Chapter 150: High-Level Scam

After making a preliminary plan on how to do the wool business, the Ninth Prince's eyes lit up. Suddenly, he thought of something, licked his lips, and said in a low voice, somewhat excited and fearful, "Tenth Brother, we can carefully make a few woolen garments to present to Father Khan."

“Where there is a preference in the court, there will surely be something to follow.” The Ninth Prince’s eyes were bright, and his cheeks were flushed with excitement. “Imperial items are always sought after. After processing, wool is not only soft and fluffy, but also of good quality. There will definitely be a lot of people willing to buy it.”

After a pause, the Ninth Prince, still not satisfied, added in an even lower voice, "If the Imperial Household Department is willing to buy it, then the reputation of the wool yarn will be even more renowned, and it will be highly sought after whether it is resold to Shengjing or Mongolia."

Yin'e glanced at the Ninth Prince in surprise, and couldn't help but marvel at his courage to challenge Emperor Kangxi and provoke him. He gave him a thumbs up in praise.

Standing up, Yin'e quickly walked to a cabinet in the corner of the laboratory and took out a white porcelain tea canister containing lanolin.

Placing the tea canister on the long table in the center of the laboratory, Yin'e lifted the lid and gestured for the Ninth Prince to come over and look: "Ninth Prince, these are the byproducts collected when washing wool—lanolin."

Walking over, he stared intently at the pale yellow, oily, viscous liquid that barely covered the bottom of the white porcelain tea caddy. The Ninth Prince nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice: "I know this. You said that lanolin can be made into ointment, just like beeswax and lard."

“Yes, it can be used as a raw material for making ointments.” Yin’e nodded with a smile and pushed the white porcelain tea canister toward the Ninth Prince. “Moreover, ointments made from lanolin are better than those made from lard. The finished product is more delicate and moisturizing, and it has miraculous effects on hand and skin care.”

"Lanolin is a byproduct of wool, cheaper than lard, and the ointments made from it are even more effective than those made from lard?" The Ninth Prince asked incredulously. After receiving an affirmative answer, he couldn't help but get excited. "Wool is not waste at all, it's a treasure!"

"It is indeed a treasure, and one that no one else knows about or knows how to use." Yin'e chuckled, looking quite smug.

Otherwise, why would he have designs on wool? It's because wool has many uses, but others don't know how to utilize it, and haven't yet developed wool processing techniques.

The Ninth Prince's eyes sparkled, and he chuckled happily, "We no longer need to consider using lard as a raw material to make grease. This lanolin is excellent. It's inexpensive and produces grease of good quality, much better than lard."

Yin'e hummed in agreement, nodded, and leaned closer to the Ninth Prince, lowering his voice considerably: "Just like wool textiles, cosmetics can be sold at both the high-end and low-end levels. Wool yarn can be dyed and woven into various patterns to increase its price, and cosmetics can also be dyed, scented, and packaged in different grades."

In fact, ointments made from lanolin have exactly the same effects. No matter how luxurious the packaging is, whether it is a gold box, a silver box or a porcelain box fired in an official kiln, it cannot change the texture and function of the ointment itself.

Adding pigments and fragrances to ointments is merely icing on the cake, making them look better, but it does nothing to improve their function or texture. In fact, adding too many additives to ointments can reduce the proportion of lanolin, which has moisturizing effects.

So-called high-end products are nothing more than selling appearance and packaging, brand and prestige. In reality, they are just different skins; the function of the product is not exactly the same as that of low-end products, but it is very similar.

While this may be the truth about product quality and packaging, it must be acknowledged that most people judge a book by its cover. Products with identical effects and production processes will naturally gain more trust and confidence from those with more attractive and upscale packaging.

For those who are not short of money and are particularly concerned about appearances and face, they would rather spend more money to buy expensive items than to buy cheap and good quality items. This is called spending money to save face.

In addition to those willing to spend money on packaging and appearance, there are also many people who prioritize looks.

The same item, packaged differently, will evoke different feelings in those who value aesthetics. The more colorful and elaborate the packaging, the more appealing it will be to those who appreciate visual appeal.

Some collectors who are obsessed with aesthetics will buy a bunch of the same item, regardless of whether they will use it all, just to collect the different versions and colors of the packaging, just like collecting trading cards, which is very addictive.

Yin'e's plan to enter the high-end wool and high-end ointment businesses was to capitalize on the desire of the powerful and wealthy to save face and show off, as well as the preference of those who value appearances. He would package his products in a flashy and elaborate way, using meticulously crafted high-end goods to make money off the rich.

As for low-end goods, Yin'e's idea was to sell in large quantities with small profits. He didn't require high profits; even a small profit was fine. As long as he didn't lose money, he was willing to continue these two businesses for a long time, selling warm wool yarn and hand cream at low prices.

Yin'e was well aware that he was not a good person, and he admitted that he could not burn himself to light up others, nor could he wholeheartedly and selflessly help others.

All he could do was, within his capabilities, help others as much as possible, without harming his relatives and friends or damaging his own interests, and help ordinary people like himself in his previous life.

Human beings' most basic needs are nothing more than clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, with clothing being the most important. With a large influx of cheap wool textiles into the market, ordinary people may have an easier time during the winter.

With the availability of cheap and effective ointments, residents in northern regions with cold winters, such as Shengjing, Heilongjiang, and Mongolia, no longer need to worry about their hands getting cold in winter.

He closed his eyes, calmed the complex emotions in his heart, and let out a long breath.

Now that it was confirmed that washing wool with pure alkali was feasible, the experiments on wool should come to an end. Yin'e should turn his attention to other things, such as—the three copies of the Four Books and Five Classics that Kangxi had punished him to copy, with the deadline fast approaching.

Looking at the Ninth Prince, who was holding a white porcelain tea canister in both hands and practically burying his head in it to examine the lanolin, Yin'e sighed and had to pour cold water on the Ninth Prince's head: "Ninth Prince, stop looking. Let's go to the study to do our homework. There's still a lot of copying to do."

His smile froze on his face. The Ninth Prince glared at Yin'e resentfully, pouted, put down the tea canister in his hand, and muttered a complaint that was hard to understand: "Why did you remind me? If you hadn't said anything, I could have pretended not to remember!"

With a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, Yin'e glanced speechlessly at the Ninth Prince: He could pretend to have forgotten, but would Kangxi cooperate with him? Given Kangxi's memory, there was no possibility of downplaying the matter; Kangxi was determined to get a result.

The Ninth Prince knew these things without Yin'e saying them, so he just muttered a complaint and dejectedly prepared to go to the study with Yin'e.

On the way to the study, the Ninth Prince quietly sidled up to Yin'e and whispered in his ear, "Tenth Brother, can't we really find someone to copy it for us?"

"Who should we look for?" Yin'e did not reject the Ninth Prince's suggestion, but asked in return.

This stumped the Ninth Prince, who couldn't think of anyone to ask for help.

The only literate people around them, besides their brothers who studied in the Imperial Study, were Haha Zhuzi, who accompanied them in their studies.

The latter is useless in copying books. Unless Yin'e and the Ninth Prince treat Haha Zhuzi as a consumable and don't care about their future as tutors, they can't let Haha Zhuzi do anything to anger Kangxi.

As for the other princes studying in the Imperial Study, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince also couldn't find anyone to help them:

The Third Prince didn't get along with them, so it was already a good thing if he didn't just stand by and watch the show. Moreover, the Third Prince excelled in his studies, had extremely high literary skills, and his handwriting was the best among his brothers except for the Crown Prince. Asking him to help copy books would be a sure way to expose his lack of knowledge.

The Fourth Prince was upright and honest, and he disliked deceit and dishonesty the most. Asking him for help to copy books was not only a minor matter—being refused or not receiving any help was a serious concern—but also a matter of being severely criticized by him and then being supervised by him to diligently copy all the assigned texts.

Needless to say, the Fifth Prince was in a precarious situation. He himself was barely able to protect himself, so he had to copy far more than Yin'e and the Ninth Prince—although the deadline was also later. The Fifth Prince had to copy it ten times, which was no easy task at all.

The Seventh Prince was as reliable as ever, and he was also helpful in copying the book. However, the Seventh Prince had already generously helped the Fifth Prince, who was being punished to copy the book ten times. Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were too grateful to the Fifth Prince for taking the blame for them, so how could they take away his helper to get themselves out of trouble?

As for the last remaining Eighth Prince, regardless of whether he himself was willing or not, even if the always understanding Eighth Prince offered to help them copy, Yin'e would only politely refuse.

Yin'e really didn't want to owe the Eighth Prince a favor, so he just assumed the prince had paranoia. In any case, he was determined to keep his distance from the Eighth Prince, neither befriending him nor offending him, and to treat the Eighth Prince the same as the Crown Prince and the First Prince.

With his head drooping, the Ninth Prince walked heavily toward the study, muttering to himself as he went, "If I could enter the Eastern and Western Palaces, I would really like to go to Yikun Palace and ask the Eleventh Brother to help me copy. Anyway, he has already started his studies and can read."

Yes, he couldn't find his older brother's help, but surely he could trick his younger brother? Once his younger brother entered the Imperial Study, he would be all set, with plenty of men to do his bidding.

Amused by the Ninth Prince, Yin'e laughed twice and casually said, "Next May, the Eleventh Brother will be studying in the Imperial Study. If you are punished by Father Khan to copy books again, Ninth Brother, let the Eleventh Brother copy them for you."

Yin'e was just joking, but the Ninth Prince nodded seriously, clearly taking it to heart.

The Ninth Prince's serious and solemn appearance made Yin'e's teeth ache, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for the Eleventh Prince, who would be tricked into doing hard labor by his own brother in the future.

However, on the other hand, given the Eleventh Prince's feelings for the Ninth Prince, he might be quite happy to be ordered around by the Ninth Prince, feeling that the Ninth Prince is being close to him and not treating him like an outsider.