“Mm.” Henry Walker nodded and said, “This is much easier than finding your sister-in-law. We can tackle both at once: on one hand, keep an eye on the Zhao family. With the autumn trial approaching, and now that they know about your actions, they’ll definitely be discussing countermeasures. Let’s see who visits the Zhao family these days, and where the Zhao family members go as guests.”

“On the other hand, the person behind the scenes is the murderer in the nameless female corpse case. My old man probably has a good idea, at least he’s very close to the truth. The saltworks where my father serves is only a hundred li away. I want to go see him—if I can get some help from him, that would be ideal.”

“But your health?” Emily Foster was quite tempted, but seeing Henry Walker still needing a cane to walk, she felt a bit uneasy.

“I heard there’s a kind of transport called a sedan chair.” Henry Walker looked at her and said, “Besides, most of the journey is by boat.”

“That’s fine too.” Emily Foster nodded and said, “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

Without delay, the two agreed to set off in three days. The reason for waiting three days was that, although the saltworks wasn’t a prison, it was still heavily guarded and outsiders weren’t allowed in without a reason. Henry Walker, unconsciously following his mother’s philosophy of ‘helping others but helping oneself more,’ told Miss Foster that their excuse for visiting would be to deliver winter clothes. Naturally, the task of preparing the winter clothes fell to Emily Foster. Miss Foster was already used to his extortion and agreed without a second thought.

After their conversation, Miss Foster got up to take her leave. When she opened the door, she found it was already past noon outside.

In the courtyard, Grace and Uncle George had already finished lunch. Of course, the little girl Grace wouldn’t cook for Uncle George; instead, she kept complaining about being hungry. She looked so young and cute that the uncle’s heart melted, and he went out to buy roast chicken and baked flatbread for her.

After eating, with no sign of Miss Foster coming out, Uncle George felt gloomy: ‘It’s over, the girl is definitely going to become a daughter-in-law now.’

When they saw Emily Foster come out, both noticed her complexion had improved, her eyes were brighter, and her lips had color again. Remembering how she looked before she went in, Grace exclaimed, “Sister Lin, what did my brother do to cure you!”

“Your brother…” Emily Foster smiled and took her hand, “He’s really amazing.”

“Wow.” Grace said in disbelief, “Really?”

“I never noticed before.” Emily Foster nodded with a smile, “But this time I experienced it myself.”

Uncle George nearly fainted when he heard this, screaming inwardly, ‘Hopeless, hopeless, completely hopeless…’

Feeling better, Emily Foster chatted a bit with Grace before saying goodbye.

After she put on her veil and, accompanied by Uncle George, left Niuwei Alley, the gate of the courtyard next to the The Walker Family slowly opened, revealing the faces of two middle-aged women.

One was the owner of the house, Aunt Smith; the other was actually Henry Walker’s mother!

The mother, who was supposed to be attending a banquet in the countryside, was actually lying in wait at the neighbor’s house!

The two peered toward the alley entrance, seeing no one in sight. Only then did the mother turn back and sneer at Aunt Smith, “Do you believe it now, you old monkey?”

Aunt Smith was very thin, with a slightly pointed mouth and sunken cheeks, hence her nickname. She replied with full conviction, “I believe it, it really was the Lin family girl. Even though her face was covered, that was her family’s old servant Tian Qi beside her.”

“Hmph.” The mother sneered proudly, “See, I told you! My son may not be good at much, but he’s got a knack for chasing girls.” Even as she spoke, she marveled to herself: ‘Back when he told me he wanted to marry the Lin family girl, I laughed at him for being delusional. Who would’ve thought the boy would actually pull it off!’

“But,” after accepting reality, Aunt Smith immediately started meddling, “the two kids meeting in private like this—sooner or later, people will start gossiping. You should keep an eye on them.”

“I won’t.” The mother put her hands on her hips. “We have nothing to be ashamed of. Let them talk if they want!” She was firm in her decision—where would they get a bride price anyway? Besides, the other family was an enemy! Better to play dumb and let the two keep developing. Once things are settled, then she’d make plans.

“Pah!” Aunt Smith spat, “Wang Er was bedridden for half a year, and you’ve already forgotten who he is?”

“Sigh, he was just young and foolish. He’ll change when he grows up…” Though the mother was formidable, whenever someone brought up Wang Er, she lost her confidence.

“Let’s hope so…” Aunt Smith said, letting the matter drop. But before she finished speaking, a round-faced young man swaggered past the door. The Zhang family was the second-to-last house in the alley; further in was only the The Walker Family.

“These little rascals, still daring to come looking for him!” The mother immediately flew into a rage, rolling up her sleeves to go out, but Aunt Smith grabbed her hard and said, “You’re supposed to be at the banquet in Walker Village right now. If you show up here, won’t you give yourself away?”

Chapter 0010: On the Black Awning Boat

After sending off Emily Foster, Grace took out two flatbreads and half a roast chicken from the bamboo basket and served them to Henry Walker for lunch.

Henry Walker took a bite of the flatbread—it was both crispy and flaky, filling his mouth with fragrance. He couldn’t help but praise, ‘So there really is delicious food in this era!’

“Of course, there are countless delicacies in the world. You could eat something new every day for a lifetime.” Grace laughed. “But you need money to afford them.” She propped her chin in her hands, drooling as she dreamed, “I wish I could try them all…”

Before she finished speaking, a voice laughed from the courtyard gate: “Smells delicious…”