“Time, place, handler, number of abducted girls, how much was paid to the handler, where the relay points along the way were, how much was spent—these are the only things that need to be recorded in the ledger. If you analyze them one by one, you can deduce the details, then cross-check the girls’ disappearance dates and locations, and you’ll immediately be able to find out where their hometowns are.”

Miss Harper let out a long breath. “This is great, now we can help these children find their families.”

The reason Grace Harper was so happy was because, in these times, most people had no knowledge of geography. In this era, maps were state military secrets. Ordinary people, let alone officials below a certain administrative rank, had no access to maps.

For ordinary townsfolk, being able to know the name of their hometown and the nearby famous county was already quite impressive. As for their parents’ names, it was even more taboo for children; as juniors, not only could they never say their parents’ names aloud for life, but even if they encountered the same characters during the imperial exams, they had to omit a stroke when writing them, to show filial piety.

When reviving those girls just now, Miss Harper had questioned each one, and sure enough, most of them couldn’t say their father’s name at all. The youngest, a girl of seven or eight, didn’t even know her own surname—she only knew her name was Maid (Mary Evans).

Now, with this ledger, even if the abducted girls couldn’t say the name of their hometown or the street where their parents lived, by backtracking from the date of disappearance, it was still possible to roughly deduce where they had been abducted.

Grace Harper counted and looked up in surprise. “Eighteen—there are records of eighteen girls here, but there are nineteen children in the courtyard. What’s going on, one is missing from the records—no, two. John Ford, your name isn’t in the ledger either?!”

Chapter 8: Can We Leave?

As soon as Grace Harper finished speaking, the girl named Maid (Mary Evans) pointed at the corpses sprawled all over the courtyard and curiously asked, “Big brother, Helen White just said they were all sleeping. Can you wake them up too? That Mrs. Smith once combed my hair. She’s been sleeping for so long, she should wake up now, right?”

Miss Harper couldn’t continue questioning. David Ford quickly stood up and interrupted, saying, “Miss Harper, hurry and take them all away. This courtyard really isn’t suitable for children.”

Grace Harper clutched the ledger and rushed into the main hall. Inside, the girls were all quietly sobbing, each with a look of panic and fear on their faces… She swallowed several times, not knowing how to begin.

The light in the room dimmed as David Ford walked in. Behind him, Helen Miller and Maid were lined up like candied hawthorn, each holding onto his coat as they stood at the door. David Ford glanced around the room, then slowly squatted down, his face full of a gentle smile. “Let’s play a game now. Everyone close your eyes, and walk hand in hand, one after another. Come on, Miss Harper will lead at the front.”

It was a good idea.

Grace Harper quickly took the hand of the girl nearest to her, and then the other girls in the room followed suit, forming a human chain. David Ford patted each girl’s shoulder in turn, speaking in the gentlest voice he could manage: “Follow my commands as we walk. When I say lift your left leg, lift your left leg. When I say lift your right leg, lift your right leg. If I tell you to turn left, turn left…”

A girl said timidly, “I’m scared…”

Helen Miller quickly chimed in, “If you’re scared, just cover your eyes.”

With Helen Miller saying this, the clever ones immediately understood why David Ford wanted them to close their eyes. Many girls took out their handkerchiefs and covered their eyes.

“Let’s practice in the room first. Come on, left, right, left; left, right, left—lift your legs, there’s a threshold, left, right, left, turn left fifteen degrees… Forget it, don’t worry about fifteen degrees, just follow the big sister in front.”

David Ford, carrying a spear with a red tassel, led the long human chain into the main hall of the Peach Blossom Temple.

The human chain looked rather comical, but at this moment, everyone in the main hall was heavy-hearted and no one felt like laughing. A girl came up to the leading Miss Harper and reproached her, “Why can’t you ever change your ways? Whenever you hear someone’s in trouble, you just can’t stay away. I heard from Henry Brooks, that courtyard was full of blood…”

Hearing her companion’s reminder, Grace Harper, who had been holding herself together, couldn’t take it anymore. She retched, and vomit sprayed from her mouth like a fountain, so much that she couldn’t stand up. The girl who had come to greet Grace Harper was instantly splattered all over her face by Miss Harper’s vomit.

The others, seeing this, all kept far away from Grace Harper, afraid of being caught in the crossfire. Only Helen Miller quickly stepped forward, using her handkerchief to help the two of them wipe and clean up the mess. A moment later, David Ford stopped calling out commands, glanced with disdain at the men who were keeping their distance, and asked loudly, “Where is Henry Brooks?”

In the eyes of the men, David Ford, who had just woken up and killed all the traffickers barehanded, was like a living god of slaughter. No one in the room dared meet his gaze, so everyone tried to ignore his question. But the pressure from David Ford was too much; his piercing eyes bore into everyone, making it unbearable. After a lot of shoving and pushing, one unlucky fellow finally shrank his neck and answered, “After assigning the servants to guard the abbot, Robert Brooks took a few people and personally went to the county to report the case. He said he’d be back in at most an hour.”

David Ford pressed further, “How many people did he take?”

“Two soldiers, both on horseback… There’s a post station at the foot of the mountain ahead. As soon as the young master passes the message to the post station, he’ll come back.”