A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 1084 Environmental Changes

"Anti-smoking facility?" Gui'er was completely confused. "Didn't Shanghai fall to the Japanese? How could he open an anti-smoking facility in Shanghai? Why is he banning smoking now?"

Looking at Gui'er's serious face, Wu Mingqiang smiled indulgently: "Miss, you've got it wrong. The so-called 'anti-smoking station' is actually just an opium den that sells opium. It just has a nicer name. You know that Shanghai has already fallen. If he can open one there, he must have some connections. He's either connected to the Japanese or the puppet army. But he's probably being cautious and afraid of retaliation, so he moved his family to Hong Kong. Your classmate Liu probably hasn't been in Hong Kong for very long."

Gui'er gasped in shock; she hadn't expected that there was such a traitor beside her.

“No, Liu Lanfang has been testing me these past few days, trying to find out about our family business and home situation. What does that mean? Lin Peishan also said that she likes to pry into other people’s family affairs.”

"Really? Did the young lady say anything?" Wu Mingqiang became serious.

"Of course not, but I don't know if Peishan said anything to her? I didn't expect her father to be a big traitor. If Peishan leaked any information to her, wouldn't that be terrible? No, I have to inform Brother Chen and Peishan."

Gui'er was about to leave when Wu Mingqiang quickly stopped her, saying, "Miss, if their target is Mr. Chen or Miss Lin, then they've probably already met with some trouble. If not, then you definitely don't need to go. It means someone else is behind it, and Miss Lin is already asking you to keep your distance for your safety. If you go now, won't you be wasting your time?"

Gui'er calmed down after hearing this, and sighed, "Are we just going to let this big traitor go and ignore him?"

Wu Mingqiang sighed and said, "How can we deal with him? This kind of person is never a good person, but there are too many of them. As long as he doesn't harm us, we shouldn't provoke him. After all, he has the Japanese behind him. Besides, even if we want to deal with him, the best way is to use his strength against him, to legally strike him through the Hong Kong British government. But his businesses in Hong Kong are all legal. If he dares to open an opium den, I'll be the first to deal with him. But he doesn't have one in Hong Kong. Nobody cares in Shanghai right now. Let's just leave it at that, Miss. They'll get their comeuppance. Let's deal with the immediate crisis first."

Gui'er felt helpless, but that was all she could do for now. However, she still had some questions: "Why is Liu Lanfang always testing me and the people around me? What is she trying to do? Could she be up to something bad?"

“Of course! The Japanese could invade Hong Kong at any moment. I’ve heard that the first thing those traitors in the occupied territories do is plunder the money of other wealthy people, especially those who don’t want to be traitors and cooperate with the Japanese. They extort money from them, steal their business—it’s all too common. Could this father and daughter be planning something like that? Miss, you have to be very careful. You have no father or brothers, you’re all alone in Hong Kong. In their eyes, you’re not like an ant that they can easily manipulate.” Ah Cheng said.

"Oh my god, what should we do? How could there be such a bad person? Miss, did you tell her about our family's background?" Dingxiang said in horror, covering her mouth.

"Do we need anyone to tell us about our family's background? Just go and explore the streets near the pawnshop and you'll know. This villa was built with money from the master's family, and the pawnshop was opened by the young lady after she came to have food, clothing, and other necessities. Everyone knows about it. It just depends on whether they're interested or not," A-Cheng said irritably.

Gui'er pondered for a moment. Acheng's analysis was correct. She really didn't have any other options. Apart from not knowing what Sha Yanxiao had left for her in the basement, everything else was transparent to outsiders. However, the gold and silver treasures in the basement were almost gone, leaving only the money in the safe. She wouldn't sell the antiques; they belonged to the country.

She was worried that this large villa would attract their covetousness, and what would happen if they took over the place? But it was also very unsafe to move these things out. Gui'er frowned as she thought about this.

“Miss, don’t worry, we will protect you. At worst, we’ll fight them to the death. The commander, the young commander, and the eldest young master are all heroes. We have no reason to be cowards,” A-Cheng said.

“Yes, Miss, don’t worry, I’ll find a way. At worst, we can sneakily take care of the Japanese before they come in, but that’s a last resort. For now, you should try to build a good relationship with that Liu student. That will reduce her suspicion and vigilance, and at least prevent her from targeting you,” Wu Mingqiang said.

Gui'er nodded helplessly and said, "Okay, I understand."

So everyone went about their own business. Gui'er thought she had nothing to do and didn't want to go out, so she decided to take a walk near her home.

After walking around, I found that some neighbors had actually moved out, leaving only one or two servants to watch over the houses.

The servants, who had nothing better to do, saw her taking a walk and, having a good impression of her since they had distributed air raid pamphlets before, all came up to greet her and chat.

Gui'er seized the opportunity to ask, "Did your master just leave like that? Could the family business have ended so quickly?"

The servant said, “My master already owned property in Malaya and had invested in businesses there. Now that the Japanese are doing this, he simply moved his whole family there. However, he still has one or two shops in Hong Kong managed by trustworthy managers. I wanted to go with them, but they wouldn’t let me. These days, it’s not easy to find a job. Besides, here I don’t have to do anything and I can get paid. I might as well stay here.”

The servant of that family said, "That's because your master is rich and powerful. Unlike our master, who was terrified when he heard that the Japanese were firing cannons and guns. He went to the bank to withdraw money but encountered a bank run. He took some of his cash and ran to Singapore. His concubine is still here. Fortunately, the Japanese didn't invade. My concubine pays my wages now. These past two days, our master wrote to say that he is preparing to come back. His concubine is furious. She said that when he was fleeing for his life, he didn't take care of himself. Now that he's back, he's making me clean the room and telling me not to worry about it."

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Gui'er walked to the outside of Ouyang Bao's villa again. The villa was still as majestic and imposing as ever, but upon closer inspection, weeds had grown in the courtyard. The gate was locked, and the doors and windows were closed, as if the place had been abandoned.