I Crossed Over with My Enemy, Only to Find Him Running the Empire - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Illusory Smoke

The other ruffians were also stunned, rubbing their still-aching eyes as they looked at one another in confusion.

“It must be those two god-forsaken swindlers who came back!” one ruffian shouted. “They snatched the silver and bolted!”

The ruffian leader flew into a rage: “Chase them! Chase them for me! I’ll skin them alive!”

Under the dark moon and high wind, in the thickets of wild grass by the road, two dark figures crouched low and scurried out quickly, each clutching a heavy money bag.

It was none other than Li Qiaoqiao and Wu Ya, who had just made off with the silver.

From far behind, they could still faintly hear the suppressed, furious curses of the ruffian leader, mixed with incoherent complaints: “…Bloody bad luck for eight lifetimes! That little brat surnamed Wu screwed me over. Said he was just an old swindler, weak as a kitten. What kind of god is this? Once I get back to town, I’m going straight to the Lechuan Academy to settle the score with that Wu guy…”

Li Qiaoqiao, who was about to dive into a small grove, suddenly stiffened and grabbed Wu Ya’s arm in front of her.

“Wait!” she whispered, her breath slightly ragged. “Did you hear that? Lechuan Academy, a student surnamed Wu?”

Wu Ya also stopped, tilting his head to listen, but the ruffian’s curses were drifting further away and becoming blurred.

He frowned, sensing his surroundings; aside from the wind and the chirping of insects, there was no other presence. “Yeah, I think I heard a mention. What of it?”

Li Qiaoqiao’s heart sank a bit. “Lechuan Academy is right in Lechuan Town. From our village, who else is studying there besides Wu Canghai from the eldest branch? It was mentioned in the original book he did exactly this kind of thing, using ruffians to clean up a swindler and then taking the lion’s share for himself! Those ruffians were definitely brought here by him!”

She peered nervously around; in the darkness, there were only flickering shadows of trees and wild grass.

“Could he be watching nearby? The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!”

Hearing this, Wu Ya immediately focused his mind, carefully probing for any movement around them.

After a moment, he shook his head and whispered: “Relax, no one is nearby. At least within a hundred paces, aside from those useless scraps and the bugs, there’s no living thing breathing.”

He paused, touching the handkerchief covering his face. “Our faces are covered. Even if he really is watching from a distance, he won’t recognize us.”

Li Qiaoqiao finally breathed a small sigh of relief, but her vigilance did not drop.

Wu Canghai the book described him as dark-minded and an expert at backstabbing; they had to be on guard.

“Let’s go. We shouldn’t stay here.”

The two did not dally. Using the cover of night, they slipped silently back into Wanfu Village and into the Wu family courtyard.

…

At this same time, in the main house of the Wu family estate, Wu Duofu and Zhang Jinhua were still awake.

The old couple lay side-by-side on the k’ang, staring up at the pitch-black ceiling, sighing and lamenting.

“Sigh…” Wu Duofu turned over, his heart feeling blocked.

Sixty tales! That was a full sixty tales of snowy silver! Plus the bits and pieces given before, nearly a hundred tales had been thrown into the water without even a splash.

Thinking of this, his old face felt hot with shame, and his chest ached even more.

Beside him, Zhang Jinhua felt even more like a knife was twisting in her heart.

That money was her “old base” accumulated by being stingy and saving for over half a lifetime!

Just gone like that?

As the two lay there with their own thoughts, tossing and turning, a dark shadow, like a ghost, silently infiltrated the Wu courtyard.

This shadow seemed quite familiar with the layout of the Wu family home. It easily avoided the scattered farm tools on the ground and crept under the window of the main house.

A small bamboo tube silently pierced the window paper, and a faint mist was blown into the room.

Wu Duofu and Zhang Jinhua were already exhausted. After inhaling the mist, they felt their heads grow even heavier. Within a few moments, they completely lost consciousness.

After a while, confirming the medicine had taken effect, the dark shadow used a dagger to gently slide the door bolt and slipped into the room.

A faint scent of illusory smoke permeated the air.

The shadow had a clear target, going straight to the edge of the k’ang. First, it fumbled around the secret pocket of Zhang Jinhua’s inner garment and pulled out a small key. Then, it roughly pushed the sleeping Wu Duofu and Zhang Jinhua further onto the bed and lifted the old k’ang mat, revealing a slightly loose earthen brick beneath.

Prying open the brick, a locked wooden box was hidden inside.

The shadow used the key to open the box. By the moonlight filtering through the window paper, several silver notes, some scattered silver bits, copper coins, and a few folded papers—likely land deeds — could be seen.

A flash of greed crossed the shadow’s eyes.

Without hesitation, he stuffed the silver notes into his bosom. He only glanced at the silver bits and land deeds, taking nothing else.

He quickly locked the box, returned it to the hole, replaced the brick, and covered it with the mat. He then pushed Wu Duofu and Zhang Jinhua back to their original positions and carefully slid the key back into Zhang Jinhua’s pocket.

Having finished, the shadow exited the main house as silently as he had arrived, closed the door, and vanished into the night.

Throughout the entire process, not a soul in the Wu household noticed a thing.

…

On the other side, Li Qiaoqiao and Wu Ya had slipped back under the eaves of their wing of the house.

Passing the main house, Li Qiaoqiao specifically leaned in to listen; the sound of Zhang Jinhua’s snoring came from inside.

“Sleeping like the dead,” she whispered, assuming the old lady was simply exhausted from the day’s shock.

She had no idea it was the effect of the smoke.

The two slipped into their own room and bolted the door before truly relaxing.

By the faint moonlight from the window, and without daring to light a lamp, they squatted on the floor and poured out the contents of the two money bags.

With a clatter, a pile of white silver bits and copper coins heaped on the floor.

The smaller bag yielded about twenty taels of silver. But as soon as the bulging large bag was emptied, Li Qiaoqiao and Wu Ya found it familiar.

That grey-blue coarse cloth, with a tiny, crookedly embroidered “Wu” character in the corner—it was Zhang Jinhua’s property!

The two looked at each other, already having a guess.

They carefully counted the silver in the large bag. Adding up the silver pieces of various sizes, it totaled exactly sixty taels!

“It really is the money she and the Second Brother gave away!” Li Qiaoqiao said in a low voice, her tone carrying a hint of satisfaction.

Wu Ya picked up the bag embroidered with “Wu” and weighed it: “This is good. It returns to its original owner.”

“Mhm,” Li Qiaoqiao nodded, looking at the two piles of silver. “We have to find a way to secretly return these sixty tales. This money is the foundation of the Wu family; it can’t just be lost.”

As for the other twenty-plus tales, the two shared a tacit look.

“Split it?” Wu Ya proposed.

“Of course.” Li Qiaoqiao didn’t hesitate.

She had put in a lot of effort tonight, and this money was “spoils of war” from a dog-eat-dog scenario; she felt no psychological burden taking it.

They quickly divided the twenty-plus tales into two portions and tucked them into their bosoms.

The silver felt solid against their skin, providing an immense sense of security.

This was their first true “bucket of gold” since coming to this world.

“A pity though,” Li Qiaoqiao said while packing the large bag, a bit regretfully. “According to the original book… uh, according to what I know, the real ‘fat’ on that swindler Gong was actually silver notes. There should be several hundred tales. These two bags we snatched are probably just his pocket change.”