A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 702: Using Peach Blossoms to Deliver Messages

After Shopkeeper Zhou collapsed, the scene fell into complete silence. Sha Yanxiao quickly rushed forward, pulled Gui'er back, and said sternly, "It's dangerous here. All the women should get inside and take shelter!"

Upon hearing this, the crowd rushed to the main hall in panic.

As soon as they entered the hall, everyone became uneasy. The ladies and concubines were pale. Some slumped in their chairs, clutching the corners of their clothes so tightly that their knuckles turned white from the strain. Others paced back and forth, muttering under their breath, "What should I do?" The young ladies were also panicked, whispering to each other and discussing the matter.

The third concubine's face was filled with horror, and her voice trembled as she said, "How could someone dare to assassinate a government official in broad daylight? How can Jiangcheng ever be at peace again?"

The fourth concubine frowned and agreed, "Yes, this matter is quite serious. Will our Marshal's Mansion be implicated?"

Sha Lili's eyes widened, and she said worriedly, "Could it be Director Tian's enemies who did this? That's terrible!"

Sha Yanwen also had a solemn expression on his face, and he was lost in thought. He and the Marshal were the only two men here.

The Marshal did not show any fear. Instead, he glanced at the people present and then closed his eyes to rest.

After a while, Sha Yanxiao hurried into the hall, stood before the Marshal, and respectfully reported, "Father, there was only one assassin, and he's dead. Director Tian's arm was scraped, and two of his men were unfortunately killed. I've already arranged for them to be taken to the hospital and morgue."

After hearing this, the Marshal swayed a bit, his brows furrowed tightly together, and he said with worry and effort, "It's so unlucky. Such a thing actually happened in our territory. Jiang, Jiangcheng is probably in trouble. Yanxiao, you go, go and investigate this matter thoroughly. You must give an explanation to the Central Committee. We must not let the people in the Central Committee use this as an excuse to interfere in Jiangcheng and Fengcheng."

Sha Yanxiao immediately understood what the Marshal meant. He nodded and said, "Yes, Father. I'll do it right away."

Gui'er was extremely anxious. She knew very well that once the matter was thoroughly investigated, Song Xichen, Manager Liu and Manager Zhang would most likely be implicated. She had to notify Song Xichen immediately. However, in the current situation, any action taken by anyone would attract attention. She had no choice but to be patient and wait and see.

At this time, everyone was still in the main hall of the courtyard, not daring to leave. However, as time passed, the Seventh Concubine walked up to the Marshal and said coquettishly, "Marshal, I came out early this morning to see off the distinguished guests. I didn't get enough sleep to begin with, and now I'm exhausted. I want to go back to the courtyard and catch up on some sleep."

The Marshal didn't say anything, but raised his hand and signaled her to leave.

The Seventh Concubine took a look and said with a smile, "Thank you, Marshal. I'll be leaving now." Then she turned around and walked away twisting her body.

Immediately afterwards, the eighth concubine also stepped forward and said to the Marshal, "Marshal, I was going back to my parents' home today. Now that everything is fine, I'll leave first." She turned around and wanted to leave, but was grabbed by the Marshal.

"No, you can't leave the Marshal's Mansion. Right now, the situation outside is uncertain. All female relatives must stay inside the Mansion."

The eighth concubine was stunned for a moment, but did not dare to disobey. She said, "Yes." Then she pulled her hand back from the Marshal's hand without leaving a trace and walked away.

The lady said, "Alright, although you can't go outside now, you can all go back to your own courtyards to rest. Don't gather here. Let's go. There are still things to deal with today. If anyone dares to say anything outside, watch out for his skin."

Everyone was still in shock and said "yes" repeatedly, then went back to their own courtyards.

Gui'er also returned to Sha Yanxiao's courtyard. The servants in the courtyard had already received the news. Dingxiang hurriedly came to greet her and asked, "Miss, I heard that someone was killed at the gate of our mansion. Are you okay?"

Gui'er shook her head thoughtfully, then went into the house.

She wanted to go out and inform Song Xichen that the outside was in chaos, and for safety reasons, she was not allowed to go out for the time being.

Guier picked up a newspaper and sat in the living room pretending to read it, but she was actually extremely anxious.

It wasn't until the afternoon that the Marshal's Housekeeper Zhao came to announce, "Miss Gui'er, Miss Taohua, we've come to your house looking for you. She's your daughter who's already married. The Marshal doesn't like her, so I shouldn't have announced her. But I remembered that she and you, Miss Gui'er, are very close, so I came to tell you anyway."

When Gui'er heard this, she quickly said, "Put Taohua in."

Housekeeper Zhao hesitated, and Gui'er said, "They only forbid us from leaving, not from coming in. Taohua and I originally planned to go shopping. If I don't go out now, she'll wait at the door for a long time, and people around will see her and start to speculate. It's better to let her in. After all, she was once a member of the Marshal's Mansion. Even if Father finds out, he probably won't blame her."

Butler Zhao had no choice but to say, "Well, Miss Gui'er, please be careful not to bring her around the Marshal's Mansion. It's best to let her go right away after you've spoken."

Gui Er smiled and said, "Of course, Housekeeper Zhao, please rest assured. I won't make things difficult for you."

After a while, Taohua was taken into the courtyard by the guards at the gate of the Marshal's Mansion. The guard watched Taohua enter Sha Yanxiao's courtyard before turning around and leaving.

As soon as Taohua entered the house, she said anxiously, "Gui'er, I haven't heard from you for a day. Then I heard there was a murder outside the Marshal's Mansion. It seemed someone was trying to assassinate a government official. I was worried about what happened, so I had to come to your house to find out what happened. I didn't expect that you wouldn't let me in at first."

Gui'er quickly smiled and comforted him, "It's actually nothing serious. We are all fine now." At this point, she suddenly had an idea and thought of asking Taohua to pass the message to Song Xichen.

She walked up, took Taohua's hand and said, "It's a rare occasion for you to come here, come to my room and sit for a while." Then she pulled Taohua to her bedroom upstairs.

After entering, she carefully closed the door and told Taohua everything.

Taohua was stunned by what she heard. She stammered, "What? You said it was Shopkeeper Zhou who assassinated Director Tian? Why? He's dead. Then my wedding dress would become a dress made by a dead person. Can I still wear it?"

Gui'er was stunned for a moment. She hadn't expected Taohua to focus on this. She said, "Why can't we wear it? The clothes were made when he was alive, not after he died. What's the connection? But we absolutely cannot tell anyone about this, so that others don't think we have anything to do with it, understand?"

Taohua was still shocked. Her thoughts were in a mess and she said, "How could he? He's just a tailor, and Director Tian is a government official."

Gui'er tried her best to calm her down and said, "Who cares what connection they have? It has nothing to do with us anyway. We should just pretend we don't know Manager Zhou. We still have to do what we have to do. They are nothing to do with us, don't you think?"

Taohua said, "That's true. I wonder if Shopkeeper Zhang gave him the remaining money. If not, we can save five dollars."

Gui'er rolled her eyes and said, "Whether it was given or not, we shouldn't ask anymore. Oh, by the way, before you came, Chief Steward Zhao told you not to stay here for long. Now that you know I'm fine, you should go back quickly, lest you stay too long and get discovered by the Marshal."

Taohua nodded and said, "That's right. I'll be leaving first. When can you go out? Didn't you ask Zhang to ask your brother to choose a date? What if you can't attend my wedding then?"

Seeing that Taohua had calmed down a lot, Gui'er said, "Don't worry, I think it will only be a day or two. I can't keep you trapped here and not let you go out." Then, she checked to make sure no one was eavesdropping outside, and then whispered to Taohua, "I originally had an appointment with Young Master Song today, but you're not allowed to go out. But you can go out. When you get out, find Young Master Song and tell him everything that's going on here. Tell him that I'll go find him as soon as I can get out."

After hearing this, Taohua's eyes flashed with nervousness, but she nodded firmly and said, "Don't worry, Gui'er, I will definitely bring it to you."

After that, the two of them came down from upstairs. Guier asked Acheng to escort Taohua to the gate of the Marshal's Mansion, and also asked him to hire a rickshaw to send Taohua back to the outer house.