Su Yang was completely exhausted, practically falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Su Ming, however, lay awake with his eyes open, staring at the pitch-black ceiling, completely devoid of sleepiness.

Lying beside him was his second brother.

An older brother who, in order to scrape together one tael of silver for him, dared to risk his life against a wild boar.

“I must secure that spot,” Su Ming declared in his heart, his voice quiet but firm as molten iron.

“Nonsense, your two brothers almost sacrificed their lives! If you don’t get it, I’ll be the first to refine you into the ring’s artifact spirit!” Lin Yu said irritably. “You need to learn something from this experience!”

“Learn what?”

“Learn the essence of ‘laying low’!” Lin Yu’s voice was thunderous. “Why did they have to risk their lives? Because they had no other options! They have no skills, no safer channels to earn money! So, once this matter is settled and you return from town, our top priority is to launch the ‘Family Poverty Alleviation and Prosperity Drive’ Plan Number One!”

“What plan?”

“I need to consider this carefully, but I will absolutely help your family escape poverty and become prosperous,” Lin Yu’s voice carried a confident, strategic tone.

Su Ming’s heart was stirred into activity by Lin Yu’s words.

Prosperity? Poverty alleviation?

This notion, like a seed, fell into his heart.

“So,” Lin Yu’s tone softened, “for now, put away those useless feelings of gratitude and guilt. Your brothers’ investment is a ‘sunk cost’—it’s already been spent. The only thing you can do is ensure this investment yields the maximum return.”

“Sleep now, conserve your energy. Starting tomorrow, you need to show Teacher Zhou a ‘clumsy uncut jade’ who will exhaust every effort to seize this opportunity. Play the part fully, secure the spot. That is the best repayment for your brothers.”

Su Ming slowly closed his eyes.

Second Brother’s even snoring was right beside his ear, that warm body heat passing through the thin clothing, gradually warming his icy hands and feet.

He clenched his fist.

He knew that from tonight onward, the burdens he carried were different.

As dawn’s first light barely touched the sky, the Su family’s small courtyard was already stirring.

Not the usual leisurely pace of farm life, but a kind of busyness suppressed with excitement.

Wang Chuntao was packing several black steamed buns into a cloth bag, muttering, “Father, Eldest Brother, eat these on the road, don’t go hungry.”

Mrs. Chen stood to the side, repeatedly checking the hemp ropes binding the game, afraid the pelts might get damaged on the bumpy road and not fetch a good price.

Su Shan squatted in the center of the yard, taking puffs from his long-stemmed pipe one after another, smoke swirling around him, obscuring his expression.

Su Feng and Su Yang were carefully wiping mud off the wild boar’s tusks with a ragged cloth. The small wild boar and the roe deer were placed side-by-side on the flatbed cart, like two silent trophies.

“Father, I want to go with you too,” Su Ming walked out of the house, a trace of pleading in his eyes.

Su Shan lifted his eyelids to glance at him, didn’t speak, just shook his head.

“Little Ming, don’t cause extra trouble,” Su Feng straightened up, wiping sweat from his forehead. “The road to town isn’t easy; your small frame can’t handle the strain. Stay home and properly review your lessons—that’s your real task.”

Su Yang also chimed in: “Yes, Little Ming, we’ll be back before dark. Wait at home for our good news!”

Su Ming looked at them and didn’t insist further.

He knew that in this family, everyone had their own battlefield.

His battlefield was in the schoolhouse, in the books. His brothers’ battlefield was in the mountains and forests, on the muddy path leading to town.

The creaking sound of the cart faded into the distance. Su Ming stood at the doorway until the three figures disappeared around the bend at the village entrance.

“Master, will they get a good price?”

“Don’t know,” Lin Yu’s voice was lazy. “I’m not a market analyst. But according to the principle of equivalent exchange, one small wild boar plus one adult roe deer should be more than enough to cover the initial investment for your Child Scholar candidacy.”

He paused, his tone taking on a teasing note: “What? Afraid they’ll lose their shirt?”

Su Ming didn’t speak, turned back to his small room, and picked up the already dog-eared “Three Character Classic.”

That day, Su Ming was distracted.

Teacher Zhou’s lessons sounded vague and indistinct. The provocative looks Zhao Rui threw his way, he ignored completely.

His thoughts, following that creaking cart, had flown dozens of miles away to Qingshi Town.

He imagined his father haggling over prices, imagined his eldest and second brothers carrying the heavy game, imagined the shrewd or mean face of the town butcher shop owner.

Finally, as the sunset glow dyed the sky orange-red, familiar footsteps and cart sounds came from the village entrance.

Su Ming was the first to rush out.

Su Shan walked at the front, his pipe already lit, his steps noticeably lighter than when they’d left.

Su Feng and Su Yang followed behind, one pushing the empty cart, their faces unable to conceal their exhaustion and smiles.

“You’re back!” Mrs. Chen and Wang Chuntao also went to greet them.

“How did it go? How much did you get?” Wang Chuntao’s voice was the most urgent.

Su Feng grinned, pulled a heavy cloth bag from his chest, and handed it to Su Shan.

Su Shan didn’t take it, just gestured with his chin toward Su Ming.

Understanding, Su Feng walked over and stuffed the bag into Su Ming’s hand.

“Little Ming, take it. This is yours now.”

The bag felt surprisingly heavy in his hand.

Su Ming untied the opening. Inside were two pieces of broken silver and a large string of heavy copper coins, gleaming temptingly in the sunset light.

“That butcher shop manager was fairly honest,” Su Yang said excitedly. “He gave eight hundred coppers for the boar, five hundred for the roe deer—thirteen hundred coppers total! That’s over one tael of silver!”

One tael of silver!

This number made Mrs. Chen’s eyes instantly redden.

Wang Chuntao was even more overjoyed, her voice rising an octave: “Heavens! Over a tael of silver! Now Little Ming’s travel expenses to town are absolutely covered!”

Su Ming clutched the bag, his knuckles white from the force.

He could feel that this bag didn’t contain cold silver and copper, but his eldest and second brothers’ blood and sweat, the hope they had exchanged by risking their lives against wild beasts.

The weight of it burned, making his palms tingle.

That night, Su Ming lay on the heated bed, placed the money pouch by his pillow, and tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

“Feel it?” Lin Yu’s voice drifted up. “This is the primitive accumulation of capital. Bloody, violent, full of uncertainty. Your eldest and second brothers were lucky, exchanging their efforts unscathed for one tael of silver. If luck had been bad, what might be lying on that cart now could be them.”

Su Ming remained silent.

“One tael of silver, thirteen hundred coppers. Sounds like a lot, right?” Lin Yu’s tone became like a shrewd accountant. “But how long can this money last? The tuition gifts for your registration at the county school—fifty coppers; round-trip travel expenses—at least one hundred coppers; lodging and meals in town—even at thirty coppers a day, ten days is three hundred coppers; plus the cost of ink, brushes, paper, inkstones, social expenses and networking… Kid, this one tael of silver will at most let you loiter at the ‘newbie village’ gates; it won’t even buy you a full ticket.”

Su Ming’s heart sank. He had never calculated so meticulously, always thinking one tael of silver was an astronomical figure. Now, dissected by his master, he realized how inadequate it truly was.

“So, we can’t let them risk their lives anymore,” Lin Yu’s tone turned serious. “This kind of one-off deal carries too high a risk for too low a return. What we need to do is establish a sustainable, low-risk, high-return industry!”

“Industry?” Su Ming was unfamiliar with the term.

“Yes, industry!” Lin Yu’s voice took on a grand, strategic quality. “Let me ask you, what do you lack most in your studies?”

“…Paper,” Su Ming answered immediately.

The few sheets of hemp paper on his desk were bought by Su Shan gritting his teeth; he used them with extreme frugality.

“Exactly! Paper!” Lin Yu sounded like he’d snapped his fingers. “For scholars, paper is food, it’s weaponry! And this stuff—your father knows best how expensive it is in town. We’ll go into this business!”

“Paper-making?” Su Ming was so startled he almost sat up. “Master, I… how would we know how to make paper?”

“You know, because I know,” Lin Yu said confidently. “That bamboo grove on the back mountain is the best raw material. The plant ash by the river is natural alkali. Once you master the method, even producing the roughest straw paper can be exchanged for strings of copper coins in town!”

Su Ming’s breathing grew rapid.

The bamboo on the back mountain, the plant ash by the river—these most ordinary things in his eyes, under his master’s description, seemed to transform into a mountain of gold.

But then he cooled down: “Master, no. If our family suddenly knows how to make paper and sells it for money, what will the villagers think? What will the Village Chief think? I understand the principle—’wealth shouldn’t be flaunted.’ We’d be targeted.”

“Teachable, indeed!” Lin Yu exclaimed in admiration. “You haven’t been blinded by the mountain of gold; you still consider the risks. Good! The first principle of the ‘Laying Low Way’ is safety! So of course we can’t operate alone!”

“Not alone?”

“Right! How can we hog such a good thing all to ourselves?” Lin Yu’s laughter held a cunning edge. “You have to drag the whole village into this with you!”

Su Ming was completely bewildered.

“Listen carefully, here’s my plan,” Lin Yu’s voice lowered, like a military strategist imparting a secret scheme.

“Step one: the source of the technology. You’ll say that when you go to town this time, you accidentally found a tattered piece of paper tucked inside an old book while browsing in a bookstore. This reason is untraceable and unverifiable!”

“Step two: disclose the technology publicly. You find your father, then have your father approach the Village Chief. Say that your Su family is willing to offer this formula to lead the entire village to prosperity together!”

Su Ming couldn’t help interrupting here: “Give it away? Then wouldn’t our efforts be wasted?”

“Silly boy, think long-term!” Lin Yu said, sounding exasperated. “This is called technology equity! Think about it—the formula is ours, the core technology is in our hands. The Village Chief wants reputation, wants achievements—he’ll definitely support it. The villagers want to earn money, want work—they’ll treat your family like living bodhisattvas!”

“When the time comes, establish a village-run paper-making workshop. The Village Chief acts as general manager, responsible for external sales and handling trouble. The villagers provide labor—cutting bamboo, burning lime—earning hard-work money. And your Su family, as the technology provider, doesn’t need to do anything, just sit back and collect a share!”

“A… share of what?” Su Ming felt his heartbeat accelerating.

“Thirty percent! Not a single percent less!” Lin Yu stated decisively. “You must tell your father, this is the bottom line! We’re providing the pot that lets the whole village eat their fill; taking thirty percent of the broth is perfectly justified! The Village Chief takes twenty percent as compensation for management and risk-bearing. The remaining fifty percent is distributed among the villagers who contribute labor. No one can find fault with this distribution plan!”

Lin Yu’s voice was magical, sketching a grand blueprint in Su Ming’s mind.

“Imagine that scene. Your rival Zhao Rui—his father Zhao Dequan, for the sake of the workshop’s business, not only can’t cause you trouble, but has to treat you like a treasure, afraid you, the ‘Technical Director,’ might quit.”

“The uncles and aunts in the village, when they see you, won’t call you ‘that bookworm from the Su family’ anymore, but ‘the Literary Star who brought us wealth.'”

“Your family will become the core of the entire Su Family Village. This is called transferring risk to the collective, binding interests and people’s hearts to yourself! This is the ultimate secret of the ‘Laying Low Way’—the safest fortress is to make yourself the interest community of everyone!”

Su Ming lay in the darkness, his eyes frighteningly bright.

He could almost see the bamboo grove on the back mountain not as bamboo anymore, but as rows of wealth waiting to be harvested.

The money pouch in his hand was no longer just travel expenses to town, but the first stepping stone to launch this enormous plan.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep