"I can finally leave the palace, the air outside is better!" Zhu Yunxiu opened the car window and took an exaggerated breath, then slowly vomited out.

"Don't you like swimming?" Li Jie next to him couldn't help but smile as he looked at Zhu Yunxi's appearance.

"I like it, but my father asked us to accompany me every day, so I didn't even have time to leave the palace." Zhu Yunxiu said helplessly at this time.

During this period, Zhu Biao lost weight and called his two sons and Li Jie to accompany him, which made them unable to do anything. Fortunately, Zhu Biao's weight loss effect during this period was significant, and swimming was also quite interesting. At least Zhu Biao has fallen in love with swimming now, so he doesn't have to be with him anymore. Only then did Li Jie and Zhu Yunyu have the chance to leave the palace.

"By the way, it's my elder sister's birthday in two days. What gift are you going to give her?" Zhu Yunxi suddenly came to Li Jie curiously and asked.

"What gift are you going to give?" Li Jie did not answer, but asked Zhu Yunxi.

"I'm just worried. My eldest sister has no other hobbies besides reading and writing. Last time you brought so many things from Japan. Except for a few ancient books and a few rolls of good paper, everything else was taken away by my second sister. Every year, I worry about her gifts on her birthday!" Zhu Yunxiu also showed a sad expression at the end of her speech.

"That's better. Let's not talk about the academy today. Let's just go around the street and see if there are any suitable gifts?" Li Jie suggested with a smile. His gift had been prepared long ago, and this time he was mainly to help Zhu Yunxuan choose gifts.

"Okay, I've been locked in the palace by my father for so long, so I want to go around!" Zhu Yunxiu immediately nodded in agreement.

Immediately, the carriage turned and went to a place called Xiajie in the northwest of the inner city. This is one of the most prosperous streets in Jinling City. Both sides of the street are full of shops, jewelry, clothes, etc., which also attracted many wealthy people in the city to come and shop. Even some women who don’t usually go out will come here for a walk with their families.

After arriving here, Li Jie and Zhu Yunyu got off the carriage. Both of them were wearing casual clothes, followed by several guards. At first glance, they looked like two rich young men were out for fun. There were also many young people like them around, so they didn't look very conspicuous.

Zhu Yunxiu rarely had the opportunity to go shopping so casually, and he was very excited. He had to go in and go around almost every store, and even some shops that specialize in women's clothing were not spared. As a result, the store was full of women. As soon as the two men entered the store, they immediately attracted the curious eyes of these women, which made Li Jie a little embarrassed. It was estimated that many people regarded them as traitors.

Finally, the entire street was almost transferred, and Zhu Yunyu bought two things. One of them was a gift for his second sister. As for Zhu Yuning's birthday gift, it was a good Duan inkstone. It was said that it was an antique and the price was not cheap. Zhu Yunyu's money was not enough, so Li Jie helped him pay in advance.

"It's over. I saved up almost a year and spent all of it today!" Zhu Yunxiu said with a painful face in her arms holding two gifts.

Although Zhu Yunyu is the emperor's grandson and the prince, he is not an adult, so he only has a certain amount of money every month, and the amount is not large. After all, Lao Zhu does not like his children and grandchildren to develop big things, so Zhu Yunyu actually does not have much money, and is even less rich than ordinary wealthy families.

"I will give it once a year, and I bought it all, so don't feel sorry for you!" Li Jie smiled and said. It was quite interesting to see Zhu Yunxi worry about money for the first time.

"I'm so light, but I can't figure it out. You don't usually have much salary, so why do you feel like you are very rich?" Zhu Yunxiu finally looked at Li Jie curiously.

"If I rely solely on my salary, I can only barely maintain my food and clothing. However, in addition to my salary, I have some industries, which is the big part of my family's income." Li Jie explained with a smile.

"No, Grandpa Huang prohibits officials from doing business? You actually know the law and break the law?" Zhu Yunxiu also showed a shocked expression when he heard this. He always thought that Li Jie was an upright person and had no selfish intentions in doing things. Unexpectedly, he actually did business in private.

"This is not called knowing the law, but exploiting loopholes in the law. For example, Your Majesty stipulates that officials are prohibited from doing business, but officials can let relatives or servants go to doing business, which has no nominal relationship with them." Li Jie explained again that it is time for Zhu Yunxi to understand these unspoken rules.

"Yes...but this..." Zhu Yunyu was still a little unacceptable when he heard this, and his eyes at Li Jie became very complicated.

"Do you think I'm hateful?" Li Jie smiled again.

"Something!" Zhu Yunxiu nodded. Li Jie took advantage of the loopholes in the law, which meant that they harmed the interests of the royal family. After all, the law was originally for the royal rule.

"Then let me tell you again, I am not the only one in the court. In fact, almost all officials and nobles do this. Otherwise, with his salary, how could they support their usual expenses?" Li Jie threw out a heavy pound bomb again.

"Does the emperor know?" Zhu Yunxiu also asked again in shock after hearing this.

"Of course I know!" Li Jie replied immediately.

Officials and nobles let the people around them do business, which has long been one of the public secrets in the officialdom. Of course, they can't hide it from Lao Zhu, but there is no way. Officials and nobles have to have a meal, and Lao Zhu's salary is too low, so they can only find ways from other aspects.

Of course, business is done by doing business, these officials and nobles must abide by the laws of the court, otherwise they will be severely punished. For example, Lao Zhu had a son-in-law, Ouyang Lun, who actually instructed his slaves to smuggle tea and even dared to beat tax collectors. As a result, Lao Zhu killed Ouyang Lun in anger, even if he was the prince consort.

"Don't the emperor hate others' corruption and bribery the most? Why should we tolerate this situation?" Zhu Yunxi asked in confusion.

"Your Highness, this world is not black or white. Since something exists, it naturally has its own reason. Even Your Majesty cannot change it easily!" Li Jie said, and reached out and patted Zhu Yunxi on the shoulder.

Officials use their power for personal gain since ancient times, and even in later generations it is inevitable. Even those countries that are free and democratic will still occur. You should know that later generations have claimed to be perfect regulatory agencies, not to mention that during the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's supervision of power agencies was far less than that of later generations. In this way, many gray interests naturally emerged.

Zhu Yunqiu lowered his head when he heard this, as if he was digesting Li Jie's words. After a while, he looked up and said, "Li Bandu, what business do you do to make money?"

"Mirror, I invented the glass mirror before, so I opened a mirror workshop with my cousin Liu Yi. The glass mirrors you saw in the store just now were all from my workshop." Li Jie replied again.

Zhu Yunxiu was relieved when he heard this. No matter what others did, at least Li Jie made money by his own talent.

"Your Highness, don't think there is anything wrong with officials and nobles doing business. In fact, if you think about it carefully, the royal family is the largest businessman in the world. For example, the salt and iron franchise is prohibited from operating except the royal family. This is the best business in the world!" Li Jie smiled again at this time. No matter which era, monopoly is the most profitable business, and salt and iron is the monopoly business of the royal family.

"This..." Zhu Yunxiu was stunned when he heard this, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that it was really the case. Since the Han Dynasty, salt and iron were a monopoly business of the court, and it was also a major item of treasury income. The court even needed to set up special officials to manage the business, which was actually just like merchants sending managers to manage the business.

"I understand, thank you for your advice!" Zhu Yunxiu immediately saluted Li Jie. Even the royal family does business by himself, and does the upper and lower results, so naturally they can't control the officials and nobles doing business. As long as they don't make too much trouble, everything is acceptable.

"Does Your Highness really understand?" Li Jie suddenly smiled again, and then said, "Then I will take the exam for Your Highness. Which kind of business do you think is the most profitable in the world?"

"It should be salt?" Zhu Yunxiu was stunned for a moment before answering. Although the salt and iron business are very profitable, iron tools are used in the army in many aspects, and the army is a big money-making household. In contrast, salt is a necessity for everyone. Whether it is poor or rich, he intuitively thinks that salt is more profitable.

"Wrong, I'll give you a reminder. This most profitable business is not salt or iron, but another business controlled by the court!" Li Jie induced again. Taking this opportunity, he also wanted to teach Zhu Yunxiu a business finance course to let him understand the importance of business.

"Another business?" Zhu Yunyu thought hard when he heard this, but after thinking for a long time, he still had no idea. In theory, salt and iron were already the largest business controlled by the court. Apart from these two business accidents, he really couldn't think of anything that could be compared with salt and iron?

"I...I can't think of it!" In the end, Zhu Yunxi gave up with a frustration. This problem was too difficult. He had limited knowledge and could not think of a business that was more profitable than salt and iron.

"Your Highness think about it carefully. Only the court can do this business, and no one else can do it!" Li Jie induced again.

This time, Zhu Yunxiu finally had a flash of inspiration and thought of a possibility, so he shouted excitedly: "I remember it, it's land! The court has a large amount of land in his hands, whether it's fertile land or residential buildings in the city, these are land. By selling these, the court can collect huge wealth from the people!"

I have to say that Zhu Yunyu's answer is very close. The land business is indeed huge profits. Although selling a piece of land is one piece less, it is a non-renewable resource, but it is more profitable than salt and iron in a short period of time.

Li Jie was about to shake his head and then tell Zhu Yunxi the correct answer, but unexpectedly, a guard suddenly stepped forward and whispered: "Your Highness, Li Bandu, someone follows us behind us!"
Chapter completed!