I Crossed Over with My Enemy, Only to Find Him Running the Empire - Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Accident

The three of them ran to the edge of the slope, panting heavily.

The slope was quite steep, covered in withered grass and shrubs. The rabbit had vanished, leaving only a few spots of blood on the incline.

“Dad, I’ll go down and look!” The eldest, Wu Tiezhu, was the most straightforward. He set his hunting fork on the ground, stuck his backside out, and prepared to slide down.

Wu Duofu didn’t stop him, only cautioning: “Be careful! Keep an eye out for the rabbit!”

Wu Tiezhu clumsily slid down the steep slope, sending dry branches and gravel clattering downward. Wu Duofu and Wu Ya craned their necks from above to watch.

Suddenly—

“AHHH—!!!”

A pig-slaughtering howl erupted from below, filled with terror.

“Dad! Dead… a dead person! There’s a dead person!!!”

Wu Tiezhu scrambled back up, using both hands and feet, his face deathly pale as if a ghost were chasing him.

“What?!” Wu Duofu and Wu Ya were both startled, their hearts leaping into their throats.

…

In her room, Wu Cuiyun lay lazily on the kàng. Sensing that the movement outside had died down, she raised her voice and shouted: “Fourth Sister-in-law! Li Qiaoqiao! Bring me some hot water! I’m dying of thirst!”

This habit of ordering people around was bred into her since childhood. Even after the past few days of confinement, she hadn’t fully changed, especially toward her purchased sister-in-law, whom she always felt was beneath her.

Li Qiaoqiao was in the courtyard tidying the drying vegetables. Hearing this, she didn’t stop her movements or turn her head. “Don’t you have hands and feet? There’s hot water ready in the kitchen warmer; pour it yourself.”

Wu Cuiyun didn’t expect such a blunt refusal. Stunned for a moment, she then turned red with anger. She slipped on her shoes, ran out, and put her hands on her hips. “You! How dare you talk to me like that? What’s wrong with asking you to pour a cup of water?”

Li Qiaoqiao finally turned around, looking at her with a blank expression. “Little sister, you’re a grown girl. Do you still need someone to bring water to your face? If you keep being this lazy, be careful or you won’t find a husband’s house in the future. Mother will truly worry herself gray.”

“You… you dare curse me!” Wu Cuiyun stomped her foot in rage and turned to run toward the main house. “Mother! Mother, look at her! She’s bullying me!”

Inside, Zhang Jinhua was holding the bottom of the ceramic jar containing the silver, pondering how to spend it. Irritated by her daughter’s shouting, she snapped: “What are you screaming for! Your Fourth Sister-in-law is right! You’re a grown girl; it’s time to learn to be industrious! Otherwise, you’ll suffer when you get to your husband’s house!”

Wu Cuiyun hadn’t expected her mother to side against her. Her eyes turned red with grievance. She slammed the door in a huff and ran back to her room to brood.

Li Qiaoqiao shook her head, not bothering to argue with her. This sister-in-law was spoiled and lazy by nature.

Just then, the village suddenly erupted into a commotion like a boiling pot! One could vaguely hear shouting and the sound of frantic footsteps heading toward the back mountain.

“What happened?” “I think they said a dead body was found on the back mountain!” “My God! For real?” “They say hunters found it! Don’t know whose unlucky day it was…”

The villagers’ chatter drifted over the courtyard wall, filled with shock and curiosity.

Zhang Jinhua heard the words “hunters” and “dead body” clearly; they hit her heart like hammers! She suddenly remembered her husband and two sons who had entered the mountain that morning. Her face turned deathly pale in an instant.

“Old man! Tiezhu! Tieniu!” She shrieked, not even bothering to put her shoes on properly as she stumbled out of the yard and ran toward the village entrance.

Li Qiaoqiao’s heart also tightened! Wu Ya had gone into the mountain too! Could it be…

She didn’t dare think further. She dropped her work and ran after her mother-in-law.

A crowd had already gathered in the village center, buzzing with discussion. Zhang Jinhua pushed through the crowd and immediately saw Wu Duofu, Wu Tiezhu, and Wu Ya standing in the middle!

Though they were covered in mud and grass stains and their faces were somewhat pale, they were all standing safe and sound. In Wu Ya’s hand was the grey rabbit, now dead.

“Old man! You’re all okay?” Zhang Jinhua rushed over, grabbing Wu Duofu’s arm and looking him up and down, her voice still trembling.

“We’re fine, we’re fine. It was just a scare.” Wu Duofu was clearly shaken. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and explained to the surrounding villagers: “We found them. Right at the bottom of that slope. We already reported it. The officials came, looked it over, and took the bodies away.”

A nearby villager immediately added: “It was Brother Duofu and the others who found them! Oh boy, it was terrifying! I heard the officials say it looked like that Divine Physician Gong from town and his apprentice!”

“Yeah, yeah. They said with the rain the other day, the path was slippery. They must have accidentally fallen off the cliff and plummeted to their deaths! The officials said it was an accident.”

“How unlucky. Such a brilliant man like Physician Gong, how could he…”

The villagers sighed, most of them accepting the official preliminary conclusion: an unfortunate accident.

But Li Qiaoqiao’s heart sank!

An accident? It could never be an accident!

The plot of the original novel flashed through her mind. In the original story, the protagonist Wu Canghai after his fourth uncle Wu Tieniu (the current Wu Ya) was treated to death by Physician Gong plotted to push Physician Gong and his apprentice off a cliff, calling it “revenge”!

But now… Wu Ya was alive and well, yet Physician Gong and his apprentice were dead!

In a flash of insight, Li Qiaoqiao understood everything!

It wasn’t revenge at all. Wu Canghai’s motive was likely murder for profit!

She immediately squeezed to Wu Ya’s side. Under the guise of checking for injuries, she asked in an extremely low voice: “When you found them, did Physician Gong have any money on him?”

Wu Ya froze for a second, clearly not expecting her to ask that. After a moment of recollection, he replied in an equally low voice: “When the officials searched the bodies for the registry, I caught a glimpse. It looked like only about twenty or thirty taels of scattered silver.”

Twenty or thirty tales!

As expected! Physician Gong had been a con artist for years; his fortune was definitely more than that. Most of the wealth had likely already been taken by Wu Canghai, who struck first! Leaving those twenty or thirty tales was just to make the “accident” look more plausible.

What meticulous planning! What ruthless methods!

She looked at Wu Ya. He had clearly realized it too. The two exchanged a tacit look.

Wu Ya took a soft breath and remarked in a voice only the two of them could hear: “This eldest nephew of ours… he’s a fucking ruthless one.”

For the sake of wealth, he could kill two people without hesitation and calmly arrange the scene to deceive everyone.

Li Qiaoqiao understood completely now. There was no possibility of peaceful coexistence with this deep-scheming protagonist from the original book. He was like a blunt knife hanging over their heads, and no one knew when it would fall.

…

The night was like a piece of coarse cloth soaked in cold water, pressing heavily over Wanfu Village.

While Zhang Jinhua was busy outside, Li Qiaoqiao quietly edged over to Wu Ya, who was sitting on a small stool looking at an old, tattered yellow almanac.

Wu Ya looked up. The two exchanged a look, seeing the same gravity in each other’s eyes.

“Wu Ya,” Li Qiaoqiao’s voice was hushed. “Thinking back on what happened today… it still makes my spine go cold.”