A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 1027 Preparing to Meet and Depart

"Knock, knock, knock," the knocking sounded again, and everyone's nerves tensed up immediately. Wu Mingqiang signaled everyone to be on guard, and then pressed his ear to the door and asked, "Who is it?"

"Young Master, it's us! Ah Hu and Zhu Zi!" A familiar voice came from outside the door.

Wu Mingqiang's eyes lit up, and he quickly opened the door. Two burly men squeezed in, each clutching a few pieces of paper. Upon seeing Wu Mingqiang, they exclaimed with delight, "Brother Qiang, you're here?!"

Seeing their faces covered in fake beards, Wu Mingqiang laughed and said, "What's wrong with you guys looking like this?"

Ah Hu said embarrassedly, "Isn't this to cover it up? Our certificates of conscience also have photos like this. By the way, we've processed yours too."

Zhu Zi handed over the piece of paper in his hand: "Miss, take a look, it's freshly baked."

Gui'er took it and saw that it was a yellowed piece of cardboard with the three bold characters "Good Citizen Certificate" printed on it. However, the photo on it was of a young man who was about the same age as her and had the same hairstyle. The name field was filled in as "Gui Sheng" and the place of origin was written as "Panyu, Guangdong". It was stamped with a blurry red seal and had some ink on the corner.

"This photo isn't mine, is that okay?"

"It's alright, many people do it this way. Good citizen certificates are expensive to begin with, and then you have to take a photo, which makes it even more expensive. So just go to a photo studio and get a blurry picture of someone around your age. Anyway, everyone knows what's going on. The Japanese and their collaborators don't even look at the good citizen certificate when they want to make things difficult for you. This thing is only used when going through checkpoints. Those people won't even pay attention to it. If you have a certificate, they'll let you through."

Sha Yanxiao looked at the good citizen certificate, then at everyone: "Now that the certificate is ready, let's not delay and go to the warehouse to meet up with the other comrades."

Everyone nodded and turned to leave, with Gui'er deliberately pulling Sha Yanxiao to walk at the back.

Sha Yanxiao was confused, so he turned his head away.

Gui'er said softly and coquettishly, "Brother, please stay with me a little longer."

The others overheard this and wisely said, "Let's go over there and close the door."

After everyone else had left, Sha Yanxiao turned around and said with a doting smile, "Gui'er, I'm sorry. This mission was extremely dangerous and involved the lives of other comrades. We probably didn't even have time to have a proper talk."

Gui'er nodded and said, "I know." Then she took out the ten gold bars from her hat. "I found the underground warehouse you mentioned. I've been actively providing funds to Brother Chen's side in Hong Kong whenever he needs money for supplies or for operations. Half of it has already been spent. I brought you ten gold bars this time. I originally wanted to bring 20, but I couldn't hide that many, and I was afraid something might happen."

Sha Yanxiao took the ten gold bars, patted her head, and stuffed them into his inner pocket. He said, "You need to plan your finances carefully. Don't spend all the money. Leave some for yourself. Do you have enough for your tuition and living expenses? Hong Kong is a mixed bag. I know you can definitely make friends, but in this day and age, you still need to have your own money. You told me about your third brother's death. To be honest, even if he hadn't been addicted to drugs, he probably would have had a tough time. His mother, to preserve her wealth, made her two children marry a rich businessman. I had someone investigate that businessman; he's a spendthrift. How could he let his mother and son benefit? I'm afraid Lili isn't doing too well now either. I tried to advise Fourth Madam, but she wouldn't listen."

Gui'er had no idea about such inside information. She sighed and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Sha Yanxiao patted her head and said, "Our meeting this time was too short. I don't know when we'll meet again. You must take good care of yourself and study hard in Hong Kong. How are your studies going?"

Gui'er nodded and said, "My grades are average. Many of my classmates come from medical families and are taught Western medicine. My foundation is relatively weak, but I can still keep up."

Sha Yanxiao thought for a moment and said, "You need to save some money for yourself after you graduate. It's quite difficult for women to find jobs in this era, especially in professions that are less common for women. If all else fails, you can open your own clinic specializing in gynecology. I believe there are opportunities there. This way, you can support yourself and won't have to worry about money in the future."

Gui'er smiled and said, "Brother, don't worry. Actually, Brother Wu is quite capable. He persuaded me to open a pawnshop. At first, the business was so-so, but later, because of Ouyang... there was a corrupt police chief who wanted to force me to become his concubine. To deal with him, we met a policeman surnamed Long, who later became a detective. He admired Brother Wu a lot, and now Brother Wu works under him. He also took care of the pawnshop, and the business is very good. It has already started to make a profit."

Sha Yanxiao listened thoughtfully.

At that moment, Wu Mingqiang's voice came from outside the door: "Young Master, we're ready. Shall we set off?"

Sha Yanxiao said, "Okay."

Actually, both of them were a little reluctant to part. Sha Yanxiao hugged Gui'er and said, "Gui'er, once we receive the supplies, we will arrange to leave immediately. You should quickly leave Guangzhou with Wu Mingqiang and return to Hong Kong. Don't come here again. It's too dangerous here."

"Then how will we meet? Even communicating with someone is so difficult normally," Gui'er said, fighting back tears. She knew that many years remained until the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan, and during that time many people would be separated by death. She was truly terrified…

"If I have any news, I will definitely let the organization inform Chen Zhongyu in time. You need to take good care of yourself in Hong Kong, understand?" Sha Yanxiao gently kissed Gui'er's forehead.

“Young Master…” Wu Mingqiang’s voice came from outside the door.

"They're here." Sha Yanxiao breathed a sigh of relief, gently wiped away the tears that were about to fall from Gui'er's eyes with his thumb, took her hand, opened the door and went out.

Seeing her red eyes, everyone knew what was wrong. In this era of war, every meeting with loved ones could very well be the last. They all fell silent.

Wu Mingqiang broke the silence and said, "I have already settled the room bill with Manager Liu. When we go down to the first floor, he will drive the hotel's delivery truck to take us there. He and I will sit in the driver's seat, and everyone else will hide in the back of the truck. If we are stopped for questioning, we will say that we are going to work."

Upon arriving on the first floor, Manager Liu was already waiting at the back door in his truck.

Everyone nimbly climbed onto the vehicle, which started moving. The journey was relatively smooth, and they soon arrived at the abandoned chemical plant. The people who stayed behind were overjoyed to see Sha Yanxiao and Deng Jun.

"Old Deng, Old Sha, you're finally here! We thought something had happened to you."