Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 68: Driving the Tiger to Swallow the Wolf

Lin Yu's voice was icy cold. "Zhao Dequan thinks he's the king of the village, but in the eyes of those people, he's not even worth a fart. The entire Su Family Village is just a pigsty waiting to be slaughtered."

(Inner thoughts: "Sigh, how did the news suddenly spread? Could someone be stirring the pot? Logically, making some grass paper shouldn't draw this much targeting. That merchant was contacted earlier, it was just Zhao Dequan using his connections in town. I originally thought this Zhao Dequan had a brain, but I didn't expect him to be so stupid. Tried to guard against a thousand things, never expected to still capsize. Can only take one step at a time now. If it really comes to the worst, I'll have to convince my disciple to slip away quietly.")

Su Ming's heart sank bit by bit.

He had considered danger, but hadn't imagined it was already this close.

"Then what should I do?" Su Ming's voice was somewhat dry. "Run away with my parents and Second Brother? Where could we even run to?"

"Run?" Lin Yu snorted. "You can run, but can your parents keep up? Once you leave Su Family Village, you'll be rootless duckweed, scattered by the slightest breeze. You'd die even faster then."

(Inner thoughts: "Sigh, dragging a whole family along is just troublesome. If it were just me, I'd have long since holed up in some deep mountain old forest.")

"We can't just sit and wait for death either!" Su Ming's fists clenched tightly under the table.

"Of course not." Lin Yu's voice carried a trace of cunning, like an old fox. "Disciple, drive the wolf to chase the tiger."

Su Ming abruptly lifted his head, a flash of light in his eyes.

"The Zhou family?"

"The pupil can be taught indeed." Lin Yu praised. "The Zhou family is the biggest tiger in Qingshi Town. Why did Zhou Yulin help you today? He placed a small bet of favor on you, gambling that you might provide a return in the future?"

Su Ming fell silent. He recalled Zhou Yulin's gentle yet distant gaze and understood in his heart.

"But why would the Zhou family, for the sake of our tiny Su Family Village, offend so many forces in town?" Su Ming asked the most crucial question.

"Good question." Lin Yu's voice held a smile. "Of course they wouldn't now. Because you're not qualified enough. What are you now? A somewhat clever country boy. The Zhou family has seen plenty of people like you; they're not valuable."

"So, what you need to do is make yourself 'valuable'."

"How do I become valuable?"

"Go and pass the Xiucai exam." Lin Yu's tone became offhand.

"Xiucai?" Su Ming was stunned.

"Yes, Xiucai." Lin Yu explained. "In this dynasty, a Xiucai holds scholarly honor. They don't have to kneel before the county magistrate, are exempt from taxes and corvée labor, and ordinary people cannot bully them at will. It's not just a status; it's a protective talisman."

"If you go find Zhou Wenhai now and say you hope he can invest in the paper-making workshop, there's a high chance he'll refuse you. But if you approach him wearing the scholarly honor of a Xiucai, telling him you have a way to benefit his family, how do you think he'll treat you?"

"He'll see you as a 'talent' worth recruiting, a 'friend' he can speak with as an equal!"

"At that time, when you bring up the matter of Su Family Village, it won't be you begging for his help, but a collaboration. You provide the technique, he provides protection. He just needs to move his lips to make those jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards dare not stretch out their claws. And what he gains is a workshop that can continuously produce cheap, good paper, and the favor of a young Xiucai with boundless prospects."

"In this deal, would Zhou Wenhai lose?"

These words were like a sudden enlightenment, making Su Ming's vision clear and open.

"I understand." Su Ming let out a long sigh, the pent-up frustration in his chest completely swept away.

He turned his head and looked at Zhao Rui, who was still hanging his head in dejection.

"Zhao Rui."

Zhao Rui lifted his head, his eyes blank.

"That man surnamed Wei, do you know what his family does?" Su Ming asked. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Zhao Rui was stunned for a moment, answering subconsciously, "I... I heard he's the biggest cloth merchant in town, has some relative connection with the County Lieutenant."

"Cloth merchant..." Su Ming nodded, committing this information to heart.

Su Ming returned to the inn and carefully took out the "County Records of Qingzhou" that Xu Qing had given him from the worn-out bundle, along with a few books on classics, meanings, and policy essays he had bought from the bookstall.

He neatly arranged the books on the table, then sat down, picked up one book, and began reading word by word under the light of dusk.

His movements were slow, steady, as if everything outside had nothing to do with him.

One month's time flowed away like water through one's fingers.

In the room at the far end of the second floor of Fu An Inn, Su Ming and Zhao Rui lived two completely different lives.

Su Ming's life was as regular as a precise clock.

Before dawn, he would sit cross-legged on the bed, circulating the "Aura Concealment Art". The energy within his body flowed like a gentle stream through his meridians, slowly washing over every inch of his body. His entire aura also became increasingly restrained. Sometimes, when he sat motionless, even the shop assistant dozing at the counter who came upstairs to deliver water would be startled by this figure standing motionless in the shadows.

"Disciple, not bad, not bad, quite reminiscent of your master in my younger days." Lin Yu expressed approval from within the ring. "Now when you walk on the road, even dogs can't be bothered to look at you twice. This shows your aura has successfully merged with the environment, reaching the primary realm of 'harmony between man and nature'. Keep working hard, strive to achieve the perfected realm of 'Extra A' soon."

During the day, Su Ming would hold the "County Records of Qingzhou" gifted by Xu Qing and a few basic classics and meanings, reading them the entire day. He read extremely slowly and meticulously, as if he wasn't reading books, but plowing a field with his eyes, planting every single character into his brain.

Zhao Rui's life, on the other hand, was a complete mess.

For the first few days, he still pretended with his book box, but his true colors emerged within days. He either complained the bed boards were too hard, or the food was too plain. Su Ming unwaveringly enforced the daily budget of fifty copper coins: thirty for the room, twenty for meals. These twenty coins were only enough for the two of them to eat two bowls of plain, watery Yangchun noodles at the noodle stall at the alley entrance, maybe with an egg added at most.

"Su Ming! Noodles again! I feel like I'm about to turn into a noodle myself!" Zhao Rui slammed his chopsticks on the table, his face full of indignation. "My father gave me forty taels of silver, not for me to come to town to cultivate immortality!"

Su Ming didn't even lift his eyelids, leisurely finishing the last bite of noodles in his own bowl, then taking Zhao Rui's untouched bowl over.

"If you're not eating it, that just saves tomorrow morning's meal money."

Zhao Rui's protests were drowned out by Su Ming's calm yet resolute actions. After several attempts, he learned to behave, though his face remained as long as the signboard at the inn's entrance all day long.