A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 303: Discovering Director Shen’s Collusion with the Japanese

When Guier saw the pair of clogs, she was stunned for a moment, because she knew that Chinese people generally don’t wear them, so this must be a Japanese.

She quickly shrank back, but was very curious about why the housekeeper of this family had contact with the Japanese. After thinking for a while, she found a small mirror, stuck it out of the window, and sat in the room to observe through the mirror.

The butler talked to the man for a while and then walked back.

Guier quickly put the mirror back, tidied herself up, changed her clothes, went downstairs, came to the courtyard, walked to the pavilion where she used to read newspapers, and pretended to take a walk out of boredom.

After a while, the butler came in from the side door. Gui'er deliberately made eye contact with him as if by chance. The butler smiled politely at Gui'er and nodded.

Seeing the opportunity, Gui'er quickly greeted him and said, "Housekeeper, do you know of a bookstore nearby? I'd like to buy a newspaper and comic books to read when I get back to relieve my boredom."

The housekeeper smiled and said, "There's a newsstand not far from here on the main road, but it's not a good idea for you to go out alone, young lady. You need to bring someone with you. The world is not peaceful these days."

Gui'er smiled and said, "It's okay, I'll take my maid Dingxiang with me."

The housekeeper shook his head and said seriously, "I'm afraid that won't work. How about this? I'll ask one of the servants to go with you two, Xiaowu." He quickly walked to the servants' quarters under the courtyard wall and called out a boy of fifteen or sixteen. He said to Gui'er, "This is Xiaowu. Let him go with you."

Gui'er said, "Okay, I'll go up and get a purse first. Please tell my maid Dingxiang for me."

After saying that, he ran upstairs and quickly opened the new clothes that Sha Yanxiao had made for him. Sure enough, he found the phone number of the Shanghai residence he mentioned.

After coming down from upstairs, Guier and Dingxiang followed Xiaowu out.

Seeing that Xiaowu looked honest, Gui'er asked him, "Brother Xiaowu, you haven't been working in the Shen family for long, right? Why didn't I see you when I came to visit my sister-in-law in Shanghai?"

Xiao Wu said naively, "To answer Miss, my family moved here from the war zone after the last war. The housekeeper took pity on me and took me in."

Ding Xiang asked curiously, "Has your whole family moved here? What's the situation over there now? I heard a lot of people died."

Xiaowu said, "We were fine because we originally lived in Maqiao, where everything was fine. I followed my father to work as a servant for the owner of the house. When the riot started, we all ran away. But when the fighting stopped, we returned to find that the owner's house had been bombed out."

"Miss, you don't know, it's so hard to find a job in Shanghai right now. All the rich people are running away. My father is now farming in Maqiao, my hometown. I work here alone. Two silver dollars a month is already our family's main income."

Guier smiled and said, "I see. But Mr. Shen should be quite nice to you, right? He has a wide network of contacts, so he probably has a lot of friends visiting here."

Xiao Wu hadn't noticed Gui'er was trying to find out information from him. He smiled and said, "That's right. When I came in, I heard that Mr. Shen was a high-ranking government official, so his daughter was able to marry the son of a warlord. I heard that this house was given to Mr. Shen by your family, right? Mr. Shen even said privately at home that he could have married someone better. If my sister could marry into such a wealthy family, I would be willing to work as their doorkeeper."

Guier smiled and said, "We have some money, but Mr. Shen has connections and power. I see he has a wide circle of friends, so he should have a lot of people visiting us, right?"

"A lot. My main job is to run errands for the gentlemen. When guests come to my house, I go out and buy whatever brand of cigarettes they want."

"Oh, that's very interesting. What do the guests like to eat? I think the Shen family has a complete range of food at home. There's no need to go out to buy anything."

"No way! Once a man has money, his appetite becomes more discerning. Rich gentlemen have all kinds of quirks that are different from others. For example, a few days ago, a few guests came to our house and actually ate raw fish fillets."

Gui'er's heart skipped a beat. She knew that during the Republic of China period, Japanese cuisine was not very popular among Chinese people and was mainly served to Japanese people.

Ding Xiang said curiously, "Really? That's so weird. Some people actually eat it raw. How can it be delicious?"

Xiao Wu said seriously, "Their raw fish fillets are completely different from ours. The housekeeper personally went to a specialized store to buy them, and they were made very carefully."

They chatted all the way and soon came to a nearby bookstore. Guier went in and bought a newspaper and two comic books.

After coming out, they saw a telephone booth not far away. Guier said to them calmly: "Oh, by the way, I just remembered that I made an appointment with Lily to go out and play together. I'll give her a call." Then she walked towards the telephone booth.

Ding Xiang said, "Miss, why waste that money? Wouldn't it be better if we go back to the Shen Mansion and fight?"

Guier smiled and said, "Look, there's a sweet soup shop next to the phone booth. Why don't we go get some? I'll go make the call first. You guys can order whatever you want. Order me some tangerine peel and red bean paste. I'll pay the bill later."

When the two heard this, they were naturally happy. Gui'er walked into the phone booth, and the two of them went into the sweet soup shop. Gui'er turned her back to their sight, quietly took out the phone number Sha Yanxiao gave her, and quickly dialed it. Sure enough, it was Wu Mingqiang who answered the call. Gui'er told him that she guessed that Director Shen might be in collusion with the Japanese, and asked him to investigate.

Wu Mingqiang said, "Okay, I understand. Miss, you have to be careful. The Japanese are very cruel."

Gui'er said, "Don't worry."

Then he hung up the phone, pretended nothing had happened, walked into the dessert shop and started eating sweet soup with Dingxiang and Xiaowu.

After that, Miss Shen spent the whole day with Mrs. Shen, either shopping or visiting relatives and friends. Director Shen would occasionally take Sha Yanyao out for social events, which was also to help him expand his network. It is said that he introduced many people with connections in Nanjing to Sha Yanyao, and during meals he also praised Sha Yanyao for his foresight and ability to win the favor of his superiors.

However, no one paid much attention to Gui'er. Sha Yanyao would occasionally talk to her when he was not out, but he seemed to be very concerned about the connections he had made recently and often had to go out for social events, so he didn't pay much attention to Gui'er.

Gui'er originally thought that if people didn't like her, she would just read a book in her room to avoid trouble. However, after discovering that Director Shen was suspected of having connections with the Japanese, she decided to get to the bottom of the matter. Now, when she has nothing to do, she takes a newspaper or comic book to sit under the pavilion in the yard and reads while observing the people coming and going.

Miss Shen felt a little sorry and said to Gui'er, "Guier, I'm so sorry. My mother hasn't seen me for a long time. She's been busy taking me around and has no time to accompany you."