At the same time, Abraham Lincoln was sitting in the main hall, pronouncing judgments while writing verdicts, quickly finishing a thick stack of case files. Then, tossing aside his brush, he burst into hearty laughter and strode away, leaving behind countless commoners in the hall, their cries of injustice nearly lifting the roof...

"Yuan'er, wake up, Yuan'er, wake up..."

A faint voice drifted over. Ethan Brooks, still groggy, called out, "Mother!" and then jolted awake, sitting up.

He saw Grace Walker staring at him in a daze, her eyes filled with delight. Ethan Brooks let out a gentle sigh and resignedly closed his eyes.

Sure enough, his small body was scooped up by his mother, who spun him quickly through the air. Her lips rained down on his face, head, belly, and even his little bottom...

"My Yuan'er can talk now."

"My Yuan'er can call me mother now."

"My Yuan'er really is the smartest. The dog egg from the Tie family next door couldn't even call anyone at two years old, always calling his father 'Dodo.' Hahahahaha, my son really is the smartest..."

"Seventh brother, did you see? Did you hear? Our child can talk now..."

Grace Walker's shift from ecstasy to sorrow was incredibly fast. Ethan Brooks felt her warm tears fall onto his face. He sighed again and reached out to hug this woman who depended on him as much as he did on her. In this life, their bond was probably no longer just one of blood, but also of deep emotion. These ties were like ropes, binding two lonely souls tightly together.

That night, Grace Walker was so excited she didn't sleep at all, constantly coaxing Ethan Brooks to talk. After calling her "mother" dozens of times to keep her company, Ethan Brooks could no longer resist the pull of sleep and drifted off into a deep slumber.

Having stayed up all night, Grace Walker slipped out of the house at dawn, excitedly shouting up to the guard standing on the city wall, "Big Brother Bolton, my Yuan'er can talk now!"

The guard on the wall, rubbing his sleepy eyes and yawning, replied, "Mrs. Brooks, it's not so rare that your son can talk, but I'm quite surprised that you're running around shouting about it so early in the morning."

"My Yuan'er can talk now. Last night he called me 'mother' dozens of times."

The guard laughed loudly, "My own son has called me 'father' for over ten years, and I still give him a beating when he deserves it! Now that your precious boy can talk, it means he's grown up and it's time for him to get a few beatings too. Just yesterday I saw him running wild by the city wall, hahaha..."

"Running wild? That's impossible, I locked the door."

The guard on the wall chuckled, "Your son is a clever little rascal, and even the fox you keep at home is about to become a spirit—it actually opened the door for your boy. Heh, with a son like that, Mrs. Brooks, you'll have plenty of trouble in the future!"

Grace Walker's expression changed instantly. She turned and went back inside, dragged the fox out from under the bed, and glared at it fiercely, "Was it you who opened the door for Yuan'er?"

Chapter Eight: The Tie Family's Little Fox

People are too small, so everything is out of reach...

Ethan Brooks thought he had a huge poisonous mushroom hammer, but he didn't have a suitable nail to test it on, which made him very frustrated. He absolutely didn't dare let his mother try the fly agaric, of course, and the loyal fox certainly couldn't be used as a test subject either.

Sitting in front of the door, basking in the chilly sunlight, Ethan Brooks glanced back at the guards on the palace wall, lost in thought. These people would be the perfect test subjects, but seeing how they always made silly faces to amuse him, he decided to let them off the hook.

A red date suddenly fell from the sky. Ethan Brooks grumbled as he stood up, picked up the date, and put it in the basket beside him. He grinned up at the top of the palace wall as a reward for those clueless brutes.

Then a walnut dropped from above.

Ethan Brooks sighed. These bastards were treating him like a monkey...

Looking at the lunch his mother brought, Ethan Brooks had no appetite. Every meal was plain, sticky noodles. Afraid he wouldn't like it, his mother poured lots of sesame oil on top, but even plain boiled noodles tasted much better than this...

Ever since he called out "mother," life had completely changed. That clean, nutritious, and wonderful thing called breast milk was now out of reach.

To wean him, his mother even smeared turmeric on her nipples to reduce Ethan Brooks's desire for breast milk.

It seemed there was no hope of having breast milk as a meal anymore. Ethan Brooks sighed inwardly, picked up the wooden spoon as big as his fist, and started eating.

Every mealtime, he felt like he was being punished.

"Yuan'er eats so well. Your father loved the soup noodles I made best—he'd eat a whole big bowl every time. Yuan'er should eat more too, so you'll grow up strong like your father."

Ethan Brooks really wanted to say he didn't like it at all, but if he didn't eat, he might starve to death. To survive, he had no choice but to force his stomach to endure it.

Long ago, Ethan Brooks was famous for being hard to please when it came to food. Although he didn't like anything particularly rare or expensive, the preparation had to be exquisite and the flavor just right, or he'd throw a tantrum.