Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 43: Persuasion

Su Ming knew the time had come.

He raised his head, looking at his terrified family, looking at his father who was plunged into immense anxiety.

"Father, you are right."

His calm voice sounded exceptionally clear in the oppressive room.

"This formula is a hot potato. If our family keeps it to ourselves, disaster will inevitably be drawn to us sooner or later. So..."

He paused, meeting his father's gaze, and spoke the words he had long calculated in his heart.

"So, we cannot keep it to ourselves."

Su Shan was stunned. "Not keep it? Then what do you intend to do? Give it away?"

"Not give it away." Su Ming shook his head. "Father, think, in this village, whose word carries the most weight? Who least wants the village to fall into chaos?"

Su Shan answered almost without thinking. "The Village Chief."

The Village Chief, the head of the village. Though his official rank wasn't high, within this small patch of land, he was the sky. Village taxes, corvée labor, disputes—all were decided by him. More importantly, only if the village remained stable would his position be secure.

"Right, the Village Chief." Su Ming's eyes sparkled under the oil lamp. "Father, we will present this formula to the village!"

"What?!"

This time, not only Su Yang, but even the previously silent Su Feng cried out in shock.

"Xiao Ming, are you crazy? Our family's hard-earned treasure, given freely to the village?" Su Yang couldn't comprehend it.

"Not for free!" Su Ming emphasized his tone. "This is called 'technology shares'!"

This term was taught to him by Lin Yu, and he had learned it perfectly.

Seeing his family's bewildered expressions, he switched to a more common way of speaking.

"Father, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, think about it. The formula is our family's. How to make it, only we know. We take out the formula, saying it's so the whole village can live a better life. Who wouldn't give us a thumbs-up for that reputation?"

"We go find the Village Chief, hand the formula over for him to lead. Let him take charge, organize the village's manpower, and establish a village-run papermaking workshop." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"When the time comes, the Village Chief acts as the general manager. He has connections, prestige. If any local ruffians from the town come looking for trouble, he'll be the one to handle it. This is called making him shoulder the risk."

"The uncles and elders in the village have strength but nowhere to earn hard-earned coppers. We give them a path, let them chop bamboo, make paper pulp, and receive solid copper coins every day. What will they think of our family? Living Bodhisattvas!"

Su Ming's words were like pushing open a window in a dark room.

The shock and doubt in Su Shan's eyes gradually gave way to deep contemplation. He released his tightly gripped tobacco pipe, leaning forward slightly, clearly captivated by his son's words.

"Then... what about our family?" Su Feng couldn't help but ask. "Our family provides the formula, the technique. What do we get?"

"We sit back and share the profits." Su Ming stated decisively.

"Share profits?"

"Yes!" Su Ming held up three fingers. "Our family, as the owners of the formula, as the only ones who understand the technique, don't need to do any manual labor. For every hundred wen the workshop sells, our family takes thirty wen! Not a single percent less!"

Thirty wen!

Thirty percent!

This number made everyone in the room gasp sharply.

This was practically... getting something for nothing!

"Will... will this work?" Mrs. Chen asked worriedly. "Will the Village Chief and the villagers agree? We do nothing and take thirty percent. It's too much."

"Not too much!" Su Ming immediately refuted. He and Lin Yu had rehearsed these arguments countless times. "Mother, think, without our family's formula, bamboo is just bamboo, plant ash is just garbage, not worth a single wen. It's us who turned these worthless things into paper that can be sold! We provided the pot that allows the whole village to eat meat. Taking thirty percent of the broth is perfectly justified!"

He looked at his father and continued. "The Village Chief shoulders the risk, manages everything inside and out. He takes twenty percent. That's his rightful management fee. The remaining fifty percent is distributed among all the villagers who contribute labor. This distribution, no one can find fault with it! Who dares say our Su family is greedy?"

Lin Yu was applauding wildly in Su Ming's mind.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Disciple, with your eloquence, it's a waste of talent not to go into multi-level marketing! Transferring risk to authority, distributing benefits to the masses, keeping the core technology firmly in your own hands! You've truly grasped the essence of my 'Way of Survival'! Your master is very pleased, very pleased indeed!"

Su Ming ignored his master's antics. He watched his father nervously, awaiting the final verdict.

Su Shan's breathing became heavy.

His head, imprisoned by yellow earth and sweat for a lifetime, was now operating at an unprecedented speed.

He could almost see the scene.

A village-run workshop, built under the Village Chief's command.

The village idlers and laborers all had work, happily receiving wages every day. When they saw his family, they would bow and scrape, calling them "Gods of Wealth."

And his Su family needed to do nothing. They only needed his son Su Ming to occasionally "guide" the technique, and gleaming copper coins would flow continuously into their pockets.

Most importantly, this enormous secret was no longer shouldered by his Su family alone.

The entire village would shoulder it!

Anyone who dared to try and steal the formula would be making an enemy of the entire Su Family Village! The Village Chief would be the first to refuse!

This... this was practically turning a treasure that could invite fatal disaster into an impregnable fortress of protection!

How could his usually bookish, frail youngest son come up with such a thorough, such a shrewd plan?

Could reading books really open one's mind so much?

Su Shan couldn't understand, but he knew this method was feasible!

He raised his head. A light, unprecedented in its intensity, burst forth from his turbid eyes. He looked at Su Ming as if looking at a stranger.

After a long while, he knocked the tobacco ash from his pipe onto the ground and straightened up again.

His back, bent for a lifetime, seemed to straighten a little at this moment.

"Good."

He said only one word.

Then he looked at Su Feng and Su Yang, then at Mrs. Chen and Wang Chuntao.

"Household matters, continue as usual. Keep your mouths tightly shut. If anyone leaks even half a word, they are no longer a member of my Su family!"

Finally, his gaze returned to Su Ming. His tone carried a gravity even he himself hadn't noticed before.

"Xiao Ming, tomorrow morning, before dawn, you come with me."

"Where to, Father?" Su Ming asked, already knowing the answer.

Su Shan took a deep breath, as if wanting to exhale decades of poverty and repression all at once.

"To the Village Chief's house!"