I Crossed Over with My Enemy, Only to Find Him Running the Empire - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Dividing the Money

“Now we have the capital to start a small business,” Wu Ya said, patting the money bag, which emitted the pleasant clinking of silver coins. “We can’t rely on the Wu family’s meager plots of land forever.”

Li Qiaoqiao finally let out a smile. “At least the fear and trembling weren’t for nothing. But don’t take such risks again next time.”

Suddenly remembering something, she asked, “That dice technique of yours, how did you learn it?”

Wu Ya gave a mysterious smile. “Between my past and present lives, I finally have some skills that have come in handy.”

Li Qiaoqiao found the answer somewhat cryptic, but seeing that Wu Ya was unwilling to say more, she dropped the subject.

Back at the gambling house, the owner was throwing a furious tantrum at his subordinates. “Search! Find out that brat’s background! To dare cheat at the Xiongtian Gambling House—I think he’s tired of living!”

Li Qiaoqiao couldn’t help but steal a glance back. She whispered, “Someone is following us.”

Wu Ya remained unperturbed, offering only a soft “Mm,” and continued walking toward the inn as originally planned.

The moonlight was obscured by clouds, leaving the streets dim and uncertain; the two’s shadows stretched long across the stone pavement.

The faint sound of footsteps followed from behind, unhurried. Clearly, the gambling house thugs were in no rush to strike; they merely wanted to pinpoint their lodgings.

“Front corner, in the dark,” Wu Ya whispered a reminder. Li Qiaoqiao nodded in understanding.

The two quickened their pace and ducked into a narrow, pitch-black alleyway where no lanterns hung.

The moment they stepped into the shadows, they simultaneously pulled out the halves of the Concentric Lock and snapped them together.

In an instant, the two were standing in the living room of Li Qiaoqiao’s home, the bright lights momentarily blinding them.

“Safe at last,” Li Qiaoqiao breathed a long sigh of relief. She instinctively let go of the Concentric Lock, preparing to change out of her conspicuous men’s clothing.

To their surprise, the fully assembled lock did not split apart when she let go. Instead, it lay quietly on the coffee table, emitting a faint, steady glow.

And Li Qiaoqiao was not immediately pulled back to ancient times as she usually was.

“Eh?” She stopped in her tracks, startled. She looked back at the lock on the table. “I’m not holding it, so how…”

Wu Ya also noticed this anomaly. He cautiously released his grip on the other half of the lock and took two steps back.

The two held their breath and waited for several seconds. Their surroundings remained the modern living room; there was no sign of a temporal shift.

“It seems that as long as they are joined, we don’t need to keep holding them to maintain the ‘transferred’ state,” Wu Ya concluded, a flash of pleasant surprise in his eyes. “This means we can move around separately once we’re here.”

Li Qiaoqiao’s face immediately lit up with a grin. “That’s wonderful! I was worried you’d have to awkwardly avoid looking while I changed clothes. Now it’s simple, I’ll go to the bedroom, you stay here.”

She gathered her clothes and walked into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Wu Ya could hear her cheerfully humming a little tune.

Wu Ya shook his head but began calculating the benefits of this new discovery in his mind.

It wasn’t just about the convenience of changing clothes; in the future, using the restroom, bathing, or handling individual errands wouldn’t require them to be tethered together.

After a while, Li Qiaoqiao emerged in fresh clothes to find Wu Ya still studying the Concentric Lock.

“The lock feels warmer than usual,” Wu Ya said, touching it. “It seems the energy is recovering faster. Perhaps we can cross over an extra time or two each day, and stay for longer periods.”

Li Qiaoqiao leaned in to look, then suddenly remembered something. “We need to get back quickly. If those thugs can’t find anyone in the alley, they might start searching the surrounding area.”

Wu Ya picked up the lock. With just a flicker of intent, the surrounding scenery distorted and shifted once more.

In the blink of an eye, they were back in the dark alley. The distant sound of a night watchman’s clapper echoed through the air.

Peering out cautiously, they saw the alley entrance was empty. The following thugs had clearly given up and left.

In their minds, losing a target in a dead-end alley was simply their own oversight—they assumed the duo had slipped away through some unseen exit.

“Clear,” Wu Ya whispered. The two finally relaxed fully and walked briskly out of the alley toward Wanfu Village.

By the time they returned to the Wu family home, it was late at night.

The courtyard was silent, save for a few distant barks.

The two slipped back into the fourth branch’s room and closed the door, finally letting out a true sigh of relief.

Li Qiaoqiao lit an oil lamp, the dim yellow light illuminating the humble room. Wu Ya took out the heavy money bag and “clattered” the silver onto the bed.

The bright white silver shimmered enticingly under the lamplight. Li Qiaoqiao’s eyes went wide; she couldn’t help but reach out and stroke the ingots.

“Let’s count it,” Wu Ya whispered, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Huddled on the bed, the two carefully tallied the haul.

They separated the broken silver from the whole ingots. The final total made them look at each other and grin: exactly 322 tales. After deducting the 80 taels of capital, they had made a net profit of 242 taels!

“According to our plan,” Wu Ya began sorting the silver, “we’ll set aside the 80 taels of capital to give back to Mother tomorrow. Then we’ll set aside 122 tales to hand over to the family fund. That way, Mother not only gets back the 30 taels Third Brother lost but gains an extra 92 taels. That should be enough to make her happy.”

Li Qiaoqiao nodded, looking at the remaining 200 tales with sparkling eyes. “We split these evenly 100 taels each for our private savings!”

Wu Ya pushed 100 taels toward Li Qiaoqiao and pulled 100 toward himself.

He looked at his portion and mused for a moment. “It’s not safe to keep this much silver here. I want to store it in your apartment.”

Li Qiaoqiao blinked. “In my place?”

“Yes. And I hope that study can be for my use. You can’t enter without my permission,” Wu Ya said seriously. “I’ll be keeping personal items there and need privacy.”

Li Qiaoqiao blinked again, then suddenly laughed. “I can rent it to you. The first month is free, and after that, the rent is five taels of silver a month. I’ll give you a key, and I won’t go in. Deal?”

Wu Ya raised an eyebrow. “Five tales? You’re certainly not being polite with your rent collection.”

“Modern real estate is expensive,” Li Qiaoqiao said with a cunning smile. “Do you want to rent it or not?”

“I do,” Wu Ya shook his head helplessly, though he couldn’t hide the smile in his eyes.

Having decided, they joined the lock once more and crossed back to the modern world.

This time, they verified the new feature. Even when moving separately, as long as the Concentric Lock remained joined, the crossing would not be interrupted.

Li Qiaoqiao headed straight for the kitchen and took a steak out of the fridge, humming a song. “I can finally have a decent meal. After all these days in ancient times, my mouth is so bland I could die.”

Wu Ya took the study key Li Qiaoqiao gave him, grabbed his bundle of ancient clothes and his 100 taels of silver, and entered the study.

He surveyed the small but tidy space and nodded in satisfaction. He hid the silver carefully in a dark corner behind the bookshelf, folded his ancient clothes, and locked the door before returning to the living room.

The aroma of steak was already drifting from the kitchen. Li Qiaoqiao was busy at the frying pan. Seeing Wu Ya come out, she asked without turning around, “All settled?”

“Yes, your study is now my private territory.” Wu Ya leaned against the doorframe, watching Li Qiaoqiao skillfully flip the steak. “I didn’t expect you to know how to cook.”

“It’s a basic survival skill for a modern person, okay?” Li Qiaoqiao proudly sprinkled on some black pepper. “In the modern world, I’m an independent woman. Not like in ancient times playing the submissive little daughter-in-law is exhausting.”