Rebirth of the Merchant Woman's Revenge

"Mrs. Xie, what does this mean?" Li Junhao asked with some confusion.

This painting can be confirmed to be an authentic work of Mr. Shi Baishi without any careful examination. It can be regarded as a family heirloom of the Gu family. Yet, at this moment, she is willing to take it out like this and give it to her father as a birthday gift?

Gu Xunwei saw that the scroll had been fully unfolded and Li Junhao had seen the contents of the painting clearly, so she said, "Your Highness, you don't know that Mr. Bai Shi's painting has never been made public. Only a few of his close friends have had the honor of seeing it once. All the descriptions of this painting in the world came from those friends."

"He originally didn't want to sell this painting because he poured his life's efforts into it. However, after he passed away, there were no talented descendants in the family. By the time of his grandchildren, the family had completely declined."

"My father once accidentally saw a young man kneeling on the ground in a pharmacy begging the shopkeeper to give him some medicine. He said he had no money now and would pay him back as soon as he had money."

“But the owner of the drugstore refused to agree, saying that they were refugees now and had no way of getting the money to pay back.

When my father went forward to ask, he found out that there were three very precious medicines in the young man's prescription, so the total cost of these medicines was more than one hundred taels.

After careful questioning, my father learned that they were actually refugees from Jinzhou. The severe drought in Jinzhou that year left these people with nothing to harvest, so a large number of refugees also fled to Liuzhou.

Gu Xunwei said so much at once, and Li Junhao also heard it. This should be an unintentional good deed by Gu Ziyu, which was obtained by chance.

As expected, Gu Xunwei continued, "The young man's grandfather is seriously ill. This is the prescription the doctor gave him when he was in Jinzhou. He said he had to drink ten doses of the medicine. Now he only needs four doses."

"Later, my father felt that this young man was very pleasing to the eye and seemed to be a very honest person, so he helped him pay the money and also gave him some supplements and food to take back. Your Highness must have guessed what happened later.

The two insisted on thanking their father, so they gave him a well-preserved painting they had brought with them as a thank you gift. Only then did the father know that the old man was Mr. Bai Shi’s grandson.

"And this painting was also sold in accordance with Mr. Shiraishi's last wish. When the family was in the most difficult time, they never thought of exchanging it for money. But now, it is given to my father as a thank-you gift, so it does not go against Mr. Shiraishi's wishes."

"Oh, so there is such a connection." Li Junhao couldn't help but sigh. It seems that Mr. Gu must have done a lot of good deeds like this in his daily life.

"Well, my father naturally discovered the value of this painting, and he had no choice but to accept it. He also helped the two of them find work on the farm. After the disaster in Jinzhou was over, the two of them left Liuzhou and returned to Jinzhou. In the following years, they continued to exchange letters, and it was only in recent years that they gradually lost contact."

After Gu Xunwei finished explaining all this in detail, she said seriously, "Your Highness should also be able to see the preciousness of this painting. As a merchant family, how can we own it for a long time? It might even bring disaster to our family."

"My father also meant to use the opportunity of the emperor's birthday to let it play its due role. Only by making it public in an open and aboveboard manner can it live up to Mr. Shiraishi's life's work."

These were naturally Gu Ziyu's original words. She and her father selected for a long time before deciding to take out this painting.

Although my father was a businessman, he liked collecting calligraphy and paintings by famous people since he was a child. Among them, this painting was his favorite. Unfortunately, he didn't dare to take it out for others to appreciate, including himself, his wife and daughter.

This time, when he had the opportunity, after much hesitation, he decided that letting this famous painting be published might be the best arrangement for it.

Li Junhao once again focused on this painting. The artistic conception is profound and the composition is ingenious. Mr. Bai Shi's sincere love for his country can be felt between the mountains and rivers.

It's not impossible to give it to his father as a birthday gift, but he is a little reluctant.

However, considering that the painting is called "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", anyone other than the emperor who keeps it will inevitably be suspected of having rebellious intentions.

"Okay, since it's Master Gu's idea, I accept it." Li Junhao finally nodded, "What reward does Madam Xie want?"

I helped him find such a good birthday gift, it would be unreasonable if I didn't reward him.

"Your Highness, you are too kind. This is all within my status as a concubine. How can I talk about rewards? Moreover, Mr. Bai Shi also said that no matter when, it cannot be easily measured by money."

Gu Xunwei immediately replied that since they didn't spend much money to get the painting, they didn't plan to charge any compensation.

Sang Mo was speechless. It was the nth time that His Highness had not been able to give out rewards. It was not okay to do this every time. It seemed that he had to find a time to talk to Madam Xie about this.

Chenxiang and Baizhi put the painting into an exquisite wooden box, and then carefully lifted the box and placed it on the stone table next to Sang Mo.

Before leaving, Li Junhao turned back to look at Gu Xunwei. The woman with a calm, indifferent and distant expression stood in the soft light with a faint smile on her face. She was like an ink painting, engraved in his heart.

After climbing over the wall, before Li Junhao had time to take another look at the painting, the secret guards brought news that Jian Liangce had indeed encountered an ambush on his way back to Suzhou. The other side had a large number of people, and the attack took place in the middle of the night. Fortunately, His Highness had arranged a lot of people to protect him, and they were all highly alert.

Even so, Lord Jian still suffered some minor injuries. It is estimated that by the time he arrives in Suzhou, the injury will be completely healed.

Li Junhao frowned. He didn't expect that without Wang Zhuo to give him advice, Li Junhao would become so impatient and his work became less and less competent.

"It seems that His Royal Highness Prince An is going to completely break off relations." After hearing this, Sang Mo couldn't help but sigh. It is absolutely true that there has been no family affection in the royal family since ancient times.

Li Junhao closed his eyes and said nothing.

It wasn't that Li Junze wanted to break up with him, but that Jian Liang had moved on his money bag, so he couldn't wait to make Jian Liangce disappear.

Presumably, even if Jian Liangce returned to Suzhou, Li Junze would not give up. There would definitely be other actions waiting for him. Alas, he had to be prepared.

However, how could blindly defending be Li Junhao's style? Taking the initiative was what he liked.