Zhu Daolin said goodbye to the stonemason and returned to the Taoist temple, and just about to make a cup of tea, he found that the small charcoal stove had been extinguished, and even the half pot of water in the copper kettle on the stove was already cold.

In order to drink a cup of hot tea in the cold weather, Zhu Daolin had to take out the charcoal stove full of ashes and clean it up, go back to the leaky kitchen behind the Taoist temple to relight the fire and add charcoal, and then pick up a load of water to fill up the copper kettle for boiling water.

Fortunately, the charcoal stored in the kitchen is enough, and although the grade of tea is not good, there is more than a pound left, otherwise Zhu Daolin would have to be angry.

Zhu Daolin, who couldn't stay idle, cleaned the entire room including the kitchen and firewood room, and then found out the underwear and underwear, dark warm autumn clothes, soap, slippers, large bath towels, razors, stainless steel cups and toothpaste and toothbrushes that he brought, and put them all into a brand-new large copper basin, and went to the Qingtan on the side of the Taoist temple bare-chested to take a bath, and returned to the Taoist temple to drink a cup of tea and began to clean up many treasures in a row of wooden boxes.

Five sharp Tang knives made of patterned steel, five sets of beautiful crystal glass wine sets, ten frosted lace mirrors with a length of one meter and a width of fifty centimeters, four small boxes with a total of 24 crystal glass balls and agate prayer beads, two 12 centimeters square and 32 centimeters high Sanqing glazed statues and Guanyin sitting lotus glazed statues, four brand-new authentic military quilts and four dark green high-grade blankets, all of which were rearranged and packed into two large wooden boxes by Zhu Daolin.

The rest, including two double-sided black tweed cloaks, a carton of daily necessities, two dozen underwear and underwear, and two sets of new robes were put into another large wooden box with better workmanship, and moved to the end of Zhu Daolin's low couch to be placed against the wall, and then put the telescope, the German imported throwing stick and the military compass into it and put it away.

After everything was cleaned up, night had fallen, Zhu Daolin, whose stomach was growling, lit two oil lamps, had to go to the kitchen to cook porridge, and sat in front of the blazing stove to ponder.

After repeated consideration and careful consideration, Zhu Daolin finally set a clear phased action plan: "We can't wait, we can't rely on, we can't rely on Uncle Xuanqing, who is about to be busy, and we can't let Uncle Xuanqing, who is already suspicious, seize the handle, so we must buy more than 2,000 acres of land between the west of the Taoist temple and the riverbank within half a month, seize the time to enter the city to establish our own contacts and antique calligraphy and painting procurement channels, and we must build our own villas and simple wharves within half a year!" ”

Late at night, Zhu Daolin, who had a clear goal, devoted himself to practicing with all his body and mind, not knowing that half of Jinling City had been disturbed by his uncle Xuanzhen and the four Western bells.

Less than nine o'clock in the morning of the next day, the front of Chaotian Palace was already full of traffic and bustling, Xu Hongji, the son of the Duke of Wei, Zhao Liben, the second son of Zhao Zhilong, the second son of Zhao Zhilong, the Marquis of Longping, Zhang Deyi, the eldest son of Zhang Gongwei, the eunuch Yang Jinchao, and nearly 100 rich gentry and celebrities, gathered in the side hall of the middle courtyard of Chaotian Palace with great interest, competing to watch the unprecedented three Western large-scale self-striking bells.

Under the polite guidance of Zhenglin Zhenren, the abbot of Chaotian Palace, and Xuanqing Daochang, the abbot of Ziyangguan, dozens of Jinling tycoons with thick silver tickets did not care to drink a sip of the fragrant tea offered by the little Taoist priests, and rushed to follow behind a group of nobles, slowly wandering around the display platform covered with red flannel, all eyes were focused on the three large Western table clocks in a row, the sound of inhalation, exclamation, and admiration converged together, endlessly, and the wide side hall was soon full of people like a downtown area.

In less than half an hour, the five-foot-high carved nanmu grandfather clock in the middle that had not yet been announced for sale was quickly moved away by four Taoist priests, and the hall was in an uproar, only to hear someone shouting "Yang Gonggong left first" in an extremely dissatisfied uproar, and the dignitaries and celebrities and rich gentry in the audience reacted one after another, knowing that the tallest and most luxurious Western bell had been taken away by the powerful town guard eunuch Yang Jinchao Yang Gonggong.

There were only two of the three big clocks left in a blink of an eye, and a quotation suddenly sounded in the side hall, and finally, Gong Qi, the big shopkeeper from the city's famous jewelry store "Taihexuan", moved away with 146,000 taels of silver.

Wealthy businessmen and celebrities who know the inside story know that the real owner behind "Taihexuan" is the current Wenyuan Pavilion scholar and Shoufu Lord Zhou Yanru, so no one dares to say anything unpleasant except for sighing secretly.

Gong Da shopkeeper full of spring breeze left, the last short five inches or so simple and simple shape of the Nanmu grandfather clock caused more fierce competition, shouting prices, sarcasm and even angry scolding of the mother one after another, after fierce competition, the final sale of 150,000 taels of silver sky-high price, the winner is the second son of Nanxun Dadi advocate Yiming, Jiangnan silk giant "Yidetang" shopkeeper Zhang Zhongyuan Zhang Second Young Master.

The news of the bidding event soon spread throughout Jinling, becoming the talk of the teahouse restaurant Qinglou Huafang, and the ecstatic Xuanqing Taoist generously took out 50,000 taels of silver tickets and quietly gave them to Zhenglin Zhenren, the abbot of Chaotian Palace, to thank him for the possible trouble he undertook for this transaction, and then temporarily stored 340,000 taels of silver tickets in Chaotian Palace, and entrusted Chaotian Palace to post a recruitment notice for the restoration of Ziyang Temple on his behalf.

Under the escort of six fellow disciples with strong martial arts, the refreshed Xuanqing Taoist took 6,000 taels of silver extracted from Qianzhuang and rode four large carriages loaded with polished rice, oil and salt, fine wine, bacon, sausage, bacon and plate duck to return to the tattered Taoist temple at the foot of the shogunate mountain.

Before the convoy of four carriages reached the dilapidated steps of the Ziyang Temple, they heard the melodious sound of the guzheng music coming from above, and the Xuanqing Dao Chief, who felt something, called out to the six young fellow disciples, and solemnly admonished with a sinking face:

"Do you hear the subtle sound of the piano coming from above? The master of playing is Zhu Daolin, a young handsome man of this school I mentioned last night, and today he exchanged for four Western bells with hundreds of thousands of huge sums of money, which he was willing to put aside life and death in order to restore the Ziyang Temple, and quietly went to the sea to get it back from the hands of Western seafarers! When we meet later, you have to respectfully respect him as a senior brother, he deserves your respect, do you understand? ”

"Got it!" The six young disciples replied awe-inspiringly.

"Good! Let's move things, and have a few drinks tonight to celebrate. ”

After the Xuanqing Daoist finished his order, he picked up a jar of fine wine from the carriage and left first, and the six excited young disciples and the four coachmen who had received double the car money immediately threw off their arms and started to do it.

The Xuanqing Daoist who was holding the wine jar had not yet walked to the door of the Taoist temple, and Zhu Daolin had already hurried to greet him, took the wine jar in Lao Dao's arms and looked down the steps: "So many things, made a fortune?" ”

"Hey, hey! Go in and speak, go in and speak! Old Dao strode through the door with great joy.

Zhu Daolin hurriedly followed, and after entering the house, he put the wine jar containing twenty catties and nine into the kitchen, and when he came back, he saw that Lao Dao was already sitting cross-legged behind the coffee table and drinking tea comfortably, and smiled and asked to go down to help.

Lao Dao hurriedly stopped him: "Come back!" Sit down and drink tea with me, and hand over the things in the carriage to a few of your junior brothers. ”

Zhu Dao was happy, and came to sit down opposite Lao Dao: "It's going well, right?" ”

Lao Dao, who was extremely grateful to Zhu Daolin, smiled, and told the whole process without concealment, and finally sighed with emotion: "Daolin, Uncle Thank you, I believe that my Shangqing faction will be grateful to you and proud!" ”

Zhu Daolin was shocked, two of the four big bells were bought by the powerful Chaotian Palace and the garrison eunuch for 50,000 yuan, and for the sake of safety, he paid 50,000 taels of Xie Yi to Zhenglin Zhenren, who provided a guarantee, and finally Uncle Xuanqing actually received a huge sum of 360,000 taels of silver, which shows that he is on the right path.

Lao Dao was very satisfied with Zhu Daolin's reaction: "With more than 300,000 taels of silver, I will definitely be able to rebuild the Ziyang Temple within two years, change the decline of my Shangqing faction in Jinling, and reproduce the prosperity of the Ziyang Temple, and Daolin, you are the biggest hero!" ”

"I have made up my mind, tomorrow I will send your two junior disciples to rush back to the ancestral court with my report and the statue of Tianzun Treasure, and ask the ancestral court to accept you as a disciple of the descendant lineage, and preside over the Ziyang Temple with me, and ask the ancestral court to send a few fellow disciples who are proficient in civil engineering construction to preside over the overall reconstruction of the Ziyang Temple, after all, I am not good at this aspect."

Zhu Daolin wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, he felt that it would be more helpful for his future development to agree, so he nodded slightly and took the opportunity to put forward his request:

"Thank you, Uncle Shi! I want to buy more than 2,000 acres of land from the west hill to the riverbank in the name of Ziyangguan, and use it to build a manor and a wharf, and ask Uncle Shi to take care of it. ”

"Why did you buy that rocky desert that can't be cultivated?" Daoist Xuanqing had a hunch that things were not so simple.

Zhu Daolin had no choice but to fool: "Uncle Shi probably doesn't know, in addition to being able to play the piano and do business, I also know some smelting, machinery, printing and shipbuilding, and I also want to run a righteous school to take in the children of the poor families around me and the homeless children in and out of the city to read and write." ”

"If this thing is done well, it will not only be of great benefit to the reputation of my Ziyang Temple, but also make money to subsidize the use of the Taoist Temple, which will be beneficial and harmless!"

Xuanqing Dao Chief was embarrassed: "If I can do it, it will be of great help to my Ziyang Temple, but if I really want to do it, I'm afraid it will cost 180,000 yuan!" ”

Zhu Daolin was finally relieved, nodded to the few fellow men who came in with the things, and then approached Lao Dao and laughed in a low voice: "Uncle Shi, you said, with those things in the box, is it difficult for you and me to earn another three or five hundred thousand taels of silver?" ”

Daoist Xuanqing was immediately stunned, and it was indeed not difficult to think about it: "Yes...... Well, since you have made up your mind, I promise, and the next time I enter the city, I will go to Shangyuan County to buy land in the name of Zixia Temple, that abandoned land is not worth much, it is estimated that the government is eager to sell half of it and send it away as soon as possible, at most it can be bought back for a few thousand taels of silver, it just so happens that the entire Jinling City knows that I have money in Zixia Temple, and I will spend it from public funds, but the construction cost after buying it back will have to be raised by yourself, otherwise it will delay the construction of Ziyang Temple. ”

Zhu Daolin immediately promised: "Uncle Shi can rest assured, as long as I buy back more than 2,000 acres of land, the rest is all my business, and I will never use half of the copper plate in Uncle Shi's hand." ”

Lao Dao waved his hand and sighed guiltily: "Actually, these hundreds of thousands are all earned by you!" If it weren't for the rebuilding of the Ziyang Temple, you would have used it all, alas! Uncle Shi, I'm afraid I won't be able to repay your love in this life. ”

"What are you doing all the time? Money is a bastard, and I didn't make it anymore! Don't underestimate me, maybe I will become the biggest tyrant in the Ming Dynasty in the future. ”

Zhu Daolin made a joke and amused the apologetic old way.