In her haste, she didn’t notice that in her son’s swaddling, a small head seemed to peek out from under his arm, gazing sadly at the departing mother.

Ethan Brooks was extremely frustrated; his mother was too busy fighting with the big fox to notice what was happening behind her. After the big fox distracted his mother, a tiny, wet little fox took the opportunity to climb up from the other end of the washbasin. Just climbing into the basin had exhausted all its strength.

After it fell in, the little fox glanced coldly at Ethan Brooks, who was watching it, then unceremoniously burrowed into the swaddling, found an especially comfortable spot under Ethan Brooks’s ribs, and prepared to sleep.

Ethan Brooks could feel how weak the little fox was. Although its wet fur made him uncomfortable, for some inexplicable reason, he accepted the little fox’s presence. There were some things he couldn’t say to others, but he could talk to the fox.

The little fox smelled Grace Walker’s milk, stubbornly stuck its head out, and tried to lick the milk, which made Ethan Brooks extremely displeased.

Ethan Brooks used his not-so-functional hands to push the little fox’s head back into the swaddling, then opened his mouth and started wailing loudly.

Her son was her everything, so Grace Walker immediately stuffed her nipple back into his mouth, then looked around for a suitable place to land.

She didn’t notice that her milk was trickling from the corner of her son’s mouth, falling into another hungry stomach...

The current slowed down, and on the water’s surface, some unharvested crops could even be seen. The wheat had already fallen over in the water, but the soybeans still stood strong, their fuzzy pods struggling to poke above the surface. All of this filled Grace Walker with immense joy.

Not far away was a low hill, crowded with people. Some of them saw Grace Walker and her son and began shouting, and a few men even waded into the water, preparing to drag Grace Walker and her son to shore.

Grace Walker just glanced at them, then quickly pushed the washbasin away with her stick. As a native of Tokyo in the Song Dynasty, she could tell at a glance from their ragged clothes that these were beggars who had come to Tokyo. If Andy were here, she wouldn’t be afraid of them, but now, as a widow with a child, falling into their hands would be too terrible to imagine.

There were many frightening rumors about these people in Tokyo. The most terrifying was that these vagrants living in the city’s sewers would drag women and children from good families into the sewers. The women would disappear without a trace, and the children might become pitiful cripples, begging in the city with all sorts of deformities.

Seeing Grace Walker drifting away, those men began cursing loudly. Grace Walker patted her chest in lingering fear, grateful that Andy had warned her about these people’s misdeeds...

The family’s household registration was carefully tucked into the swaddling—this was something Andy had put in at the most critical moment. In such a disaster, only natives of Tokyo could receive help from the authorities. As for those vagrants, they were just a bunch of lazy men who refused to farm in their hometowns and insisted on coming to Tokyo to cause trouble.

After checking the household registration, she carefully folded it up again. Grace Walker angrily spat in the direction of the vagrants. In her eyes, anyone who didn’t farm properly was a useless lazybones and a good-for-nothing.

Looking down, she saw her son sleeping, his little face flushed. Grace Walker affectionately pressed her forehead to his cheek. As long as her child was with her, there was still hope for life.

This child was so well-behaved—so long as he was fed, he never made a fuss. Even when he needed to pee or poop, he would just cry out a couple of times, and once that was taken care of, he was always very quiet.

The child’s pupils were a shining black, and if you looked long enough, there seemed to be a faint hint of blue. Her child’s eyes were especially beautiful, round like two black gems.

Although Grace Walker had never seen such things, it didn’t stop her from imagining. Gems were the brightest treasures—Andy had said so long ago.

Sometimes, she could see a look of deep adult-like doubt in her child’s eyes, which made Grace Walker quite proud. Whose child could be as clever as hers?

If Uncle Brooks survived this disaster, he would surely love Ethan. The old man always said the Tie family’s children were all dull, good for hard labor at the forge, but none of them had any spirit. Now that Ethan had come along, the old man should be satisfied, right?

Looking back at the vast flood, was there any trace left of the Tie family’s village?

Grace Walker wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, set the broken umbrella back over the washbasin, and let it carry her and her son to a safe place.

The rain had finally stopped completely, and the washbasin seemed to have stopped drifting. Grace Walker rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked around—she must have dozed off just now.

If her son hadn’t started crying, she might not have woken up for a while.

She glanced at her son and saw that he had stopped crying. Only then did Grace Walker realize that the washbasin had carried her and her son to the base of Tokyo’s city wall.

The soldiers on the wall spotted her and her son, lowered a thick rope with a bamboo basket from the top, and shouted for her to quickly climb into the basket.