Searched all over the kitchen, but James Thompson still couldn’t find a single thing to eat. In the end, with no other choice, he could only ladle a big bowl of cold water and gulp it down in big swallows. After filling his stomach with water, he finally went back to his room, pulled the covers over his head, and fell into a deep sleep. But before drifting off, he secretly vowed that he would never let himself go hungry again!

Chapter Four: The Cart

Early the next morning, Billy led a few of the older children, all dressed in freshly washed clothes, their hair tied up with cloth bands. Although the clothes were ragged, at least they looked clean and comfortable. As Billy and the others were leaving, James Thompson made a point to remind him not to forget yesterday’s instructions—after all, this was crucial to their upcoming money-making plan. Billy patted his chest and promised he would not let James Thompson down.

With Billy and the older kids gone, James Thompson didn’t idle around either. Instead, he directed the remaining children to pull over a broken cart from the yard. The so-called cart was basically a flatbed mounted on two wheels, with two shafts in front that could be used as a yoke for people or animals to pull—so it was also called a shaft cart.

The shaft cart at James Thompson’s house was a bit special, because it was used to transport corpses. After all, this was a charity mortuary. When the yamen had unclaimed bodies, they needed James Thompson’s gambler father to bring them back for temporary storage. If no one claimed them for a long time, they’d be taken to the mass grave and buried. Sometimes, he even had to act as a coroner. Of course, the yamen would pay him for these tasks, which was one of the main sources of income for James Thompson’s family.

But James Thompson’s gambler father was extremely lazy, especially in recent years, rarely at home. Even when the yamen needed him, he was nowhere to be found. If it weren’t for some acquaintances in the yamen, they probably would have lost this job by now, and wouldn’t even have a place to live in the mortuary.

This corpse cart had been broken for a long time, and James Thompson’s father couldn’t be bothered to fix it, leaving it out in the yard exposed to the elements. Now it looked even more dilapidated. But after checking it over, James Thompson found the problem wasn’t too serious—the main issue was a missing piece where the axle was stuck underneath. Just needed to nail on a piece of wood. As for nails, there were some on hand—after all, this was a mortuary, and there were always a few coffin nails around.

James Thompson couldn’t move easily, so he could only direct the children to help. But these kids were too weak, and sometimes didn’t even understand James Thompson’s instructions. It took the whole group most of the day to finally get the cart fixed.

That evening, when Billy returned, he brought back another bucket of leftovers. Compared to yesterday, there was less food in the bucket, but it was much cleaner. A few of the younger kids, who had been hungry all day, immediately wanted to eat the leftovers when they saw them, but Billy pushed them away.

“Martha, pour all the grain we have into the pot and cook it into porridge. Everyone can make do for now, but don’t touch these leftovers!” James Thompson instructed the oldest girl nearby. This girl was true to her name—she was really ugly: dark skin, small eyes, big mouth, a large frame, and at first glance looked more like a boy.

Martha agreed and immediately led a few girls to the kitchen to cook. At this moment, Lily Thompson anxiously came over to James Thompson and whispered, “Big brother, we don’t have much grain left at home. If we eat it all today, what will we do after that?”

Although James Thompson was the leader of these orphans, he wasn’t obligated to support them. In fact, he and the other orphans had always stuck together for warmth. When there were benefits, everyone took a share according to their portion. Once your share was gone, you couldn’t expect help from others.

“It’s fine, I already have a way to make money. Tomorrow we’ll have hot, fresh flatbreads to eat!” James Thompson gave Lily Thompson a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, Lily Thompson, big brother already told me. Tomorrow I’ll definitely buy you some soft, white flatbreads to eat!” Billy chimed in. Yesterday, James Thompson had told him the plan to make money. Although he didn’t fully understand it, he had faith in James Thompson.

Trusting James Thompson and Billy, Lily Thompson finally relaxed and ran off to help Martha and the others cook. There wasn’t much grain at home, so in the end, they could only make a pot of watery millet porridge. Some of the little ones complained, since the leftovers looked much tastier than the millet porridge, but James Thompson wouldn’t let them eat it. Still, despite their grumbling, James Thompson was their leader, so they didn’t dare say much.

In the early hours of the next morning, James Thompson woke up Billy and a few of the older kids, then directed them to load things onto the cart. Normally, he had trouble walking, but since Billy and the others were so young, and it was their first time doing business, James Thompson decided to go with them. So he sat on the cart and had Billy and the others push him out of the mortuary.

Although James Thompson’s home was under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture, it wasn’t actually inside the city, but in the western suburbs outside Kaifeng. After all, a mortuary couldn’t be located inside the city—no one would want to live nearby. But now, with Kaifeng’s population booming and the city unable to accommodate everyone, the outskirts had become quite bustling, with all sorts of towns and villages scattered around.