He took a small straw-wrapped bundle from his chest, walked into the house, handed it to his son, and said with a smile, “This is your favorite syrup pancake. Daddy went to town to buy it especially for you today. It’s still warm—hurry and eat it!”

David Thompson sighed inwardly. Although his father was timid and useless, he truly loved him. So he shook his head and said, “I don’t want to eat it. You have it!”

“Daddy bought two and already ate one. This one is for you. Oh, and Daddy still has something to do. You eat up quickly. Daddy might come back late. Remember to lock the door before you go to bed.”

Brian Thompson was thinking about the weasel in the corner. He had to hurry and take it to the pharmacy in town to sell it, then buy some incense and candles. Today was an important day.

Brian Thompson put the straw bundle on the table, went to the woodshed to fetch a worn-out bamboo hat, and hurriedly left the house.

David Thompson looked at the tightly wrapped straw bundle, and his stomach rumbled. At that moment, Dahei came in from outside, jumped onto the kang, and whimpered as it snuggled up beside him.

David Thompson patted the dog’s head and smiled, “You were very brave today. You deserve a reward. Let’s split it half and half.”

He tore open the straw, pulled out a still-warm pancake, tore it in half, stuffed one half into the dog’s mouth, and took big bites himself. The sweet syrup flowed into his mouth as he savored it carefully. He really liked this kind of syrup pancake.

……

In the middle of the night, David Thompson was awakened by a very soft voice. He smelled a strange scent and, half-asleep, opened his eyes. He saw a faint, flickering light coming from the side room and recognized the voice—it was his father talking to himself.

But there was nothing in the side room. What was his father doing there?

Curiosity overcame his sleepiness. He got up from the kang, tiptoed along the wall, and crept to the doorway. He quietly peeked into the side room.

He saw a candle burning on the floor, three sticks of incense in a small censer with wisps of blue smoke curling up. That was the scent he had smelled earlier.

In front of the censer was a spirit tablet. Without looking, David Thompson knew it was his mother’s memorial tablet. He had no memory of his Song Dynasty mother—she seemed to have died of illness when he was two. Her maiden name was Ding, and his father called her Yun Niang. From his father’s daily ramblings, he knew his mother was the most virtuous and beautiful woman in the world. David Thompson always felt regretful—if his mother were still alive, he and his father wouldn’t be living such a hard life.

His father sat in front of the spirit tablet, muttering to himself. David Thompson didn’t listen closely, but he was surprised to see a large pile of copper coins beside his father, strung together—each string had about six or seven hundred coins, and there were about ten strings. According to Song Dynasty standards, that was ten guan of money.

Next to them was an empty clay jar lying on its side, and in the corner of the room was a big pit with the earth dug open. So that’s where the money was hidden.

David Thompson had no real concept of the purchasing power of Song coins, but he knew that the syrup pancake he ate that afternoon cost about ten coins each, and a regular pancake only cost three.

This pile of money could buy thousands of pancakes! For now, David Thompson didn’t have high ambitions—he just wanted to eat his fill. Yesterday morning, he only had two bean buns, and in the afternoon, half a pancake. The Song Dynasty didn’t have lunch, so he was really starving.

Why did his father scrimp and save so much money?

David Thompson began to take an interest in his father’s muttering.

“Yun Niang, today I finally saved up ten guan. I can fulfill your wish and send our son to study. Yun Niang, you must be very happy, right?”

David Thompson felt his nose sting and quickly turned his head away.

“Yun Niang, I know you’re lonely down there by yourself. It’s okay. When our son grows up and I’ve paid off my debts, I’ll come keep you company. We’ll watch our son pass the imperial exams together—he’ll be more successful than his father…”

David Thompson wiped his face, quietly turned back to the kang, and looked at his father’s tattered summer shirt hanging on the rope. He couldn’t hold it in any longer and cried silently under the covers.

Chapter 0003: Intolerable Bullying

At dawn the next day, the mother dog Ah Huang from Second Crooked’s house at the east end of the village started howling, and Dahei, ignoring brotherly bonds, got up, wagged his tail, and ran off to have some fun.

Without his natural warm pillow, David Thompson was suddenly jolted awake from deep sleep. At this moment, his father also got up and went out.

David Thompson’s mind wasn’t fully awake yet. In a daze, he felt his father pushing the wheelbarrow he’d borrowed from Mrs. Harris’s house last night and heading out. In his memory, his father left before dawn every morning, but today he seemed to be leaving a bit late.

“Qing’er, I have something to do in town today. I won’t be back at noon. There are some vegetable buns in the pot—heat them up and eat them yourself.”

“Got it!”

David Thompson mumbled a reply and turned over to go back to sleep.

But after only a short while, he dreamed that he was tied to a chair, his father sitting across from him feasting, grinning from ear to ear, but refusing to untie him. In a panic, he suddenly woke up from the dream, only to feel his stomach rumbling with hunger—he was so hungry his chest was sticking to his back.

David Thompson got up and was surprised to find the sun shining outside. A ray of sunlight streamed through the treetops into the house, making the once damp and gloomy room bright.