Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 20: Gift-giving is an art

The midday meal was still delivered by a servant to the door of that dilapidated house, then set down like throwing away garbage before they left.

Two coarse porcelain bowls. This time, the contents were slightly more "abundant" than last night's thin porridge.

It was half a bowl of coarse rice, the grains dry and hard, topped with a few wilted pickled vegetables.

Zhao Rui stared at that bowl of rice, his expression shifting several times, before he finally picked it up and fiercely shoveled the food into his mouth with chopsticks, chewing as if he had a grudge against someone.

He was hungry.

Dignity was no match for hunger.

Su Ming still ate quietly and seriously, as if savoring some rare delicacy.

"Second lesson in Cognitive Restructuring: Sublimation of Suffering." Lin Yu's voice sounded lazily in Su Ming's mind. "Disciple, you must imagine this bowl of rice as a whetstone. Every chew is sharpening your character. Every swallow is consuming humiliation, transforming it into motivation for your progress."

"See? Thinking like this, don't you feel like you're engaged in a great cultivation practice? Even the pickled vegetables become Zen-like."

Su Ming ignored his master's nonsense, simply eating every last grain of rice in his bowl clean.After finishing the meal, Zhao Rui slammed his bowl heavily onto the broken table and spoke in a muffled voice: "My aunt came secretly this morning."

Su Ming looked up at him.

"She... she gave me some money." Zhao Rui pulled out two strings of copper coins from his chest, probably about two hundred wen. He placed the money on the table, his eyes avoiding contact. "She said we should be smart when we go to register at the County School. It would be best... best to buy uncle a gift to calm his anger."

His voice grew quieter as he spoke.

Just yesterday he thought his uncle was detestable, but today he already had to think about how to please him.

"Buy what?" Zhao Rui scratched his hair irritably. "At the best 'Drunken Immortal Pavilion' in town, a single jar of good wine costs one tael of silver! With our meager money, we can't even afford the wine jar!"

Su Ming looked at the copper coins on the table without speaking.

"Master, this is an opportunity, but also a trap," he said to Lin Yu in his mind.

"Correct." Lin Yu's tone was unusually serious. "Gift-giving is a skilled craft. Done right, it's a stepping stone; done wrong, it's dirty water thrown on your own face. Your companion here is clearly an amateur."

"Disciple, let me ask you, what are we most lacking right now?"

"Money, resources, a stable cultivation environment," Su Ming answered.

"Wrong!" Lin Yu firmly rejected this. "What we're most lacking is 'information'! Information about the Zhou family, about Qingshi Town, about that upcoming Child Scholar examination!"

"Zhao Rui wants to use these two hundred wen to buy Zhou Kang's 'favor'—that's a classic case of barking up the wrong tree. Someone like Zhou Kang, who looks down on everyone, if you give him something worth two hundred wen, he'll only think you're even poorer and more unsophisticated. Even if you gave him something worth two hundred taels of silver and he accepted it, he might not think any better of you."

Su Ming listened quietly.

the main branch, and the Zhou family head, that County School Director Zhou Wenhai. Zhou Kang is just a minor gatekeeper; we don't need to waste

"Then this gift..."

gift, but not to him." Lin Yu chuckled. "Disciple, I'll teach you a move called 'Catering to Preferences, Precision Strike'. We need to make these two

at Zhao Rui and

aback, then asked irritably: "Then what do you suggest we buy? Scholar's four treasures? That's

Lin Yu's tone, his voice calm.

"Gather what information?"

head Zhou Wenhai, usually like." Su Ming's thinking became clearer. "For example, what tea they prefer to

he stared at Su Ming as

gift

do we

locust tree, Xu's bookstall. There are many people and loose tongues there, plus plenty of scholars. We

added: "The money your

his words, but eventually found himself nodding inexplicably:

was indeed

locust tree spread like an open umbrella. In its shade, a white-haired old man had laid out a blue cloth on the ground

copies, with yellowed pages

bookstall of the one surnamed

three or four plainly dressed scholars were squatting on the

Zhao Rui approached, Old Xu just lifted his eyelids before lowering his head again

squatted down and picked up a handwritten copy of "Qingshi County

praised. "To strike precisely, you must first understand

flipped through quickly—his purpose wasn't to memorize, but

it, but his eyes

heard a tall, thin man say: "Have you heard? Director Zhou

"What else could it be? It's about his precious son Zhou Yulin. Young Master Zhou is about

thin man curled his lip. "That thing is vague and elusive—who can explain it clearly? Director Zhou himself is an expert in this

keep your voice down. Don't

were soft, every word clearly reached Su

finger, which had been turning

Zhou Wenhai. Son, Zhou Yulin.

this in his

our 'market demand'! Disciple, that 'Essential Farming Techniques' book you bought yesterday is

Su Ming's heart stirred.

Techniques" discussed agricultural matters—how to breed seeds, how to compost, how to

did this have to do

extend knowledge! It's about exploring the principles of things! While others

in warm water? Why

pies in the sky, we'll dig for

Ming's breathing