This son-in-law is wicked in a good way!

A gust of autumn wind blew by, lifting the hem of Lu Qingyin's snow-white dress.

Her fair, jade-like hand slowly clenched, revealing the fine veins and blood vessels.

She stared at the courtyard gate, biting her lip tightly.

"Zhang Ping'an, you bastard! How dare you treat me like this! You'll regret this!"

Lanxiang stepped forward, feeling sorry for Lu Qingyin: "Miss, the young master is so mean! He won't even let you in!"

"Let's go back. We'll just tell Miss not to let him in again."

Lu Qingyin was suddenly stunned: it seemed that Zhang Ping'an had not returned since her father's birthday banquet.

"Could he really bear to give up his status as the son-in-law of the Prime Minister's family?"

She always believed that no one could resist the sudden rise to power of the Left Prime Minister's son-in-law.

"Hmph, all pretense. Even if the mansion in Wenhua Garden earned you some money, you're still just a money-grubbing clerk. How can you compare to the noble status of a son-in-law of the Prime Minister's family?"

After enjoying herself for a while, Lu Qingyin turned and left, satisfied.

A room in a restaurant.

Second floor, window seat.

Two young men were drinking together.

Zhang Shu looked down at the clean streets. The ragged refugees that used to be everywhere were nowhere to be found.

Across from him, Fang Xueming tilted his head back and took a swig of wine, looking dejected.

"Brother Zhang, the news has been circulating for many days, and refugees from all directions are flocking to the capital. But where are these refugees?"

Zhang Shu was also very frustrated at this moment and wanted to ask: Yes, where did the refugees go?

Now, Zhang Ping'an's Wenhua Garden has become famous in Beijing almost overnight, and Zhang Ping'an is thriving as the person in charge of Wenhua Garden.

The once useless fourth brother, who was treated like a servant in the Zhang family, is now incredibly popular and has long surpassed his second brother, who is the pride of the whole family.

Zhang Shujun's handsome face was extremely gloomy.

Just then, the waiter came over to refill the wine.

"Waiter, where have all the refugees on this street gone?" Zhang Shu asked.

The waiter poured him some wine, bowing and scraping as he said with a smile, "Sir, you haven't been out much lately, have you? You probably don't know that Lord Zhang is going to build a road from the capital to Baiyun Mountain, and all the refugees have gone to work on it."

"I heard that everyone can receive ten coins a day!"

Because he felt guilty, Zhang Shu deliberately avoided paying attention to Zhang Ping'an's affairs after spreading the news, and he was genuinely unaware that Zhang Ping'an was going to build a road.

"What kind of road needs tens of thousands of refugees to build?" Fang Xueming's hand, which was holding a wine glass, froze in mid-air as he looked at the waiter with a surprised expression.

The waiter explained with a smile, "I heard that the road Lord Zhang wants to build is paved entirely with stone slabs. I heard they're using the same stone slabs as the palace, and that road can accommodate eight four-horse carriages side by side!"

A four-horse carriage is a carriage pulled by four horses and is nearly six meters wide.

Zhang Ping'an's road is fifty meters wide.

Originally, the plan was to build it only 30 meters wide, but it felt a bit narrow, so it was built to be 50 meters wide.

With my limited knowledge, I simply cannot imagine what a fifty-meter-wide road, entirely paved with stone slabs, would look like.

"Has he gone mad? Why would he pave a stone road outside the city? That would cost a fortune!"

Fang Xueming was very puzzled.

Zhang Shu also couldn't understand it; was this someone with too much money and too much free time?

Or was it that he built this road specifically to solve the refugee problem?

No, Zhang Ping'an would never do a losing business.

"Sir, I have no idea. How could we mere mortals possibly know what Lord Zhang intends to do?"

The waiter smiled apologetically and scratched his head sheepishly.

"Alright, you can go now!" Zhang Shu waved his hand.

"Yes."

The waiter bowed and then turned to leave.

Fang Xueming stared at Zhang Shu curiously: "Brother Zhang, can you figure out what he's trying to do?"

Zhang Shu sneered: "No matter what he wants to do, as long as the disaster victims continue to enter Beijing, let's see how he will settle these disaster victims once his roads are repaired."

hiss!

Fang Xueming seemed to imagine the scene of hundreds of thousands of disaster victims rioting, and he immediately gasped.

"Heh heh, at that point, His Majesty will probably have no choice but to kill him to appease public anger."

Zhang Shu smiled sinisterly, saying nothing, but his eyes radiated a strong killing intent.

He wanted to kill Zhang Ping'an.

Another day passed.

When the price of a house in Wenhua Garden rose to 60,000 taels per unit, Qi Kun's five material suppliers couldn't resist making a move.

They only released fifty houses to pay off their debts, and still have fifty houses in hand, clearly indicating a continued bullish outlook.

All fifty houses were sold out immediately.

Many people didn't realize it until they heard that it was bought by one person.

The Imperial Study.

The Empress also keeps an eye on housing prices every day.

These past few days, Mo Yu has been reporting to the Empress on time every morning.

"Your Majesty, today someone has offered 60,000 taels for a single residence in Wenhua Garden."

"Fifty houses were put on the market and were quickly bought up, without affecting the price of the houses at all."

The Empress's jade-like hand, which was reviewing the memorials, paused slightly.

One set costs 60,000 taels, so one hundred sets would cost 6 million taels.

Well, now my treasury finally has some surplus grain.

The Empress can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, are you going to sell those one hundred houses you own now?"

Mo Yu looked up, tentatively gazing at the Empress.

The Empress paused slightly, then shook her head: "I think those houses can still appreciate in value."

The capital city, Zhuque Gate.

The stone-paved road leading from here to Baiyun Mountain has already begun construction.

Zhang Ping'an recruited all the able-bodied refugees from the capital to come here.

Ten thousand laborers, in a vast and mighty procession, worked tirelessly from transportation to laying, their lines winding like a dragon, their work bustling with activity.

Many people came to the city gate to watch the spectacle, expressing their amazement.

Such a massive project was only seen during the defense of the capital city in the previous dynasty.

After giving the blueprints he had drawn to the officials of the Ministry of Works, Zhang Ping'an returned to his office.

Wenhua Garden is in its final stages and will be fully completed soon.

Once this short section of road is repaired, he can start telling stories to investors.

This time, he's going to make a big score.

Another three days passed in a blink of an eye.

Wenhua Garden has been fully completed.

Zhao Kongcheng couldn't wait to move into his new home, so he held a banquet at his residence in Wenhua Garden.

As the dean of the academy, he deserves respect from the entire literary world of Dawu.

Even many scholars from the Imperial Academy came to offer their congratulations symbolically, and even the Left Chancellor and others sent their servants to congratulate them.

Of course, many people also wanted to use the pretext of offering congratulations to visit the mansion in Wenhua Garden.

When they saw the innovatively designed latrine, their faces showed envy and jealousy.

Some people took advantage of this opportunity to buy houses from Zhao Kongcheng at high prices.

The price rose from 80,000 taels to 100,000 taels.

Zhao Kongcheng hesitated, then decided to sell five houses.

These five houses were directly bought by Lu Zhanshan, the Minister of Works.

Upon hearing this, Zuo Xiang and others immediately went to Lu Zhanshan's house to confront him.

When he returned, the Left Chancellor and several ministers immediately cornered him at his home.

Minister of Personnel Kong Wenxuan grabbed his arm, fearing that he might suddenly run away.

"That guy surnamed Lu owns five houses, and I must have one. Nobody can take it from me."