I Crossed Over with My Enemy, Only to Find Him Running the Empire - Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Eating Steak

Wu Ya was quite open-minded: “Biting off more than one can chew leads to trouble. Being able to get the Wu family’s money back tonight, plus gaining these extras, is already a stroke of great luck. That old swindler definitely has a backup plan; chasing him further would be too risky.”

Li Qiaoqiao thought about it and smiled: “True. We’ve made enough profit.”

Just then, Li Qiaoqiao’s stomach let out an ungraceful “gurgle,” sounding exceptionally clear in the silence.

She rubbed her belly awkwardly; that bit of dinner had long since been digested.

Beside her, Wu Ya clearly heard it too. He felt his own equally empty stomach and sighed: “I’m hungry too. It’s a pity that in the dead of night, the kitchen stove is cold and the pots are empty; there’s nothing to eat.”

Li Qiaoqiao’s eyes lit up, and she whispered: “How about… we try that again?”

She was referring to the “Concentric Lock.”

Wu Ya immediately understood her meaning.

Go back to the modern era, back to her apartment to grab something delicious to fill their stomachs!

“Will it work? It was so sudden last time,” Wu Ya hesitated, but the gnawing hunger in his gut was intense.

“Let’s just try. We don’t have any other options anyway. Concentrate! Think about the living room of my small apartment!” As Li Qiaoqiao spoke, she proactively reached out and grabbed Wu Ya’s wrist, pressing the two halves of the Concentric Lock tightly together.

Wu Ya took a deep breath and held his breath in concentration.

Different from the last time, the moment they touched, a more abundant surge of energy instantly flowed through both of them.

The space before their eyes began to twist and blur again. That familiar sense of vertigo hit them, but it seemed to last a bit longer this time.

When their vision cleared again, they were already standing in the living room of Li Qiaoqiao’s cozy little apartment.

The overhead lights cast a soft glow, the refrigerator hummed lowly, and everything was exactly as it was when they left.

“It worked! And this time, it seems the ‘standby time’ is longer?” Li Qiaoqiao felt the strange energy within her body with pleasant surprise.

“Never mind that for now, go get the food!” Wu Ya’s attention was already completely drawn toward the kitchen.

The two headed straight for the fridge in silent agreement.

Li Qiaoqiao opened the door with practiced ease, letting out a sigh of happiness at the array of food inside.

She pulled out a carton of yogurt, poked in a straw, and started drinking; the sweet and sour taste instantly soothed her famished stomach.

Wu Ya took out a bottle of mineral water, twisted off the cap, and took a large gulp, smacking his lips: “This water is sweet and crisp, but it has no flavor.”

“It quenches thirst, that’s enough,” Li Qiaoqiao said, her gaze scanning the cold storage until it fixed upon two vacuum-sealed steaks. “This is it!”

She took out the steaks, found some butter and black pepper sauce, and skillfully turned on the gas stove to heat the frying pan.

The butter melted in the pan, making a sizzling sound and releasing a rich, milky aroma.

When the steaks slid into the pan, the high heat instantly triggered the unique charred scent of meat fat. Mixed with the spicy fragrance of black pepper, the smell filled the tiny kitchen, making their mouths water.

Wu Ya stood at the kitchen door, watching Li Qiaoqiao skillfully flip the steaks as the aroma kept drifting into his nose.

He couldn’t help but feel his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard several times.

Yet, out of habit, he muttered: “This meat is very expensive, isn’t it?”

Li Qiaoqiao rolled her eyes at him: “I’m starving to death, who cares if it’s expensive? Don’t worry, big sister is treating you!”

As she spoke, she plated a steak that was charred on the outside and tender on the inside, handing it to Wu Ya. “Try it. I guarantee you’ve never tasted anything like this.”

Wu Ya took the plate. Looking at the thick steak, the aroma hit his brain so hard that his stinginess regarding money vanished into thin air.

He cut off a large piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

The next second, his eyes widened!

Succulent and juicy, the perfect fusion of black pepper sauce and meat fragrance instantly conquered his taste buds.

“How is it?” Li Qiaoqiao asked triumphantly, cutting a small piece for herself and blowing on it.

Wu Ya didn’t have time to speak; he just nodded frantically, devouring the large steak in no time, even using a fork to scrape up the sauce on the plate.

After finishing, he looked longingly at the steak on Li Qiaoqiao’s plate, of which she had only taken one bite.

Li Qiaoqiao found his look amusing and playfully shook her plate: “Want more?”

Wu Ya nodded, then suddenly remembered something. He instinctively reached into his robe.

The dozen or so tales of broken silver they had just divided were still tucked safely in his bosom they had actually crossed over with him!

With a thought, he pulled out a silver piece weighing about five taels and handed it to Li Qiaoqiao: “Then I’ll buy it! This piece, I’m buying it! Five tales of silver, is that enough?”

Li Qiaoqiao looked at him, stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing: “Five taels of silver? In the modern world, that could buy a whole crate, okay? You dummy!”

But her eyes flickered as a crucial question suddenly occurred to her.

Can this ancient silver be used here? Or rather, can it exist here?

She took the silver and tried placing it on the nearby dining table.

The silver sat there steadily, without any sign of disappearing!

“Look!” Li Qiaoqiao suddenly grabbed Wu Ya’s arm, pointing excitedly at the silver ingot. “It can come over! It can stay here!”

Wu Ya also instantly understood what this implied, his eyes lighting up: “In other words, we can keep the silver here? In this room of yours?”

“Exactly!” Li Qiaoqiao was so excited she almost jumped. “Over in the ancient times, that dilapidated house of ours has windows that break with a poke and a weak door bolt. Anyone can break in and rummage through. How could we hide silver there? Keeping it here is the safest!”

Just then, both of them felt a wave of weakness at the same time, and that sense of vertigo resurfaced.

“Quick! The energy is running low!” Li Qiaoqiao cried out. In a scramble, she stuffed the steak she had bitten once into Wu Ya’s hand: “This is yours! I’ve taken the money!”

At the same time, she quickly grabbed the other freshly cooked steak she hadn’t had time to eat, plate and all: “I’m taking this back to eat!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the scenery before them began to warp again.

The next second, they were standing once more in the dim wing-room of the Wu family in ancient times.

Li Qiaoqiao was still steadily holding the modern white porcelain plate, which contained the steaming hot steak.

“Eat fast!” The two didn’t waste time talking; while the steak was still hot, they hurriedly wolfed it down in a few bites.

The high-quality protein and fat hit their stomachs, greatly relieving their hunger.

After eating, Li Qiaoqiao looked at the empty modern plate in her hand, feeling a bit worried: “What do we do with this plate?”

Wu Ya thought for a moment, took the plate, and carefully shoved it into the deepest part of the kang (heated brick bed) hollow, covering it with some junk: “Hide it here for now. We’ll take it back the next time we go over.”

Having dealt with the plate, the two sat on the edge of the kang, reminiscing about the midnight snack and, more importantly, their discovery.

“The time the Concentric Lock maintained this time seemed much longer than the last,” Wu Ya said, feeling the residual energy in his body.

Li Qiaoqiao nodded: “I felt it too. Is it because we’ve used it more? Or because we acted together?”

She remembered that both time-travels involved the two of them together, and physical contact seemed to be the medium.

“Hard to say,” Wu Ya pondered. “We have to try again next time. If it can really last longer, or if we can control it…”

The two looked at each other, both seeing the anticipation in the other’s eyes.