A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 160 Ji Yiru instigates Lulu to cause trouble and Guier is poisoned

After school that day, Gui'er told Sha Lili that she would not go back with her and would take a rickshaw back by herself. Then she ran to the Zhenxiufang. The shopkeeper was quite surprised to see Gui'e. Gui'er smiled and asked, "Shopkeeper Zhang, Brother Xichen didn't come to change the dressing. How is his hand?"

Shopkeeper Zhang watched Gui'er take out two cans of milk powder and a few packets of medicine, and said with a smile, "Miss Gui'er is really thoughtful. Director Song is recovering well."

Gui'er felt a little relieved after hearing this. She said embarrassedly, "Actually, I should have sent the things over a long time ago, but I've been busy lately. Could you please give these two cans of milk powder to him for me? And these three portions are for dietary therapy. I wonder if you could go buy me a pigeon and stew it for him. I wonder if that would be convenient?" Then she took out a silver dollar and handed it to Zhang, saying, "I'm not sure if one dollar is enough. Just stew a pigeon for each portion."

Shopkeeper Zhang smiled and said, "That's enough, that's enough. Miss, you are such a kind person. This is enough to buy a whole load of rice."

Gui'er said, "Then I'll use the remaining money as payment for your hard work in making the soup for me. I can't let you work for nothing, right?"

Shopkeeper Zhang smiled from ear to ear and promised repeatedly, "Okay, okay, I'll make the soup and bring it to Director Song myself."

After thanking him, Gui'er hurriedly took a rickshaw back to the general's mansion.

After returning to the mansion, they waited for a while, but dinner hadn't started yet. Today wasn't the day she'd have dinner with the Marshal. Gui'er felt something was amiss, so she called for Dingxiang, who took a long time to come over. Gui'er asked, "What's wrong today? Why isn't dinner served at this hour?"

Dingxiang stammered, "Young Madam and Miss Lulu have already eaten. I'll get you something to eat right away."

Then he walked for a long time before returning with two cold steamed buns. Guier sensed something was wrong and asked Dingxiang, "What's going on?"

Dingxiang hesitated and said, "The kitchen said the fire is sealed..."

In the past, no matter how late the meal was, this situation would never happen. Sha Yanxiao was not there, and the servants did not dare to make things difficult for her. No need to ask, it must be Ji Yiru's doing.

Gui'er was wondering what to do.

"Sister Guier, are you back?" A delicate voice came from behind.

Gui'er turned around and saw that it was Lulu. She said to Gui'er with a smile on her face, "We got hungry early today, so we'll eat early. Do you mind?"

Guier smiled and said, "It's okay. If you're hungry, you can eat first. I'll ask the kitchen to cook later."

"But the kitchen fire has been sealed."

"Just light another fire after it's sealed. You can't let the master eat cold food just to make it convenient for the servants, right?" Gui'er was not going to compromise, otherwise she would have a hard time until Sha Yanxiao came back.

Lulu was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say, so Guier said to Dingxiang, "Go tell the kitchen to prepare a few hot side dishes and a bowl of noodles."

Dingxiang agreed and went out.

Lulu sat down next to Gui'er and said with a smile, "Sister Gui'er, there's something I want to discuss with you. My eldest sister said she'd like to assign me a maid and let me choose from anyone in the courtyard. I think Dingxiang is quite good, but she's your maid, and I don't think I can just take her away. But my eldest sister said you're always easy to talk to, so I'll just tell you. Starting tomorrow, Dingxiang will serve in my room."

Gui'er sneered. No wonder Ji Yiru welcomed Lulu back so enthusiastically. It turned out that she was planning to kill two birds with one stone. First, she would use Lulu to get rid of herself, and then she would get rid of Lulu. Unfortunately, Lulu was such a stupid woman. She probably wouldn't believe it even if she told her now, but she definitely couldn't let herself be slaughtered.

Gui'er smiled and said, "Didn't Uncle Ji say that you were a concubine? A concubine is a servant, so how come you have maids to order around? That must be because my sister-in-law is kind and righteous. If that's the case, you should choose from among her maids. Of course, if you like Dingxiang, that's fine too, but Dingxiang was appointed to me by my father and mother. If you want to order her around, you have to inform my father and mother and get their approval. Otherwise, if they see Dingxiang working for you in the mansion, no one will say anything."

Not to mention Lulu, even Ji Yiru wouldn't dare to say it in front of the Marshal and his wife.

Sure enough, Lulu's face turned red and green. She laughed dryly and said, "So that's how it is. I didn't know. I was the one who offended you." Then she walked away embarrassedly.

After a while, Dingxiang came up with hot noodles and side dishes. After Guier finished eating in a few bites, she said to her, "Come to my room and help me clean up."

After entering the room, Gui'er asked Dingxiang, "Can you tell me what's going on?"

Ding Xiang frowned and said, "Miss, you have to be careful. I heard from the young lady's maid that the young lady told Lulu that you didn't let her into the mansion. It was you who made the young lady misunderstand that Lulu wanted to be the main wife, so she beat Lulu."

Gui'er couldn't help but sigh when she heard this. There were actually such things in this world that were so confusing. She smiled bitterly and said, "What does it have to do with me whether she comes in or not?"

Dingxiang said: "But Miss Lulu completely believed it."

Guier rolled her eyes and said, "I know. I'll be careful."

Dingxiang brought another glass of milk. After drinking it, Guier started to do her homework. However, she was too tired today. After finally finishing it, she went to bed immediately.

The next day, Sha Lili asked her driver to drive to Sha Yanxiao's yard to pick someone up, and Guier woke up. It was the first time she overslept. She simply washed up and went to school without even having breakfast.

All day long, Gui'er felt dizzy and weak, and all she wanted to do was sleep. Eventually, she couldn't stand it anymore, so she told her teacher. Luckily, their school had a lot of wealthy students, and the facilities were good. They had hired a doctor who worked at a hospital part-time. The teacher took her to see the doctor, who took her temperature, felt her pulse, listened to her heartbeat, and said, "Everything's normal. Are you just tired?"

Guier said, "Yes, very tired."

The doctor was a little unsure and said to the teacher, "Let her lie here for a while and observe her for a while."

The teacher comforted Guier and said, "Then you should take a good rest here. I will call your family and inform them."

Guier nodded and said, "Thank you, teacher. Thank you for your trouble." Then she closed her eyes and wanted to take a rest, but she found that she was extremely irritable and could not fall asleep at all.

Guier tossed and turned on the hospital bed for a long time. Although she couldn't sleep, she was already covered in sweat, which seemed to be cold sweat. She felt tired even to raise her hands.

The doctor came over to check on her, re-measured her temperature and heartbeat, took her pulse, and asked Guier, "How do you feel now? Are you still tired?"

Guier said, "I'm very tired, but I can't sleep."

The doctor frowned and said, "Strange, is this some new epidemic? The hospital also admitted a patient with similar symptoms some time ago."

Gui'er's heart moved, and she asked hurriedly, "Who is it?"

The doctor smiled and said, "You should have a good rest."

Guier knew that she might be reluctant to reveal more about the patient due to professional ethics, so she said, "Is he a man in his fifties or sixties, almost bald, with thin cheeks, and his last name is Zhang?"

The doctor was surprised and said, "He looks just like you said, but his last name is not Zhang."

Gui'er's heart sank. She guessed that the person the doctor was talking about was Marshal Zhang, because Sha Yanxiao personally admitted that he asked Lulu to monitor him, but Lulu ended up poisoning someone.

Now my symptoms are the same as Marshal Zhang's, so Lulu must have poisoned me.

Guier quickly asked the doctor, "How is that man now? Is he cured?"

The doctor said, "He's not my patient. He's getting a little better, but because of his age, a full recovery might be difficult."

Guier quickly said to the doctor, "Since my symptoms are similar to hers, could you please send me to the doctor in charge for treatment? Thank you very much."

The doctor hesitated a bit and said, "That's the chief physician of our hospital. I'm afraid we'll have to wait in line."

Guier took out a silver dollar from her pocket, stuffed it into the doctor's pocket, and said, "I'm really in pain. Please help me, doctor."

The doctor picked up the silver dollar, looked at it, and said with a smile, "Okay then."

So they called two rickshaws, agreed that Guier would pay for the fare, and then took Guier to the hospital.

After getting off the rickshaw, Guier followed the doctor and found the attending doctor. The doctor said, "Wait here for a moment, I'll go talk to him." Then she walked up to the attending doctor and spoke.

Gui'er was standing not far away. Seeing that the attending doctor seemed quite unhappy, she walked over and said, "Thank you, doctor. I'll talk to the doctor myself."

The attending doctor was very surprised. Guier smiled and said to her, "Mr. Sha Yanxiao asked me to come to see you."

The attending physician was stunned for a moment, then politely said, "So that's how it is." Then he said to the school doctor, "I'll accept this patient. You can go back."