he kicked him out and gave some money to compensate the old man. The old man was initially reluctant to part with his family heirloom, but when he heard that it had been sold to Ouyang Bao, he had no choice but to accept it."

Gui'er frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "Do you really think this was done by A-Gang alone? He just came from the mainland not long ago."