This child was covered all over in mud; needless to say, it was all the fox’s doing. The furious Grace Walker grabbed the little fox out of the bath and threw it far away to the base of the city wall.

The little fox flipped in the air, stretched out its limbs, and landed steadily on the ground. With a wronged cry, it lay down on a pile of dry earth, watching Grace Walker move things into the house.

Grace Walker first carried the grain inside, then found some stones and stuffed dry branches under the big vat and jar, preparing to light a fire for roasting.

A big fire could burn away all filth—this was something Andy had said long ago.

The Sweetwater Well Alley was just ahead. Grace Walker filled the water tank and the big jar with water, then lit a fire to boil it. Ethan Brooks had already woken up and was lying on the edge of the bath, watching his mother busy herself.

To avoid passing her illness to her son, Grace Walker decided that until she had thoroughly bathed herself, she absolutely could not touch the child.

By sunset, after using up a lot of firewood, the water finally boiled and gradually cooled. Grace Walker poured the water into the bath and hid in the low house to bathe...

After scrubbing herself clean, Grace Walker poured out all the water, refilled it, and washed Ethan Brooks until both mother and son were spotless. Only then did she frown and look at the fox curled up in the corner...

A guard tossed a pear down from the city wall for Grace Walker. After cutting the pear into small pieces and flattening them, Grace Walker fed them bit by bit to Ethan Brooks.

But she carefully buried the pear core in a sunny spot. That’s what women from farming families do: the pear was delicious, and as long as you had the core, you could plant the seeds in the ground. In a few years, there would be more pears than you could eat. When it came to crops and fruit trees, farm women had endless patience to wait for them to grow.

“Peach trees bear in three years, apricots in four, pears in five.”

“In another five years, Ethan will have more pears than he can eat.”

“Ya-ya, you’re such a greedy little child.”

“You can’t just keep drinking milk, can you? You already have two teeth—aren’t you ashamed?”

Grace Walker sat in her dim room, holding Ethan Brooks in her arms, gazing at the faint light of the oil lamp, contentedly teasing her child. The fox curled up under the small bed, squinting as it secretly eyed the small piece of cured meat hanging from the ceiling.

With this house, Grace Walker felt confident she could raise her child to adulthood. Although half the family’s money was already gone, in a year of such disaster, what more could a widow ask for?

In her girlhood, she had known wealth and luxury, but once it all vanished like smoke, everyone went their separate ways. Whether it was parental love, marital affection, or sibling bonds, none could withstand even a small lie. Such a world was not worth remembering.

Andy had pulled her from the water, and then sent her away by water again. Was every bite and sip predestined by fate?

Thinking of Andy, Grace Walker straightened her chest, looking proudly at her chubby son in her arms, full of a sense of accomplishment.

On their wedding night, Andy spat at the sky and laughed: “What nonsense about a doomed line? I don’t believe it!”

Chapter 7: The First Call of ‘Mother’

Grace Walker filled the water tank to the brim, but this water wasn’t from the Sweetwater Well—it was mountain spring water fetched from the palace by Chief Guard atop the imperial city wall.

In return, Grace Walker helped those guards in the capital who had no family by mending and washing their clothes. Though she always insisted she didn’t want payment, the guards never let her work for free; there would always be three or five copper coins dropped down with the laundry in a basket.

Grace Walker also heard that all the nobles in the palace had gone to Cuiwei Mountain to escape the plague, and wouldn’t return until the weather turned cold.

The epidemic in Tokyo grew ever fiercer. Even in broad daylight, there were hardly any people on the streets, and those who were hurried by in a rush...

The wealthy had all left, and those who remained in the city had their own reasons for being unable to leave, each one enduring bitterly, waiting for the autumn winds to arrive.

Grace Walker became extremely cautious, never venturing more than ten steps from the foot of the imperial city wall. The imperial city not only enclosed the Zhao royal family, but also provided a natural layer of protection for Grace Walker and her son. As a result, no one had died near her home yet.

This was partly thanks to the Kaifeng Prefecture. The area around the imperial city was under strict guard, a highly restricted zone. Now, not to mention ten steps, even within a hundred feet, no one else was allowed to set foot.

This time, the source of the epidemic was found. It must be said that Kaifeng Prefecture was an efficient government office. In the end, it was discovered to be merely an outbreak of dysentery, not the deadly cholera, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

If it had been the deadly cholera, who knows how many would have died in Tokyo...

After learning it was dysentery, Grace Walker would wash Ethan Brooks three times a day with warm salted water. Of course, the little fox received the same treatment. Every evening at sunset, when Grace Walker bathed Ethan Brooks and the little fox, the guards atop the imperial city wall would watch and laugh.

The house was filled with a sour smell—this was the scent left after Grace Walker had fumigated the entire place three times with vinegar.