A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

The next day after breakfast, Dali knocked on the door and said, "Miss Guier, the young marshal asked me to take you to buy books."

Gui'er was so happy when she heard this that she immediately changed into the velvet plaid and cotton cheongsam that Song Xichen had given her. When she came out, Dali was stunned for a moment and asked, "When did you get such shabby clothes?"

Only then did Gui'er realize that, besides Sha Yanxiao, Dali actually knew her life best, because he would take her to and from school every day, and even the clothes she had were all made by him, who drove Sha Yanxiao and her to get them custom-made.

Gui Er smiled and said, "This is the dress I wore when I was in the Song Mansion. I think the gangsters targeted us yesterday because my dress was too flashy. I think it should be fine if I change into this one."

Dali said, "There aren't many people at home today, so it doesn't matter. If the young marshal were here, you wouldn't want to come out wearing such shabby clothes."

Gui'er agreed repeatedly and urged him to leave quickly, but Dali didn't drive at all. He led Gui'er out of the door and walked deep into the alley for 20 minutes. They came to an alley in a civilian area. There were daily necessities stores, breakfast shops, snack shops, and of course bookstores, shoe repair shops, tailor shops, and barber shops. As the saying goes, a small sparrow has everything.

Gui'er finally came into contact with the civilian area. She saw that most of the shops on the first floor of the alleys were operated by people with a small staircase leading up to the upper floors. The tenants lived there. When she passed by a small staircase, she stopped and took a look. It was quite tidy. She looked up at the small windows on the second floor. Some of them had clothes hanging on them, and some even had pots of flowers on the windowsill, which was quite interesting.

There are rental notices posted on the walls of the alleys, which read: Lucky house for rent, clean and elegant, with a kitchen. Some read: Lucky house for rent, high-end suite, with a kitchen and bathroom, suitable for a family of all ages, price negotiable.

It's a bit like the rental advertisements in the urban villages, and is divided into high-end and low-end, single rooms and suites for families.

Dali was a little puzzled: "Why do you always look at other people's houses?"

Gui'er had no choice but to say, "I'm curious, how do people in Shanghai live?"

"No matter where you are, people are just trying to survive. Let's go. The bookstore is up ahead."

After walking a few hundred meters, we came to a slightly wider street. This was clearly not a main thoroughfare, but it was still busy. It wasn't as busy as the Bund or the streets where Sincere & Co. was located, with its constant flow of cars and tourists. The pedestrians here were clearly mostly locals. Occasionally, you could even see them greeting each other in Shanghainese.

The bookstore is located in the most prosperous part of the street. It is quite large and there is a plaque on the door that reads: Sanlian Bookstore.

As they walked into the bookstore, a tall, portly man wearing round glasses and a blue gown came over. He was stunned for a moment when he saw Dali, then saw Gui'er and smiled and asked Dali, "What kind of books did the boss bring his daughter here to buy?"

Dali's expression froze, and he said to Guier, "You talk to the boss yourself." Then he walked to the door, took out a cigarette, lit it, and leaned against the door frame to smoke.

The shopkeeper was visibly nervous when he saw Dali's stiff expression, but he relaxed again after he walked out the door. He smiled and asked Gui'er, "Little sister, what book do you want?"

Gui'er saw what had just happened and asked softly, "Boss, why do you seem so afraid of him?"

The shopkeeper glanced at Gui'er, then at Dali, and asked in a low voice, "Is this your father?"

Gui'er didn't want to talk too much about herself. "No, this is my father's driver. We came to Shanghai for the New Year. Do you have any books about Shanghai's customs and culture? Or a map of Shanghai?"

The shopkeeper seemed relieved after hearing this and said with a smile, "Oh, so that's it. Yes, yes, I can introduce you. I thought he was a brother from the underworld."

Gui'er turned around and looked at Dali. Indeed, the black silk cotton coat he was wearing today looked a bit like the outfit of the people who followed them that day.

The shopkeeper introduced some books to Guier and brought her a newspaper. This bookstore was a legitimate bookstore. After Guier paid, Dali came in to help her get the books, and the two of them started walking back.

Gui'er said tentatively, "Brother Dali, this bookstore is so close. I can come here by myself in the future. I don't need to bother you to bring me here every time."

Dali gave her a serious look and said, "No, it's too dangerous. Shanghai isn't just home to gangs, it also has a lot of petty thieves, con men, traffickers, and gangsters. Don't think you'll be safe if you're not in a busy area."

At that moment, a group of children happened to be playing games in the alley. There were also some elementary school students about Gui'er's age walking home from school in their school uniforms. Gui'er pointed at them and said to Dali, "But they're still walking on the street by themselves."

Dali said expressionlessly, "Then go and talk to the young marshal yourself. If he agrees, I won't follow him."

How could Sha Yanxiao agree? Gui'er was very depressed.

After returning to the villa, Gui'er went back to her room, closed the door, took out the map, and found the address that Song Xichen had written for her before. She compared it with the map and searched slowly.

After searching for a while, I actually found Song Xichen's address, which was near the villa where he currently lived, but the map only showed a large area and was not very detailed.

Gui Er didn't give up, so she thought of another way. She went to find the housekeeper and said, "Housekeeper Liu, my classmate said she lived near here when she came to Shanghai, at this address. Do you know where it is?"

Housekeeper Liu picked up the address and smiled. "Miss, could it be that classmate Nong gave us the wrong address? This villa is right behind our house. But that family came yesterday. I took a look and their daughter seems to be older than you."

Gui'er didn't expect that they were so close, and the housekeeper also knew about the situation of that house, so she had to play dumb: "Really? Did she really give the wrong address? What should I do? I can't just rashly go look for her in the back, can I?"

Butler Liu waved his hand and said, "No, no, don't you live on the second floor? The window of the second-floor room can see the back. Just look around the window and see if it's someone from her family."

Gui'er was overjoyed. She thanked the housekeeper and ran upstairs.

After entering the room, I could see the villa behind through the window. However, because the two villas were surrounded by courtyards, they were actually quite far apart. In addition, there were some big trees planted in both courtyards that blocked the view, so I couldn't see the people in the villas clearly.

After that, Gui'er stood by the window all day long, staring at the villa behind. She finally saw two women walking out of the villa's gate and into the courtyard. They were Song Tingting and Xiaolian. This was indeed the Song family's villa in Shanghai.