So, I'm always the one left to do these chores, there's absolutely no benefit to it. And look, the food we get is all this rubbish.

Zhu Yunwen began to create a less-than-ideal persona for himself, so that he could easily blend in with the group of people around him.

The type of person you're dealing with determines the approach you should take, and the goal you want to achieve depends on the specific method you use.

Upon hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, the portly tycoon stood up, cupped his hands in greeting, and said:

"If Your Highness is not used to these dishes, you may visit my residence, where I will certainly treat you well."

Zhu Yunwen nodded: "I will definitely go if I have the chance, but what's the use of eating the best food? Other princes and grandsons are always given lucrative assignments."

As for me, doing this hard work and suffering like this, I not only don't get any extra money, but I might even lose money. It's really frustrating.

After these few simple words, everyone present had a general understanding of Zhu Yunwen.

I always felt that the imperial grandson in front of me was a greedy person who was greedy for money and wanted to gain benefits.

After talking for so long, they never mentioned the disaster victims or the situation, only talking about the profits and benefits.

He constantly complained about doing hard work, which put everyone at ease, making them think that this imperial grandson probably wouldn't put in much effort to do any disaster relief work.

Instead, they only want to gain benefits!

This is definitely a good thing for these gentry and wealthy people.

So, the fat tycoon rolled his eyes and said to Zhu Yunwen:

"Your Highness, please forgive my rudeness, but it's not impossible for you to skim some profits if you want."

Zhu Yunwen immediately became interested and pretended to be somewhat puzzled, saying:

"How can I make a profit? I'm here to provide disaster relief. There are disaster victims everywhere. Where can I find any profit to be made?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present laughed, and then the old man spoke up:

"Your Highness is still too young. There are too many lucrative opportunities in disaster relief. For example, wouldn't the disaster relief funds allocated by the court have to go through Your Highness's hands?"

If you're a little stingy with the money, who will know? Even if someone finds out, you can find another way to use the silver to buy grain. Buy it at a low price, but report the expense at a higher price; wouldn't the difference be yours?

Zhu Yunwen smiled and said, "That is a good idea, but the disaster relief funds from the court have not yet been released. If I are given grain to use for disaster relief, wouldn't I still be without any profit?"

The five gentry and wealthy men burst into laughter again. This time, the middle-aged man from the prominent family smiled and said to Zhu Yunwen:

"Your Highness, please listen to me. If the court has given you a lot of grain to help the disaster victims, you can take out a portion of the grain to feed everyone and sell the rest at a high price."

You see, in this city, although the disaster victims had no money and no food, the ordinary people, though they didn't have much food at home, had money.

Sell ​​this grain to them at a high price. Taking the imperial grain and making money off you—isn't that lucrative?

Zhu Yunwen narrowed his eyes and said:

"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful."

He sneered inwardly. He never expected that such a small county as Hukou could have five such talents. It was hard to imagine how these gentry and wealthy people usually preyed on the common people.

However, Zhu Yunwen's face did not show any anger or resentment.

Instead, he spoke as if he were a greedy, petty person:

"These methods are indeed good. Money can be embezzled and grain can be sold. However, the imperial court has not yet allocated the money and grain, so there is no way to squeeze out the profits at the moment."

Zhu Yunwen once again posed the question to these five gentry and wealthy individuals.

These five wealthy gentry began to devise ways to help the imperial grandson amass some wealth, and how, while helping the prince, they could also profit from the situation themselves.

However, they were unaware that they were nothing more than easy targets for Zhu Yunwen.

Seeing that no one could come up with a solution, Zhu Yunwen knew that by this time, the bait had been used up.

Everyone had already come to regard him as a shameless grandson of the emperor who only thought about extorting money and profiting from the national crisis. Even Magistrate Li, who had been silent all along, had begun to frown.

Clearly, Zhu Yunwen had even fooled him, which chilled Magistrate Li to the bone. He realized that Zhu Yunwen wasn't there to do business at all, but rather to profit from the tragedy.

While everyone was silent, Zhu Yunwen suddenly clapped his hands and said:

"Hey, I've got an idea. This method will not only make me money, but everyone here will make money too. Are you all interested in working with me?"

The last sentence translates to: "Are you all interested in being ripped off by me?"