In Yanshan Garden, in front of the small flying rainbow surrounded by water and clouds, Zhao Hao heard Wang Shimao complaining and boasting:

"This garden was built and renovated three times, which took ten years and cost incalculable. Strange peaks and rocks were purchased at high prices, and rare flowers and plants were collected from all over the world. The utensils in the house are made of sandalwood, calamus, carved lacquer and gold; the toys are Jin calligraphy and Tang stele, Shang Yi and Xia tripod, which are not available in the rich and powerful families in the north and south of the Yangtze River. Moreover, my brother is a famous collector. If there are any rare calligraphy and paintings, or rare ancient books, he will be very excited and will buy them at any price."

Wang Shimao pointed to the small building shaded by bamboos in front and said, "That's called 'Xiaoyou Pavilion', which houses more than 30,000 volumes of ancient books, which are the main part of my brother's collection of books over the past decades. In the 'Erya Tower' to the east, there are more than 8,000 pieces of calligraphy and paintings collected from our ancestors to the present, half of which are from this dynasty and half from the previous dynasty. Next to it is another 'Jiuyouzhai', which houses more than 5,000 antiques, all of which have been authenticated by my brother himself. There is also a 'Scripture Pavilion' in the middle of the garden, which is divided into two rooms, the left room is called 'Fabao', which is used to collect Buddhist classics. The right room is called 'Xuanzhu', which is used to collect Taoist classics..."

Zhao Hao was secretly shocked when he heard this. This was not collecting at all, it was clearly building a museum.

"Although the number of my brother's collections cannot compare to Xiang Molin's, he is far superior in terms of fine quality." After Wang Shimao said this, he habitually retorted to Wang Shizhen's old rival in the collecting world.

Xiang Molin's real name is Xiang Yuanbian, and Molin is his nickname.

The wealthy people in the Ming Dynasty were fond of literati interests, and almost all of them had a hobby of collecting.

But no one can compare to Xiang Yuanbian.

Because firstly, no one was richer than him, and secondly, no one loved collecting more than him. Whenever Xiang Yuanbian saw an antique, he would offer a price that he couldn't refuse, and no one could beat him.

Since this person got involved in the collecting world, Wang Shizhen's good days were over. He would have to pay twice the original price to buy the calligraphy and paintings he liked.

Alliance leader Wang was naturally indignant. After several rounds of fighting, he was seriously injured. He fled to Henan to serve as an official because he really could not fight anymore.

Therefore, the Wang brothers looked down upon Xiang Yuanbian, believing that he had driven up prices in the collector's market and was a nouveau riche who did not understand art.

"Those treasures falling into the hands of such people are like pearls thrown into the dark and peony chewed by a cow. It's pitiful and a pity..."

~~

But Zhao Hao was quite interested in Xiang Yuanbian.

When the two of them were admiring calligraphy and paintings in Erya Tower, he turned the topic back to that person:

"I heard that a while ago, Duke Yanzhou and Xiang Molin had a dispute over the authenticity of Xu Qisheng's Thousand Characters in Seal Script."

"It's not a dispute." Wang Shimao looked at Zhao Hao in surprise and said with a smile, "There was a poor man who wanted to sell it to my brother, but my brother identified it as a fake after reading it, and wrote a postscript after it as usual to warn the world."

"That man was unwilling to give up, so he cut off the inscription and sold it to Xiang, who got 100 taels of gold." He said sarcastically, "When my brother found out, he said, 'If there were no such people, they would have starved to death.' Xiang heard this and said a lot of weird things."

Zhao Hao thought to himself that Alliance Leader Wang was indeed being unfair in this matter.

At that time, the exchange rate of gold to silver in the Ming Dynasty was about 1:6, and one hundred taels of gold was equivalent to about 600 taels of silver. For Xiang Yuanbian, the richest man in Jiangnan, it was just a hair plucked casually.

However, Wang Shizhen's sarcastic denigration had a great impact on the reputation of the Xiang family. It is no wonder that Xiang Yuanbian was so angry.

After laughing with Wang Shimao for a while, Master Zhao casually said, "By the way, I heard in Beijing that on the first day of the first lunar month, there was a fire at the new dock in Huzhou, burning three or four hundred boats, most of which belonged to the Xiang family?"

"Hey, that's right." Wang Shimao said with some gloating, "The Xiang family suffered a great loss that time. More than 100,000 kilograms of silk, more than 8,000 rolls of silk, and a lot of valuable goods were all burned."

"This is quite strange." Zhao Hao smiled puzzledly, "Who would do business at the end of the year? Normally, all goods should be put into the warehouse on the first day of the Chinese New Year. Why load them on the ship?"

"Uh..." Wang Shimao's face turned pale when he heard this, and his eyes were obviously a little flustered. After a while, he smiled and said, "Now that you say it, it seems to be true. But who knows about other people's affairs?"

"That's right." Zhao Hao nodded and said, "Later I heard that the capital city was in chaos for a while. I don't know if it has anything to do with this incident."

"Probably not. Isn't there a rumor that His Majesty is choosing a concubine?" Wang Shimao laughed dryly.

"That rumor is really strong." Zhao Hao sighed, "I heard that it spread to Suzhou and Songjiang, and even Jiaxing and Hangzhou were in chaos for a while."

"That's right." Wang Shimao took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat and said, "Haha, ordinary people are like this, they believe everything they hear."

He felt like he would suffocate if he let Zhao Hao continue talking.

But the other party's words were unintentional, and Wang Shimao had no way to get angry, so he had to quickly change the subject:

"By the way, brother, have you had any contact with the Gu family?"

"Gu family, it's not too late yet." Zhao Hao gently rolled up the scroll in his hand and said, "I heard that if the county magistrate wants to gain a foothold in Kunshan, he must first get the approval of the Gu family?"

"That's right." Wang Shimao nodded and smiled, "Even the county town was built by his ancestors. Do you think the people of Kunshan would not listen to them?"

Zhao Hao nodded in agreement and thought to himself that it didn't matter, he would build a bigger one later.

"But the Gu family owes the Han family a favor." Wang Shimao asked with a smile: "If you need it, I can write a letter to ask them to cooperate with your father."

"That's great." Zhao Hao said with a delighted look, "My father is worried about how to deal with those local thugs."

"You don't have to try too hard to please them. It is a blessing for Kunshan to have Zhao Zhuangyuan as the county magistrate. How stupid would they have to be to mess with your father?" When talking about this topic, Wang Shimao's expression became much more relaxed.

"But it seems that some people don't welcome it." Zhao Hao chuckled and said, "I just received news this afternoon that looting occurred in the city the day before the ban was issued... According to the thugs' confession, someone spread the rumor that the Dongting Chamber of Commerce would stop supplying Kunshan."

"I've heard about this, too." Wang Shimao nodded. "It seems to be because of something the vice president said."

"Don't worry, my dear brother. We have a good relationship with the Dongting Chamber of Commerce. President Weng has not been in charge of the matter in the past two years. But Vice President Xu will not sit idly by." He said to Zhao Hao to comfort him: "I will also write a letter to him to see if I can help."

"Thank you so much, Brother Shi." Zhao Hao couldn't help but smile happily, "I'm unfamiliar with Suzhou and I really rely on my friends to help me."

The traditional skill of clinging to someone's thighs should never be lost. Otherwise, why would Master Zhao give them so many shares?

But I can't find thighs as thick and reliable as the eldest princess's, so I can only rely on quantity.

ps. There is still one chapter left for the second chapter, which will be posted in the evening.