Chapter 172: Your Majesty is truly a role model for the princes of the Ming Dynasty!

The earliest construction of the Guanyin Pavilion at Nanhu Lake in Nanchang was in the Tang Dynasty. After going through many vicissitudes, it was eventually abandoned.

Because the north side of this place is connected to Huanhu Road and Jiandeguan Street via a small stone bridge, it has the characteristics of being quiet in the midst of bustling city.

So as soon as Li An arrived in Nanchang Prefecture, he bought this piece of land. It took him nearly six years to expand the original building into the current Water Guanyin Pavilion.

When Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao saw that Li An had made great use of the land, he wanted to ask for it back several times, but Li An just laughed it off.

Originally, Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao thought he had missed the Water Guanyin Pavilion, but he didn't expect that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. Li An actually killed himself.

In this situation, Zhu Chenhao felt that "destiny is in my hands", because anyone who went against him would not have a good ending.

Li An is a living example!

Now Ou Zanghua is also against him. I believe that it won’t be long before this youngest of the Nine Ministers of the Ming Dynasty will taste the punishment from heaven.

Ou Zanghua was sitting in his seat, and what Liu Fang meant was
King Ning is interested in Li An’s house?
That would be easy!
Anyway, that thing is in Nanchang Prefecture, and the Jinyiwei will leave once they put up the seal. It is impossible for Emperor Zhengde to award the house to a minister. You can't expect the minister to live in Nanchang and go to work in the capital, right?
He couldn't even reward an old official from Jiangxi and let him live out his life in peace.

Because after retiring, the ancients wanted to return to their hometown to enjoy their old age and then be buried next to their parents. This is called returning to one's roots.

The house in his hometown is comfortable to live in, why would he leave his hometown and come to Nanchang Prefecture?

Therefore, the only person who could accept this reward was the minister from Nanchang.

This range is very small. Currently, the only minister from Nanchang in the court should be Li Shishi, the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Nanjing Censorate.

But he may not be able to reach the level of being rewarded with a house by Emperor Zhengde.
And, the most important point is that the person who wants the house is King Ning!
This most confident man will bring about his own death in a few years, and won't the house be back again?

I can sell it again then!
"If the prince really likes the Water Guanyin Pavilion so much, it is not impossible to trade it." Ou Zanghua said seriously.

"Oh?"

Zhu Chenhao smiled and asked, "What do you think, Ou Xiuzhuan?"

"As long as Your Majesty pays 500,000 taels of silver, I can convince Your Majesty."

"How much?!" Zhu Chenhao leaned forward, as if he had just heard it wrong.

"Five hundred thousand taels of silver!"

"Jingyou, show the guest out!" Zhu Chenhao laughed angrily. With 500,000 taels of silver, he could build two Water Guanyin Pavilions.

"do not!"

Seeing Yang Qing standing up, Ou Zanghua said quickly: "As the saying goes, you raise the price and pay it back. Your Majesty thinks my price is too high, so you can bargain!"

Can you do this?

Zhu Chenhao found it new and ignored Yang Qing who was giving him a look. He said, "150,000 taels!"

Prince Ning remembered that when he inherited the throne in his twenties, he spent nearly 200,000 taels just on repairing and expanding the palace.

In his opinion, offering 150,000 taels to buy a house now is a good deal.

"make a deal!"

Ou Zanghua immediately stood up and bowed to Zhu Chenhao, saying, "Tomorrow afternoon, I will bring the land deed to you and hand it over to you, Your Majesty."

"So simple?"

Zhu Chenhao was stunned. He was still waiting for Ou Zanghua to raise the price so that he could use his bargaining wisdom to impress this young ninth minister!
"Your Highness is a man of great courage and generosity. How can I have the nerve to bargain with you?" Ou Zanghua said with admiration.

He really felt embarrassed to bargain with such a kind-hearted person who was willing to spend 150,000 taels to buy an empty house.

Zhu Chenhao smiled and said gently: "Mr. Ou has a wise heart."

"No, no, no, it is the prince's open-mindedness and his attitude of valuing righteousness over wealth that deeply moved this humble minister!"

Yang Qing stood aside, watching his prince and Ou Zanghua getting more and more interested in each other as they talked, and he was holding his breath, not knowing whether to express it or not.

The prince only knew that he had spent 200,000 taels to repair and expand the palace, but he didn't know how much was embezzled by certain people. He couldn't say this directly, otherwise he would ruin a group of people's bowls, and even if he had the prince's protection, he would have difficulty moving forward in the palace.

The key point is that Yang Qing couldn't understand why his prince bought the Water Guanyin Pavilion?
It is not as spacious as the palace, and it is not private enough in the middle of a busy city. It seems to be useless except for being a show of elegance occasionally.
At this moment, Zhu Chenhao, who was chatting happily with Ou Zanghua, was hugging the other's shoulders and said with an expression of a close friend: "Ou Qing, I am actually the same kind of person as you."

Ou Zanghua was shocked. This was not something he could say!
Without waiting for him to refute, Zhu Chenhao continued: "We are both devoted and loyal people!"

"Why do you think I bought the Water Guanyin Pavilion?"

"Because my beloved concubine likes it!"

Zhu Chenhao said happily: "My concubine Lou is from a famous family of Neo-Confucianists. She is a wise person, good at poetry and calligraphy. She is a rare beauty in the world!"

"But this palace was passed down from our ancestors after all. When Ou Qing came in, he saw that there were traces of Taoism everywhere. Therefore, I have always wanted to build a courtyard for the princess that she likes."

"The courtyard should be surrounded by mountains and water. When you go out, you should see the bustling market. When you enter the courtyard, you should be isolated from the vulgarity. There should be wind, willows, spring flowers, autumn moon, summer sun and winter snow."

“When you have nothing to worry about, it’s a good time in life.”

Ou Zanghua was very moved and said: "The love between the prince and the princess is so deep that I envy them."

"The couple is deeply in love. That's right, the couple is deeply in love!"

Zhu Chenhao's eyes lit up, and he held Ou Zanghua's hand and said with great satisfaction: "Ou Qing is worthy of being the third place winner. You have described the feelings between the prince and the princess in one word. In this case, why don't you write another poem, Ou Qing!"

Ou Zanghua was speechless. He then remembered that this word came from Shen Defu's "Wanli Yewaibian", which was seventy or eighty years ago.

Besides, he had never written a complete love poem for his own daughter Qingqing, so how could he write something like this for an outsider?

But now that things have come to this, he could only pretend to think about it with difficulty for a while, then sighed and said helplessly: "It's not that I don't want to, but the love between the prince and the princess is as deep as the sea. Even if I use more gorgeous words, I can't write one ten-thousandth of the prince's deep love!"

"Even a talented person like Ou Qing can't write it?" Zhu Chenhao asked hesitantly.

"Your Majesty, please don't embarrass me."

"Ugh"

Zhu Chenhao nodded and said with a sad face: "I understand. Then Ou Qing, please leave the four characters of 'Deep Love Between Husband and Wife' as your calligraphy!"

Ou Zanghua couldn't refuse this request because the other party was a big customer.

Liu Fang stood aside and quickly prepared the four treasures of the study.

Ou Zanghua picked up the brush, wrote with one stroke, and finished the characters. The handwriting was smooth and refreshing, which amazed Liu Fang and Yang Qing.

Neither of them had expected that Ou Zanghua, who was so young, had such good calligraphy skills.

Zhu Chenhao had some literary talent, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to chat with Concubine Lou.

He looked at Ou Zanghua's calligraphy and liked it more and more. He couldn't help but praise it: "Ou Qing's calligraphy has both the style of Wei and Jin Dynasty calligraphy and the rules of Tang Dynasty calligraphy. It is elegant and free, and has its own style. The only one who can compete with Ou Qing in the world should be Wen Zhengming, one of the four talents in Wuzhong!"

"However, compared with Wen Zhengming, Ou Qing is still a little behind. In my opinion, Ou Qing's calligraphy is more elegant and vigorous, but lacks grandeur. You can communicate more with Wen Zhengming in the future."

Ou Zanghua was a little surprised that Zhu Chenhao's appreciation level was indeed online.

He clasped his hands together, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am too kind to compare myself with the hermit of Hengshan."

"Hahaha, Mr. Ou is still young. With more practice and more communication, there is hope that he will surpass Wen Zhengming one day!" Zhu Chenhao patted Ou Zanghua on the shoulder and said with great satisfaction.

"Thank you for your teachings, Your Majesty. I will keep them in mind."

Looking at the humble Ou Zanghua, Zhu Chenhao seemed to understand why his noisy nephew liked this young man.

This young man can really satisfy his habit of being a teacher, and he learns things quickly. He is simply a perfect student template!
Zhu Chenhao thought silently in his heart: "It is understandable that a young man is ignorant, so God should not make things difficult for him."

　I slept too late these days, and I feel like I have no energy during the day. When I type, it feels like I am sleepwalking. I type 3,000 words and delete 2,000. I feel speechless.
　　So I will only update twice these days while I adjust my schedule!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)