Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 106: Paying Homage to Liu Siye

The Penglai Inn was ultimately just a temporary stop, a place of mixed company, not a long-term solution.

Su Ming took the first salary issued by the Ministry of Personnel and, instead of buying any new outfits, poured all of it into rent.

He found a small single-courtyard house. The alley was quiet, the bluestone path worn smooth by time, flanked by gray, dusty courtyard walls. The courtyard wasn't large, but its advantage was being self-contained. Once the gate was closed, it became his own private world.

Xu Qing had specifically taken leave to help. The moment he entered the courtyard, his eyes lit up.

"Brother Su, you... you're really willing to spend!" He touched the half-withered old locust tree in the yard, his tone full of envy.

"For the sake of peace and quiet." Su Ming carried an old wooden chest into the main room, his reply brief and to the point.

This courtyard had cost him most of his salary. The remaining money had to be stretched thin.

But Su Ming felt it was worth it.

He needed an absolutely safe space, a place where he could shed all disguises.

"True." Xu Qing nodded, then became excited again. "The Hanlin Academy is prestigious and refined; it's only right to live a bit more respectably. Not like our Ministry of Revenue, dealing with money, grain, and account books every day, reeking of copper all over!"He complained with his words, but his eyes and brows were brimming with energy.

Su Ming poured him a cup of cool tea, quietly listening to Xu Qing's grumbles.

Xu Qing's world was concrete numbers, complex entries, and tangible, touchable official connections.

But his own world was a mist-shrouded swamp that needed to be explored with extreme caution.

The two ate a simple meal in the courtyard before Xu Qing hurriedly bid farewell and rushed back to the Ministry of Revenue.

The spacious small courtyard instantly fell silent.

Su Ming closed the courtyard gate and locked it.

He stood in the yard, taking a deep breath.

The air carried the smell of earth, the scent of the old locust tree's wood, and a faint, elusive sense of home-like peace.

"Master, now we can finally relax a bit."

"Indeed." Lin Yu smacked his lips. "It's still better than that Hanlin Academy. The Dragon Qi there is as dense and solid as an iron plate; I didn't even dare poke my head out inside."

Every day at the Hanlin Academy was like a cup of tepid, plain water.

Su Ming entered the Wenyuan Pavilion punctually every day and sat at the desk by the window in the corner.

His job was to copy books.

Stroke by stroke, as neat as if carved by a printing block.

Reader Guo would occasionally stroll past behind him, hands clasped behind his back, his gaze lingering on Su Ming's paper for a moment before letting out an inscrutable snort and walking away.

Qian Bin and his few followers, however, made "caring about" Su Ming's copying progress a daily pastime.

"Well, well, Compiler Su, which volume have you copied up to today?" Qian Bin's voice always carried a hint of sarcasm.

"Your handwriting is truly improving. In a couple more years, you might be able to write couplets for people at the street corner."

Suppressed snickers came from the surroundings.

Su Ming would always look up at such times, wearing an honest and earnest expression.

"Thank you for your guidance, Brother Qian. My brushwork is still shallow and requires diligent practice."

His response was always this line.

Neither subservient nor arrogant, yet carrying a touch of "dense" dullness that left Qian Bin's prepared bellyful of sarcasm with nowhere to go.

After several attempts, Qian Bin also found it boring.

A bookworm who only buried his head in copying, a dull stone that made no sound when struck, simply held no value for teasing.

In this way, Su Ming made himself a blurry background figure.

But his silence didn't mean he wasn't observing.

eyes recorded everything

texts daily, turning a deaf ear to

men, like Su

or overly cautious, trying to find

relied

never-ending *Da Xing Compendium* on his

tedious, but they

student discovered some discrepancies between the ceremonial records from the previous dynasty and those of our current dynasty. I wish to go to the underground archives to consult some original materials for

stood respectfully in Reader Guo's study, his posture extremely

savoring a cup of

Go yourself. Don't mess with

as if shooing away a

hung on the wall by the gatekeeper's room, available

was clearly somewhere

door. A turbid air, mixed with

a few shafts of daylight filtering in from the high ventilation windows, illuminating countless dancing

and wooden boxes. Many were already

management was extremely

materials Su Ming needed to find were haphazardly stuffed into a broken box in a

down, patiently searching through

archives, the box contained many miscellaneous items. Broken brush handles, dried-up inkstones, even

stack of discarded records of "auspicious signs" from the previous dynasty, his fingertip touched something cold

seal

knob. The material was neither metal nor jade, warm to the

The seal face was carved with several strange seal

this," he called out in his

Yu's Soul Body opened his eyes. His spiritual sense cautiously extended from the ring. The moment it touched that

"Hum..."

resonated directly in the depths of

"gaze"

seal was no longer a simple, unadorned black

it, an extremely faint yet incredibly pure stream of dark golden light actually seemed to flow! That light

His voice carried a trace

Ming complied, discreetly slipping the seal into his sleeve, then continued searching through the useless

"What is this?"

trembled. "There's an aura of 'sealing' on this! It's very faint, but the technique is extremely ancient! This thing... its grade might not be high,

disciple, our hard labor wasn't in vain!" Lin Yu was overjoyed. "What do they call this? This is called 'Heaven rewards the diligent'! Those people who exiled you to this godforsaken place have no idea that the greatest treasures are often hidden in

around the small seal in his sleeve. Its cool touch slightly cooled his boiling blood. A heaven-sent bargain? In this abandoned archive room of

...

been copying books at the Hanlin Academy for over

"diligent, earnest, dull, and silent" were firmly

probably because they found it truly boring

paid it

was clearly divided into two halves by a

corner of the Wenyuan Pavilion, who only buried his head in copying, slow to

with the small courtyard gate closed, he was the

Longevity Art*, and use the sparse yet still pure spiritual energy of the capital to slowly nourish

turtle-knob seal

small black seal in his sleeve with spiritual energy every night, but it was like an iron lump, utterly unresponsive. Lin Yu had studied it for a long time and only concluded: The "sealing"

have their own temper." Lin Yu was completely unconcerned. "Just treat it like polishing walnuts. Polish it

eyes, and looked up at the patch of

cold, the stars

knew he couldn't wait like

like an airtight iron box. He was locked in the lowest level, cut off from information, completely in

answered

had to break

by his teacher Zhou Wenhai, that wax seal impression, and the name Liu Wenyuan were the only lifelines he could currently

to pay a visit

"Your 'wooden man' image is now firmly established.

"I understand."

long prepared the

Two volumes of rare ancient texts he had personally copied by hand: one was *Zhong Ding Kao* on the study of ancient bronzes and stone inscriptions from the previous dynasty, the other was *He Luo Gu Yun*, recording the evolution of

were not ostentatious, carried no taint of money, and

day off, just as

a clean piece of blue cloth,

was