The wind and rain were heavy and the sky and earth were dark. The strong wind brought with it an endless curtain of rain, completely covering the Huazang Temple at the foot of Yufeng Mountain.

Incense was burning in the Great Buddha Pavilion. Zhao Hao put three cushions together and lay lazily on them, talking to the Xuelang monk, who was wearing a white robe as white as snow and looked like a virgin, while listening to the rain in front of the Buddha.

The day before yesterday, Dongshan Meteorological Observatory issued the third typhoon forecast this year. Although the warning level was not raised after the blue warning, it should be that the typhoon entered Fujian and Jiangxi from Penghu, but it still brought heavy rain for several days. Mr. Zhao had to cancel his original schedule and go to the temple to chat with the monks to relieve his boredom.

"It is said that when Master Huixiang first came to Kunshan, there was a violent storm that night, and the trees were roaring. The whole county could hear the sound of chopping wood from far and near, and everyone was surprised. The next day, at dawn, the foundation of the temple was completed, and the step cornerstones were laid. This was the help of the mountain god..." While refilling the eternal lamp with oil, Xuelang told Master Zhao the origin of Huiju Temple, the predecessor of Huazang Temple, in his charming voice.

"Oh, that's great." Master Zhao said lazily.

"Mr. Zhao, do you believe it?" Xuelang asked him.

"I believe it." Zhao Hao smiled. As the saying goes, one should sing the song according to the mountain he is on. How could he talk about science in front of a Buddha statue?

"I don't believe it." Xuelang said without hesitation, "The reason why Master Huixiang was able to repair Huazang Temple in such a short time is because he has a disciple named Xiao Yan."

"I know. He can transform his fighting spirit into a horse." Zhao Hao said boastfully.

"Uh, I was talking about Emperor Wu of Liang..." Xuelang asked curiously, "What kind of famous horse is 'Douqi Huama'?"

"Just pretend I didn't say anything..." Zhao Hao waved his hands and sat up cross-legged. It would be disrespectful to talk nonsense in front of the Buddha, so forget it.

"Alas, geniuses are never understood by mortals." Xuelang apologized: "I am incapable of understanding Mr. Zhao."

"Just talk about business." Zhao Hao thought to himself, if you can understand, then it's bad, I can only kill you to silence you.

"Oh, what I mean is that it was because of Emperor Wu of Liang's support that Huazang Temple was able to be completed quickly and Buddhism flourished." Xuelang finished adding oil and lit a stick of incense for the Buddha before saying quietly, "During the Huichang Persecution, Emperor Wuzong of Tang ordered the destruction of Buddhist temples all over the country, and Huazang Temple also suffered. This shows that the monarchs of the world are the ones who really have magical powers."

"How dare you, a bald donkey, slander Buddha? Aren't you destroying your own rice bowl?" Zhao Hao said with eyes wide open.

"When have I ever slandered the Buddha?" Xuelang said solemnly, "I am the most devout believer of the Buddha. Look at this lush new Buddhist temple and pavilion. It is the best proof of that—"

"What kind of proof is this?" Young Master Zhao said speechlessly.

"Two years ago, this place was like a ruin. The main hall was open and the Buddha's face was covered with bird droppings," Xuelang said proudly while looking at the golden and spotless Buddha statue.

"Do you think the Buddha favors those poor monks who only know how to chant his name but don't know how to build temples, or does he favor monks like me who actively raise funds to build temples?"

"Of course it's you." Zhao Hao said without hesitation. There is a saying that 'a dilapidated temple will have no incense'. Only when the temple is repaired can there be more incense. The more beautiful the temple is, the more incense will be popular. The Buddha will not be unable to calculate even this little account.

Just like the ace salesmen of all companies, they are the treasures that the boss holds in his mouth for fear that they will melt. They are late and leave early and scold their leaders... As long as they don't tease the female secretaries, it's not a problem.

"Look, with the great merit I have done in repairing two temples, it doesn't matter if I speak and act casually, and eat and dress more elegantly. The Buddha won't blame me." Xuelang said proudly.

Zhao Hao thought to himself, are you being particular? I've never seen anyone more arrogant than you.

He remembered that the Buddha said, "The Sutra should not be passed on lightly." He thought that the elder Zhao family of Shravasti only gave him three dou and three liters of mini gold, "It's too cheap, and the descendants will have no money to use it." He suddenly felt that Lingshan, a large enterprise, should at least give Xuelang a Luo Han Guo in the future.

Er, no, that seems to be the Buddha described by Lao Wu. However, the most greedy people in the world are the eunuchs in the palace and the monks in the temple. It seems that Lao Wu has a basis for writing this.

"What a sin!" Young Master Zhao quickly confessed to the Buddha, whispering, "If the Buddha wants to blame you, go to the county government office to find Old Wu. He writes novels about you all day long, so he deserves to be 404..."

"Master Zhao, what did you say?" Xuelang didn't understand again, so he asked humbly, "Where is this 'Siling Temple'? Has it fallen into disrepair over the years? I can go and repair it..."

"No, I mean..." Zhao Hao smacked his lips and said perfunctorily, "Isn't it unkind of you to change the name of Huiju Temple to Huazang Temple?"

The temple built by Master Huixiang was originally called "Huiju Temple", and Wang Wei even wrote a poem with this title. After Xuelang raised funds for reconstruction, he changed the name of the temple to "Huazang Temple". The original monks' objection was in vain, after all, only those who paid for it had the right to name it.

"You can't say that, can you?" Xuelang said with his innocent eyes wide open, "Originally, no donors came to donate money... oh no, they came to burn incense. It can be seen that the luck of that name has run out, and it's time to change it to a new name. Besides, how good is this name? The 'Hua Zang World' in our sect's 'Avatamsaka Sutra' is so solemn, so fascinating, and so righteous?"

"I still have Wang Laoji." Young Master Zhao rolled his eyes and said, "I'm afraid people don't know that you are practicing Huayan Sect."

"This merit cannot be attributed to someone else." Xuelang smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Anyway, the incense is very popular now. If it weren't for the typhoon warning, we wouldn't be able to chat here in broad daylight. Oh, by the way, even the students of Mr. Zhao's academy secretly came here to burn incense and ask for fortunes before going home to take the exam."

"Damn..." Young Master Zhao couldn't help but spit. But he was relieved immediately. The Chinese people talk about this doctrine and that doctrine, but in fact, they are all pragmatism.

"You need confidence before the exam, so pray to Buddha. This is very scientific." Mr. Zhao is so self-satisfied.

"What did you write for me?" he asked in a low voice, "Are they all very lucky?"

"The one who knows me best is Master Zhao. However, there are also a few with small and medium luck. It can't be that all of them have great luck, right? That would be too fake, wouldn't it?" Xuelang sat down beside him with a smile.

The young monk Jimo, who served the abbot, quickly brought his master a golden brocade cushion, and then presented him with ivory bracelets and cherry curd in a glass cup.

Xuelang people never tire of fine food and delicate stews. Among all fruits, the first fruit of early spring and the first branch of all fruits are their favorite. Putting the juicy red cherries in your mouth and drinking the white jade-like cheese, no other fruit can be as elegant as this.

Oh, yes, cherry is also called "Han Tao"... So the name of Zhao Liben's maid means cherry, not a peach in her mouth. After all, she is a Jinshi and a retired minister, so she can't be so vulgar.

Xuelang scooped two mouthfuls of cherry yogurt with a silver spoon and sighed with some regret, "As the saying goes, 'the rain washes away the dust when the locust trees and willows are in full bloom, and the cherries and yogurt taste new'. It's a pity that these canned cherries can't compare to the fresh cherries after all."

After glassware could be mass-produced, Zhao Hao immediately asked the 08th Institute to study canned food production. It's not for the purpose of eating summer fruits in winter, um, serious face!

Canned food is a magic weapon for maintaining the health and morale of crew members during long voyages.

If sailors don’t have fresh fruits and vegetables for a long time, they will get scurvy. In the Age of Exploration, captains would not bring full provisions when sailing, because half of the crew would die from sepsis or other injuries, and bringing too much provisions would be a waste. It was not until the end of the 18th century that the French invented canned food, which greatly improved the survival rate of sailors.

Mr. Zhao is a man who wants to be the king of the sea. How can he let the precious sailors sacrifice in vain? Although we have full skills in growing vegetables and can grow bean sprouts by ourselves, how can bean sprouts alone be enough? He decided to make this thing in advance.

The reason why the Medical Research Institute was asked to take the lead is, of course, because they have mastered the pasteurization method long ago and have special research on bacteria and corruption.

It is not realistic to make tinplate cans, but fortunately, the earliest cans were made of glass bottles with cork and iron wire, tightly plugging the bottle mouth.

As for the problem of glass being fragile, our ancestors had long been able to sell porcelain to Europe by sea, and there must have been ways to properly preserve the glass cans when they were loaded onto the ship.

The problem is that glass is too expensive. Although we produce it ourselves, we can’t lower the purchase price too much, as that would seriously undermine the glass price system and affect the production enthusiasm of the glass factory employees.

And it will seriously reduce the huge profits of glassware... When the rich people know that the crew use glass jars to store food and collect urine, they will definitely not want to pay the IQ tax. How can that be possible? Mr. Zhao has not made enough money yet!

But this is not a problem. At worst, we can use cheap porcelain jars or even worthless pottery jars when we mass produce them.

Well, the glass cans are the limited edition, the porcelain cans are the standard edition, and the ceramic cans are the military edition.

Perfect!

~~

"That's enough." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes and said, "It's almost July now. It's good enough to have canned cherries to make cherry yogurt for you. You still want to eat the newly harvested cherries? Eat them in vain!"

"Donor Zhao, my little novice monk can't eat that..." Xuelang saw the little monk shrink in fear, and hurriedly said with a smile: "And not all monks like that, like me."

Zhao Hao was speechless when he heard this. Well, he did think of the joke in "Xiao Lin Guang Ji" whenever he saw Xue Lang -

An old monk went to the back garden to relieve himself and was accidentally stabbed in the buttocks by a bamboo shoot. He cried out in pain. A young monk saw this and clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, this is retribution."

But the little monk in his imagination was him, not this Jimo...

"Okay, let's get serious." Zhao Hao coughed twice, looked at Xuelang's face that looked like Madame Butterfly, and said, "I remember when you were in Jinling, after you finished repairing the Great Baoen Temple, you said that you would retire after your work was done and not suffer any resentment."

"Not bad." Xuelang said happily, "It turns out that Mr. Zhao cares about me very much."

"Yes, we are good friends." Zhao Hao smiled and nodded, "Of course I care about you. Are you going to move to another place again?"

"Yes, I will. I have made a great wish to build ten temples for the Buddha. This is only the second one." Xuelang smiled and said, "But there is no rush. We can talk about it after Magistrate Zhao is relocated."

"What does this have to do with my father?" Zhao Hao was puzzled.

"It's easier to get things done with the protection of my parents." Xuelang also blinked and said, "Oh, yes, by then I might be the grandfather. Wouldn't that be more convenient?"

"You monk, you are so despicable. I thought you came to Kunshan for me, but it turned out to be for my father!" Zhao Hao was speechless for a while, then smiled and said, "In this case, how about I find you a more reliable backer?"

ps. Keep writing, and sleep after finishing...