met free Chapter 996 Both Director Tian and Miss Tian have passed away.
Chapter 996 Both Director Tian and Miss Tian have passed away.
Afterwards, the teacher came over and asked her again. Even Chen Muli, knowing that she had returned to school, rushed over to ask her about Sha Yanxiao's situation. She had no idea, so she could only make up a story, saying that she had only seen her mother and sisters, and that her second brother had not been able to contact her because he was leading a group to fight a guerrilla war in the mountains.
At this moment, Lin Peishan also came over. She said to Gui'er, "You came earlier than me. I ran into senior Du Jianbang, who came to see you before, on campus. He asked me how you were doing. Does he know what happened between us?"
Gui'er laughed and said, "How could that be? He probably just knows I haven't been to class in a long time and is curious to find out." Suddenly, a thought struck her: Could this older brother be Du Jianbang?
So after class, she rushed to Du Jianbang's classroom to find him.
Du Jianbang was quite happy to see her and said with a smile, "You're back from your hometown?"
Gui'er glanced at the people around her and said with a smile, "Yes, Brother Du, may I have a word with you in private?"
The two walked out of the classroom. Gui'er made sure no one was paying attention to them before asking, "Did you ask for leave for me?"
Du Jianbang nodded and said, "Yes, you skipped class for two days without reason. I overheard your classmates talking about it and felt something was wrong. I checked and found out you'd gotten into trouble with Ouyang Bao. I can't help you with anything major, but at least I can get you a leave of absence so it doesn't affect your studies. I originally wanted to use my connections to inquire at the police station, but I'm just a nobody and can't use the organization's resources. Oh well, by the way, how are you now? Ouyang Bao's death shouldn't have anything to do with you, right?"
Gui'er didn't want him to know too much, since they were on opposing sides. So she said, "Of course it has nothing to do with me. I was hiding, not going back to the mainland. I only came out after I saw the news that he was dead."
Upon hearing this, Du Jianbang smiled and said, "That's good. You are, after all, the sister of my superior. Director Sha used to take good care of me. Before I came, he also told me to help if I could. If something happens to you, I don't know how I would explain it to him."
"Director? Brother, he got promoted again? What achievements did he make?" Gui'er asked happily.
"Rather than saying he achieved anything, it's more accurate to say he survived. Director Tian sacrificed his life."
Gui'er was stunned. This Director Tian was the uncle of Miss Tian, the wife of Sha Yanyao. Sha Yanyao had risen through the ranks because of his connection with him. When they were in Nanjing, Gui'er often saw him. He was a young and strong man, shrewd and calculating, ruthless but very approachable on the surface. Because he had no daughter, he especially doted on Miss Tian, who was his niece.
Seeing her stunned and frozen in place, Du Jianbang smiled and said, "That's normal. We're doing work behind enemy lines; we don't know what tomorrow will bring."
"Is my older brother alright now?" Gui'er came to her senses at this moment.
"We usually receive information primarily related to work, but the reason Director Sha was promoted last time was because he calmly and collectedly led everyone to evacuate when he realized our office location had been exposed. Everyone trusts him quite a bit. Now that a new contact point has been established, things should be pretty good."
"Oh, that's good." Gui'er was also quite happy to hear that Sha Yanyao was safe and sound.
"However, it seems his wife perished in the Nanjing Massacre along with her family," Du Jianbang sighed.
"What?" Gui'er suddenly realized: "What about his son? Me, my nephew."
Du Jianbang pursed his lips and said, "It is said that they sent people to look for her, but they couldn't find her. She's probably gone now. Miss Sha, please accept my condolences."
Gui'er and Miss Tian had never gotten along, but now that she heard that Miss Tian's whole family had perished, she was also very saddened. She said to Du Jianbang, "Thank you, Mr. Du. If you have the chance to pass on a message to my elder brother, please tell him to be careful."
After that, I went back to the classroom in a daze.
Lin Peishan said to her, "I plan to go over after school to help Brother Chen tidy up the bookstore. We went there yesterday, but we didn't know where to start. Ouyang Bao's men who got stabbed smashed up the store and didn't even close the door. A lot of books were taken away."
Gui'er said, "Then I'll go help too."
After school, Acheng came to pick her up, and Gui'er took the opportunity to pull Acheng to the bookstore to help out.
When Gui'er arrived at Xinmin Bookstore, she was still taken aback by what she saw.
The wooden door of Xinmin Bookstore was kicked askew, with several black footprints on the door panel. The bookshelves were overturned, and thread-bound books were scattered all over the floor. Some were trampled and some had scorched corners on their pages—burnt by cigarette butts. The glass counter was cracked, and the fountain pens and ink inside were spilled all over the floor, with ink spreading into black blobs.
The cashier's table in the corner was overturned, and Chen Zhongyu was behind the counter picking up the scattered books. His fingers were cut and bleeding from the torn edges of the pages, but he didn't bother to wipe them.
"Oh dear, how could you be so careless?" Lin Peishan quickly took out her handkerchief and gave him a simple bandage.
Chen Zhongyu sighed and said, "Many books have been taken away, and the remaining ones are damaged. Even if we sell these remaining books cheaply, we probably won't be able to recoup half of the initial investment."
Gui'er said to Acheng, "Brother Acheng, do you think the gate at the entrance can be repaired? Let's fix it first, so that no more thieves can come in and take the books."
Ah Cheng went to the door to fix it.
Gui'er asked softly, "Brother Chen, you said you had hidden some funds, are they still there?"
Chen Zhongyu turned around and pried open a tile in the wall, revealing a hollow brick inside. Inside were a few silver dollars, some loose banknotes, and some copper coins.
"There was no loss," Chen Zhongyu said with a wry smile.
Gui'er thought it would be a large sum of money. She didn't expect it to be so little. She had even contributed money to build the bookstore, and now that this has happened, the contact point will probably have to be rebuilt.
She thought for a moment and said to Chen Zhongyu, "Brother Chen, everyone in the neighborhood has seen the state of this bookstore. I'm afraid it's not suitable as a liaison point. Why don't you clear out the remaining books and find a new, unoccupied shop to reopen? I can help you with the money."
Chen Zhongyu said with a complicated expression, "That's quite a lot of money. I heard that your house was also vandalized and looted by Ouyang Bao's men. Did you suffer any losses?"
Gui'er squatted on the ground, stacking the books that could still be pieced together, and said, "They did steal some, but my safe was well hidden and wasn't discovered. Besides, my housekeeper is already trying to get them back for me."