In the incense room of Nanshan Temple, Gu Dadong treated Zhao Hao to some Sushan while speaking in a lazy tone.

"Brother, please don't think I'm so vulgar." Gu Dadong said seriously, "To be honest, I'm here to repay a favor."

"Repay, what favor?" Young Master Zhao was stunned. He was sure that this was the first time he met this old man Gu, and he had never had any interaction with the Gu family before.

"Brother, can you get along well with the Wang family in Taicang?" Gu Dadong asked with a smile.

"Good, very good." Zhao Hao suddenly realized and took a bite of the cool and sweet Sushan and said, "I remember that when we were in Yanshan Garden last time, the second brother of the Wang family said he wanted to write a letter to you."

"Yes, that's it. I've read the letter from the second brother of the Wang family. He asked me to cooperate with my parents and my younger brother. Of course, our Gu family must do as he says." Gu Dadong looked serious.

“Thank you very much.” Zhao Hao faked a smile and thought to himself, you owe them money, so why are you so obedient?

"Don't think I'm kidding, brother." Gu Dadong patted his chest loudly and said, "I swore in front of my father's spirit that I would go through fire and water if the Wang family ordered me to do so."

"Why?" Seeing Gu Dadong's eager expression, Zhao Hao felt it would be inappropriate not to ask.

"Because we can never repay the Wang family for what we owe..." Gu Dadong sighed and asked Zhao Hao, "Brother, do you know the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival?"

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded. I also know Amway.

"This painting, Along the River During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, by Zhang Zeduan, is a rare masterpiece. The scroll is sixteen feet long, the longest of the long scrolls. It has always been a treasure among paintings and is sought after by collectors all over the world."

Zhao Hao suddenly thought of a public case, but still nodded calmly.

"In the past hundred years alone, this painting was collected by the cabinet chief Xu Yixing and Li Chaling, and then by the Minister of Personnel Lu Changzhou. Later, Lu Changzhou was implicated in the Ning Wang Rebellion and was exiled. Before leaving, he gave this painting to my ancestor. This painting has been in the possession of my Gu family ever since."

"Oh? Is this painting still in your house?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but become interested. He had never seen the original painting.

Although Mr. Zhao lacks the artistic talent to appreciate calligraphy and painting, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is so famous that it would be nice to take a look at it for fun.

"It's gone." Gu Dadong shook his head and sighed, "Ten years ago, Yan Song and his son were in power and were collecting treasures from all over the world. They set their sights on this painting from my family. Yan Song learned that Wang Zhongcheng, the then governor of Datong, was on good terms with my family, so he asked him to ask for it on his behalf."

Wang Zhongcheng is Wang Mengzhu’s father, Wang Rong.

Zhao Hao thought to himself that it was indeed that incident.

"Wang Zhongcheng went to the Han family and asked if they could give up the painting. However, this painting was the favorite of our ancestor, and my father was reluctant to part with it. Wang Zhongcheng could not bear to force him, so the two of them discussed and asked Lu Tianguan's nephew Wang Biao to copy an identical painting and presented it to Yan Song."

"Yan Song was very happy after getting the painting. He promoted Wang Zhongcheng to the governor of Ji and Liao, and often invited dignitaries to appreciate the painting. It was safe for more than a year. Unexpectedly, a paperhanger named Tang Chen had seen the original painting at Lu Tianguan's house, and he identified the authenticity from the subtle details. Yan Song hated Wang Zhongcheng for embarrassing him with a fake, and he held a grudge against him from then on. Later, he made a fuss about the border incident and put him in prison."

"After learning that Lord Wang was imprisoned, my father was shocked and hurriedly gave the original painting to Wang Fengzhou. Wang Fengzhou brought the painting to Beijing and knelt at the gate of Yan's house with his second brother every day, begging for forgiveness. As a result, Yan Song accepted the painting and said that he would give Lord Wang a lighter sentence, but he turned around and instructed the judge to sentence Lord Wang to death by beheading. He was killed in Xishi the following year."

"When the tragic news came, my father was so grief-stricken that he vomited blood, cried for seven days and seven nights, and died of remorse. Before he died, he gave me that instruction..." Gu Dadong sighed and said, "Brother, do you understand now what happened?"

"I see." Zhao Hao nodded solemnly and asked, "So what are you going to do, brother?"

"Yesterday, my parents called us to a meeting and announced that they were going to build a stone embankment. We went to see the wall and heard Pan Zhongcheng talk about the magic of cement." Then I heard Gu Dadong say in a deep voice:

"This is a century-long project that the people of Kunshan have been dreaming of. How can we, the local gentry, sit idly by and watch?"

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded.

"We have discussed it and would like to bear part of the cost of repairing the dike." Gu Dadong smiled embarrassedly and said, "But I don't know how much it will cost to repair this stone pond. Come and ask my brother so that I can go back and discuss the funding with them."

"Oh?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but feel a little surprised. These Kunshan gentry were very stingy.

The last time I managed to get them a Buddha's appearance, I only donated more than 2,000 dan of grain. It was not as big as Xu Wei's raid on the rice shop.

"Repairing a stone embankment is very expensive." He did not comment and said, "According to Pan Zhongcheng's method, it will be even more expensive. Just repairing a 60-li river embankment in the north of the river, minus the labor, will cost almost one million taels."

"It really saves money!" Gu Dadong took a deep breath when he heard it. It was more refreshing than eating ice cream.

They, a group of Kunshan gentry, calculated the cost of repairing the stone pond countless times, but were always discouraged.

Not to mention the highest standard five-horizontal and five-vertical fish-scale stone embankment, just the simple three-horizontal and three-vertical stone embankment in Wujiang County, excluding labor, costs as much as three million taels.

It took Wujiang County more than 30 years, with generous donations from the gentry and several successive county magistrates, to complete the construction.

The price of thirty thousand taels per mile was really out of reach, and Kunshan simply couldn't afford it.

Now I heard from Zhao Hao that the cost is only half of Wujiang, so if we only repair 60 miles, we can still pool our money together.

Seeing that he looked relieved, Zhao Hao asked with a smile, "I wonder how much money the gentry of Kunshan are prepared to pay?"

Gu Dadong thought about it silently for a moment, gritted his teeth and said to Zhao Hao: "We can pay half of the cost."

"Good job!" Zhao Hao gave a thumbs up in approval.

These guys are really cunning and will not release their eagles until they see the rabbit.

There is not much benefit in simply providing relief to the people, so they are stingy in giving out just a little grain.

The biggest beneficiaries of repairing the levee are the big landlords - because after two hundred years of land annexation, more than 90% of the land has been concentrated in the hands of these gentry and local tyrants.

Less than one in ten people in Wuzhong owned land, and most of them worked as tenants for large landlords or worked in factories of wealthy owners, barely making ends meet.

Therefore, once the levee was built, the land of these big landlords would be harvested twice instead of one season. For only tens of thousands of taels, the profit would be more than ten times.

Naturally, I became generous all of a sudden.

~~

"Then I'll go back and tell them." Gu Dadong was about to stand up, but Zhao Hao stopped him and said, "Don't worry, I have a suggestion. You can take it back and discuss it with everyone."

"Please speak, brother." Gu Dadong nodded with interest.

"I personally am not inclined to donate money, as if the county owes the gentry a great favor, and the Jiangnan Company has taken advantage of you." Zhao Hao smiled faintly and said, "This is not my style."

"Oh, what's your style, brother?" Gu Dadong asked curiously.

"My style is that we all make money together," Mr. Zhao took a sip of the Sushan and said with a smile, "This way, we will have more and more friends and the road will become wider and wider."

ps. I will first update yesterday’s basic update, and then update two more times.