Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 58: Must Go Out

Night was as black as ink, wrapping the Su family’s small courtyard tightly. In the main room, a dim rapeseed oil lamp cast long shadows of the household on the mottled earthen wall, flickering unsteadily.

The dishes had long since been cleared from the table, yet no one rose to leave.

The air carried an unusual hush, oppressive enough to make it hard to breathe. Mrs. Chen’s eyes were rimmed red, she kept wiping at the corners with her sleeve. Eldest Brother Su Feng and his wife Wang Chuntao kept their heads down, lost in thought. Second Brother Su Yang sat close to Su Ming, their shoulders nearly touching, like a silent wall.

Su Shan sat in the head seat, taking one drag after another of pipe tobacco. The ember in the pipe glowed and dimmed, illuminating the ravines on his face, his expression murky and unreadable. The strong scent of smoke mixed with the after-warmth of the meal, composing the entire atmosphere of the Su family’s main room at that moment.

It was Su Ming who broke the silence.

He stood, walked to the center of the room, and before his parents, solemnly and deeply bowed in a formal salute.

“Father, Mother.”

His voice was clear, but carried a faint, barely noticeable tremor.

Mrs. Chen could no longer hold back her tears; they fell in a soft stream. “Child, what are you doing…?”

Su Shan knocked his pipe against something, and finally spoke; his voice was rough as if sandpaper had been rubbed over it: “Say what you have to say, or spit it out! Stand up straight!”He paused mid-knock, his murky eyes lifting from behind the smoke to look at his youngest son.

Su Ming straightened, his gaze clear as he met his father’s eyes: “Father, Mother, Teacher Zhou at our village school is very learned, and I have learned nearly everything he can teach. I have thought this through carefully. I want to go to the County School to study, maybe even go to the prefectural city to seek schooling.”

“I want to take the imperial examinations.”

Those six words landed like a stone thrown into a still pond, instantly stirring thousands of ripples.

city?” Wang Chuntao cried out in alarm, then realized she

“Little brother, this… this is not something to joke about.

“Have you been listening to people outside and gone daft? Why leave a good home to go so far? You’re so young, your

mother’s rough hand in his and could clearly feel it trembling. His heart twisted,

can. If I stay, I’ll just be stuck, wasting time.

of arguments Lin Yu had taught him, using his most sincere tone, word by

the imperial examinations… to take the imperial examinations…” Mrs. Chen murmured. For a peasant woman like her, the phrase was both sacred and distant. Of course she wanted her son to

prefectural city? Food, lodging, brushes, ink, paper, inkstone — which of

suddenly said in a muffled voice.

Ming looked gratefully at his

looked at his father again, his eyes filled with an unprecedented firmness: “Father, do you remember how

Su Shan’s movement froze.

a few sheets of paper to study, Second Brother had to risk his life going up the mountain. For a year, we rarely had meat. Mother and Sister-in-law’s

is a bit better. But how did it happen? Because we learned how to make

I came across in a book by chance. What does that prove? It proves studying is useful! Books not only hold the sages’ teachings, they contain ways to make our family

just a xiucai, our family will never have to

would dare bully the Su family? That is

like a hammer, resonating through the small main

son like this; the usual naive tone was gone, replaced by a moving sense

His murky eyes stared hard at Su Ming, as if

while, he slammed the cold pipe down on the

Chen called

didn’t look back, leaving only a stiff