A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Gui'er came down from the second floor, and Wu Mingqiang and Acheng quickly stepped forward. Gui'er said, "I'm a little tired, let's go home. By the way, Brother Wu, I remember there seems to be a bill at home that you have. Come with me to get it and take a look."

Wu Mingqiang nodded and said, "Yes." Then the group came out and got into the car.

Wu Mingqiang asked, "Miss, what should we do? Should we follow them?"

Gui'er hesitated and said, "Ouyang Bao is a detective and has a certain investigative awareness. If you follow him, you'll be discovered. Forget it. Didn't you arrange for people to be at Lu Yu Tea House beforehand?"

Wu Mingqiang nodded and said, "I've made arrangements, but unfamiliar faces won't do. I bribed one of the guys inside to eavesdrop for me."

Gui'er thought for a moment and said, "Here's what we'll do: you take a few brothers and lie in ambush at the entrance of the teahouse. Don't show yourselves easily. If you find that Ouyang Bao is going to harm Boss Xu, then lend a hand to rescue him."

Wu Mingqiang nodded and said, "Understood." Then he got out of the car to make the arrangements.

Acheng turned to her and asked, "Miss, are we going home now?"

Gui'er glanced around and, finding no one suspicious, nodded and said, "Let's go home."

It wasn't until dinner time that Wu Mingqiang returned and said, "Miss, the waiter from Lu Yu Tea House sent word that they had reached an agreement, and the atmosphere was very good. They even shook hands with each other while smiling when they left."

Gui'er finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The next day at school, she told Lin Peishan about it.

Lin Peishan said happily, "I received the news yesterday. With this, we have collected a total of ten tons of cotton and cotton cloth. It's almost there. Moreover, Teacher Xu has already agreed on the delivery date with Detective Ouyang. We will then collect the cotton and cotton cloth from other places and transport them to the mainland. Then we will have accomplished our mission."

Gui'er took out money from the basement to pay for the cotton and cotton cloth from Ouyang Bao and Song Xilun.

After delivering the goods, they secretly gathered together the goods that Chen Zhongyu had found himself, preparing to ship them back to the mainland. Chen Zhongyu asked if Acheng could accompany them again.

Gui'er said happily, "Of course, I'll go ask for you right now."

Ah Cheng knew who this batch of goods was for. He also thought about the identities of the people he had delivered to before, and asked Gui'er, "Could it be that the merchants I delivered to before were all revolutionaries?"

Gui'er felt there was no point in hiding it, so she said, "Yes, I don't actually know these people, I haven't had any contact with them, and I haven't even spoken to them, but as long as they are my second brother's comrades-in-arms and can drive the Japanese away, nothing else matters."

Acheng nodded and said, "I understand. I think so too. I'm willing to go on this cotton delivery mission."

Gui'er once again used the excuse of arranging extra work to send Acheng to the mainland with the escorting comrades.

Dingxiang was still worried and kept asking questions. Gui'er knew that she couldn't hide it for long, so she simply told her the truth.

Dingxiang paused for a moment after hearing this and then said, "Miss, did you not tell me before because you were afraid I wouldn't keep it a secret?"

Gui'er shook her head and smiled, saying, "How could that be? I know you're always the most sensible. It's just that we lost many comrades in Nanjing. Sometimes, not knowing is actually safer. Now that we're in Hong Kong, the situation should be a little better than in Nanjing, right?"

With the cotton transported away, Gui'er's life returned to normal.

When I got home from school that day, Dingxiang opened the door, and she looked very strange.

Gui'er was puzzled and wanted to ask what was going on.

Dingxiang whispered in Gui'er's ear, "Chief Ouyang is here. He's been waiting for a long time."

Gui'er's heart skipped a beat. She walked into the hall, where Ouyang Bao was indeed sitting there with an air of authority.

Seeing Gui'er return, Ouyang Bao didn't even lift his eyelids, and said with a smile, "Miss Sha, you're back? You must be tired after a long day at school. Come, come, come, sit down and have some tea."

Gui'er handed her schoolbag to Dingxiang, deliberately sitting a little further away from Ouyang Bao. She poured herself a cup of tea and said with a smile, "Chief Ouyang, it's an honor to have you here. I'm so sorry for not welcoming you sooner. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Hey, what could it be? We're neighbors, and I just happened to be taking a walk and ended up here with Miss Sha. I remembered you visited me a few days ago, and I haven't returned the visit yet. So I came in and sat down. You don't mind, do you?"

"It's an honor for Detective Ouyang to come to our home. How could we possibly mind? We couldn't invite him even if we tried. Why don't we have dinner here before going back?" Gui'er couldn't figure out what Ouyang Bao's intentions were, but judging from these two incidents, if she could win him over, maybe he could help her with something in the future. Spending a little money was fine, as long as the matter was resolved.

"It's too kind of Miss Sha to accept such a kind offer, so I'll gladly accept."

At this moment, Wu Mingqiang returned from outside and saw Ouyang Bao there. His expression changed. Gui'er quickly reminded him, "Detective Ouyang is taking a walk nearby. He seems to be in such a good mood. Since he's in our vicinity, I'll do my duty as a host and let him have a simple meal here. Go and ask Sister-in-law Aying to cook a couple more dishes."

Wu Mingqiang immediately changed his expression and said with a smile, "I see. I'll go and ask Sister Ying to cook some hearty dishes."

Gui'er knew that Ouyang Bao was a lecher, so she deliberately had Wu Mingqiang and A Si sit on either side of him to drink with him while she sat opposite him. The meal was relatively safe.

After a few rounds of drinks, Ouyang Bao was a little tipsy. He picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, took a sip of wine, sighed, and said, "I, Ouyang Bao, have been a policeman for over ten or twenty years. I'm very good at judging people. For example, that Mr. Xu I met at your shop last time, you know him, right?"

Gui'er was about to deny it.

Ouyang Bao continued, "He's not a businessman at all, but I thought at the time, as long as there's money to be made, who cares who he is, right?"

Wu Mingqiang said with a smile, "With Detective Ouyang's extensive network of connections, who could possibly escape your notice? They're all here to curry favor with you."

"Hey, you're right, but only half right. He's not really trying to curry favor with me. He just wants my goods, that batch of cotton and cotton cloth. I didn't know the market at the time, so I didn't ask for a high price. Looking back now, I think I lost out."

Wu Mingqiang and A Si were both stunned for a moment.

Gui'er's palms were sweating a little because the price quoted by Ouyang Bao was indeed close to the market price, and even slightly lower. When Chen Zhongyu relayed this price to Gui'er, she mentioned it.

Chen Zhongyu said, "He doesn't know anything about this. Wouldn't it be better if we could buy the supplies at a lower price?"