The constables responded with a roar, stopping ten paces from the imperial city, waving their knives and shouting, “People outside, prick up your donkey ears and listen well! The prefect has ordered: anyone who dares approach within ten paces of the imperial city will be executed!”

Grace Walker returned to the corner of the wall, put her son back into the washbasin, shook her rain-soaked head proudly, and said to her son, “Boy, our family is rich now, we have eight strings of cash. What do you say, should we build a little house right here and settle down? The rest of the money, I’ll save for you, and when the time comes, I’ll make sure to find you a beautiful wife.”

Ethan Brooks opened his toothless mouth and cackled along. The little fox, seeing that the people around had left, jumped out of the swaddling clothes and whimpered at Grace Walker.

Having escaped great danger, Grace Walker was naturally in high spirits. She patted the little fox’s head and laughed, “You’re a lucky one too.”

Seeing that her son’s swaddling was already soaked, Grace Walker dared not delay. She hurriedly fetched the spare swaddling; though it was a bit damp, it was still drier than the one he was wearing.

With a place to settle, Grace Walker seemed to have endless energy. In a short time, not only did she set up a simple tent with an oilcloth, she also spread all the dry clothes in the washbasin, then jumped in with her son and the little fox, ready to sleep.

It was still raining outside, but the rain had lessened a lot. Occasionally, raindrops drifted into the corner of the city wall and drummed on the oilcloth with a dull thud.

Sitting in the washbasin, Grace Walker prayed, “Seventh brother, this is all thanks to your spirit watching over us from above. Please bless our child to grow up strong as a calf, so he can carry on your line and keep the incense burning. I will work hard too, and raise our child well.”

Ethan Brooks knew this was the truest side of Grace Walker’s heart. Whether it was the emperor, the prefect, or the general, they were all too far removed from her.

She would rather believe that what happened just now was her husband’s spirit manifesting than believe those officials were suddenly merciful.

This was a very simple truth. Ethan Brooks never thought that he and his mother resting for a while by the imperial wall was any great crime.

Even if it was, it was still unfair.

A true man repays kindness and avenges enmity. In his previous life, what pained him most was not being able to repay all the favors he owed before coming here. In this life, he would not allow such things to happen again.

Emily Young, Abraham Lincoln? The emperor, eunuchs?

How interesting.

Grace Walker stubbornly stuffed her son’s head, which kept poking out, back into the swaddling, then shooed the little fox aside. Only then did she happily rest her head on the money bundle and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Ethan Brooks couldn’t sleep. Over and over, he tried to control his tongue to practice speaking. The biggest trouble of being a baby was not being able to communicate with others.

But he wasn’t practicing so he could talk to his mother tomorrow—doing that would frighten her, and probably scare everyone in Tokyo.

Through a gap in the swaddling, Ethan Brooks peered at the pitch-black sky, a strange smile on his face, and enunciated in a low voice, “I’m here!”

Grace Walker’s breathing was steady; she was already asleep and naturally didn’t hear her son speaking in a bizarre tone. The little fox lying at Ethan Brooks’s feet heard it, pricked up its ears in confusion, but, hearing nothing more, put its mouth back on its tiny tail.

Chapter Five: The Swallow Builds a New Home with Mud

Finding even a little shelter from the wind and rain in Tokyo was as hard as reaching the sky!

Everything here belonged to someone.

Even a half-dead branch that accidentally fell outside a courtyard wall—if Grace Walker tried to pick it up, someone would immediately come out to stop her.

They would snatch the branch from her hand with a fierce glare, roll their eyes, and walk away.

Everything cost money!

Grace Walker wandered the marketplace for half a day, but in the end, she returned empty-handed. She couldn’t even find work mending or washing clothes.

She bought two baked cakes to stave off hunger.

Yesterday, two cakes only cost two coins, but today it took three copper coins to get two from the same vendor.

She couldn’t spend money carelessly. When Grace Walker woke up in the morning, she stuffed all the coins into that little hole, and finally, gritting her teeth, put the little fox in to watch over them before carrying her son to the market to look for work.

Passing by the human market, Grace Walker almost ran away. She had never seen people treated like livestock, their mouths pried open to check their teeth and determine their age before being sold.

Many young women wore only a thin gauze dress, standing in a tent, letting heavily made-up madams or pot-bellied men come in and choose.

Long ago, Grace Walker knew that trafficking people was something the Song government would punish, but here, it seemed no officials cared.

Thinking of how she had almost been beheaded just for resting by the wall last night, Grace Walker felt nothing but contempt for those men in official robes.

Passing a funeral clothing shop, Grace Walker couldn’t hold back her tears. There was no way to find her seventh brother’s body, but no matter what, she couldn’t let him become a lonely wandering ghost.