A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 233 Qiuju Becomes the Ninth Concubine

Gui'er hadn't slept well the previous night. In the morning, Sha Yanxiao saw that she looked listless and thought she was sad because she couldn't go to Shanghai earlier. He consoled her by saying, "It's just a few days late. Wu Mingqiang is coming back from Shanghai these days, so I'll ask him to bring you some toys."

Gui'er could only muster up her courage and said to Sha Yanxiao, "Thank you, brother."

Even after school, when she went to work as an apprentice at the Zhenxiu Workshop, Gui'er was still feeling down. Just then, Song Xichen came over to get some medicine and asked her, "Gui'er, why are you in such a bad mood today?"

Gui'er forced a smile and said, "Brother Xichen, are you coming here to hand over the medicine because you're not feeling well?"

Song Xichen shook his head and smiled, "My mother has had back pain recently. Doctor Liu, the medicine here is very effective. I always come here to get it and apply it back to her."

When Song Xichen mentioned Madam Song, Gui'er only remembered that it was Madam Song who had taken the lead in bullying her in the Song family, calling her a lowly person who came from a brothel.

Thinking that she might have to live the same life as before, Gui'er couldn't help but shed tears.

Song Xichen was startled and hurriedly dragged Gui'er into the inner room. After finding out it was about Boss Liang and Qiuju, he hugged Gui'er and said, "It seems I haven't protected you well enough in the past. Don't worry, I'll tell Boss Liang and Qiuju to keep their mouths shut. He wants to climb up the social ladder in the Marshal's Mansion, so he shouldn't dare to say anything."

Only then did Guier feel a little relieved.

After returning to the Marshal's Mansion and having dinner, Taohua actually came to find Guier, which surprised her. Since Taohua moved out of Sha Yanxiao's yard, she basically rarely came here.

Sha Yanxiao saw Taohua was timid, and knowing that with him here, the two of them couldn't talk about many things, so he made an excuse to go to the study to read the newspaper.

Gui'er happily asked Dingxiang to go to the small kitchen to get some butterfly cakes, osmanthus cakes, and milk tea to treat Dingxiang. She said to her, "You should come here more often. If you can't eat over there, come here. I can at least give you something good to eat."

Taohua chuckled and said, "The Third Concubine said that we must abide by the rules in the mansion and not run around everywhere, so as to avoid gossip."

At this point, Gui'er suddenly remembered Qiuju's story and sent Dingxiang away, saying, "Go to the kitchen first and ask them to make a lotus root powder and osmanthus cake. Make sure it's good. Then have Taohua take it back to Sister Sanmei and Aunt Sanniang."

Ding Xiang smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go watch them do it myself, I guarantee it will be good."

Gui'er nodded. She expected Dingxiang to do this. If Dingxiang had not been sent by someone to lurk around her, she could really be considered a very considerate and thoughtful person. Gui'er did not have any class concepts and really wanted to treat her as a sister, but after knowing the truth, she had to be on guard.

Taohua saw Dingxiang walk out and said, "You're so mysterious. Do you have something to tell me?"

Gui'er was stunned for a moment. She felt that Taohua had grown up now and could read people's expressions.

She sighed and told Taohua the news that Qiuxiang would become the ninth concubine.

Taohua turned pale upon hearing this and asked in a tearful voice, "Really? What should I do? In the past, when I was in the Song Mansion, I was scolded for this very thing and I didn't dare to refute it. I couldn't even lift my head. Now it's happening again. How can I bear it?"

Gui Er quickly comforted her, saying, "I've already told Young Master Song about this matter, and he promised to help talk to Boss Liang and ask them to keep it quiet."

Taohua shook her head in pain and said, "I don't believe it. Miss also said she would protect me before, but she just turned around and listened to other people's slander."

Gui'er held Taohua's hand and said, "Song Tingting is no longer your mistress. You are now the mistress of the Marshal's Mansion. If anyone brings up this matter, slap them in the face and tell them they are spreading rumors and slandering us. Anyway, we have never been prostitutes, so there is no need to prove ourselves. If you hear anyone say that, tell me and I will find a way. But one thing is for sure: you must never admit that we were on the flower boat. Do you understand?"

Taohua nodded, but after a moment she said to Guier, "But Qiuju really was on the brothel. How could she have become the ninth concubine? I'm afraid her past will be exposed one day, and he'll drag us down with him. What should we do?"

Gui'er was actually not sure how much brains a prostitute from a flower boat could have to weigh the pros and cons, so she could only take things one step at a time.

Sure enough, just a few days before the holiday, one morning, when Sha Yanxiao was about to go out to school with Guier, the steward of the Marshal's courtyard suddenly came over and said that the ninth concubine had come in today and asked them to come back for dinner.

Gui'er was a little surprised. Why was it so sudden? She asked Sha Yanxiao, "Do we need to prepare gifts or something?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled and said, "What's the point of preparing anything? Just carry it in and invite the whole family over for dinner. Just get to know each other. There's no banquet yet."

"Why is the Ninth Concubine not so formal at all, but the Eighth Concubine is so formal?"

Sha Yanxiao touched Gui'er's head and said, "Eighth Concubine is from a well-known family, but Ninth Concubine is nothing. In fact, except for Fourth Concubine, all other concubines were brought in like this."

Gui Er suddenly realized that even when choosing a concubine, one must consider family background. "Why doesn't Father just pick a few with high births? Why so many with low births? I don't think he likes them either."

Sha Yanxiao said calmly, "He wanted to, but it's not so easy for a daughter of a prominent family to become a concubine. If she were, she would definitely be getting some benefits. Boss Liang claims this is his goddaughter, but everyone knows she's his mistress. Her father simply wanted her because she's young and pretty, hoping to marry her and have a son."

Gui'er suddenly remembered that when she met Qiuju on the flower boat before, she had been a girl there for many years. Maybe she had taken some sterilization medicine. If that was the case, then the Marshal's efforts would be in vain.

After thinking about it, Gui'er decided not to tell anything. If she told Sha Yanxiao, he would definitely tell the Marshal, and the Marshal would inevitably investigate how he knew it, and then he would definitely find out about her. Gui'er guessed that Sha Yanxiao should know about her experience of being on the flower boat and being rescued by Song Xichen, but he would not mind, but others might not.

Although Marshal Sha is nominally his adoptive father, he has so many wives but cannot give birth to a son, so it is definitely not because of his wives.

In the evening, Sha Yanxiao took Gui'er to the front yard. The manager told them to go to the hall first and perform the ceremony before eating.

When they arrived at the hall, the Marshal and his wife sat in the two main seats in the hall. On the right sat the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh concubines. The eighth concubine was in Shanghai and had not returned. On the left sat the three brothers Sha Yanyao, Sha Yanxiao and Sha Yanwen. Behind them sat the daughters of the Marshal's mansion, led by the three beauties.

This time it was extremely simple, without even a bridesmaid. The Marshal said to the steward, "It's almost time, so call her in."

The manager made a gesture towards the door, and the servant guarding the door turned around and ran out. After a while, a matchmaker came in with a woman wearing a beautifully embroidered light red cheongsam, a white lace veil on her head, and flowers in her hair. Guier recognized her at a glance as Qiuju.

Because Gui'er was sitting in the second row on the left, Qiuju didn't see Gui'er. With a smile on her face, she walked to the Marshal and his wife like a happy bride, led by the matchmaker.

In the whole room, except for the Marshal who had a smile on his face, everyone else either had a numb look on their face, like the Madam and the Third Concubine, or had a look of contempt, like the Fourth Concubine and Sha Lili, or had an expression of curiosity and gossip, like the other concubines and young ladies.

The three young masters looked calm. Gui'er secretly looked at Taohua and found that she lowered her head, as if to avoid being recognized by Qiuju.

The steward said, "The Ninth Concubine greets the Madam and the Master and offers tea."

A maid brought two cups of tea. Qiuju knelt down, picked up a cup and handed it to Marshal Sha, saying delicately, "Master, have some tea."

Marshal Sha took it, nodded with a smile, took a sip, then took a red envelope from the steward and handed it to Qiuju.

Afterwards, Qiu Ju turned to the Madam, picked up a cup of tea and handed it to her. With lowered eyebrows, she said to her respectfully, "Madam, have some tea."

The lady took it and drank a sip reluctantly, then handed over a red envelope with no expression on her face.

Then the steward said, "Let the concubines serve tea."

The process was similar to the tea ceremony between the master and the mistress, except that the responses of the concubines in each room were different. The third concubine acted like a good person and said with a smile, "Sister is so pretty and young. She will surely give birth to many children for grandfather soon."

Qiu Ju was very happy to hear this and said with a smile, "Thank you, Third Sister."

When it was the Fourth Concubine's turn, Qiu Ju held up her teacup for a long time, but she refused to take it. She looked around and asked the Marshal, "Master, when are we going to Shanghai? You said you would take me to visit the Sincere Company when we get there."

The Marshal smiled and said, "It's almost time. We'll leave after we finish the things we have on hand in the next two days. Everyone will go this year. You can drink your sister's tea first."

The Fourth Concubine then turned around with a coquettish look, but her expression changed immediately when she met Qiuju's eyes. She took the tea from her hand with great disgust and impatience, put it to her lips and pretended to put it, then she took out a red envelope and threw it directly on the tea tray. Qiuju's originally flattering smile immediately froze on her face.

Everyone in the room acted as if they didn't see anything. The manager continued to ask her to serve tea to the fifth, sixth, and seventh concubines. However, these people didn't make it difficult for her, but there was no expression on their faces.

After drinking tea, the Marshal said to Qiuju, who had just become the ninth concubine, "Come and meet my three sons, Yanyao, Yanxiao, and Yanwen."

Sha Yanyao had a calm expression on her face, while Sha Yanxiao looked at her politely, smiled and nodded. Sha Yanwen's attitude was similar to his mother's, he simply ignored her and looked around boredly.