Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 19: Can a scholar's affairs be called spending money?

The sky had brightened.

Not the kind of awakening brought by rooster crows and dog barks in the village, but a listless light that filtered through the gaps in the window paper, having been strained once by the high courtyard walls.

Zhao Rui hadn't slept all night, lying awake on the cold wooden plank bed like a fish thrown ashore.

His uncle's contemptuous words, the servants' mocking faces, and that bowl of watery porridge worse than pig slop—they pricked him like needles all over, making him utterly uncomfortable.

Su Ming was already up, practicing a strange set of fist movements in the corner of the courtyard with meticulous precision.

The movements were very slow, very clumsy, like elderly villagers stretching their joints.

Zhao Rui couldn't understand it, finding it only ridiculous, but looking at Su Ming's calm face, he couldn't bring himself to laugh.

That face held no anger, no humiliation, only a kind of focus completely unfamiliar to him.

"You... you're really going to the bookshop?" Zhao Rui finally couldn't help speaking, his voice dry and hoarse.

Su Ming finished his fist movements, exhaling a long puff of white breath, and nodded: "Yes.""...I'll go with you." Zhao Rui climbed off the bed plank, his voice as small as a mosquito's buzz.

He didn't know why he wanted to tag along either—perhaps simply because he couldn't stand this suffocating courtyard anymore, couldn't bear facing his shattered pride alone.

The streets of Qingshi Town awakened in the early morning like a giant beast yawning.

Early-rising shopkeepers removed their door panels, assistants splashed water to sweep the streets, steamers from bun shops emitted white heat, mingling with the aromas of meat and dough, making people's stomachs growl with craving.

Zhao Rui kept his head down, instinctively wanting to hide his face in his collar.

He felt like everyone on the street was watching him, looking at his shabby clothes, the bruises on his face.

But Su Ming walked steadily.

His gaze didn't linger excessively on the dazzling array of goods, but rather absorbed everything around him like a sponge.

The location of the carriage house, the prices at the grain and oil shop, the patrol routes of the street guards...

"Disciple, see that?" Lin Yu's voice sounded in his mind, like an experienced tour guide. "That cloth shop on the left displays fine cotton and silk fabrics, indicating many wealthy households in town. But the pawnshop on the right has a queue outside, meaning there are even more poor people."

"This is a typical feudal society model with clear class division. Our goal is to climb from the exploited class to the exploiting class as quickly as possible... no, to become self-sufficient independent individuals who aren't exploited by anyone."

"Remember, the prosperity is theirs, the dangers are theirs too. We're just passing through."

The two wound through the streets, following the route Su Ming had memorized yesterday, until they found the town's largest bookshop—Wenbao Zhai.

The shopfront was made of black lacquered wood, exuding a solemn air.

a long gown with a mustache shaped like the character "eight" was lazily dusting the

Su Ming and Zhao Rui entering, and his

wretched state, the disdain in

look at books, but wash your hands before touching them." The shopkeeper's voice was neither warm nor cold. "Don't dirty the books—you couldn't

but he didn't dare lash out like he used

if he hadn't heard. He walked to the wall, washed his hands meticulously in a water basin, dried them with his

"Enduring humiliation to preserve strength offers the highest return on emotional investment. Getting angry at irrelevant people wastes nothing but saliva

shelves reaching the ceiling, the air filled with the scent of ink and

took

smell was more

Collection Explanations" or "Key Points of Policy Essays"—those books used premium

straight to the innermost corner, where some yellowed old books and miscellaneous

and began reading as if no one

knowing

scholars in the bookshop—all made

the ground reading with relish like a

fire

Ming, find a corner,

passed bit by

completely immersed in the world

broadly—geographical records, biographies, even some

knowledge opened windows for him, showing him the vast world

leave evidence," Lin Yu's voice

money... we need to spend

investment! Let me ask you, where will our papermaking formula come from

Su Ming froze.

'intellectual property

saving a large sum on inn expenses. That money should be used where it's most needed! Knowledge is our sharpest blade right now! Go, find one book about regional customs and another about farming techniques. The

Ming's mind

and began searching through

damaged "Essential Farming Techniques" buried at the very bottom, another hand reached

clean hand, with slender fingers and

looked up and

clothes. Though the material was ordinary, they were cleanly

tightly pressed lips, and eyes like deep pool water—unusually

Ming, he paused briefly,

open, containing not valuable books but a stack of neatly cut rough paper and a simple set

been here

either from poor families

Ming felt an inexplicable closeness toward

took out the "Essential Farming Techniques"

voice cool yet clear: "No need, I've finished reading. You take

small book box