Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 71: Drags the Zhou Family Down

The wooden stairs of the inn creaked and groaned with every step, each one sounding like a pained moan.

Zhao Rui was practically hanging off Su Ming's body, less walking and more being dragged back. His face was paler than the grass paper handed out during the exam, and he kept muttering the same phrase over and over.

"It's over, it's all over... That policy discussion... I wrote 'The sovereign should practice virtuous governance'... My father is definitely going to break my legs..."

Su Ming tossed him onto the hard bed board, which protested with a groan of its own under the weight.

He poured a bowl of cold water, took a sip himself first, then pushed it toward Zhao Rui.

"Have some water."

Zhao Rui didn't take it, just stared at Su Ming with a look like he was seeing a monster.

"How are you not worried at all? What did you write for your policy discussion? Don't tell me you wrote about virtuous governance too?"

Su Ming didn't answer. He walked to the window and pushed open the rickety wooden frame. The afternoon sunlight, mixed with the clamor of the street market, flooded in, carrying the smell of dust and heat waves.

He needed a moment of quiet.

"Disciple." Lin Yu's voice sounded in his mind, tinged with a hint of mockery, "Ignore that kid. His father has probably already paved the way for him. Otherwise, why would he let his precious son come take the exam with you? Zhou Kang is likely pinching his nose right now, delivering favors to Professor Liu. Squeaking onto the list at the very bottom shouldn't be a problem."

Su Ming's heart stirred. "Master, you mean..."

"Unless something unexpected happens," Lin Yu lazily yawned, "your classmate here is about to become the prime example of 'getting close to people with a hundred million' in the County School. As for you, that policy discussion essay was practically copying the answer onto the examiner's face. That kid Xu Qing did you an enormous favor."

Su Ming fell silent. He had flipped through that copy of the *County Records of Qingzhou* no less than a hundred times. The hydrology and geography of the five southern townships were already carved into his mind. Professor Liu setting this question did indeed feel like he had highlighted the key points for Su Ming in advance.

"So that means, the scholarly honor of Xiucai..." Su Ming's breathing grew slightly rapid.

"It's secured." Lin Yu's tone was casual, yet carried an undeniable certainty. "Your master has calculated. Not only is it secured, but your ranking won't be low either. Now, we can officially launch Plan B."

Su Ming's fist clenched quietly within his sleeve.

"Master, I understand." Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he turned around and spoke to Zhao Rui, who was lying like a corpse on the bed. "You rest first. I'm going out for a bit."

He needed to write letters, but he couldn't let Zhao Rui see. So, he took his ink, brush, paper, and inkstone and went to another inn to rent a room.

Inside the inn room, Su Ming closed the door.

He spread out the ink, brush, paper, and inkstone he had gotten on credit from Xu Qing on the table, his movements steady.

"Master, why didn't you let me write home before? With such a big incident happening in the village, my parents must be worried sick." This was something Su Ming had been holding back.

"Worried?" Lin Yu snorted. "What's the use of being worried? Disciple, you must remember, before you have the ability to solve a problem, transmitting anxiety itself is the biggest problem."

Inner thoughts: "Nonsense! Before, I wasn't sure you could pass the exam! If you had failed, the two of us would have had to flee overnight. The bit of soul power in my ring can't withstand that kind of strain. Writing a letter? That would be telling the enemy our escape route!"

"Your master asks you, if you had failed this exam, what should we have done?" Lin Yu's voice turned serious.

Su Ming answered without hesitation. "According to your contingency plan, leave the city overnight, take my family far away to another land, and live under assumed names."

"Correct. So what would writing that letter home have accomplished, besides making your parents share your fear and anxiety? Have them pack their bags early, waiting to be discovered by those hungry wolves and wiped out in one go?"

Lin Yu patiently guided him. "But now it's different. You are about to possess the 'Xiucai' protective talisman. Although this thing isn't particularly sturdy, within this tiny patch of land that is Qingshi Town, it can at least transform you from a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered into a horned goat. If a wolf wants to eat you, it'll have to consider whether its teeth might get broken."

"Therefore, this letter can only be written now. It is no longer a death warrant transmitting panic, but a stabilizing pill for morale, a... declaration of war delivered with a blade."

Su Ming took a deep breath, picked up the brush, and dipped it fully into the thick ink.

"Master, please instruct."

"Prepare two letters." Lin Yu's thinking was crystal clear. "One is written to your Second Brother, Su Yang, for him to pass on to Zhao Dequan. This one is the 'public letter.' It must discuss strategy, discuss survival."

"The other is a 'private letter' meant only for your Second Brother's eyes. It must discuss bottom lines, discuss escape routes."

Su Ming nodded, focusing intently as he listened.

"On the public letter, first report that you are safe and sound, then say the exam result is ninety percent certain. Give them a stabilizing pill first."

"Then, you must use the harshest possible wording to warn Zhao Dequan! Tell him that the merchant surnamed Chen he attracted before, and the decision to expand the workshop, are tantamount to placing the entire Su Family Village on a fire to roast! The county yamen clerk's inquiry is not some honor; it's the butcher estimating how fat the pig is before the cleaver falls!"

Su Ming's brush tip paused on the paper. An ink blot spread, like a drop of thick blood.

"What should we do then?"

"Make him immediately stop all expansion plans!" Lin Yu's voice carried a chill. "Not only should he not expand, he can even find an excuse—like insufficient raw materials, technical bottlenecks—to temporarily reduce production, even shut down for half a month! Lower the heat! To the outside world, just claim that the previous paper was accidentally produced, its quality extremely unstable. In short, he must cry poverty, show weakness!"

Inner thoughts: "Playing dead is one of the core mysteries of the Way of Survival. As long as I die fast enough, danger can't catch up."

"Second, spend money to avert disaster. Have Zhao Dequan proactively consider giving away twenty percent of the dry shares in advance. One portion, through Zhao Chunlan—that is, Zhao Rui's paternal aunt—should be given to Zhou Kang. The pretext? Say it's to thank Second Young Master Zhou for his care regarding Zhao Rui's studies in town. The other portion, find a way to deliver it to that Clerk Sun at the county yamen. The pretext is the same: thanking the official for his guidance of the village's younger generation."

"Master," Su Ming's voice lowered, carrying a trace of barely perceptible cold severity, "Give it to Zhou Kang? That man is insatiably greedy and narrow-minded. Giving him money, wouldn't that be like making a pact with a tiger? If he thinks we are weak and easy to bully, he'll only become more aggressive, demanding endlessly." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Disciple, you are still too young." Lin Yu laughed. "People like Zhou Wenhai, who pride themselves on being upright, value reputation and follow rules. Getting him to tear his face off with other forces in town for our little bit of profit would be very difficult. Unless you can bring him benefits far exceeding the risks. He is our first choice, but he cannot be the only choice."

"But Zhou Kang is different. He's greedy, has no bottom line, but precisely because of that, he's easier to control. Giving him money isn't to ask him for a favor; it's to buy a 'tiger skin.' Make him feel the paper-making workshop in Su Family Village is an industry under his protection. In the future, if any clueless people try to reach out their hands, he himself will jump out first to bite them. This is called driving away wolves by chasing a tiger. We aren't giving gifts to Zhou Kang to beg him to show mercy; we're dragging him into the water."