At the outer ceremonial gate, Emily White had just left the second courtyard when Ethan Green came in from the front yard and said, “Madam, that young man has woken up.”

  “You help Edward go rest,” said Grace Turner. “I’ll go take a look.”

  When Edward Brooks woke up earlier, he had already noticed the unconscious youth and was quite concerned, insisting on going along.

  ……

  In the front yard’s covered corridor, the youth was propping himself up to sit.

  If, when unconscious, he gave the impression of a delicate and noble young master, then the moment he opened his eyes, his temperament changed, exuding a composure far beyond his years.

  Strangely, within that composure, there was also a sense of confusion.

  “Young man, which family are you from?” Grace Turner asked. “Why did you faint on the road?”

  The youth was looking around in puzzlement. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke very slowly.

  “I… am not dead?”

  He paused in the middle, as if he wasn’t very used to speaking.

  “You’re not dead,” said Grace Turner. “You were rescued by the The Brooks Family.”

  There was still confusion in the youth’s eyes, but he nodded in thanks.

  “No need to be afraid. Do you have a name?”

  “Charles Reed.”

  “Are you from the Xue clan of Hedong?” Grace Turner asked again.

  Charles Reed shook his head, his gaze falling on Edward Brooks’s temples, watching intently as if observing something.

  Edward Brooks felt a bit uneasy under his gaze, scratched his neck, and lowered his head.

  After thinking for a moment, he said to Grace Turner, “Mother, he seems ill too. Should we give him a bowl of ginger soup?”

  The ginger soup had just been made for Edward Brooks, so Grace Turner had someone bring another bowl.

  During this time, Charles Reed got up and staggered outside.

  His body was still weak; he leaned against the wall, standing on the steps and looking out.

  Edward Brooks couldn’t help but follow, standing on the threshold and poking his head out, looking westward along Charles Reed’s gaze.

  At the edge of the alley, a patch of bloodstain remained.

  In the distance, between the Shengping Ward’s archway and the opposite Wei residence’s wall, in a two-inch-wide gap, was the bustling traffic of Vermilion Bird Avenue.

  “Where is this?” Charles Reed asked.

  “Chang’an, Wannian County, Shengping Ward.”

  “Chang’an?”

  Snow was still falling from the sky. From the courtyard wall across the alley, one could see pavilions and towers, layers of wooden dougong brackets, double-eaved hip-and-gable roofs, and chi beasts standing with open mouths on the roof ridges.

  The wind stirred the bells hanging under the eaves, making a clear sound.

  “What dynasty, what era, what year is it?”

  “You don’t even know that?” Edward Brooks said. “The fifth year of Tianbao, Great Tang.”

  “The fifth year of Tianbao?”

  Upon hearing this, Charles Reed sighed softly, a breath of white mist drifting away in the cold wind of the Tianbao era.

  His thin shirt offered little warmth, and his lips were already turning white from the cold.

  “‘Zai’, not ‘year’, it’s ‘zai’,” Edward Brooks reminded. “In Xia it’s called ‘sui’, in Shang ‘si’, in Zhou ‘nian’, in Tang and Yu ‘zai’. Only the sage kings Yao and Shun used ‘zai’ to count the years. The present sage’s achievements rival Yao and Shun, so it’s called ‘zai’.”

  Charles Reed glanced at him, his expression dazed, without any reverence.

  Edward Brooks shrank his head and muttered softly, “It’s fine if you’re not good at other studies, but this you must remember.”

  “All right.”

  “Where is your home?”

  “I don’t remember,” said Charles Reed. “After I… died—fainted, I forgot many things.”

  “Did someone try to kill you?” Edward Brooks made a small gesture, pointing at the strangulation marks on Charles Reed’s neck.

  “I can’t remember.”

  Edward Brooks grew worried and quietly said to Grace Turner, “Mother, he’s all alone. Can we take him in?”

  The maid Ethan Green said, “Madam, I saw bruises on his ankles from rope, a burnt brand on the back of his neck, and he was found in Pingkang Ward. He might be a government slave, beaten and abandoned for some wrongdoing.”

  “A government slave?” Grace Turner murmured. “It just so happens we need to buy another servant for Edward.”

  Seeing her mistress didn’t understand, Ethan Green reminded, “In this situation, it’s not proper to draw up a contract and make him a bondservant. Keeping him might bring trouble. After all, the The Brooks Family is not an ordinary household.”

  Hearing this, Grace Turner immediately hesitated.

  Edward Brooks said anxiously, “But he’ll die out there like this, and the curfew is about to start…”

  “Edward is kind-hearted and can’t bear to see others suffer. Just give him some money for relief.”

  Edward Brooks really wanted to take Charles Reed in, but his eloquence was no match for Ethan Green’s, and he was so anxious he didn’t know what to say.

  But this conversation fell on Grace Turner’s ears, and thinking that giving money for relief, buying another slave, and drawing up a contract would all be necessary, she couldn’t help but ask Charles Reed, “Can you read and write?”

  “I can.”

  These days, even a cangtou servant in the West Market isn’t cheap, so Grace Turner was tempted and asked, “My son was frightened today and needs someone to accompany him. Since you have nowhere to go, how about staying for now as his study attendant?”

  Charles Reed didn’t answer immediately, but instead carefully looked over everyone in the courtyard.

  Ethan Green noticed his gaze seemed to be appraising, and only after he seemed to weigh things in his mind did he nod.

  This was not the bearing of a boy just over ten, and since he was of unknown origin, Ethan Green couldn’t help but worry.

  But as a maid, having done her duty to warn, she couldn’t say more, and could only hope he wouldn’t bring disaster to the Brooks household.

Chapter 2: Calamity at the Door

  “The fifth year of Tianbao, is that the Xuan… is that when Yang Guifei is around?”