A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

"I'll say it anyway. I think you, this diligent and studious young lady, still don't understand what I'm saying. Do you think a proper young lady would debase herself like this? Let me tell you, because if we didn't sell meat, we wouldn't even have enough to eat. We all came from the inland, and some of the girls even have to send money back home now. Every little bit of money they earn is saved up. Then they ask that letter writer at the street corner to write a letter saying they're working here, washing clothes and cooking for rich people. Haha, there's a whole bunch of younger siblings back home waiting for them to support. How could a real maid who does laundry and cook possibly support such a large family?"

As Gui'er watched Ru Meng's scarlet lips open and close, she suddenly felt dizzy. Looking up at the gray sky, it slowly began to blur. She heard Wu Mingqiang's repeated cries of "Miss!" and her consciousness began to fade away...

After an unknown amount of time, Gui'er heard someone speaking in her ear. She opened her eyes and found herself in a completely unfamiliar environment. She was sleeping on a bed covered with white sheets and a curtain hanging in the air.

She suddenly realized what was happening and sat up abruptly.

"Miss, you're awake." Wu Mingqiang strode in, looking relieved, with Acheng following closely behind him.

Ah Cheng said, "Miss, you fainted! You scared us to death!"

"Oh, I fainted." Gui'er finally realized, "Then where is this...?"

"This is Ren'an Hall's clinic. It's the closest clinic, and the young master of Ren'an Hall is quite skilled in medicine."

"Miss Gui'er is awake? Let me take your pulse. Is there anything wrong with you?" Lin Zhidong, the young master of Ren'an Hall, walked in.

Gui'er felt a little embarrassed and quickly said, "I'm fine now, young master. I'm sorry for troubling you. I guess it's just that I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"It's alright, let me take a look at you first." Lin Zhidong kindly gestured for her to sit down, then flipped her eyelids, asked her to open her mouth to check her tongue, and took her pulse. Then he smiled and said, "It's nothing serious. Haven't you been sleeping well lately? I'll prescribe some calming medicine for you. Take it home and brew it yourself."

Wu Mingqiang and Acheng were both extremely grateful to Lin Zhidong. Lin Zhidong said, "I'll prescribe three doses of medicine for you first. Come back after you've finished them, and I'll give you a follow-up check-up."

Afterwards, Wu Mingqiang and Acheng carefully drove Gui'er back to the villa, and neither of them mentioned Rumeng.

Back at the villa, Dingxiang noticed something was wrong as soon as she came out. Acheng said, "Quick, quick, quick, come and help Miss. She just fainted."

Upon hearing this, Dingxiang and Sister-in-law Aying were both shocked and quickly came over to help her back upstairs to lie down and rest.

Dingxiang asked in a tearful voice, "Miss, what's wrong? You mustn't be hurt!"

Gui'er smiled and said, "It's nothing, I probably just haven't been sleeping well lately."

Ah Cheng handed the medicine prescribed by Lin Zidong to Ding Xiang and said, "Let Miss rest for a while, and go and decoct these medicines."

Dingxiang hurriedly said, "Oh, okay, I'll go and brew the medicine right away. Miss, why don't you take a nap? I'll come and wake you up when the medicine is ready."

After everyone left the room, Gui'er couldn't fall asleep. She felt strange and took her pulse. There was nothing seriously wrong. It was probably caused by anxiety and depression caused by receiving letters from Sha Yanxiao and Sha Yanyao.

Suddenly, she heard arguing coming from the first floor. She got out of bed, tiptoed to the door, opened it a crack, and pressed her ear to the crack to eavesdrop.

"Brother Qiang, what's going on? Do you want to go back to the old ways?" asked A-Cheng.

“I still need to ask you about this, Acheng. How could you take that girl to a place like that? Don’t you know that kind of place is unclean? Where has she ever experienced anything like this since she was a child? She must have been hit by something. If she doesn’t get better after taking the medicine, we’ll probably have to call a shaman to ask her about it,” Wu Mingqiang said.

"The reason I send the girls to places like that is because I find it strange that you go out every day, ignoring pawnshops and fooling around with women. This isn't like you. Brother Qiang, you're capable, and although you're younger than us, we still call you brother. But we're from Jiangcheng, and we have no power or influence here. If you take money from these prostitutes and act as their protector, it's equivalent to offending the local gangs. I've heard that in Shitang, it's normal for one or two people to die every day. What if the girls get involved?"

"That's why I told you to go to the pawnshop less and protect the young lady more. How much money can such a small pawnshop make? If you don't do some low-risk business, you'll never be able to turn your life around."

"Ah Si, what's your opinion?"

“I… I will listen to Miss. The young marshal sent me back to the marshal’s mansion to protect my family. I have come to seek refuge with you, Miss, also to protect you,” said Ah Si.

"Stop arguing, you lot. Miss is still sleeping upstairs. You'll wake her up." Dingxiang's voice rang out.

After that, no one spoke. Gui'er closed the door, went back to bed, and lay down. It seemed that Wu Mingqiang was the one who did this, and Acheng and Asi were not involved. But what should be done?

After a while, Dingxiang came over with the medicine. Seeing that Gui'er had sat up, she quickly said, "Miss, you're up now. Are you feeling better? The medicine is ready. Why don't you take it first?"

Gui'er took the pill, frowned, and drank it down: "Dingxiang, please call Brother Wu up for me."

Wu Mingqiang came up and carefully walked to Gui'er's bedside. He knelt down and said, "Miss, are you alright? It's all my fault. I originally thought that I could do this secretly and it wouldn't affect you."

Gui'er sighed and said, "I'm fine. Is what Ru Meng said true?"

Wu Mingqiang nodded and said, "After we came from Jiangcheng, I saw that Miss was busy studying and working all day long, struggling to make a living for us. It made me very sad. Although we opened a pawn shop, it's a small shop, and the people who come to pawn things aren't very rich or powerful. The goods we get aren't good enough, and the profit is too low. I've been thinking about what can be done to make money quickly so that Miss can go back to the life she had in Jiangcheng and Nanjing, where she could go shopping, drink coffee, and watch movies with her classmates."

"At that time, I met Rumeng by chance. There used to be a guy named Mad Dog He San in their area. Every month, they had to hand over half of their income to Mad Dog He San as protection money. But later, Mad Dog He San was stabbed to death by an assassin sent by another gang while he was out shopping. After that, many thugs claimed to take over the alleys that He San was in charge of. As a result, one would come to collect today and another would come to collect tomorrow. They had to pay again and again, which was extremely difficult."