I Crossed Over with My Enemy, Only to Find Him Running the Empire - Chapter 47

Chapter 47: The Thief Within

“Go!”

The two of them once again gripped the closed Concentric Lock tightly.

Light flashed once more, and the sound of car horns outside the window was instantly replaced by the crowing of roosters and the barking of dogs.

They were back in the ancient cottage.

The entire process was so fast it felt as if they had only blinked.

Li Qiaoqiao grabbed the medicine bottle from Wu Ya’s hand, pulled out the stopper, poured the tiny pills into her palm, took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and rushed toward the main house.

With Zhang Jinhua fainting, the house had instantly descended into chaos.

Mrs. Wei (the eldest daughter-in-law) was pale with fright, standing helplessly in place while muttering: “What do we do? What do we do…”

In the midst of the panic, Wu Ya strode forward and knelt beside Zhang Jinhua.

Recalling the first-aid knowledge he had learned in the modern world, he reached out and pinched Zhang Jinhua’s renzhong point (philtrum), applying pressure that was neither too light nor too heavy.

“Tie Niu, what are you doing?” Wu Duofu asked in confusion.

“A first-aid method I learned from Divine Physician Gong,” Wu Ya replied without looking up, focusing on his movements.

This was an excuse he had made up on the spot.

After a short while, Zhang Jinhua’s eyelids flickered, and she slowly opened her eyes. However, her face remained pale; one hand clutched her chest, and her breathing was ragged.

Seeing this, Li Qiaoqiao hurriedly took out the Suxiao Jiuxin Pill (Instant Heart-Sparing Pill) from her sleeve, quickly dissolved it in warm water, helped Zhang Jinhua up, and coaxed her gently: “Mother, drink some water first to smooth your breathing.”

In her distress, Zhang Jinhua drank the water containing the dissolved medicine from Li Qiaoqiao’s hand.

Within moments, the sharp pain in her chest eased significantly, and her breathing stabilized.

“Ouch… my old bones almost met their end just now…”

Once Zhang Jinhua regained consciousness, her chest stopped hurting, but her tongue didn’t rest.

She shoved aside the people crowding around her, her eyes widening into circles as she shrieked: “Which god-cursed thief stole from me! My private savings that I spent half my life amassing…”

The more she cursed, the more worked up she became, her finger almost poking into Mrs. Wei’s face.

Mrs. Wei turned pale, knowing she was in the wrong. She “thumped” onto her knees on the ground and began slapping her own face left and right.

“Mother, it’s all my big mouth’s fault. You can hit me or scold me as you wish, just please don’t let the anger ruin your health again…”

Mrs. Wei did not hold back; after several crisp slaps, red finger marks appeared on her face.

Seeing her like this, Zhang Jinhua found it difficult to lash out further. She only gave her a fierce glare and continued to beat her chest and stomp her feet, weeping over her silver.

The room was in a mess, and the younger generation looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

At this moment, Wu Ya stood up.

“Mother, crying won’t bring the silver back now. Why don’t you calm down and think—was there any unusual movement last night?”

Zhang Jinhua wiped her tears, sobbing as she recalled: “During the first half of the night, I was tossing and turning, unable to sleep. I felt uneasy. But during the second half, I somehow fell into a deep sleep, didn’t even have a dream, and woke up to find we’d been robbed.”

Wu Ya’s brow furrowed slightly. He paced the room a few steps, his gaze suddenly stopping at the window paper.

Leaning in for a closer look, he saw an inconspicuous small hole in the window paper, looking freshly poked.

He pressed his nose close to the small hole and sniffed lightly.

“There’s a strange smell,” Wu Ya said in a low voice. “It smells like the scent of some kind of herb burning.”

Li Qiaoqiao also leaned in to sniff, her expression changing slightly.

Those were herbs with anesthetic effects.

Wu Ya turned to the crowd and said, “The thief likely used knock-out smoke to take down Father and Mother before making a move.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room was shocked.

Zhang Jinhua covered her mouth in fear, her eyes wide: “Knock-out smoke? No wonder I slept so soundly in the second half of the night!”

Wu Duofu looked up, a sharp glint flashing in his cloudy old eyes.

He observed this son, who suddenly seemed like a different person; he tapped his tobacco pipe against the sole of his shoe but said nothing.

Wu Ya already had a plan. He instructed the youngsters: “Qinglin, Zhexun, go check the base of the east wall outside to see if there are footprints. Peilan, Caixia, you check the west side. To poke a hole in the window paper, the thief must have stepped on something to reach it.”

Seeing someone taking charge, the children felt they had found their pillar of support and left to follow orders.

The whole family gathered around, discussing noisily. Some cursed the thief for being cunning, some worried about future safety, and even more urged to report it to the authorities immediately.

Before long, Wu Qinglin and the other youngsters ran back in a hurry, their faces dripping with sweat.

Wu Qinglin was the first to report: “Fourth Uncle, we checked the top of the walls carefully; we didn’t see any new footprints.”

Wu Zhexun added immediately: “The door locks are perfectly fine, too; they haven’t been tampered with.”

Caixia and Peilan, being girls, were more meticulous. Peilan specifically said: “We even checked behind the latrine. The ground is clean; it doesn’t look like anyone climbed over the wall to get in.”

This report stunned everyone in the room. If it were an outside thief, how could they leave no trace at all?

Wu Ya pondered for a moment, then suddenly spoke: “Since the wall and the locks are unharmed, the thief is either a master of martial arts who can fly over walls without a trace, or…”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the room: “…it’s a thief from within the family.”

These words were like a stone dropped into a calm pond, instantly stirring up a thousand waves.

Li Qiaoqiao immediately followed up: “Why would a master of martial arts look twice at the small amount of money in a farmer’s house? If they really had that kind of skill, wouldn’t it be more profitable to rob a wealthy household?”

Combining these two statements, the meaning was crystal clear.

The thief was among their own family!

Having just caught her breath, Zhang Jinhua exploded again upon hearing this.

She sat bolt upright from the kàng bed, her shaking finger pointing at everyone in the room: “Good, very good! I was wondering how they stole so accurately! So it was a thief in the house! You were jealous of the thirty taels of silver I used for Tie Niu’s treatment, weren’t you? You black-hearted things! The money I spent half my life saving…”

The more she cursed, the more agitated she became, her chest starting to heave again. Li Qiaoqiao hurriedly stepped forward to gently rub her back, fearing she would faint once more.

Zhang Jinhua’s first glare landed on Mrs. Wei: “Eldest daughter-in-law! Was it you? You’re always thinking about my private savings!”

Mrs. Wei was terrified and fell to her knees with a “thump,” tears streaming down her face: “Mother! Heaven be my witness! How could I do such an immoral thing? Canghai is supposed to take the imperial exams; if I became a thief, wouldn’t that ruin his future? Besides, I had no idea where you hid the money!”

This logic held up.

The place where Zhang Jinhua hid her money was known only to herself and her husband; even her most favored son, Tie Niu, didn’t know.

At this point, Mrs. Wei suddenly pointed the finger at the second branch of the family: “Mother, I fear it was the second branch! They were just beaten yesterday and held a grudge, and no physician was called for them…”

Everyone’s eyes immediately fixed on the second branch’s family huddled in the corner.

Wu Tiesheng was lying face down on a straw mat, his face pale, lacking even the strength to argue. His wife held their two daughters, doing nothing but crying.

Just at that moment, fourteen-year-old Wu Peilan suddenly spoke, her voice clear and her reasoning organized: “Auntie, what you said isn’t right. My father was seriously injured and hasn’t been able to get off the kàng since yesterday. Just now, hearing that Grandma fainted, my sister and I had to help him crawl over here. How could a person who can’t even walk go and steal something?”