Experienced people, who know a lot. People who scheme and manipulate and trick others. Something like the clan elders from Reverend Insanity. or gods from LOTM
Still writing so not too sure how well it comes across to the audience, but in my opinion, the biggest differentiator between those who are experienced and manipulative and those who are naive and gullible is their thought patterns. For example, if the story is third-person omniscient then I might do a few thought-flow paragraphs or POV chapters. Alternatively, if you don't want to be too omniscient / you're writing in third-person limited, then I might attach a less important side character for the experienced person to react to in such a way that reveals their thought patterns and/or scheming personality. If first-person, you can describe the character from the MC's POV, but that could always be flawed, so it could be a lot more subtle. etc.
The thing is, I'm a newbie, so I'm certain that I would mess up such a narrative and end up lowering the IQ of all the supporting characters, much like the majority of Chinese novels.
shhh. imma newbie too. ive just decided that this is a loss im willing to take until i can figure out a better way. but also i feel like lowering the IQ of a supporting character would make sense, as it serves as a convenient foil for the "smart" person another method im thinking of is to make the supporting character also rly scheme-y but loyal to the MC so that they scheme together and are very open to each other
There are several ways to write characters like this here are a few ways: 1) Straight up steal them from someone else's work. Do you want characters like the clan elders from RI? Just make one exactly the same with a different name or even the exact same name. Chances are no one will even be able to tell the source. 2) Hang out with older people and listen to what they talk about. 3) Listen to your own friends talk about things they are doing and then modify their BS into something that works for your own story. Brad just dumped Sally to get with Karen? That could translate into Elder Ma tossing aside his Wife in favor of the new beautiful disciple, etc!