49: This is going to be a palace.

“No rules, no standards. Since things have come to this, let’s handle it according to our guild’s regulations.”

Shen Jianhong waved his hand, signaling the steward behind him to step forward.

“Go, meticulously audit Jin Er’s accounts. Don’t miss a single cent. Make sure he spits out every last bit of the money he embezzled. Then, take him to the menial labor department to report. From now on, he’ll work diligently with those stable boys. Remember, keep a close eye on him the entire time. Don’t allow him to be lazy, cut corners, or try to get away with anything.”

Shen Jianhong’s voice wasn’t loud, but every word was clear.

Jin Er, kneeling on the ground, was now like a dead dog.

What kind of place was the menial labor department? It was a place for hard labor, where one ate less than a pig, slept later than a dog, and had no human rights. It was worse than an ox or a horse, and it was a lifelong sentence. He, Jin Er, was completely finished!

“Young Master, please give me another chance. I’ll go to Prefecture City, there’s still a chance there…”

“Young Master, I’m still useful, give me another chance. I’m almost a third-rank cultivator…”

“Young Master!”

“Jin Zihua, may you die a terrible death!”

After dealing with Jin Er’s matter, Shen Jianhong hurriedly called for his subordinates to help build the temple.

Hearing that Lord Chuping had sent down a divine oracle last night, saying that a temple should also be built in Nan Shu Village, Shen Jianhong felt an opportunity had arrived.

“You want to see my sincerity? Isn’t this a heaven-sent opportunity!”

From Shen Jianhong’s perspective, this small temple now was really not up to par.

The walls were dilapidated, the doors and windows hadn’t been painted, the incense table was short and old, and the incense burner wasn’t exquisite.

As for the divine statue… never mind, let’s not even mention the divine statue.

Overall, there was still a lot of room for improvement.

Since it was a deity he, Young Master Shen, had already worshipped, it should at least have a magnificent gate, towering vermilion temple walls, a divine statue several zhang tall… “Someone!”

“Bring all the golden nanmu wood transported from Xishan!”

Shen Jianhong stood in the open space in front of the temple, the morning light stretching his shadow long. “I want that batch of old material, over thirty years old!”

The craftsmen looked at each other.

Nanmu of such quality had always been reserved for royal palaces. The guild’s painstakingly accumulated stock was only a mere twenty logs, each one incredibly precious.

“Young Master, this batch of materials was prepared for the capital…”

“No need to say more, use all of it.”

After Shen Jianhong finished speaking, he slowly took out a meticulously drawn blueprint from hisPregnant, gently unfolding it with both hands.

“A triple hipped-gable roof, a five-bay layout, the main hall must be able to accommodate a three-zhang golden statue.”

He pointed his finger to a certain spot on the blueprint, “Here, use openwork cloud Dragon pattern latticed doors, inlaid with Lingnan glazed tiles.”

“This main gate, build it entirely with nanmu wood!”

“And these courtyard walls, all built with green bricks.”

“The door frames will be carved from bluestone.”

“Install Pixiu holding six-sided bronze rings.”

“Oh, and the plaque! I’ll personally make a trip to the capital to ask His Majesty to bestow a plaque!”

Shen Jianhong spoke with great enthusiasm, immersed in his grand plans, completely unaware that the surroundings had become silent.

It wasn’t until he finished arranging everything with a flourish and instinctively looked back that he saw everyone staring, as if under a petrification spell, frozen in place.

“Temple Official Liu, what do you think? With such preparations, will Lord Chuping be able to see my sincerity?”

“Ah… this?”

Liu Chunsheng looked at the current temple behind him, then back at the blueprint on the table, then back at the temple… Suddenly, his eyes felt a little sore.

“Lord Chuping, I’m sorry!”

When Liu Chunsheng let out that cry, everyone present was stunned.

This Temple Official, who usually spoke in soft tones, now knelt with a thud in front of the temple, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

“Temple Official Liu, this is…?”

Shen Jianhong swallowed his words back.

He saw Li Fu desperately winking at Liu Chunsheng, the old village chief’s goatee twitching, like a grasshopper frantically jumping.

“Young Master Shen…”

“Lord Chuping protected all the villagers, and we let him live in a leaky thatched shed…”

Shen Jianhong lightly coughed, stepped forward, wanting to help Liu Chunsheng up, but was met with a tearful refusal.

“Young Master Shen, don’t mind me, I have no face to see Lord Chuping…”

Shen Jianhong’s hand hung awkwardly in mid-air, unsure of what to do.

Hearing Liu Chunsheng say this, the surrounding villagers also stirred.

One by one, they were both ashamed and guilty, as if they had truly done something heinous.

Li Fu’s eyes also reddened upon hearing this. He patted Liu Chunsheng’s shoulder, his voice slightly choked.

“Chunsheng, don’t cry. Aren’t we going to build a temple? Young Master Shen is so sincere, the temple will surely be built beautifully. As for this old one, we’ll renovate it ourselves.”

“These pillars… were fir wood that Old Wang chopped while leaning on his cane before he died. Before he passed away, he even said, ‘I want to set up a straight one for the Lord.’”

“But look, they’re all crooked from woodworm…”

As Shen Jianhong listened to these words, his heart suddenly trembled. He subconsciously looked at the blueprint in his hand, and all of a sudden, he felt the blueprint become somewhat hot to the touch.

However, it was precisely at this moment that he felt as if he had been enlightened, truly sensing what “sincerity” meant.

As a noble son of an aristocratic family, having navigated the business world for over twenty years, Shen Jianhong had seen pearls from the South Sea and beautiful jade from the Western Regions, but he had never seen such fervent sincerity—like the wormholes in these pillars, like the tears in Liu Chunsheng’s eyes, laid bare.

“Sincerity” could, in fact, withstand the test of time better than golden nanmu.

“Young Master?”

The steward came over, holding a nanmu wood sample. “The craftsmen are asking when to start construction.”

Shen Jianhong caressed the words “three-zhang golden statue” on the blueprint. He abruptly closed the blueprint: “Wait.”

As everyone held their breath, he unfastened the jade pendant from his waist—a Pixiu carved from mutton-fat jade, worth a hundred taels—and gently placed it on the offering table: “First, use this to repair the old temple.”

“Th-this won’t do…”

Liu Chunsheng stammered, waving his hands, his rough knuckles touching the jade surface and recoiling as if from an electric shock. “It’s enough to buy ten cartloads of green bricks…”

“This temple is originally our heartfelt intention.”

Seeing Liu Chunsheng about to decline, he raised his hand to stop him. “The new temple… build it as planned, but sculpt the divine statue’s face according to the original.”

“Young Master’s great virtue!”

Li Fu, standing by, trembled and was about to kneel, but Shen Jianhong quickly helped him up.