By the time the relocation of the academies overseas was completed, it was already the end of July of that year.

The weather was hot and Zhao Hao felt a little tired, so he returned to Suzhou to spend the summer with his wife and children.

However, in late August, he had to leave Suzhou again because the 84-year-old group's first chairman, Hua Cha, was on his deathbed.

Hua Cha waited for Zhao Hao to arrive in Wuxi, held his hand, and urged him with his last bit of strength: "For the sake of the new world, you must be ruthless. Live your life to the bitter end, and dare to dethrone the emperor..."

Having said this, he passed away suddenly.

Grand Tutor Hua had been in poor health for more than a decade, but thanks to several miracle doctors at Jiangnan Hospital, he was able to live to the age of 84, which can be described as a "happy funeral."

What is a happy funeral? It means that happiness and longevity are all returned. That is, complete happiness, complete longevity, and a complete end. These three are indispensable:

Quanfu, during his lifetime, had a large and prosperous family. He was the head of the family and was even revered as the ancestor.

Full life expectancy means the deceased is in his or her 80s or 90s, or at least over 70. The older the person is, the more eligible it is.

A complete death. Also known as a "good death", it means a life that ends perfectly and happily. People believe that if the deceased has accumulated virtues and done good deeds during his lifetime, he will not suffer from illness at the end of his life, and may even die of natural causes. This is considered the fundamental condition for a "happy funeral".

All three of these were true for Grand Master Hua, so it was a truly happy funeral. In this way, Hua Bozhen, Hua Zhongheng, Hua Shuyang and other children and grandchildren would not be too sad. After crying for a while, they kept the body for three days, held a grand banquet, and gave Grand Master Hua a grand funeral with great fanfare.

This funeral was so grand that the whole Jiangnan region was shocked. Not only the top executives of the group, but also all the prominent figures in Jiangnan, from the Yingtian Governor Niu Mowang, the Zhejiang Governor Jin Xuezeng, to the prefecture and county chiefs in the Jiangnan Integration and Mutual Aid Association area, almost all of them rushed to Wuxi to bid farewell to the old chairman, Grand Tutor Hua.

For a time, Dongting Town was crowded with dignitaries and the river was filled with official and passenger ships.

On the day of the funeral, the funeral procession stretched for twenty miles, and the entire Dongting Town was covered with paper money, just like snow.

~~

After the burial, Zhao Hao stayed in the mansion for another two days. One reason was to wait for traffic to return to normal, and the other was because he was worried about the health of his disciple.

Historically, Hua Cha died in the second year of the Wanli reign. The following year, Hua Shuyang also died young due to excessive grief during the mourning period.

His health was not as good as his two brothers, and he has lived eight more years. How could Zhao Hao not be worried?

But the good news is that Hua Shuyang is in good health. Perhaps he was not too sad because of the happy funeral, or maybe there were still too many mathematical problems waiting for him to solve. In short, Hua Shuyang did not waste time grieving. As soon as he sent away the guests who came to pay their respects, he plunged into the world of mathematics and had no time to care about anything else.

Zhao Hao felt a little embarrassed that he studied math problems on his own without asking his master for advice.

But to be honest, Hua Shuyang's mathematical level has far surpassed his. The problems he studied, such as differential equations and complex functions, can no longer be discussed with his teacher.

Fortunately, Master Zhao has a strong ability to be self-consistent and thinks this is a good thing. The disciple is better than the master, and each generation is stronger than the previous one.

So two days later, Zhao Hao said goodbye to Wang Shizhen, Wang Shimao, Wang Xijue and others and left. They were going to Taicang together. It was better to be with liberal arts students, so there was less pressure...

Actually, Zhao Hao was not as familiar with Wang Shizhen as he was with the latter two. But the reason why Wang Shizhen was elected as the leader by the Ming Dynasty literary world, where literati looked down on each other, was obviously not because of his literary talent, but mainly because of his high emotional intelligence, good interpersonal skills, and excellent communication skills. With many friends and people praising him, he became the leader of the literary world who controlled the discourse power of public opinion.

The stinky circle culture has remained the same for thousands of years.

Moreover, the relationship between the two families was there, and the two had known each other for a long time. How many years had Wang Shizhen been a promoter for the Jiangnan Group? After spending more than ten days in Dongting Town, they had already become close friends.

However, Zhao Hao still couldn't help but ask him, "Did you write "Jin Ping Mei"?

Because Empress Dowager Li believed that this book was the culprit that led Emperor Longqing astray, she issued an order to ban it and ordered the Royal Guards to investigate the author and bring him to justice. Over the years, countless Lanling Xiaoxiaos were arrested. So Master Zhao never mentioned anything that was not mentioned.

However, it is most likely that he is the author of the most bizarre book in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, many people knew about it, but they just kept it a secret for the leader. After all, the leader of the literary world was a writer of pornographic books, and it would be bad if it got out...

However, the prefaces of various versions of Jin Ping Mei at that time all said "it was written by a great scholar during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang". Later, Shen Defu's Wanli Yehuobian said that the book was written by "a great scholar during the reign of Emperor Jiajing".

There were only a few people who could be called great celebrities during the Jiajing period, among whom there was only one Wang Shizhen, who was born in Shandong and served as an official in Shandong. Moreover, there was only one person who believed in Buddhism and Taoism, was lustful and drunk, and had the ability and leisure to write such a great novel.

It is said that because Yan Shifan's nickname was "Donglou", which was antithetical to "Ximen", and his nickname "Qing'er", which was the name of a senior official, Wang Shizhen came up with the idea of ​​re-creating this story in "Water Margin" to relieve the hatred for his father's murder.

~~

It takes a whole day to get from Wuxi to Taicang by boat, but it's a good time to have a drink and chat.

As the boat sails on the river, the blue waves ripple, the mulberry fields on both sides are boundless and endless, dotted with colorful wild flowers, and smoke rises from the houses with pink walls and black tiles.

"This beautiful scenery of Jiangnan that I'm used to seeing is clearly different from the past." Chef Wang, who has been playing at home for three years, rubbed his sleepy eyes and said, "What's the difference?"

"That's because there are fewer rice fields and more mulberry fields." Wang Shimao smiled and reminded him, "Nowadays, every village and town in Jiangnan has opened a silkworm farm and silk reeling factory, but there is a big gap in mulberry leaves, so 80% of the arable land has been converted from rice to mulberry. Do you see the difference?"

"Haha, I'm a criminal and I dare not cause trouble to others, so I haven't left the house this year." Wang Xijue said confidently.

"You're just a stay-at-home." Zhao Hao laughed and scolded, "By the way, I heard that you also accepted your daughter as your master? What did you say before leaving Beijing?"

"Oh, I'm so ashamed." Thinking of how he had laughed at Alliance Leader Wang when he heard that his daughter was playing tricks on him and accepted Wang Shizhen as her apprentice, Wang Xijue blushed and said, "After returning home, I wanted to persuade my daughter to turn back from her wrong path, but after several conversations with the Immortal Master, I realized that I was too ignorant. The Immortal Master only borrowed my daughter's body to come to the world, so what qualifications do I have as a father to teach her? So I followed my senior brother and became his disciple."

"Not only Yuan Yu, but also Tu Changqing, Xu Wenchang, Wang Boyu..." Wang Shizhen was a little drunk, leaning against the wall of the boat and nodding his head. When he heard this, he immediately became alert and listed a long list of names. They were all his fellow disciples.

Master Zhao was stunned when he heard this. Wang Xijue, Wang Shizhen, Tu Long, Wang Baigu, Zhao Yongxian, Qu Ruji, Feng Mengzhen, Shen Maoxue, Wang Daokun, Chen Jiru, Xu Wei... These names are shining even in history, but they all became disciples of Wang Xijue's daughter.

Moreover, according to Wang Shizhen, the founding disciple of Tan Yangzi, there are now more than a hundred disciples in his school. Some of them are country scholars, some are hermit literati, and some are monks. They almost cover the political, literary and religious circles of Jiangnan.

Of course, what Wang Shizhen was most proud of was the development of Wang Xijue. Being able to get a father to worship his daughter as a teacher was the most convincing way to promote the immortal master.

After a while, Zhao Hao closed his mouth, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, and couldn't help but glance at Wang Shimao.

"Don't look at me, I didn't join." Wang Shimao said in a muffled voice: "The group's top management must believe in science, and as a director, I must set an example."

Zhao Hao was about to say, "That's more like it..." but Wang Shimao changed the subject and said:

"But I have made an agreement with my eldest brother. He will reserve a place for me first, and I can join after I resign next term."

"Puff..." Young Master Zhao almost spat blood on his face. "The position of director of Jiangnan Group is not as attractive as being Tan Yangzi's apprentice?"

"Of course!" the three answered in unison.

"Fuck..." Zhao Hao almost passed out.

"Don't be angry, my dear brother," Wang Shizhen said with a smile, pouring him another glass of wine. "The position of director of Jiangnan Group is definitely a prestigious position in the world. But even if you are a hereditary founding duke, what does that matter? That's just a game for ordinary people."

"And if you become a disciple of an immortal master, you can become an immortal!" Wang Xijue also picked up a piece of boiled dried shredded vegetables for Zhao Hao and said, "Would you like to consider becoming his disciple, so that we can enjoy eternal immortality and live as long as the heavens?"

"Let's just stay together in this world and live a carefree life." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes and declined politely.

"Don't say it so early, or you'll end up hitting yourself in the face like me. How embarrassing!" Wang Xijue said with a smile, "You're refusing now because you don't understand. Once you understand, you should change your mind..."

"You tell me." Zhao Hao nodded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Have you heard of the Longsha prophecy?" Wang Shizhen asked mysteriously.

Of course Zhao Hao had heard of it. In recent years, no matter where he was, on the first, eleventh, and twenty-first day of every month, the Security Department would present a "Jiangnan Intelligence Summary", detailing the latest developments in the officialdom, public opinion hotspots, and people's livelihood issues in the Jiangnan region over the past ten days.

In addition, there are "Capital Intelligence Summary", "Southeast Intelligence Summary", "Other Provinces Intelligence Summary", and "Nanyang Intelligence Summary", which help him to grasp the slightest movement of the whole country and the whole group in a timely manner.

He had seen the term "Longsha Prophecy" more than once in the "Intelligence Summary" of different regions. The General Affairs Section of the Security Department even made a special topic to introduce the origin of this thing.

Of course, Mr. Zhao still pretended not to know and shook his head, saying, "I haven't heard of it."