The main hall of Nanshan Temple.

The officials and gentry left, but two scholars wearing black satin round collars stayed.

"Students greet our elderly parents." The two scholars politely bowed to Mr. Zhao.

"Haha, stop it, you two." Zhao Shouzheng laughed and walked forward, helping the two of them up affectionately.

These two were also candidates in the provincial examination in Yingtian Prefecture last year, and their results were excellent.

Zhi Keda ranked tenth in the exam; Zhou Ruli was third...If Zhao Hao hadn't intervened, he would have been the top scorer.

After passing the imperial examination, the two of them participated in several literary gatherings with Mr. Zhao Erye, swam with him across the Qinhuai River, and later went to Beijing together to take the imperial examination.

Unfortunately, he failed to pass the imperial examination and naturally left the capital early.

However, the two were not in a hurry to return to Kunshan. They traveled along the canal and went sightseeing. When they ran out of money, they begged for money everywhere. As a result, Zhao Shouzheng had already reached Nanjing, but they had not yet crossed the Yangtze River.

It was only after they heard the news that Mr. Zhao was going to Kunshan to serve as an official that the two of them hurried back home.

Your highness has been the chief minister for several years. This is a godsend!

Unfortunately, no matter how hard we tried, we still failed to catch up with Gui Tongnian when he got off the ship.

The two returned to Kunshan last night. Today, their family elders went to the dike, so they followed them.

Zhao Shouzheng was also very happy. In Kunshan, where he was unfamiliar with the place, the two classmates who came from prominent families could help a lot.

Zhou Ruli's Zhou family is one of the five major surnames in Kunshan, and many of his ancestors passed the imperial examinations and became successful candidates in the imperial examinations.

Zhi Keda's Zhi family is slightly inferior, and his influence is only in Zhutang Township, but because of this, he basically has the final say in the Zhi family.

The three of them exchanged greetings warmly. Zhi Keda and Zhou Ruli felt relieved when they saw that Zhao Shouzheng was as friendly as before and did not show any arrogance.

He followed Zhao Shouzheng's request, changed his words and called him "brother", and presented an important piece of information.

"I have something to report to my brother." Zhi Ke said to Master Zhao in a low voice.

"It's about the disaster victims who stopped us that day."

"Oh?" Zhao Shouzheng looked at the Buddha statue behind him. "Let's go somewhere else. Talking about this here is disrespectful to the Buddha."

"That's absolutely right." The two suddenly thought of the miracle of the Buddha's appearance just now, and they couldn't help but feel horrified. They quickly followed Zhao Shouzheng to the incense room in the backyard where he was staying.

~~

After they walked away, Fang Wen turned and entered the hall.

He first lit a stick of incense for the Buddha, then walked around to the back of the Buddha statue and said to the two people squatting there, "They are all gone, you can come out now."

Zhao Shizhen and Zhang Jianchang breathed a sigh of relief. There was no ventilation behind the Buddha statue, and they were so hot that they were like dogs.

Especially Zhang Jian, he felt like he was about to suffer from claustrophobia.

The Buddha's light just now was naturally not a real appearance of the Buddha, but an optical effect produced by the two people using gold foil, mirrors and prisms.

This was the "father's blessing" that Master Zhao specially gave to Master Zhao Er in order to solve the problem of officials and gentry being lazy and complacent.

From now on, Mr. Zhao can add the title of 'Buddha's Light Shining Everywhere' in addition to 'Iron-Bone Number One Scholar'.

I don't believe that I can't control this group of hotshots.

While helping the two put more than a dozen expensive Western mirrors into boxes, Fang Wen asked, "Don't you feel guilty about doing this?"

"Wow, you can speak Mandarin?" Zhao Shizhen was surprised.

"Hey, you can talk?" Zhang Jian couldn't help but ask.

Fang Wenqiang resisted the urge to smash the silver mirror, nodded, and then gave the two of them a jingle about "Sixty-six-year-old Old Man Lu", proving that he could speak Mandarin and speak it fluently.

Then he asked the two stunned people: "Can you answer now?"

"Why should you feel guilty?" the two asked in confusion.

"You are scientists, how can you play tricks like this?" Fang Wen asked in a muffled voice.

"Hey. Miraculous phenomena are such an unscientific thing, so of course we need the help of science to make it happen." Zhao Shizhen buckled the box and put it on his back.

"Yes, this is the best mockery of superstition." Zhang Jian said as he stood up. Unexpectedly, whether it was a coincidence or not, he bumped headfirst into the lotus seat of the Buddha statue.

With a bang, a big bump appeared immediately.

Zhang Jian's face turned pale. He covered his head and turned to the Buddha, silently offering him a stick of incense.

"How do you calculate this?" Fang Wen asked quietly.

"My uncle always said that we should respect philosophy and be polite to religion." Zhao Shizhen said seriously, "I am impolite. Of course I have to apologize."

"Uh..." Fang Wen was speechless due to Master Zhao's powerful self-consistency ability, so he disappeared.

~~

In the incense room.

The guard served the tea and then left.

Zhao Shouzheng smiled and said to his two classmates: "Tell me, let's see if my guess is right."

The two looked at each other, and Zhi Keda said softly, "It's the Xu family."

"Sure enough." Zhao Shouzheng nodded, looking like he could hide nothing from him.

"But isn't the Xu family in Songjiang Prefecture? They have a long reach."

"Who says it's not true? The Xu family relied on the power of Lord Xu to take over Songjiang Prefecture, and now they are extending their hands to Suzhou to annex other places." Zhou Ruli said angrily, "Kunshan is still relatively good, but most of the other counties, especially Jiading and Wujiang, have already fallen into the hands of the Xu family."

"Being poor has its advantages. The Xu family doesn't like this shabby place in Kunshan." Zhi Keda laughed at himself, "But then again, it takes two to tango. Those shameless people tried their best to offer themselves. If someone is willing to be a slave, the Xu family will certainly be happy to accept them."

Because the literati in the imperial court were exempt from taxes, the higher the official rank, the higher the tax exemption.

When one reaches the level of Lord Xu, the tax exemption amount will be infinite... because the government dare not collect taxes from his family at all.

As a result, many wealthy families began to have evil thoughts and took the initiative to become slaves of the Xu family, and their land was transferred to the Xu family. In this way, they only needed to pay tribute to the Xu family every year to be exempted from the court's taxes.

This situation is called "surrendering", which is very common in the Suzhou and Songjiang areas.

"Alas, the taxes imposed by the court on Suzhou and Songjiang are too heavy... Other places have a tax rate of 10%, but ours is 5%. " Zhou Ruli sighed. The butt of a rich man will never sit crooked.

"That's not a reason for them to forget their roots!" Zhi Keda was not so burdened. He spat fiercely and told Zhao Shouzheng the names of the three traitors.

"These three families all changed their surnames to Xu later. They relied on the power of the Xu family to bully the county and did countless bad things."

Well, the Zhi family has suffered a lot from them.

"Is that so? I'll keep an eye on it." Zhao Shouzheng nodded, thinking that he would tell Mr. Xu about it later. He was the best at playing tricks on others.

Seeing Zhao Shouzheng still chatting and laughing, he seemed not to care at all.

He is unlike ordinary officials who cannot sit still when they hear someone is messing around behind their backs.

The two of them couldn't help but sigh secretly, brother is really a hidden talent. It's ridiculous that there were rumors that he was a fool in the Nanjing Imperial College.

This is truly what is meant by 'a real man does not reveal his true face, and a man who reveals his true face is not a real man'!

While they showed great respect for Master Zhao, they readily accepted the invitation and stayed in Nanshan Temple to help.

ps. This is the fourth update, and the next one will be sent soon. (After uploading this chapter, I only clicked save and forgot to click send...)