Even at this point, the five gentry and wealthy men still hadn't realized they'd been tricked. They watched as all the grain they'd brought was put into the granary, yet they still wore smiles on their faces.

Because the people around them kept praising them.

Putting aside the fact that the money hasn't been divided yet, the reputation alone has already made them a little arrogant.

Once their food and money were all in place, the government immediately began to use some of the food to cook porridge for the disaster victims.

Now that we have food, the first priority should be to ensure that the people are well-fed.

The gentry and wealthy did not pay much attention to this matter, after all, it was just a matter of using their grain to feed the people.

Once all the other grain has arrived, this grain will be returned to them.

They can make a huge profit no matter what, they're guaranteed to make money.

So they continued to wait, until the officials collected all the grain donated by the donors from each household, and only then did the donation ceremony come to a complete end.

The five gentry and wealthy men were overjoyed, and Old Master Zhang excitedly said:

"It went too smoothly, it went too smoothly. Our five families contributed 300,000 jin of grain, and now others have donated 3 million jin of grain."

Fifty percent of it, that is, 1.5 million catties of grain, will be divided among us. Even if the lion's share goes to His Highness the Imperial Grandson, and each of us only gets 100,000 to 200,000 catties of grain, it will still be an absolute steal!

Indeed, by simply presenting 300,000 jin of grain as a formality, one could earn 100,000 to 200,000 jin of grain in return.

This deal is incredibly profitable.

That very evening, they went to Zhu Yunwen to discuss how to divide the donated grain and money.

However, Zhu Yunwen refused to meet that evening, citing that he was too tired.

At this time, Magistrate Li's opinion of Zhu Yuntong also changed, although he still believed that Zhu Yuntong was distributing money to the suffering people and profiting from their misery.

However, he also had to admit that even if Zhu Yunwen divided half of the three million catties of grain with the other five gentry, the remaining 1.5 million catties of grain would still be enough to feed the disaster victims for more than half a year.

The disaster was eventually resolved.

Although he was greedy and bad, the problem could always be solved.

Therefore, Magistrate Li still had some respect for Zhu Yunwen, feeling that he had at least accomplished something practical in this way.

Zhu Yunwen, however, was not very happy.

He planned to exaggerate the drawbacks of this matter, especially to Zhu Yuanzhang, who hated those who profited from national disasters and accepted bribes.

Even if Zhu Yunwen handles this matter well, Zhu Yuanzhang will likely still punish him severely.

However, the next day, after Zhu Yunwen dressed and came out of the house, his face showed little of a smile when he faced the five wealthy gentry who had come to his door.

Magistrate Li looked at the five wealthy shikigami and sighed. Although he felt that Zhu Yongtong had solved the problem, he still felt very upset at the thought that half of the grain would be divided up by them.

Zhu Yunwen, on the other hand, was looking forward to them dividing up the grain. He would definitely record this step carefully as strong evidence to impeach Zhu Yunwen to Zhu Yuanzhang.

At this moment, the old man stepped forward, smiled at Zhu Yunwen, and said:

"Your Highness, the formalities are over, and the fundraising goal has been achieved. Don't you think it's time to give us our grain and the 50% of the money and grain that we were supposed to receive?"

Zhu Yunwen frowned and said:

Why should 50% of the donated food be given to you?

Everyone was shocked by these words.

Even Zhao Qingzhu, who was standing next to Zhu Yunwen, was stunned.

Even she didn't understand what Zhu Yunwen meant by that, after all, she had been there the whole time when Zhu Yunwen was discussing how to divide the profits with the gentry and wealthy people.

Why does Zhu Yunwen seem to be reluctant to admit his mistakes now?

The fat tycoon got anxious and said:

"Your Highness, didn't you say that we should take the lead in donating money and supplies, and afterwards we would return all the money and supplies, and split 50% of the donations?"

Zhu Yunwen: "Is that so? How come I didn't know? The money raised was donated in front of everyone. Why should it be divided among you? This is disaster relief money. Are you trying to embezzle it? Saying such things in public, aren't you afraid that I, Your Highness, will punish you?"

At that moment, the five gentry and wealthy men all realized that something was wrong; it seemed like they had been tricked.

The middle-aged man from the noble family said, "Your Highness... even if you are unwilling to give us 50% of the donation, please return the grain we offered. It was agreed that we were the ones who offered this grain to set an example, wasn't it?"

Zhu Yunwen smiled and said:

"Still? How naive you are! Don't mention those things again. As for your food and money, let's not even talk about how they've earned you a good reputation."

The source of this money and grain is probably not clean, is it? Gentry and wealthy people? Hmph, they usually plunder the people's hard-earned money, and today is the time to pay the price.

"I've already been more than merciful by not making you give it all back. You want the donated grain back? Dream on! You all leave now. If I hear such words again, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Only then did the five gentry and wealthy men realize that they had been tricked by Zhu Yunwen. But what could they do?

Just as Zhu Yunwen had predicted, they could only swallow their anger and suffer in silence. Could they possibly sue Zhu Yunwen?

How can I sue them? I can accuse Zhu Yunwen of making them donate money and then not returning it to them.

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