Brian Clark cares a lot about saving face, and since he knows only Ethan Brooks can keep a secret, he often uses Old Yao’s secret mantras to intimidate him, saying things like, “If you want your blade to move steadily, your hand can’t be stiffly steady. In the end, it’s your heart that must be steady.”

But when Ethan Brooks pressed him on what exactly a steady heart meant, Brian Clark was at a loss.

Jason Smith watched for a while, found it boring, and jumped down from the wall to go inside.

The maid Evan stood by the wall. If she didn’t stand on tiptoe, only the upper half of her face would show; even so, it was already clear she was a budding beauty.

She thought for a moment, then gently rose onto her toes, her gaze falling on the poor boy’s surroundings. At last, she spotted two stones on the ground that caught her fancy—one a vivid, translucent red, the other snowy white and lustrous—both discarded just now by her young master.

She hesitated, lowered her voice, and timidly said, “Ethan Brooks, could you help me pick up those two stones? I really like them.”

Ethan Brooks slowly looked up, his hands never stopping, still steady as ever, his eyes signaling her to wait a moment.

Evan smiled sweetly, like the first green bud on a branch in early spring—exquisitely beautiful.

But the boy had already lowered his head, missing this touching scene.

The corners of her mouth lifted, her eyes sparkling, as if tiny living things were leisurely swimming within them.

When Ethan Brooks finally finished his task and asked which two stones she meant, the maid Evan’s gaze returned to normal, as soft as ever, like spring mud after the rain.

Ethan Brooks picked up the two stones she pointed to, walked to the wall, and just as she raised her hand, the straw-sandaled boy had already placed the stones on top of the wall.

She picked up the two stones and held them tightly in her palm.

If someone deliberately searched for such things, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack—one might not find them in ten years.

But for someone with fate on their side, even without trying, it was as if these treasures were as common as trash on the street, easily picked up if one felt like it.

Ethan Brooks asked with a smile, “Aren’t you afraid the snot-nosed kid will block your door and curse for half the day?”

She didn’t admit her young master had stolen someone else’s things, but she also didn’t have the face to deny it, so she just smiled and said nothing.

In Mud Bottle Alley lived a mother and son whose arguing skills were unmatched in the whole town—only Jason Smith could spar with them. The child was especially mischievous, always with two streams of snot hanging down, fond of catching fish and picking up stones by the creek. The fish he caught were kept in a big water jar, and the stones piled up beside it. Jason Smith just loved to provoke this little rascal, sneaking off with a few stones every few days. It wasn’t obvious at first, but after a while, as Jason Smith kept taking them, once the kid realized his treasures were missing, he’d explode like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, cursing outside the gate for an hour. His mother never tried to stop him; instead, she’d fan the flames, deliberately bringing up the fact that Jason Smith was the illegitimate son of the former superintendent. More than once, she’d infuriated Jason Smith to the point his teeth itched, and he nearly stormed out with a stool to fight. Only the maid Evan’s persistent persuasion managed to hold him back.

Suddenly, a shrill voice rang out, “Jason Smith Jason Smith, come quick, catch the adulterers! Your maid is making eyes at Ethan Brooks, it’s obvious they’re hooking up! If you don’t keep an eye on your personal maid, she might climb over the wall tonight to knock on Ethan Brooks’s door! Hurry up and get out here—tsk tsk tsk, Ethan Brooks’s hands were all over that girl’s face, you should’ve seen it, Ethan Brooks was grinning so disgustingly…”

Jason Smith didn’t show himself at all, just shouted from inside, “So what? Last night I even saw Ethan Brooks fooling around with your mother. When I caught them, Ethan Brooks had to yank his paw out of your mom’s collar. Can’t blame him, though—your mom’s, well, really spectacular and full. Poor Ethan Brooks was sweating buckets…”

Someone in the alley kicked hard at Jason Smith’s gate, shouting angrily, “Jason Smith, come out, one-on-one! If you lose, give me Evan as my maid—she’ll feed me, make my bed, and wash my feet every day! If I lose, I’ll give you Ethan Brooks as your servant. How about it? Do you dare? Whoever chickens out is a turtle!”

Inside, Jason Smith replied lazily, “Go cool off somewhere else! I checked the almanac, and today’s not a good day to beat my son. Dylan Scott, you’re just lucky today!”

The kid outside pounded on the door, “Evan, it’s so stifling for you to follow such a cowardly young master. You should just elope with Brian Clark. Anyway, that big oaf looks at you like he wants to eat you up.”

The maid Evan turned and walked toward the house.

Inside, Jason Smith was carefully wiping a jade-green gourd, an old item of unknown age, one of the “family heirlooms” left by Lord Song. At first, Jason Smith didn’t care about it, but later he accidentally discovered that every time there was a thunderstorm, the gourd would buzz inside. Yet when Jason Smith removed the lid and shook it, nothing ever came out, no matter how hard he tried. He poured water and sand into it, but what came out was exactly what he’d put in—no more, no less. Jason Smith was at his wits’ end. Once, after being driven crazy by Dylan Scott’s sharp-tongued mother outside, who kept calling him an illegitimate child with a mother but no father, Jason Smith hacked at the gourd with a knife in frustration. To his astonishment, the blade curled, but the gourd remained completely unscathed, not even a scratch.