A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

After Gui'er knew that there was Song's villa behind her residence, she kept guarding by the window. In order not to attract attention, she took a newspaper, moved a chair and sat by the window, pretending to read the newspaper.

It was not until noon the next day that Gui'er saw Song Xichen come out of the house and walk towards the courtyard gate. She wanted to shout but was afraid of alarming others, so she stood by the window and waved desperately to attract Song Xichen's attention, but he didn't even look at her. He went straight out of the courtyard and took a rickshaw away.

Gui'er felt that she still needed to think of another way. She suddenly had an idea and folded the newspaper she had read into a paper airplane. But what if the airplane was picked up by someone else? What if he didn't know what the airplane meant?

Gui'er scratched her head and thought for a while, and felt that there was a word "Gui" in her name, so she thought about drawing an osmanthus flower on the paper airplane. So she took a pen and drew an osmanthus flower on the wings of the paper airplane. She was afraid that one airplane was not enough, so she folded a few more, waiting for Song Xichen to appear.

After half a day, Song Xichen came back from outside. Guier hurriedly threw all the planes out. As a result, some of the planes fell directly to the ground, some hit the wall, and only two flew into Song Xichen's yard. One was stuck on a tree, and the other slowly fell to the ground while flying, still far away from Song Xichen.

Gui'er was about to shout at the top of her lungs, but was afraid that others would hear her. Just as she was getting anxious, Song Xichen noticed the paper airplane that had fallen to the ground. He walked over to pick it up and discovered a picture of osmanthus flowers on it.

Song Xichen seemed to have thought of something and looked around. When he raised his head, he saw a window of the villa in front of him. Gui'er was standing there waving at him frantically. He finally got in touch with her.

When Song Xichen saw Gui'er, he felt relieved to know that she was safe.

Gui'er was a little worried. She didn't know if Song Xichen had gone on a blind date with Tong Yujun's sister. Although she had promised Tong Yulan to keep it a secret for the time being, what if she broke her promise and they got engaged? Wouldn't Song Xichen be the one being taken advantage of? And seeing how close Tong Yulan was to her boyfriend, she couldn't keep it a secret for much longer. If Song Xichen got cheated, she would feel really bad.

Unexpectedly, in the evening, Mr. Song, Mrs. Song and Song Xichen suddenly came to visit the Marshal, which surprised Guier very much, because usually in their hometown, the Song family and the Marshal's Mansion did not have very close contacts.

What Gui'er could not have imagined was that the Marshal treated them so warmly that he invited them to have dinner at his mansion. After dinner, the Marshal and his wife chatted with Mr. Song and Mrs. Song in the house. Gui'er glanced at Song Xichen and turned to a small pavilion in a corner of the garden. Song Xichen understood what she meant and followed her out.

Gui'er mainly wanted to ask if Song Xichen had gone on a blind date, but was too embarrassed to ask directly, so she said, "Brother Xichen, how are you?"

Song Xichen smiled and said, "Fortunately, there seemed to be some unrest on our way out this time. In fact, it was me who instigated my parents to come visit the Marshal this time."

Gui'er was very surprised because Sha Yanxiao had previously used the Song Mansion's invitation to a banquet to get him to donate a large sum of money to open a porridge factory to help refugees. She thought that the Song Mansion would definitely stay away from the Marshal's Mansion.

Song Xichen said, "On our way here, we found Marshal Zhang mobilizing his troops."

"Mobilizing the troops? Are we fighting again?"

"What war? Could it be that Young Master Song came here specifically to scare the little girl?" Sha Yanxiao's voice suddenly came from behind.

Gui'er was startled and turned around to see Sha Yanxiao standing there with a gloomy face.

Song Xichen quickly stood up and said, "Young Marshal, please don't misunderstand."

Sha Yanxiao sneered and said, "I misunderstood something."

Song Xichen pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. It turned out to be a map. Gui'er didn't recognize where the map was from, but Sha Yanxiao grabbed Song Xichen by the collar and asked sternly, "How did you get a military map of my hometown?"

Song Xichen raised his hands and said, "Young Marshal, look carefully, this is not a military map, it's just a topographic map I found in the library."

Guier turned around and looked at the map. It was a little different from ordinary maps. It showed mountains, rivers and roads, but no residential streets.

Sha Yanxiao took another look at the map and let go of his hand.

Song Xichen pulled a pen from his pocket and drew an X on several locations on the map. He said, "We'll transfer them on our way to the train station. They'll be at these locations."

Sha Yanxiao picked up the map, examined it carefully, and then, smiling, handed it back to Song Xichen. Gui'er felt a moment of relief. The next second, Sha Yanxiao, covering his ears with lightning speed, pulled out a gun from behind and pressed it against Song Xichen's chin. He said, "Song Xichen, these places you marked aren't even on your way to the train station. How did you find them? Did you send someone to scout them? What's your purpose in doing this?"

Gui'er was stunned by this sudden change. She looked at Sha Yanxiao and then at Song Xichen, not knowing what to do for a moment.

Song Xichen smiled calmly and said, "Young Marshal, I'm already on your territory. How can I escape? Could you please put down your gun first? You're scaring the children."

Sha Yanxiao glanced at Gui'er, put away his gun, patted Gui'er's head, sat down, and said to Song Xichen, "Then please explain, Young Master Song."

Song Xichen also breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to touch Gui'er's head to comfort her, but was blocked by Sha Yanxiao.

He smiled and said to Sha Yanxiao seriously, "Young Marshal, you're wise. We didn't discover all of this on our way here. Shortly after you left, people who were traveling home for the New Year by train reported seeing troops on their way back. Then, villagers in the towns outside the city reported that suspicious individuals were coming to their villages to observe the terrain. As the Chief of Police, even though I'm not part of the military, I still have to ensure peace in the area. So, I sent people back and forth between the two places to conduct reconnaissance. One of the people who went to Marshal Zhang's city to investigate overheard a prominent client telling a prostitute in a brothel that Marshal Zhang wanted to annex Marshal Sha's territory."

At this point, he paused, looked at Sha Yanxiao and said, "Young Marshal, as the chief of police, I can only do so much. I also don't want my hometown to suffer an unprovoked disaster."

Sha Yanxiao pondered for a moment, stood up and said, "Okay, I understand. I'll go back and discuss it with my father." Then he left.

Gui'er originally wanted to ask Song Xichen about his blind date, but now she felt that it was inappropriate to bring up this matter at this time.

Song Xichen asked Gui'er, "How have you been doing these past few days in Shanghai? Are you happy?"

Gui'er said happily, "I went shopping at Sincere Department Store these past two days. Although I haven't had time to go out and play, I did get a glimpse of the atmosphere of a big city. Yesterday I also bought a few books about Shanghai's humanities. It would be great if I could understand how ordinary Shanghainese people live."

Song Xichen said happily, "Are you interested in life in Shanghai? I studied in Shanghai before, and I can take you around Shanghai if I have the chance."