I Crossed Over with My Enemy, Only to Find Him Running the Empire - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: The Family Favorite

It happened in the blink of an eye, perhaps even shorter.

By the time they could see clearly again, they found themselves standing upright once more in that familiar thicket on the back mountain of Wanfu Village.

Beneath their feet was the uneven, pitted mud; beside them was the crooked old locust tree; and in the distance, they could faintly see the curling cooking smoke rising from the village.

The air was thick with the scent of earth and green grass, mixed with the faint, lingering smell of pig manure.

They were back.

Without exception, they had been kicked back to this ancient countryside they so desperately wanted to escape.

Wu Ya froze in place, staring blankly at the “Concentric Lock” in his hand.

The lock had somehow split into two halves again, lying icy cold in his palm.

Li Qiaoqiao’s legs gave out, and she flopped onto a clump of grass on the ground, no longer caring about the dirt.

She looked up at Wu Ya, her face devoid of color. Her lips trembled for a long time before she squeezed out a sentence in a sobbing tone: “We can’t go back. Wu Ya, we can never go back.”

That door wasn’t a path home at all.

It was mocking them! Charging through it only resulted in being thrown back to square one even more bluntly.

Wu Ya didn’t speak; he just stared deathly at the two halves of the lock, his knuckles cracking from the grip.

A massive wave of loss and rage surged up, nearly drowning him. But he gritted his teeth and forced the emotion down.

After a long while, he finally let out a long, turbid breath that had been suppressed in his chest.

He leaned over and pulled the limp Li Qiaoqiao up. His voice was slightly hoarse, but it carried a sense of resignation: “Yeah, we can’t go back. Give up on that path.”

The way back was completely severed.

Before, they always felt there was a glimmer of hope, something to strive for—what if? What if they could actually return?

Well, now the “what if” was gone. It was a done deal, nailing them firmly into this ancient era.

Strangely enough, moments ago they felt as if the sky were falling, filled with despair. But once that final path was completely blocked, as they looked at each other, a spark of stubbornness began to burn slowly in their hearts.

Li Qiaoqiao wiped her face, brushing away the moisture in her eyes. Her gaze gradually turned fierce: “Fine! Can’t go back, right? Then… we won’t!”

Wu Ya also bared his teeth in a smile that was a bit bitter, but mostly held the grit of someone with nothing left to lose: “Exactly! We won’t go back! Dammit, I managed to become the richest man in the modern world; surely I won’t let myself be defeated by life in the ancient times?”

The desperate situation actually brought out the fighting spirit of these two modern souls. Indeed, they weren’t native ancients; they had crossed over with modern brains!

Though one body was “foolish” and the other weak, they had a “Golden Finger”!

Wu Ya shook the lock in his hand: “This thing might not be able to send us back for good, but it can let us return to your place at any time to restock supplies! This is our greatest reliance!”

Thinking this way, the future didn’t seem entirely pitch black. At least they wouldn’t starve, and they had an absolutely safe sanctuary.

“Right!” Li Qiaoqiao regained her energy, scrambled up from the ground, and patted the dust off her rear. “We have to ‘stay low’! Stay low and survive! And we have to live well! We can’t let this ancient world look down on us!”

“So what if there’s no electricity, no internet, and no flush toilets? We’ll overcome it!” Wu Ya began to pump himself up, and Li Qiaoqiao as well. “We have brains, experience, and this bug-like lock. We’ll find a way to survive and live a better life!”

The path back was gone; the path ahead was unknown.

“Let’s go!” Wu Ya stuffed half of the lock back to Li Qiaoqiao, a light returning to his eyes. “Home first! Get a full meal, then we’ll plan long-term! Life has to go on!”

“Mmh!” Li Qiaoqiao nodded heavily and carefully hid her half of the lock.

They looked at each other, both seeing a fierce determination to fight fate to the bitter end. Then, one after the other, they pushed through the bushes and headed down the mountain toward the dilapidated courtyard of the Wu family.

The sun was about to set, and the golden afterglow spilled over the roofs and fields of Wanfu Village, as if plating everything in a warm light.

It looked peaceful and serene.

But only they knew that from this moment on, they were truly beginning to take root in this strange ancient world, struggling to survive.

…

Wu Canghai had returned from the county school.

This news was, to the Wu family, a joy of heavenly proportions.

The moment he stepped into the courtyard, the atmosphere of the Wu household seemed to shift entirely.

Usually at this time, if Grandmother Zhang Jinhua pointed at the mother, Mrs. Wei’s nose to scold her, Grandfather Wu Duofu would mostly crouch in the corner smoking his pipe, pretending not to hear.

But today, just as Zhang Jinhua opened her mouth to howl, “You lazy woman…”, Wu Duofu suddenly coughed loudly and glared at her: “The Fourth House’s wife is busy in the kitchen, and the First House’s wife isn’t idling either. What are you shouting for? Canghai is back, keep it quiet!”

The stream of insults Zhang Jinhua was about to unleash was choked back, her old face turning a flushed red.

She actually didn’t utter another word, only sullenly turning to the main hall to set the table.

Dinner began.

What made Li Qiaoqiao and the secretly observing Wu Ya find even more peculiar was that Wu Canghai’s mother, Mrs. Wei, was actually invited to the table. Though she sat at the very end, it was worlds apart from her previous status of only eating leftovers in the kitchen.

And the seating arrangement at the table clearly signaled who the true “family favorite” of the Wu household was now.

Grandfather Wu Duofu naturally sat at the head of the table in the primary seat. Beside him on his right, it was no longer the eldest son, Wu Tiezhu, but rather the newly returned Wu Canghai.

Wu Tiezhu, the father, had actually moved down a spot to sit below his son. Wu Canghai sat there with a natural expression, showing no sign of discomfort, as if that seat belonged to him by birthright.

Wu Duofu’s face, which usually hung low and grim, was now smiling like a blooming chrysanthemum as he kept piling food into his grandson’s bowl: “Canghai-ge, you’ve worked hard at the county school. Eat more; look how thin you’ve become.”

Wu Canghai accepted it with a smile, his tone respectful yet perfectly intimate: “Thank you, Grandpa. Everything is fine at school; I only often worry about the health of you and Grandma.”

“Good, we’re doing very well!” Wu Duofu grinned so wide his teeth were showing but his eyes were hidden.

“Big Brother, is the teacher at the county school scary? Is learning especially hard?” the second brother, Wu Qinglin, asked curiously, with a hint of awe.

Wu Canghai smiled and said, “The teacher is strict but not scary; it is for the sake of our studies. The path of learning does require devoted research and steady progress, but there is no need to be intimidated by it.”

His answer was flawless—it maintained the dignity of his teacher while encouraging his brother, leaving no room for fault-finding.

After chatting about his studies for a bit, Wu Duofu seemed to remember something and sighed: “Sigh, the family was in an uproar a while ago. That business with your Young Aunt… it was truly humiliating. Fortunately, it didn’t go through, otherwise I wouldn’t have had a place to show my face.”

He was referring to the attempt to sell Wu Cuiyun to Old Man Zhang as a concubine.

Hearing this, Wu Canghai put down his chopsticks. His expression turned slightly grave, but his tone was very sincere: “Grandpa, I have heard some rumors about this. Although it didn’t happen, it ultimately damages the reputation of our Wu family. Fortunately, it has been settled now. From now on, the whole family needs to be cautious in speech and action, and stay united in harmony to restore our family’s standing. Young Aunt is still young; in the future, I will need Grandpa and Grandma to put in the effort to find her an honest and reliable household.”