Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 126: Hibernation

Zhou Wenhai’s residence.

Su Shan and Chen Xiulian were streaming tears, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Su Yang and Su Feng, the two brothers, had red-rimmed eyes, fists clenched so tight their knuckles whitened, saying nothing.

From acquaintances at the county yamen, they had heard a piece of news that could make the sky fall.

"Teacher Zhou… my Ming'er… my Ming'er he…" Chen Xiulian sobbed, unable to finish the sentence.

Zhou Wenhai led them into the inner hall. Seeing the family’s utter devastation, his chest felt like it was being crushed by a great stone.

He went back to his study alone, pacing, his hand stroking his beard trembling slightly.

He knew that official documents were nine times out of ten truthful.

That student he prized most, that quick-witted, unusually mature boy, might really have…

But looking at the two elderly parents who were on the verge of collapse, could he speak the word "dead" aloud?He could not.

That single word would utterly break this family.

After a long time, he stopped pacing, a glint of resolve flashing in his eyes.

He left the study, returned to the Su family, and spoke in a steady, determined voice.

"Both of you, do not grieve yet. Hear an old man out."

All eyes turned to him.

"The journey to the northern borders is long, bandits are rampant, and official dispatches often exaggerate to shirk responsibility."

Zhou Wenhai looked the couple in the eyes and spoke distinctly, word by word.

"In my view, this 'mountain bandit massacre' was most likely a golden cicada sheds its shell trick used by Ming'er!"

"Golden cicada sheds its shell?" Su Yang looked up in confusion.

"Exactly!" Zhou Wenhai nodded heavily. "How clever is Ming'er? He already expected that the Yongchang Marquis Manor would not give up easily and would act on the road. Rather than wait to be killed, he would seize this chance to fabricate a 'death' and thus escape imperial surveillance, then find a new life elsewhere!"

Those words were like a beam of light cutting into the Su family’s despair.

Su Shan and his wife stopped crying, staring at Zhou Wenhai in a daze as a faint thread of hope rekindled in their eyes.

"Teacher… you mean… Ming'er is still alive?"

"More than likely!" Zhou Wenhai’s tone brooked no doubt. "Only, since he is 'dead,' he won’t be able to contact you for a while, otherwise the ruse would be ruined. What you must do is not mourn, but guard this secret for him and live steadily until he returns!"

"Wait until he has the means to settle his affairs and he will come back to find you!"

a tonic, injecting strength

rather believe this hopeful explanation

My Ming'er is so clever, he must be alive…" Chen Xiulian wiped her tears

then made

small courtyard in a quiet alley in Qingshi

for now. Stay in Qingshi Town and tell outsiders

Feng, Su Yang, you are hardworking. I have found employment for you at a grain shop

sheltering this

…

Su Family Village.

Chief Zhao Dequan’s yard, the old locust tree had lost all

in the courtyard a long while, holding a slip of paper

what Zhou Wenhai had

Su Ming, dead.

emotion showed on

he felt a wave of

and made him feel out

an inexplicable

core improvement technique for the paper

end, both feelings turned into a

ledger and stared at the entries listing payments to the County School’s

shadow lay over him like a mountain, making it hard to

moved to Qingshi Town under Zhou

to the village, but in reality, most of the profits and lifeblood were firmly

been reduced from a local emperor to a

"Dead is fine."

He murmured to himself.

no one will

closed the door to his

......

miles away

the official residence assigned to the

a writing desk, his expression frighteningly calm, the lone lamp

a sheet of paper once more, lifted his brush, dipped

soaked with ink, hovered over the paper for a long time

vacancy seen during the day; they had become two bottomless pools of cold water, beneath the surface raged dark currents

brush touched down and he wrote

began to categorize and list items beneath that

name after name, official post after post, related incidents—he wrote them

docks, the network of

whole story, the craftsmen and middlemen involved (bold hypotheses based on scattered information Xu Qing accessed at the Ministry), abnormal flows in Northern Border Army fund allocations (this was the area he could currently reach

Manor (pieced together from daily observation and colleagues’ gossip), possible scandals to exploit (corruption, perversion of

this information might be ill-founded or downright

path of vengeance; he would spend years, decades if

the Yongchang Marquis Manor inch by inch until it